Darkness' Touch

Chapter 26: The Unfortunate

"How shameless can you be?! Barging inside without permission-"

"Let him speak." Lord Alcasser cut the knight's sentence off. He was also surprised by the knight's behavior. But no one is ignorant of the fact that a sign of disrespect is never tolerated in any place held by the Dukedom, he instantly knew something was off.

"I-it's about the Lady."

The old Lord frowned and stood up from his seat.

"She's being held hostage by a rebel who set himself free." that single statement of the knight was enough for the two of the most powerful men in the Empire to storm out of the room.

Screams of the prisoners could be heard, all of them were screeching in agony as the temperature became a lot harsher than before. Even the knights standing on the safe zone couldn't take it and immediately cast spells to protect themselves.

"Where is Avy?" the Duke asked the knight who informed them about the current situation who could barely keep up with them.

"Th-third floor. Balcony."

~~~

"If I see someone coming near us, I will kill this girl!! Open the gates and let me out!!" the rebel threatened all of the people present on the scene. His hand was shaking but he kept the blade on Avy's neck.

"Hey mister. What's your problem?" Avy was holding the man's arm, cautious that he might suddenly go crazy and slash her throat out of nowhere. They were still on the balcony, no one dared to move from where they were standing.

"I-I would never stay in this place. Your demon of a father dragged us here. This is all his fault." the man replied in a shaky voice.

"Then stop being a coward and deal with him instead of using me." she said with a short chuckle as if she's not minding the danger she was in even though mentally, she's already searching her brain on how she could escape from the man's grasps.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" said the rebel, pressing the blade harder on her neck that blood dripped from it.

Damn. Her wound was just healing after being almost assassinated, and now, another bastard is testing her patience.

"I can help you escape, Avy. But I will be risking our secret. I will let you pick." Ares stated. Of course, he can't let his host die, especially when she became his only hope to get out of the suffocating cage that trapped him for hundreds of years. He doesn't know how long will it take for another unique human who can handle his power to appear once again.

'No. I can get out of this.' she responded

Only a few know about it, but she actually learned from her uncle who's a crazy martial arts enthusiast. She's been with him all her life and witnessed so many kinds of fighting styles. And of course, most of them are too much for her weak body to handle. But as much as she's incapable of winning fights, she's also prideful enough to despise losing any of them. She hated being on the ground and tapping to surrender. She hated physical activities but she took the loss as humiliation, hence she paid attention to her uncle.

"You're already seven! Old enough to learn to defend yourself." the seven-year-old Annie stood in front of her Uncle Lorenzo with an unhappy look on her face.

"I'd rather read books." she said.

"Is reading fun?" Lorenzo asked her crouching down to her level.

"Being dumb is not." little Annie answered with a straight face that she got from her Dad, she thought acting like his is way nicer than acting like her Mom. Her mom is always surrounded by people. She doesn't like crowds.