Chapter 306: A Different Kind of Condition

Electra’s POV

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard.

Actually—no, scratch that. I refused to believe it.

Yura Ashwyn, that quiet little nobody in the oversized green sweater, had really just stood there, looked me in the eye, and told me that if I wanted her to join the team, I’d have to get on my knees and apologize. To her.

For nearly drowning her, sure, but still.

I scoffed as loudly as I could, letting the sound hang in the air between us like a slap. Seraphina flinched, and Irina muttered something under her breath, but I didn’t care. My blood was hot. My pride, hell, my entire being, was practically twitching from the insult.

Who the hell did Yura think she was?

Yes, I’d done what I did back then, and I could understand the resentment since I did almost kill her, but I thought she would at the very least be ready to be civil enough to get through one damn tournament. Apparently, I was wrong.

She stood there like she’d grown an inch taller, like she suddenly had the upper hand.

“You know what?” I said, stepping forward.

Irina caught on immediately. “Electra,” she warned sharply. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

I ignored her. My boots crunched over the gravel as I walked straight up to Yura until there was barely a foot between us.

Yura didn’t back down. Big mistake if you ask me.

“Listen,” I started, my voice low and laced with venom. “You little snake.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she still didn’t flinch.

“You must’ve forgotten who I am,” I continued, each word cold and deliberate. “You must’ve hit your head too hard when we threw you into that pool, weeks ago, might I add, because clearly, clearly, you’ve forgotten your place.”

“Electra—” Irina started behind me, her voice full of warning.

“Let me finish,” I snapped.

I kept my eyes locked on Yura’s, and not for one second did she look away. I hated that, hated that she stood her ground.

“You want an apology?” I hissed. “Fine. You deserve one, but don’t ever, and I mean don’t you ever, ask me to kneel. Do you understand me? If you ever say something like that again, you won’t need to worry about archery because you won’t even be able to stand, let alone shoot.”

I heard Seraphina take a sharp breath, and Irina let out a long, frustrated sigh. I didn’t care. This needed to be said.

“I’m the crown princess of Elmeria, and if I wanted to, I would force you to join the team and have you heavily punished if you don’t do as I ask,” I said, straightening to my full height. “You’re just some half-snake outcast who happened to survive something you probably should’ve died from, so try not to step out of line if you don’t want a more permanent case of drowning to death.”

Yura’s lips pressed into a thin line. Her face was pale, but her eyes? Her eyes were on fire, and for a second, just a second, I thought maybe she’d cry, or storm off, or even try to slap me, but she didn’t.

She just stood there, and then, unbelievably, she smiled. A slow, bitter, knowing kind of smile, and then she laughed.

Not loudly. Just a short breath of a chuckle, like she couldn’t believe me either.

“You know what’s funny?” She said, her voice soft and calm. “I thought maybe you’d changed, maybe just a little. I mean, you came to me for help. You literally asked me to save your team. That takes some humility, right?”

I clenched my jaw.

“But no,” she continued, her smile fading. “You’re still the same spoiled, arrogant brat who ordered me to be pushed into a freezing pool of dirty water and didn’t even care if I made it out.”

I rolled my eyes at Yura, not even bothering to hide it. I was done with this, completely and utterly done.

I opened my mouth, ready to turn to Irina and Seraphina and tell them this was pointless, that we should just forget Yura and find someone else who wasn’t emotionally deranged or still clinging to old grudges, but just as I was about to speak, Yura let out a sigh.

“If you had actually gone on your knees to apologize,” she said slowly, her voice strangely calmer, “I would’ve walked away and refused to join your team.”

I blinked. “What?”

She shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I needed to see how much of a brat you still were.”

I frowned, completely confused. “Are you seriously saying that if I had done what you asked, you would’ve not helped us?”

“Exactly,” she said, as if that explained everything.

For a second, none of us said anything. Then Seraphina muttered behind me, “Okay, that’s… weird reverse psychology at its finest.”

But Yura wasn’t done. She crossed her arms and looked me straight in the eye, her expression more serious than I’d ever seen it.

“That wasn’t even the real condition,” she said.

“Oh, wonderful,” I muttered. “There’s more.”

Yura ignored me and turned slightly, addressing all three of us now. “The only thing I want from you, the only thing I really care about, is that you save my sister.”

My brows scrunched in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

Before I could ask anything else, Seraphina stepped forward, her brows furrowed in concern. “Yura… what do you mean? What does Yuna need saving from?”

Yura let out a slow breath, as if she had been holding it in for a long time. “She’s not… right,” she said softly. “Not since she came back from her suspension.”

I folded my arms, still not sure where this was going. “Okay, so she hates me. So what? She always did.”

“No,” Yura said sharply, her gaze snapping to mine. “This is different. This is something else. It’s like the hate she has for you has taken over her entire personality.”

I tilted my head slightly. “That’s dramatic.”

“You know she’s hanging out with that Iris girl now,” Yura added, her voice dropping like she’d just said the name of the devil. “And she’s not just spending time with her; she’s changing. She’s doing things she never would’ve done before. She’s meaner, colder, and she looks at people like… like she’s judging how easily she can ruin them and how superior she is to them.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like she found her inner villain. Good for her?”

Yura took a step closer to me. “No. It’s not good for her or good for anyone. Deities should not be villains.”

I stared at her for a second. Her eyes weren’t angry anymore; they were pleading.

“I don’t know what Iris is doing to her,” Yura continued, her voice softer now. “I don’t know if it’s manipulation or some kind of spell, or if she’s just feeding Yuna’s worst instincts until there’s nothing left but bitterness, but I know it’s not who Yuna really is.”

“And you think I broke her,” I said flatly.

Yura nodded. “Yes, and I think you’re the only one who can fix her. You may regard us as mere snakes, but even abnormalities like us have rules, Electra, and I don’t want my sister breaking them.”

I stared at her, feeling like the ground had tilted slightly beneath me.

“You want me to… what?”

“Get her away from Iris,” Yura said. “Help her come back to herself, or at least try. I’m not asking for a miracle. I’m asking you to care enough to fix what you helped destroy.”

“I didn’t tell her to become a raging lunatic,” I muttered.

“You humiliated her,” Yura snapped. “You got her suspended. Do you have any idea what punishment she faced back home for losing control and publicly embarrassing the deity of Varynthia? She was forced to learn the hard way, and now she thinks the only way to ever feel better again is to destroy you.”

That stung more than I wanted to admit.

“She’s obsessed with you,” Yura went on. “And Iris is feeding it. I see it in her eyes. Every time she brings your name up, there’s this twisted joy in her voice, like she wants to see you fall just so she can be the one to say she pushed you.”

I looked down at the dirt for a moment, my thoughts spinning.

“She could get hurt playing besties with Iris,” Seraphina said quietly.

Yura nodded. “Or she could hurt someone else. Never underestimate a snake.”

I swallowed.

“Do this,” Yura said, her tone soft. “Help her, and I’ll join the team. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you don’t lose your crown. I’m not bad with a bow. You’ll have your six members, and you’ll have a shot at winning.”

I hesitated.

I didn’t want to be responsible for someone else’s spiral because I already had too many messes in my life, but I suddenly couldn’t shake the image of Yuna’s resentful eyes anytime we ran into each other.

“Fine,” I said, finally. “I’ll do it.”

Yura blinked. “You will?”

I nodded. “If it’s the only way to get you on the team, then sure, I guess. I’ll try my best to un-break your broken sister, if that makes any sense.”

Yura exhaled, like she’d been holding her breath this entire time.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Oh, don’t thank me yet, kid,” I said. “I haven’t fixed anything.”

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