Chapter 120


    #120 The Creature


    Cassandra felt like the ground was falling apart under her feet. She was falling into some hellish


    nightmare. Her mind went nk for a couple of seconds.


    The second Prince Vrehan was standing in front of her. The one man she loathed the most, the one


    she had tried to avoid at all costs until now. Cassandra tried hard to repress her shivers. She couldn’t


    give up now, not just because he had appeared. She had heard the horn, Kairen had to be close, with


    his army. Now that she had stopped running, Cassandra could hear the noise outside. It was far,


    because of how vast the Imperial Pce was, but she could tell something was happening. Probably a


    war between the Eastern and the Imperial Army. Whatever was going on outside, she silently prayed it


    wasing their way…


    Vrehan, too, was hearing it. He frowned, looking at the window with a sour expression.


    “Kairen, that bastard… He was fast…”


    Just hearing his name gave Cassandra a new wave of strength. She took a deep breath, her eyes still


    on Vrehan, thinking about her next move. She couldn’t stay here, Lephys would catch up any second,


    and going forward was now out of the question. She nced sideways. She had hoped to find a real


    exit earlier, but it seemed like she would have no choice but to climb up one of the windows.


    “Oh, well… At least now I got a valuable hostage,” suddenly whispered Vrehan, his eyes going back to


    her.


    Cassandra took a step back as a reflex. She was not going to let him approach her. She had made that


    mistake once, and the cost was Dahlia’s life. She had learned her lesson now.


    Before he could add a word, Cassandra suddenly jumped on the side and did her best to climb the


    window as fast as she could. She heard him yell something unintelligible’ behind her, but she had no


    time to wonder what. It was absolutely desperate, but she couldn’t stay in that corridor. Moreover, the


    words of the Emperor had been circling in her mind for quite some time. The Lake, did he meant that


    Cassandra fell on her feet, in the deep grass of the garden, and started running right away. She knew


    she only had a few seconds at best before both brothers would catch her. She was running as fast as


    she could towards theke. She had no idea what was going to happen if thatke could save her life.


    She just had no other option left. Diving into theke seemed like the craziest resort…


    “Come back here!”


    The fifth Prince had just jumped out of the window too, but Cassandra was several meters ahead of


    him, and had no intention to slow down. The only thing that interested her right now was the Lake, but


    something caught her attention while she was still rushing. Many, many shadows of lines were on the


    ground. She rose her head to understand where those strange shadows came from. A grid!


    That crazy second prince hadid out a grid on the roofs of that area. Thick, long silver chains were


    running between the roofs, covering the open area. Was that meant to keep the Dragons from entering


    that area? She didn’t remember seeing anything like this during her flight earlier with Opheus, but it


    would have been impossible for him to cover the whole Imperial Pce. Had he justid those for the


    areas where he had hidden the Emperor? This was insane! It also exined had’s absence. Where


    had the golden dragon gone, if he wasn’t by his master’s side? Had he been trapped in some way?


    Cassandra didn’t have time to wonder more, as she heard the p of the whip dangerously close


    behind her. She elerated, despite the pain in her back and lower half. The strain from all that


    running and climbing was starting to take its toll on her body. She ignored it, only focusing on theke,


    and running faster than the two princes.


    “What are you doing!”


    She didn’t listen. Her feet were already in the water. She tried to scrutinize the surface of theke as


    she walked in, but she couldn’t see much. With the sunlight’s reflection, it was too deep or too dark to


    see anything past a


    couple of meters on the surface. How deep was thatke? While singing her song weeks ago, she had


    stayed were she could just sit and have the water up her waist.


    Now, she was going as far as she could in theke. The familiar feeling of the water soaking her legs


    gave her some more strength, and she tore the sides of her dress to walk or swim morefortably.


    The whip shed again, whipping the surface right next to her. He had just missed her, but he was far


    enough to hit her!


    “Don’t kill her!” Shout Vrehan. “We need her alive!”


    That sentence may save her life, ironically. Lephys kept trying to get a hold of her, but the Prince


    apparently wasn’t good at gauging his own strength. Either he was too strong and violently shed the


    water, or he missed herpletely. Cassandra kept going, half-swimming now. She knew the Dragon


    Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    Princes wouldn’t follow her into the water, but everything was going to be about how long could she


    stay underneath. (1)


    She took several deep breaths, and when her lungs were full, she finally dived in.


    She heard the whip hitting the water a couple of times above her, and hurried to go deeper down the


    She had no idea where to go. It took her eyes a long minute to adjust to the water, and finally, she saw


    clear. As she had suspected, it was much, much deeper than it looked from the surface. She couldn’t


    tell how much exactly, but she kept going down. As she dived, Cassandra couldn’t help but silently pray


    the air she had stored wouldst the longest possible. She swam past a lot of fish and being merged in


    the underwater world felt a bit eerie in such a situation. Probably no one from the Imperial Family had


    ever bothered to try swimming in thatke. None of the fish looked bothered by her presence, and


    there was no threat. 5


    Cassandra kept diving, again and again. Her constitution was different from the Dragon Empire people.


    Her legs could paddle for a long time without being too tired, and ‘her eyes weren’t troubled by the


    water. Her body could handle the pressure, and her lungs retain air for a long time. 5


    Hence, she kept going down. What had the Emperor hoped she would find in that Lake? Was it even


    the right Lake he had mentioned? It was toote to wonder and worry now. She dived, soon


    surrounded by darkness was she was getting away from the surface.


    As she soon realized, the light wasn’t the only thing slowly disappearing. There were less and less fish


    as she dived deeper down. Why? She would have thought all those underwater creatures would enjoy


    the calm in the lower levels of theke, but instead, all the little fish stayed above the surface, as if… as


    if they were too scared to go down. The few ones that dared go low didn’t stay long, they would go


    back to the surface quickly. Cassandra hesitated. Should she still go down after witnessing that? What


    were the depths of the Lake hiding… 5


    She nced upwards. It felt strangely calm here,pared to what was waiting for her at the surface.


    She had no choice anyway. The danger was surely much more important on the surface…


    The young concubine kept going down, her eyes struggling to see anything in this darkness. She had a


    strange feeling. As if something was lurking at her, in the darkness. Something dangerous.


    Cassandra was starting to feel a little unwell. The air in her lungs was slowly running out, and she was


    tired. Her body was resenting all the vigorous exercise from that day, and the water pressure was


    adding to her pain. She couldn’t go back up yet. She had to spend as much time as she could


    underwater and, even if she couldn’t find anything down there, she should dy her return to the


    surface as much as possible…


    Suddenly, something quickly swam past her. She froze. It was big. Very, very big. It had felt like a long


    body, something much bigger than any underwater creature she had ever heard of. A snake?


    Fear was starting to crawl at the back of her mind. Not being able to see anything was even more


    terrifying. If a beast decided to attack her, she waspletely defenseless. She had left Opheus’


    earring in his brother’s neck to dy his healing process, and she had given her dagger to Missandra


    before they left for the Pce, as her younger sister was a better fighter in case they found themselves


    in such a situation, but she hadn’t even thought of taking it back when they parted ways. She probably


    wouldn’t have, anyway, but now she regretted it. She had


    nothing left to defend herself with…


    The creature moved next to her again, and a loud sound resonated like an echo in the water.


    Cassandra’s eyes grewrger. Wasn’t that… a growl? It was higher-pitched than a Dragon’s, but it was


    so simr to Krai’s growl! It couldn’t be, right?


    Suddenly, this strange growl resonated again, and she turned towards its origin, squinting her eyes to


    try and locate the creature’s position. If it could see her, why hadn’t it attacked already? Was that thing


    what the fish were afraid of? Cassandra focused on the water’s movements around her, trying to figure


    out where that creature would swim to next. It had to be very, very big, from the growl it made… A


    crazy theory was growing at the back of her mind, but it seemed absolutely impossible, unreal…


    Suddenly, two big white lights appeared in the darkness. Cassandra had to cover her mouth not to


    scream and lose some of her precious air. Those were big like diamonds, but they were definitely…


    eyes. A pair of reptilian eyes. .


    The two eyes grew closer, and Cassandra tried to swim away by reflex. Judging from the size of those


    eyes, whatever creature it belonged to had to be enormous! If that thing decided to hunt her, she was


    already dead.


    However, the eyes didn’t appear menacing. Instead, it was growing close slowly, without any animosity


    in them. Cassandra froze, though her heart was beating like crazy. What was that thing? She decided


    to stop and let it approach. She couldn’t go far or fast enough to flee it, anyway. If she had to die, it’d


    better be quick…


    A giant snout appeared below the white eyes. It was covered in scales. Cassandra thought they were


    dark grey, but it could have been any color in this darkness, she couldn’t tell. Maybe dark red, or dark


    purple. The creature’s head approached, her, and itsrge snout sniffed the human woman a couple of


    times. Cassandra was speechless. It was impossible, but she couldn’t unsee this. It was definitely a


    dragon’s head, no matter how she saw it.


    The head was a bit leaner than any dragon she had seen, and there were no little horns on the side of


    its face are on its head, either. Only to long ones, on the top of its head. Though one of those was


    broken. The cheeks were a bit rounder, however, Cassandra noticed the wide and long holes on the


    neck as the creature turned its head slightly. Weren’t those clearly gills…?


    The creature circled around her, clearing gauging her. Cassandra had a hard time calling it a dragon,


    but she was fascinated by that creature. The face was clearly that of a dragon, but its body was


    different from those she knew. It was much leaner, with shorter limbs, and more importantly, the angles


    of those limbs hadrge fans the dragon was agitating slowly or widely to move itself underwater.


    Cassandra was amazed. No matter how she thought about it, those had to be fins… there were several


    on its back, too, and the tail of that Dragon had a simr shape, as well.


    This vision seemed so impossible, she wondered if she hadn’t lost consciousness already, and was


    perhaps hallucinating all this. Yet, the creature was very real next to her. It kept going in circles around


    her, and she could tell its eye wasn’t losing her one second. It growled again, and Cassandra wondered


    if that was it. If she was going to die killed by such an impossible creature. Was that what the King


    wanted her to find?


    Cassandra didn’t have much air left in her lungs. She was suffocating, her head spinning a bit. She


    nced towards the surface. What could she do? It was already a miracle that this dragon hadn’t


    attacked her… It was at least as big as Krai! Such a magnificent creature… Cassandra had no more


    oxygen, she opened her mouth slightly, feeling too tired to fight anymore. The creature slowly swam


    closer to her, and she found the strength to extend her arm. The dragon, if it was one, slid past her,


    letting her finger slid on its skin. It was incredibly cold… unlike Krai’s warm scales. Cassandra


    chuckled, her brain finding that information funny


    She couldn’t hold it anymore. She wanted to close her eyes…


    Onest growl resonated before she lost consciousness.