Axel laughed, "Of course, for every mother their son is the most handsome, that’s an undeniable truth...."

Though his tone became somewhat strained by the end of that statement, as if reminded that his own mother was gone. In three lifetimes, he never got to experience his mother’s care for long enough, not even once.

The queen patted his shoulder, sensing his somber mood, "Anyway, let’s not think about those. Just focus on what you’re here to do. Mind you, it was not easy to make her agree to this. In fact, I’m surprised that she even agreed at all."

As she reached in front of a certain door, the queen said a few more cautionary words, "You should already know what you should and shouldn’t do. Make sure not to anger her no matter what, otherwise if something bad happens, it truly isn’t within mine or Lucien’s control."

The queen added, "She might be the most beautiful of the flowers, but underneath, she is the deadliest thorn. You’re here to learn forging from her; keep that in mind at all times. Don’t think about anything else."

Axel smiled politely, "Please do not worry, Your Highness. I have also attended the same academy as hers. I know those things very well. Rest assured."

The Queen then proceeded to knock on the door twice and said, "Go on inside. She’s already there."

As the Queen turned around to leave, Axel’s expression turned so cold and vicious that it could freeze hell over, ’How dare this snake of a whore talk about her like that?’

He almost had the urge to rip this bitch into a million pieces, for the blasphemous words she just said about Sophia, he had to close his eyes and take a deep breath to calm himself. He couldn’t let his emotions go out of control again. Fuck, he had to be careful about this.

After another deep inhale, he finally stepped inside her training facility, pushing open the heavy doors, which surprisingly took a considerable amount of strength on his part.

The moment he pushed the doors open, the sound of steel clashing against stone reached his ears.

His eyes shifted to the left, where an impossibly beautiful figure in all-black clothes moved like a deadly shadow, with mind-boggling precision and grace, her black sword cutting into the weak points of the human-shaped stone dummies.

Of course, the stone dummies did not crumble; the marks inflicted on them continued to mend automatically due to magic formations built all around the room. It wasn’t her intention to destroy the training dummies; she was merely practicing her swordsmanship.

And gods, she was beautiful, her technique was beautiful, she was like a dark dancer, the more you look, the more you get pulled into it.

The air itself sizzled as her blade cut through the invisible particles. Without her even realizing, a silent storm of wind was flowing within the training room, just as a byproduct of her sword movements.

Her element of All-Encompassing Darkness swirled through the walls, almost devouring the light that illuminated the room.

Like an evil outer deity intent on swallowing all life.

Eventually, her graceful, flowing blade stopped as the bloody ballerina turned around, and her monstrous red eyes gazed directly into Axel’s blue ones. He had to make a visible effort not to react and to remain expressionless.

He greeted her respectfully, giving a slight bow, "Thank you for granting my request, Miss Valkyrie. It is an honor."

The sword from the hand of the Valkyrie disappeared. She walked closer to him, the darkness moving alongside her, when she was but a few steps away, her head tilted slightly, almost curious, as Sophia’s sweet but venomous voice reached his ears: "Do you know why I agreed to your request, Axel?"

She asked, "That is your name, right?"

Axel looked at her with a surprised expression, not sure of why she knew his name. With her cold character, this was not supposed to happen, yet here he was, hearing her call him by name. That thought strangely brought a small smile to his face.

Unable to take his eyes off her, Axel grunted and shook off those thoughts. It seemed like her charm had become even more dangerous than before. Then, he could not help but think, was she perhaps not controlling her charm and actually testing him?

Axel finally answered, "I’m sorry, Miss Valkyrie, but I do not know."

He wanted to say more, but in the end decided not to.

The valkyrie continued to look at him with an almost amusing look, but Axel continued to avoid her gaze. If he wanted, he could resist her charm, but Axel knew that if he kept looking at her, his willpower would fall short against that beautiful visage. He would want to get lost in those monstrous eyes.

So, he could only shamefully avoid her gaze as Sophia continuously tried to charm him.

His guess turned out to be correct, as Sophia let out a sweet chuckle, "You’re interesting, even Lucien may have lost his mind with the amount of charm I am exuding at the moment. But you continue to endure it as if it’s nothing. You’re a very talented runecaster, right?"

Axel nodded with some hesitation. While he could only curse at her in his mind, ’Fuck! I knew it, this crazy bitch was actually trying to mess with my mind.’

"You’re not using any artifact to block my charm, are you?" she asked.

Axel instantly shook his head, "With all due respect, Miss Valkyrie...."

But she cut him off, "Miss Sophia, you can call me that."

Axel looked at her in the eye once, he lingered, "But I don’t think that would be allowed?"

Sophia sneered, "Then you can get lost."

Axel remained silent, his eyes turning complicated.

Sophia sighed, "You have to do as I say, Axel. If you want to learn forging from me."

Axel could only nod; his voice was a bit strained as he addressed her by name. "I understand, Miss Sophia."

Then he answered, "And no, I don’t have the capacity to make such an artifact because I would have to know the ins and outs of how exactly your charm works in detail. Otherwise its not possible."

She smiled on that note, "You’re strange, Axel. You’re different from all the Maggots that stare at me with nothing but deeply hidden or sometimes not so hidden lust, Dogs that can barely contain their desires."

Axel’s expression was wistful. He said in a self-mocking tone, "Perhaps you just think that I am different. But maybe... inside I am just the same as everyone else."

And his words were in a way true, though he was incapable of truly feeling any love for her at the moment, but at the back of his mind, no one desired her more than he did. Even without any emotions, he wanted to own her, just for the sake of it.

Previously, that was a choice born from his intense, almost uncontrollable emotions, but now it was a choice he made with a conscious mind, not driven by his obsession. Nothing more and nothing less.

But Sophia shook her head, "No, I don’t feel an ounce of such emotions in you. You could pretend in front of anyone else, but not me. Uh, I think I know...."

This time, she was the one who hesitated, asking, "Perhaps you’re castrated?"

Axel almost spat out a mouthful of blood. His carefully controlled composure was gone; he clenched his fists, and his expression turned cold and furious. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

For the first time, he took a step closer to Sophia, and a sliver of his killing intent escaped without him even realizing.

Axel spoke word by word, right at her face, "Miss Sophia, I am a perfectly healthy guy, or do you want me to fucking prove it to you right now? I can do so if you want."

"Pftttttt, hahahahahahhaa," but Sophia burst out laughing at his furious expression, taking a few steps back.

With a hand on her face, she said in between her laughs, "You finally had a reaction.... and stopped pretending."

She added, barely regaining her composure, "With those dead eyes and overflowing negative emotions, you resemble more of a corpse than someone living. But I guess you’re not some undead in disguise, after all."

Axel was still furious at her, as he scoffed, "Talk about yourself. You pretend to be laughing, faking emotions that you don’t feel a single bit. Aren’t you the real corpse here?"

The smile on the face of Sophia vanished, her eyes turned cold, "I suppose we are getting off topic, I did not tell you the reason I agreed to meet you yet, did I?"

Axel remained quiet, not willing to let this bitch mess with his mind any further. "That day, as I walked past you, why did you turn out like that? Why were you almost about to die?"

"And you better be honest," she pressed, her red eyes locked on him like a predator looking at its prey.

Axel wasn’t afraid of her, as he challenged, "Or what?"

Instantly, a black sword pressed against his neck, already cutting a few millimeters into his skin, as she whispered, "You can try and see what happens, if you’re not truthful that is."