Demon Prince's Forsaken Bride-Chapter 78: Something is amiss (1)

"I was feeling faint just now so I thought the effect had worn off and the ghost air was getting to me,’’ Lareina explained patiently, dousing buckets of cold water on the man’s delusions before she continued, ’’Your Highness, we are not far from the village, it seems...’’

’’You are right, My Lady,’’ Astra had finally managed to row the boat closer to them by now.

Moira sat on the boat, her appearance was a mess and her thoughts were unreadable. But the rest of the group did not pay attention to her. Rather they looked towards the other side of the river where there were visible fire torches from a distance.

Astra turned to Azrael. There were things that could not be discussed here so she stood with her head lowered as she awaited the man’s orders.

Azrael picked up the oars and took control of the boat and Astra followed the cue.

It took them more than half an hour to reach the other side of the river. On their way, in certain spots, they encountered the dark spirits again. But unlike before, there were only a few of them, nowhere as feral and they were all tackled by Astra before Azrael could lift a finger.

When they finally made it to the village gates, not a single person was in sight. The lanterns and fire torches they had seen from a distance seemed to have been blown off. The doors were closed and there was a stillness in the air.

Astra approached a house and knocked on the door twice, ’’Is someone there? We are travellers and we are passing by. Can we seek shelter here for a night?"

Her words received no response whatsoever. She knocked on the doors of the consecutive houses but the result remained the same.

Azrael stepped forward and squatted on the ground before picking some soil in his fingers. His brows scrunched a little and he picked up a fist of the soil.

Under the moonlight, Lareina watched as the wind blew away the loose soil from his palm, leaving only some suspicious white particles that looked like shattered bones.

Suddenly, something grazed past Lareina in a flash, ’’Who is there?’’ she moved immediately but when she looked behind herself, there was no one.

Azrael also stood up, shielding her behind them.

’’Y... Your Highness, this place seems to have been abandoned. Why don’t we start looking elsewhere...’’ As Moira was speaking, she inched closer to Azrael but before her words could finish, the man moved away.

Azrael approached the closest house with hurried steps and a scream resounded in the silence as the man pulled someone out in the darkness and shoved him to the ground.

’’No... Don’t kill me!" A childish voice cried.

Lareina had instinctively closed her eyes earlier but the voice sounded familiar. When she opened her eyes, she immediately recognized the boy who was on the ground at her feet, ’’It’s you...’’ she squatted.

The boy had been hiding behind the wall earlier when he had been pushed out by Azrael so his shoulders were still trembling, ’’Don’t kill me...’’

The child was none other than the one they had met in the ghost market. In the absence of his parents, he had been selling masks in their store at that time.

’’Nobody will harm you,’’ Lareina carefully helped the child up, ’’On our way here, we heard a lot of things about some villains who have been causing trouble. And this brother misunderstood you because you ran to hide...’’

As Azrael walked closer, Lareina exchanged a look with the man before shifting her gaze to the child. Because of her disguise, the boy had seemed to be unable to recognize her in the slightest. He looked at her warily.

’’I won’t harm you. No one of us would,’’ Lareina patted off the dust from his clothes.

The boy looked hesitant but after a while, he spoke, ’’Are you here to help us?"

’’If you can help us first then we will be able to help you,’’ Astra softened her voice as she walked to the boy, after knocking on several doors, all for naught.

Azrael stood back after receiving Lareina’s ’You will scare him and it wouldn’t work out’ look.

Moira stood closer to Azrael, visibly afraid that trouble would drop from anywhere at this point.

’’How... How can I help?" the boy looked up at Astra.

Astra exchanged glances with the rest of the people, ’’Boy, why don’t you take us to your parents?’’

The boy was visibly hesitant but one did not know what he thought in silence. After remaining quiet for some time, he walked ahead, ’’This... way...’’

The group soon followed him to a house that was situated towards the corner of an alley. The house was enshrouded in darkness.

When the boy knocked on the door, a source of light appeared near the small gap between the doors.

’’Mother... Mother, it’s me...’’

The door opened and a woman stood there with a candle in her hand. The moment she saw the huge crowd, she pulled the young boy inside and closed the door on their faces.

"I will tear it down,’’ Astra stepped forward as she spoke.

But Azrael raised a hand and she stopped in her tracks.

In no time, the door opened again. The woman from earlier looked at them cautiously for a while before she spoke, ’’Please come in.’’

The house was small but cozy. The fire had been doused to keep away the light but the place emanated warmth. The woman lit up two candles that somewhat illuminated the place somewhat.

"My son told me what happened outside just now. Please forgive my rudeness from before....’’ She sent the little boy to the room before she spoke again, ’’My son has misunderstood the situation and I don’t want to shatter his hopes. He thinks you are here to save us... How can someone save us from this disaster? It’s impossible... impossible.... Are you perhaps travellers?"

Lareina looked around the house in silence as Azrael spoke, ’’We were indeed passing by but things did not seem to be rather fine around here and we also needed shelter for a night so we decided to stop here and see if we could spend a night...’’

’’How unlucky... so unlucky...’’ the woman shook her head, rubbing her chest, ’’Out of all the places, you had to stay in this ominous village...’’

’’Are there few people in this village?" Astra asked, ’’And why would you call it ominous?"

’’Things are not as good around here at all...’’ the woman looked at Astra who had perfected her spell before she got off the boat, and resembled an elderly lady again, ’’After dusk, nobody steps out of their houses because of them.’’

’’Them?"

To Azrael’s questions, the woman looked towards the window and lowered her voice before speaking, ’’Those evil spirits that haunt our village... They would end everyone here, without mercy... They...’’

The woman visibly shivered, unable to speak another word as she shook her head rigorously, ’’You must not ask me about them. You must not. No travellers and outsiders survive around here. If you want to live, just be quiet and spend the night here. When it’s morning, leave without looking back.’’

Moira glared at the woman, "What do you mean by that? Tell us more about it...’’

’’Many thanks for your kindness,’’ Lareina interrupted Moira as she smiled at the woman gratefully.

Moira gritted her teeth and glared at the woman.

...

The woman led them to a small room by the kitchen.

Lareina stopped in her tracks and walked towards the kitchen, ’’Lady, do you have something for us to eat? We haven’t had anything for some time now...’’

The kitchen was downtrodden. A few bundles of leeks were rotting in a corner, ’’The ghosts wreak havoc all the time and we villagers suffer the consequences...’’ the woman sighed, a distinct sadness in her voice, ’’I will quickly prepare something for you all. You can wait in that room.’’

As soon as they entered the room, Moira turned to confront Lareina, ’’Why did you stop me from asking questions earlier? If we don’t question her, how are we going to get to the bottom of the truth?"

’’You cannot get to the bottom of the truth if she decides to kick us out of the house,’’ As Lareina spoke, her gaze shifted to Azrael who had occupied a corner of the room.

The man was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and eyes closed. When Lareina looked up, she found Astra standing at a little distance from Azrael, her eyes gazing at the man’s back in concern.

This has been the situation since they managed to cross the river. Even though both the people were not obvious, Lareina had a nagging feeling that something was amiss. It made her wonder whether Azrael was sick but seeing that he did not seem to be in pain, she could only dismiss her thoughts. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

’’She is just an ordinary demon.... Would she dare to?"

Moira’s words were cut off when Lareina positioned two fingers under her mouth and pressed up on her chin, closing the woman’s mouth.

’’Don’t breathe,’’ she spoke in a whisper but her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Astra was immediately alert, "My Lady, what happened?"