I wasn’t sure what to do at the moment.

Amelia was currently being held up with a knife by her throat while I was over 20 meters away from her, and more importantly, the person holding the knife was skilled. I could tell from the aura he was exuding.

If I were to fight against him alone, he wouldn’t be powerful or come close to hurting me. However, since he now had Amelia, things were getting complicated. It was definitely a situation that I had never come across in my life until now.

I had cared about people in the past, but not as much as I did with Amelia. Most of the time, in those situations, I would continue fighting as if nothing was happening. But this time, I stopped moving… I didn’t want Amelia to die. I finally had someone with whom I could spend my life with. I hadn’t told her about my secrets, but it was only a matter of time before I revealed my past to Amelia…

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” The demon laughed evilly as he noticed the hesitation in my movements. “It’s probably the first time that I see the great Caedrel Stuart hesitating… what is it?” He turned his head toward Amelia. “You care about her that much?”

I didn’t answer. There was no point in doing that. Instead, I needed to think of a way to save her and analyze the situation.

First, I knew that this man wasn’t alone. He was the only one who had shown himself, but there was at least an archer hiding in the trees. However, I could not find him because the forest was playing tricks on my senses.

Second, the elves should have heard or, at the very least, noticed this fight, which means that there should be some of them heading in my direction as we speak.

Third, there was nothing I could do that would certainly save Amelia’s life at the moment, and I didn’t want to gamble her life.

That’s why my decision was a simple one. I needed to gain time until the elves’ soldiers or guards reached our position. I wasn’t sure how far away the elves’ kingdom was, but I decided to give them a time limit. If they didn’t reach my position in 30 minutes, then I would have no choice but to act on my own and gamble Amelia’s life.

‘Let’s hope that you guys get here in time.’

After all, I had the upper hand here since I knew that those demons weren’t here for Amelia. They were here for my head. They wanted to kill me. I just needed to make them think that I would let them kill me in exchange for her life.

“Let her go,” I muttered in a dark and gloomy tone similar to the one the demon had used beforehand.

“Ha! Ha! Ha! I don’t think I will!” The demon continued laughing as he saw my discomfort.

“What do you want?”

My strategy was simple, gaining time. And that started by talking.

“Isn’t that obvious? Give us your head, and we won’t kill her.”

“Don’t do it, Caedrel! Don’t worry, they won’t do anything to me!”

As Amelia opened her mouth, the person holding her tightened his hold around her neck, choking her mercilessly.

“Don’t open your mouth again, you fucking whore.”

I was fuming, and I had been close to just running in his direction to protect her. But I kept my calm. I needed to show that Amelia wasn’t someone who could dictate my actions because once I did, a target would appear on her back as well, and they would continue to pressure me with her.

“You really think I will surrender because you’re holding onto a girl?” I asked with a smirk. “I guess your superiors didn’t tell you much about me, huh?”

I took a step forward, my aura spreading.

“Now. If you want to kill me, just fight me. I won’t give up my life for a girl. If you want my head, you should kill me right now. Otherwise, you would have lost your opportunity to do so since as soon as I enter the elves’ kingdom, you won’t be able to touch me. At least, not publicly like this.”

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My words were the ones of truth. I truly wouldn’t give my life away for Amelia. As much as I loved her, it wasn’t worth it. I would do my best to save her, but I wouldn’t surrender my life to her. It was simply not worth it for humanity.

The demon holding onto her also knew this. However, he also knew that I cared about her.

“Is that so? Then, I guess we no longer need her!” He said with a shrug as the knife that was placed right against Amelia’s jugular brushed against her neck, blood slowly running down her neck ever so slightly.

“NO!”

My body moved on its own as I saw that the demon was really planning on killing her without any mercy.

However, as I ran as fast as I could, the demon stopped his movement…

“Hm, you really do care about her… interesting.”

Then, as he was about to say something else, there were footsteps heading in our direction. They were loud, and a lot of people were coming in our direction. I already knew who they were without even looking.

The elves.

“I guess we’ll see each other soon, Caedrel…” the demon said as a small portal appeared right behind him. He walked through it while holding Amelia in his arms.

“AMELIA!”

“CAEDREL!”

I ran as fast as I could, my eyes turning bloodshot. However, the portal was closing faster than I moved… and by the time I had reached it, it had closed… and the demon who had captured Amelia was gone right before my eyes.

‘Why didn’t I think of this…’ I clenched my fists because of how stupid I had been. ‘Of course, they had means to escape! They wouldn’t come here without the slightest plan.’

I hit the ground with my fists, and a shock wave occurred because of the impact…

I was angry. I had been stupid. I had tried to rely on something other than me, and because of that, I had failed. Now that Amelia had been captured by Perdere, who knows what they would do to her.

Torturing her for answers was the most logical avenue…

‘Torture. Let’s hope you can handle it by the time that I find you…’ I thought as I clenched my fists once more, blood running down the palms of my hands.

However, I had no idea where they had taken her, probably their headquarters. But I had no idea where they were even located… one thing was sure, Amelia would be suffering because of my actions.

“That’s always what happens when someone gets close to me… they end up getting hurt because of me. This is all my fucking fault… it’s always my fault.”

I could only blame myself. I knew that I shouldn’t have brought Amelia with me to the elves’ kingdom. But I conceded even when I knew that it was dangerous and that something wrong could happen. I should have forced her to stay in the human kingdom…

“Fuck…I’m stupid. I’m so stupid…”

As I continued to ramble on by myself, the elves, which had been the ones causing all this ruckus, finally arrived. They all glared at me as if I was some kind of grand enemy that they needed to take down.

“Who are you?” A beautiful, golden-haired elf uttered, looking down at me from the tree branch she was standing on. “And why did you cause so much destruction within the magical forest of Mother Nature?”

I knew that I needed to explain myself. If I didn’t, then they would also try to kill me.

“My name is Caedrel Stuart. I was just attacked by a few demons who tried to assassinate me. My girlf-, my friend has also been captured by them just now.”

As soon as I uttered my name, murmurs were spread within the group of elven soldiers.

It seemed they had heard of me because of the articles going around about me. Honestly, it was probably the first time that someone recognized me… it was a strange feeling, but it wasn’t one that I hated all in all.

“Can you give us proof of your identity?”

“Uh…” I rambled in my spacial pouch, trying to find something. “Just a second.”

After a few more seconds of searching through my stuff, I pulled out an article about me. I had decided to keep a few in my spacial pouch as a memory of sorts. However, never in a million years would I have thought that it would serve in such a situation.

In the article, there was a big picture of me holding onto Alexandra by the neck.

“Here, would that do?”

The beautiful golden-haired elf observed it and frowned slightly at the article. After all, it wasn’t the most flattering one for me… still, it wasn’t like everyone would get articles written about them.

“What is your purpose for coming to the elven kingdom?” She asked after a few moments.

“I’m here to meet up with an old friend.”

“Who is she? Give me her name.”

“Aelua Lumoira.”

The eyes of all elves widened at the same time I uttered her name.

“You… how do you know that name?”

“I told you, she’s just an old friend of mine. Now, then, could we please head to the elven kingdom. It’s not that I’m in a hurry… but I sort of am now that my friend was kidnapped.”

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