The Hidden King's Stolen Wife
Chapter 153: Snake of a Man

Chapter 153: Snake of a Man

Rafael blinked, as though he was confused. He cocked his head to the side like a curious child. "Princess Nessa, you know who I am."

"No, I don’t!" Nessa nearly screeched. "If you’re a humble landed knight, I’ll eat my whole foot. No commoner could have such a powerful type of magic! It’s too distinctive!"

Or more accurately, no royal family would let a commoner with such a terrifying power live to tell the tale.

"No commoner you know," Rafael corrected placidly. He held out his arms. "But here I am. Living proof that commoners can have incredible powers. You’ve already met Orion. He was a commoner and he slayed a dragon. As it stands, our existence is rare, but it’s not an impossibility."

Rafael reached down and purposely drew their attention to Orion’s condition. He was still in his cell, barely breathing.

"If we stay here any longer, he’d die from infection. We need to rescue him and leave before the guards realize what happened," Rafael said gravely. He turned to Princess Nessa with a faint apologetic glance. "You can ask your questions later."

Nessa’s eyebrow twitched. This was such an obvious attempt at changing the subject! However, she couldn’t deny that his words weren’t false. She had seen too many incredible things in the span of one night. Orion Elsher’s deeds were well-known, Sir Ralph commanding blood the same way she commanded the waves and Soleia’s nullification ability.

God. That last one was more shocking than anything she had witnessed. But that made it all the more important for her to figure out ’Sir Ralph’s’ true identity.

The three of them tried to move him, and he shifted weakly. His eyes opened just a crack, and a low, weak groan escaped his lips. It was more a breath than an actual vocalization of sound, but Soleia was relieved that he hadn’t died yet. She touched his head and found it was boiling from a fever.

She turned to look at Sir Ralph. "Can you heal some of his wounds before we go? I’m afraid the travel might be too much for him."

"I’m not that good of a healer. I will need more time and space to focus, and that’s what we cannot afford now," Rafael said apologetically as he knelt down to examine Orion’s punctured arms.

Nessa immediately raised an eyebrow. The blood manipulator could also heal. How wonderfully convenient.

Not to mention a little familiar. She squinted her eyes. Now where else had she heard of such a unique combination?

Soleia bit her lip. She had been counting on Sir Ralph to work miracles. But she understood that circumstances were impossible for him― how could he heal Orion while carrying him out? It wasn’t as though Soleia and Nessa could carry him.

"I could take care of the biggest wounds, but we need to move―" Rafael continued, but Nessa interrupted him.

"I’ll transport him," Nessa offered. She refused to let Orion Elsher languish in a cell, dying from his wounds, especially not when Sir Ralph would benefit the most from Soleia’s impending widowhood.

She focused her energies and created a raft out of water that supported Orion. Soleia winced when she realized the water was slowly turning reddish pink due to his wounds. It must have hurt, but Orion barely made a sound of protest.

That wasn’t a good sign. She was also worried that Nessa might not have enough power to sustain the raft, since there was no telling how far they were fleeing. Nessa may be able to lift more than her usual limit due to her hydromancy, but there was still a limit.

"Are you sure?" Rafael said with a wrinkled nose. "That thing does not look in the least bit stable."

"It worked well enough to get us across the dungeon and out of the line of fire of a whole horde of knights after our lives," Nessa said with a scoff and a roll of her eyes. This snake of a man was starting to get on her nerves, and every word that left his lips felt like a personal attack.

What did Princess Soleia even see in this man to put so much trust in him? Nessa was no great judge of character — especially with how things with Elowyn went — but even she could tell this man was anything but simple.

"We’re counting on you," Soleia said, completely ignoring Ralph’s words.

"I will," Nessa nodded, touched by the trust Soleia had shown in her. Even if Soleia had not forgiven her for her earlier insult, Nessa decided that she would make up for it in any way that she could, whether it was offering Soleia a safe haven to live in, or helping her dig out the true intentions of this particular Sir Ralph.

She still didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. He still hadn’t explained his lack of action about her report on Elowyn’s actions.

"Let’s go," Rafael said, slightly regretful at the fact that they were not alone. While Orion was unconscious, Princess Nessa’s presence made it awfully inconvenient for Rafael to enact his plans. He had to find some way of shaking her off.

Soleia took one last glance at the countless bodies lying in the other cells. "Can we..."

"We can’t," Rafael said firmly, detecting the unsaid question in her eyes. "We have our hands full with Orion as it is."

"But I can transport all of them out," Nessa protested. "I think I can make the raft bigger―"

"And we would be found out in seconds, which renders our entire escape attempt moot," Rafael couldn’t help but point out. "We can hide one body. It would be impossible to hide an entire party of near-dead men."

He tried to sound polite, but a slight snide tone escaped him. If Soleia was a goddess so intelligent she made mere mortals weep, then Nessa was... to put it lightly, not on her level.

Soleia nodded reluctantly. Sir Ralph had raised a very good point. Meanwhile, Nessa twitched in irritation, but she forced herself to keep her mouth shut since there were bigger concerns.

They emerged from the dungeons. Thankfully, no one had noticed that a prison break had occurred.

"Where are we going?" Soleia whispered worriedly.

The palace was out of the question and so was Drankenmire. It was too far― not to mention with Orion stripped of his rank, the duchy wasn’t his any longer. Her father’s men might already be on the way there to arrest the rest of the Elsher household.

She continued, "The sunrise is happening soon. We need to go before the guards change their shifts."

At the same time, Ralph and Nessa spoke.

"To Raxuvia."

"To the docks."