The Sub Male Lead is Burning with Jealousy - Chapter 8 Part 8
‘Can he win? Will he be okay? Will he return to me without serious injuries…?’
Will he even be able to return? As these worries began to turn into fear, Anais anxiously looked around, searching for an exit.
The palace was completely deserted, as expected. She remembered that the mages had left markers here and departed. The exact location of this place was still unknown, and she had overheard the imperial mages discussing how it needed to be measured.
It was likely… far from the imperial capital, possibly days away. Dragons rarely settled near human cities. When they did, it was either the humans who were driven out, or the humans who eventually killed the dragon—one or the other.
As Anais ran aimlessly, she suddenly heard a loud rumbling growing closer and instinctively ducked.
BOOM!
The entrance of the corridor collapsed, followed by a series of cracks along the walls. She saw an enormous amount of blood pouring through the debris and wondered if the dragon had been wounded—or perhaps even killed.
‘Is that even possible?’
But if that blood belonged to Rahil, it meant he was already dead. Anais stood frozen, unable to move, staring at the blood-soaked entrance.
She had no idea how much time had passed, but light was streaming into the corridor through the entrance. While there were magical light sources inside the corridor, they only emitted a soft glow.
With the entrance fully collapsed, blocking out the light from the garden, the corridor had grown even darker.
…Thud!
The sound of a large stone dropping made Anais flinch. Coming to her senses, she quietly stepped behind one of the thick columns, trying to remain hidden.
Peering out from her hiding spot, she saw a blade, glowing with a blue aura, slicing through the rubble and stones as if they were butter. Anais watched with a mix of hope and uncertainty as the blade carved a path through the debris.
When she saw the light filtering through the makeshift opening, she realized something.
Even the light in the garden was artificial. The shadows cast by magical light were different from those of natural sunlight.
Rahil stepped through the gap he had created. He seemed to know exactly where Anais was hiding, as he immediately turned his head in her direction.
He was… covered in blood.
Anais felt like her breath had caught in her throat as she stepped out from behind the column. Rahil, who seemed relieved at first, quickly approached her with long strides.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
For a brief moment, the thought crossed her mind that this might not be Rahil, but rather the dragon disguised by magic. However, when her eyes met Rahil’s concerned blue gaze, her fears melted away.
Realizing that she hesitated to approach because of the blood-soaked sword he held, Rahil quickly flicked the blade to shake off the blood and set it aside.
“Are you hurt…? Ahck.”
As Anais rushed into his arms, Rahil skillfully caught her, letting out a sigh of relief. He could feel her heart racing as he held her tightly.
“I was so worried.”
She had been terrified, fearing he might die. As she cupped his face with trembling hands, Rahil smiled softly, relieved that she was unhurt and grateful that the dragon hadn’t taken her from him.
“The dragon fled.”
The realization that he had managed to drive it away made Anais nod. Survival had been the priority, and she couldn’t fault him for that. After all, she hadn’t been able to help him at all.
Her body was still trembling with residual fear. Rahil wished he could wrap her in a cloak to comfort her, but they were both in their nightclothes, and he was covered in the dragon’s blood.
“Since I wounded it badly, it won’t be coming back anytime soon. I’ll stay by your side, so don’t be afraid.”
Was a Sword Master really this extraordinary? Capable of facing a dragon alone? Anais suddenly recalled Rahil’s threat. He had said he would order her father and brother to hunt a dragon.
‘Maybe he wasn’t joking after all.’
It wasn’t a statement made out of disbelief. Although he was covered in blood, his body bore no wounds, and there were no signs of overexertion.
‘Well, if he had taken even one hit, Rahil probably wouldn’t have survived.’
The mere thought made Anais’s skin prickle with goosebumps, and she clung to Rahil even more tightly. As she burrowed deeper into his embrace, Rahil hesitated for a moment, about to press a kiss to her forehead, but stopped himself. He wasn’t sure where on his face the dragon’s blood had splattered.
The dragon’s blood that covered him had already smeared onto Anais’s body. He didn’t want to get it on her face as well.
“…Let’s wait for the mages to open the portal. But first, let’s clean off this blood.”
Anais nodded in agreement at Rahil’s soothing whisper.
***
The warmth of her touch still lingered on his palm. Kirthalros gritted his teeth, seething with anger as he nursed his wounds. It had been centuries since Radiel had died. The ring should have only reacted to the magic he had embedded in her soul…
“Radiel… Radiel…”
In her original life, she had black hair and blue eyes, but in this new life, only her eye color remained the same.
Even back then, she had tried to escape from him, claiming she had a family. When he burned down her village to prevent her from returning, Radiel collapsed.
After that, she never smiled at him the same way again. Kirthalros had been furious, wanting to kill her, but harming Radiel was something he couldn’t bring himself to do. Instead, he was shocked to find her trying to take her own life.
He built a palace for her, gathering all the rarest treasures of the world to make her happy. But Radiel showed no interest in any of it, and gradually, she began to wither away.
Seeing her lose vitality whenever he was near, Kirthalros found himself repeatedly leaving on long journeys to find new treasures, desperate to bring her joy.
Perhaps he had spent too much time searching for the treasures on the Third Continent? When he finally returned after six months, there was something suspicious in her demeanor.
