In the darkness of night, flames were reaching high above the rocky cliff at the west gate.
Bodies of the fallen enemy soldiers burned to ashes, the fire illuminating the whole surroundings simultaneously.
At a distance from the blazing flames, mist had gathered around a white haired woman who was kneeling on the ground with a blade pressed against her throat.
"Please my Lord… ah.. spare me." She pleaded for her life.
Valerius' dark eyes ignited with angry flames, when he spoke, his voice was cold as ice,
"Give me one reason at least, why shouldn't I just kill you?"
"There are definitely more than one,"
the woman tried to suppress her anger but the defiance in her eyes born out of her hate for Valerius was to be clearly seen in her demeanor,
"I protected your sanctuary, kept the dangers away from it. Without me, 'he' would've already found you by now."
She glared at him with burning eyes, now completely abandoning any regard that she held for her life a moment ago,
"You want the reason my lord, well I am the reason. Not only did I save your town but also kept your son away from any harm for almost two years now."
"...and yet you didn't stop him from crossing the barrier," Valerius snapped.
"I admit you might not have caused this incident but you could've prevented it easily, that is if you were willing to."
The woman didn't reply to him, only turned her gaze away.
"It's alright now," Sophia stepped forward, removing Valerius' blade from her throat. Her eyes dried up after crying oceans. The wounds on her hands were still recovering under the effect of her core element.
Valerius spoke out, his voice sounding helpless against his wife, "How can you forgive her so easily?"
Sophia mustered up a smile and turned to her husband,
"She could've prevented this incident but the reason she did nothing was your warning against making any contact with our son. She was terrified of you dear. How was she supposed to stop August from crossing the barrier without speaking to him?"
Valerius let out a frown, this was indeed true. He had warned the mist woman against speaking to August thinking that she might pose any ill intent towards him.
However, right now his prevention had resulted in something that could've cost him dearly.
But in reality, Valerius never regretted this decision. The last thing he wanted was August to speak with this creature who hated Valerius for unknown reasons, unknown to her that is.
As Sophia noticed her husband had calmed down a bit she turned to the woman,
"You had the chance to flee and save yourself but you still decided to save our son at the cost of your own life."
Sophia slowly lowered her head as she spoke to her, causing both of them to stare in shock.
"I'll always be indebted to you."
Valerius was more shocked because this was the second time his wife had bowed to any individual in her life. Surprisingly, both of the times happen to be this lady of the mist.
In reality, he had never in his life watched Sophia lowering her head to someone. It was hard for him to believe that this was the same girl he fell in love with.
Back in the days, Sophia was an absolute menace. The ice princess whose every attack happens to be brutal. And the only thing she couldn't compromise with was her pride.
She was extremely prideful.
He should've been happy to see this side of hers but on the contrary, Valerius was fearful of how this life has changed her.
A bitter sweet feeling that was hard to explain.
So it was right afterall, motherhood does change people.
For the better of course.
Watching Sophia's warm smile, the white haired woman couldn't bear to look at it anymore. She was fighting an internal conflict herself. That was proving to be hard to suppress.
"I didn't let him go because I was afraid of your husband or anything. The truth is rather simple."
A deep frown appeared on Sophia's face,
"Oh? Do tell."
The woman didn't reply immediately but started to laugh loudly,
"It's because I wanted to see what happens when that boy reveals himself like a feast to the superior echoes."
Slowly a terrifying glee appeared on her face as Sophia's expressions turned darker,
"I wanted him to suffer, I wanted him to experience the same feeling of pain as me. And gods couldn't be more merciful. They put him in the exact same situation as me."
With a disgusting smile she turned to Valerius,
"... would you like to take a guess my lord?"
Valerius remained silent, calmly suppressing his raging intent. Looking at him she continued laughing,
"In a cage, they put him …in a ca—"
Before she could've finished her sentence a sharp stabbing pain pierced her misty body.
It wasn't Valerius who had attacked her but she realised as soon as she saw a sharp spike of ice plunged into herself.
Valerius turned his gaze away.
It was Sophia who had finally lost her cool.
One after another spikes of crystalline ice emerged from the ground, passing through the mist and piercing her body.
Laughing through the sharp pain her emotions were in conflict with each other as she continued speaking,
"Argh… that's right I hated you, I hate you, and I will hate you for the rest of my life. That's how I justified my inaction. I may not have caused him pain but I sure was ready to hear him scream… aaahhh…"
The sharp ice mercilessly severed the parts of her body even before they could regenerate. Finally in the face of pain she broke into tears. Bracing herself for her death.
It didn't take long for Sophia to carve out her whole body below the neck.
The mist woman opened her eyes groaning in pain, aside from her head every part of her body had turned into formless mist.
Watching that Sophia had stopped her attacks, the woman spoke in trembling voice,
"What happened huh? If you're gonna kill me, do it properly, do it now. That's right I wanted to hurt your child, I enjoyed it you hear? I enjoyed his every scream. Now, do what you must."
"Kill me already dammit" she screamed.
"No you didn't," Sophia finally spoke, her ragged breaths slowing down. Her killing intent also lowered.
"I don't believe you enjoyed his suffering."
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