Wade's fingers were long and thin. At that moment Lucian trembled and wanted to dodge.
But the finger still pressed on his brow, leaving him unable to move and could only look directly at Wade.
Wade's eyes were cold. This was not the reaction Lucian had imagined. He shuddered. Some memories of the holy pool came back to him. He wanted to close his eyes, but he heard Wade's cold voice.
"Very scared, huh."
"… "
"This is the first time I've seen such a terrifying monster.
"… "
"Why don't you run away?"
"… "
"…How do you know I'm there?"
"… "
Lucian never spoke. Wade remained silent for a long time and snorted coldly: "Evan is a piece of trash."
“…You were the one who called me over first.”
Lucian saw that Wade opened his eyes slightly. He continued to act pitiful and said slowly: "Through mental connection. You were the one who needed me first..."
Vader was stunned.
He looked at Lucian quietly, as if to confirm whether his words were true or not. Lucian saw that there was hope, and continued to complain: "If you don't believe it, forget it. Don't you know that you have the ability of a mermaid? Your voice came from the spiritual connection, so of course I walked over by myself..."
"Is that so?"
Lucian: …
“Shouldn’t you thank me?” Lucian got angry. He gave up the attempt to show weakness and just raised his head angrily. “If it weren’t for me, you would have died in the holy pond. Well, I’ll tell you, and you repay me with hatred first…”
Wade was also extremely angry at that moment. He pinched Lucian's chin and said, "You were the one who almost died in the holy pond - who gave you the talisman?"
"What spell?"
"A spell to restore my sanity. That is not something you have the life experience to master."
Lucian was stunned, as if he was suddenly choked, and the arrogant and domineering expression on his handsome face gradually disappeared.
"…It's none of your business." He said subconsciously.
"… You don't want to say it?"
Wade smiled strangely. He looked at Lucian and said darkly, "Another little secret, Lucian. Congratulations, you almost died again..."
"Your Majesty Vader!"
Evan's anxious voice came from outside the barrier. Evan: "The civil strife of the elves, Your Majesty Vader..."
Wade paused for a long time, then coldly told Evan: "Before that, I need to take care of something. Find me a room and some potion materials."
"Yes." Evan said faithfully.
Wade picked up Lucian and was about to leave the Elven Tree. Before he stepped out of the barrier, he heard Lucian whisper, "I know I won't die."
"What?"
"Because... it was you who was in the pool." Lucian said softly, "Ved, why were you in the pool? Did you remove the poison from my body?"
"… "
After a long silence, Wade sneered and said, "What, are you playing the lucky card? Don't take it for granted. You died just because you were so lucky, that's all."
"… "
"Don't think too much, Lucian. You just need to stay by my side and be my canary." Wade said, "I hate people who act on their own and run around."
He bent down and kissed him—more like biting than kissing. Then, he pressed his thumb hard on Lucian's lips, rubbing the wound he had bitten maliciously until Lucian began to tremble slightly.
"You are quite afraid of pain, aren't you?" Wade sneered, "You should be taught a lesson and behave yourself. Stop being self-righteous and speculative, otherwise you won't..."
Once again, I got hurt because of me.
Then, Lucian opened his mouth and took Wade's thumb in.
The softness made Wade tremble. He looked down and saw Lucian half-closed his mouth, looking listless.
"Stop pinching me." Lucian said vaguely, "If you pinch me again, I will bite you."
Vader: …
Then, Wade pulled out his thumb forcefully, and after a brief pause, he continued to hold Lucian, and walked away with his face as black as the bottom of a pot.
Lucian huddled in his arms, and soon began to breathe evenly.
His physical injuries had indeed been healed, but now he was too tired to sleep.
…
Lucian soon found out what Wade was going to do with those potions.
He was half asleep and half awake when he was awakened by a burning sensation on his back. It felt hot, numb and itchy. Lucian struggled to run forward, but Wade pressed his spine and fixed him to the bed.
Lucian struggled and cried. It felt so itchy, like there were many ants crawling on his back. Wade pressed his back and seemed to be sweating. He said in a deep voice: "Be quiet, don't move."
"What did you do..."
"I'm giving you a rune so that you can behave yourself and run around without any worries in the future - so that you can figure out who owns you." Vader said, "Lucian, you asked for this yourself."
Lucian sobbed, but was restrained and unable to move.
The rune carving didn't stop until the second half of the night. Lucian was sweating all over, even his long silver hair was sticking to his face. He was in a trance, gasping for breath, and saw his back in the mirror.
There was a rune on his lower back that looked like a rose branch. The rune was dark red due to his rising body temperature, and the branch went all the way down, as if winding into the body.
As the body temperature dropped, the flower branch disappeared.
Lucian fell asleep exhausted after finishing the tattoo. Before falling asleep, he was still mumbling curses with all his remaining strength. Wade put him on the bed and quietly watched his sleeping face.
"Weid..." He heard Lucian talking in his sleep.
When he heard his own name, Wade shuddered. He closed his eyes, expectantly yet desperately wanting to hear what Lucian wanted to say.
Then he heard the second half of the sentence.
“… You hate me now.”
Wade suddenly wanted to laugh. His throat felt dry and his lips seemed to be rusted. But in the end, he could only say "Hmm" softly.
When Wade came out of the room, several of his subordinates were already waiting at the door. Evan explained to him: "When you broke into the forbidden land of the Elven God Tree, the internal strife within the Elven tribe escalated further - the escaped priest's younger brother, the Dark Elf Clyde, led the Dark Elves to make a comeback. The Light Elves were caught off guard and are now fighting back. Clyde is a very capable and talented person, and now the Dark Elves regard him as their leader."
Vader did break into the forbidden area of the elves. When he broke in, he was blocked by many light elves. However, before the conflict between Vader and the light elves escalated, the dark elves had already led their troops to attack the location of the light elves.
The light elves were caught off guard and attacked from both sides. Finally, Vader made a deal with Beavis - he would let his well-trained soldiers assist the light elves in resisting the dark elves. Besides, Beavis couldn't beat Vader anyway.
The light elf had no choice but to agree to Vader's request and let him enter the forbidden area. However, when discussing the terms of exchange, a small accident occurred.
Vader's condition was that he would wait for him to leave the forbidden area, and in return, he would kill all the dark elves. But the gentle Beavis showed strong opposition to this.
At that time, it was about Lucian, and Weide had no time to talk to them more. Now that Lucian was safe, it was finally time for him to consider these things.
"What did you learn from your negotiations with them? What do the dark elves want? To take away the so-called 'orthodox' status of the light elves?" Vader asked Evan, who had been in charge of this matter outside the forbidden area. "Or money?"
"No, they have no interest in this. But Clyde made a strange request. He only needs a light elf captive - Priest Beavis." Evan said, "This is the only request he made."
Wade sneered. He propped his temple with his hand and asked casually, "To avenge the previous humiliation?"
"Maybe." Evan said.
A servant came in and whispered something. Evan Wade: "The elf priest is outside."
"Let him in." Wade said.
The blond elf came in from outside. Compared with the past few days, he looked much paler and haggard, and frowned. When Wade saw him come in, he said casually: "Your sacred tree will slowly recover within 500 years."
Beavis seemed to be slightly relieved. He whispered, "Thank you very much."
"Besides that, I think there is another piece of news you need to know."
Wade told Beavis about what he had obtained, that the sacred tree was greedy after obtaining the divine blood, and in order to gain stronger faith and more fighting, it took the initiative to cause a war among the elves.
"… The souls of every elf who died in the battle returned to the sacred tree. No matter if they were light elves or dark elves. And those dead souls were used by the twisted sacred tree as nutrients for its own transformation into gods. This war that lasted for nearly a thousand years was fueled by the sacred tree behind the scenes."
Beavis was stunned for a long time after hearing the news. Finally, he whispered, "So that's how it is."
"... Hundreds of years of conflict, so many wars, and it turned out to be like this." Beavis smiled bitterly, "It turns out that we are indeed... originally one clan. And our original belief in the sacred tree..."
It turns out that the sacred tree is also selfish. Wade is not Beavis. But when he saw Beavis's face suddenly turn pale, he could tell how devastated this priest who believed in the sacred tree was when he first learned the truth.
"What do you want to do?" Vader asked him.
"I don't want you to kill the dark elves. The conflict between the light elves and the dark elves has been too deep for many years." Beavis frowned, "If you do this, we will be together forever... There will never be a day of reconciliation again."
"Excuse me, Elf Priest. Is it because the current leader of the dark elves is your brother?" Wade tapped the sofa with his hand.
Beavis was stunned for a moment and said, "No."
He closed his eyes slightly and whispered, "Because I am a priest of the elves. Every priest of the elves should sacrifice himself for his people and regard the interests of the entire elves as the value of his life. Now that I know the truth about this so-called dispute, naturally, I can't just sit back and watch."