Bound To The Ice Dragon King-Chapter 214: Game night went wrong

Rhea stirred as the midday light filtered through the bedroom curtains, expecting to find the warmth of her husband beside her. Instead, the sheets lay undisturbed. Draven must have left the bed when she was still sleeping. However, despite all the sleep, she still felt fatigued, making the prospect of leaving the bed seem like a monumental task.

Nonetheless, thinking of their outing tonight made her decide to get up. With a slow, deliberate effort, Rhea managed to roll over and slip on her robe. However, the moment she attempted to rise, a wave of dizziness swept over her, compelling her to sit back down, clutching her head in her hands.

Rhea remained seated until her dizziness subsided. She wasn’t accustomed to feeling this sluggish after a long sleep. Furthermore, she was an early morning person but these days, she always seemed reluctant to get out of bed.

Rhea’s routine that once flowed effortlessly now demanded an unexpected effort from her. She summoned the maids, who she rarely allow to help her bath, to assist her now. As they helped her bath, she asked them about Draven’s whereabout. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"He went out in the morning when a guard from the palace came to call him. After awhile he sent someone to tell you that if he didn’t come back before evening, prince Ethan and Lilac will accompany you to Annalise Thorns house for the game night, he will be there to pick you up when he is done at the palace."

Rhea acknowledged with a nod. Draven must have been summoned to the palace for a meeting, as he had previously informed her about the position he was given. However, the idea of going to Annalise’s house without her husband did not sit well with her. She was unfamiliar with most of the guests on the list, except for Fabian Lyndhurst, whom she had noticed had not approached her since their encounter on her wedding day.

Nevertheless, if she declined to attend because Draven was not coming, he might neglect his duties at the palace and accompany her instead. The feeling of dread in her heart had not yet disappeared; she still had the unsettling sense that something was threatening her life if she let her guard down. It was a persistent feeling that persisted despite Draven’s reassurances.

Rhea sighed as she decided it wasn’t a bad idea to go to this game night, perhaps if she got to see more of people, she would be reassured that her current life was a reality that would last forever.

After her bath, Rhea walked out of their room, but even before descending the stairs, she could already hear Lilac and Ethan’s arguing loud voices in the dinning hall. She couldn’t believe these two would be the ones to escort her tonight, but then it wouldn’t be bad to have two brats as escorts.

Rhea strolled into the dining hall. Her eyes immediately caught sight of Lilac and Prince Ethan at the far end, engaged in what seemed to be a heated argument.

Prince Ethan’s voice rose above the din, "Fairy, you can’t just sneak into a gentleman’s chamber at night! I nearly jumped out of my skin waking up to find a purple being sitting there on my bed, you should have some shame as a female!"

Lilac pouted, crossing her arms defiantly. "Oh, come on, prideful prince! Myself was just trying to help you sleep with my magic. You should be thankful instead of warning my humble self to stay away from your deformed chamber, that has no sense of finesse."

Ethan ran a hand through his hair, clearly exasperated. "Helping me or not, I don’t want to ever find you in my room or anywhere close to me. If it hadn’t been for Draven ordering me like his servant to escort his wife with you, I wouldn’t have been here sitting with you."

Rhea, having witnessed their spats before, opted to take a backseat in the dinning hall. She casually settled into her chair at the dining table, observing the spectacle with a bemused expression.

As Lilac angrily slapped Ethan’s shoulders with her magic, he winced, "Ouch! Damn you, fairy. You should be lucky I don’t hit females, I would have—"

"Shut that idiot hole on your deformed face! Myself don’t want to speak to you anymore." Lilac angrily settled back on her chair, rage glint in her purple eyes. "You think I also wanted to be around you? Hump, myself is only in this house to escort Rhea because Mister ordered it."

Rhea couldn’t help but recall a similar scene where Lilac had fought with Ethan because she had frightened Ethan’s female friend with her manipulation powers, warning the young female dragon to stay away from the prince. And when Ethan realized his friend had stopped speaking to him because of the fairy, he had approached her in this house, and just like now, they had fought like they would never speak to each other again. The memory drew a subtle smirk from Rhea, realizing how these two would never ceased to amuse her.

Rhea shifted her attention away from the two and opened the lid on her food. However, the moment the food aroma rose, it turned her stomach. Nausea gripped her, and she pressed a hand to her mouth and nose and quickly covered the food. Chicken soup had always been her favorite, and Draven had always spent a huge amount to get chicken from the dragons who traveled between the realms for her.

But now, the smell of chicken, once comforting, now made her stomach churn. She picked up the bread instead, and ignored her sudden sensitivity to smells. She must be falling under the weather, which had never happened to her before.

As evening approached and Draven didn’t return, Rhea prepared and left the house with Lilac and Ethan, who had stopped speaking to each other after their augument in the dinning hall. They were carried by Nino, prince Ethan’s guardian dragon to Annalise Thorns house, where Rhea noticed was as huge as the tall buildings in the city and looked like it was made with colorful ice.

Upon their arrival inside the house, all the guests were already present. They were all mingling with one another, seemingly familiar. Annalise warmly greeted the three newcomers, introducing Rhea to those who were unfamiliar with her. Rhea noticed that upon hearing she was Draven’s wife and the infamous human girl in the dragon realm, most of the guests acted indifferently, as if considering her beneath them. However, there were some who were interested in getting to know her.

As Rhea attempted to fit in with the group, particularly the welcoming ladies, she started to feel regret for being there. It seemed like a pointless waste of time, with everyone only discussing their strength and wealth. Was this what they referred to as a game night, Rhea wondered. But Just as she pondered this, it seemed as though the host had read her mind, as she announced that everyone should prepare because the game would begin shortly.

Finally, Rhea thought, because she couldn’t wait to return home to her bed and have a good rest. Her body still felt slightly weak.

"The majority of the guests wish to play a game of murder instead of the usual tournament game," Annilse declared, "we usually play a tournament game but because of Lady El-Dezeus, we will play the game of murder."

"Murder?" Rhea asked, mildly startled. Were they going to kill themselves?

Annilse laughed at her expression. "No, Rheanna. Murder game is not an actual killing game, haven’t you heard of it in the human realm? The players draw slips of paper from a bowl to see what parts they are to take. One slip says ’murderer,’ another is labeled ’investigator,’ and all the rest are potential victims. The house will be darkened, and everyone goes to hide."

Rhea replied with an, "Oh, I see." She had never heard of such game or even played it before. She noticed as everyone began to draw the slip one by one. Across the room, her eyes fell on the blue haired man, Fabian. He looked completely uninterested in the game as his golden gray eyes were glued on her.

Rhea quickly averted her gaze from him, as his eyes felt as cold as ice and sent a shiver down her spine. Even though she looked away, she could still sense his eyes on her, making her eager to leave as soon as possible. However, it wouldn’t be appropriate to leave in the middle of a game. Moreover, her two escorts seemed excited about playing.

Lilac and Prince Ethan drew their slips simultaneously, both selecting slips with "victims" written on them. When it was Rhea’s turn, she chose the slip labeled "investigator." She would be the one to search for the murderer while everyone else hid.

"Let the hiding begin!" Annalise declared, and everyone scattered in different directions, searching for hiding spots. Meanwhile, Rhea remained alone in the hallway, waiting for them to hide.

After some minutes when the entire house fell silent, Rhea started to walk around the unfamiliar house, she opened doors in search of the victims. Her heart jolted in fright as she stumbled upon a man laying on the ground with his face disfigured and his body sucked dried. "This... this has to be part of the game," she whispered to herself and closed the door, her task was to find the murderer.

Entering another room, she discovered another woman, whom she had spoken to before the game began, lying in a pool of her own blood, her eyes wide open as if she was really dead. Rhea felt her blood run cold at the sight, "Hell be damned, is the game supposed to be this realistic?" she murmured to herself as she closed the door.

Rhea continued to open doors, some rooms were empty while others had people pretending to be dead. She was already getting tired, who could be the murderer? She thought as she opened another room, but she froze in place at what she saw in the room.

Fabian held Annalise by the neck while she struggled to get free from him but he was sucking the life out of her. Rhea backed away from the door when his once grayish gold eyes that had now turned dark red snapped towards her, "What are you?" Rhea stammered, her fear growing as the man flung Annalise’ body away like a rag doll and started to walk towards her.

As he turned to her completely, she saw the malevolent smoke swirling around his body. "No... this can’t be real." She turned on her heels and ran as she recognized what that black smoke meant. Running in the dark corridor, she collided with someone and stumbled backwards, she almost lost her balance but the person held her hand.

"Why are you running?"

Relief flooded her as she heard her husband’s voice, "Draven, it’s you!" She exclaimed with shaky voice, "I saw it, black magic. I think..."

Attempting to explain what she saw, Draven pulled her hands, "We need to leave this house, Rhea. Erebus’ is back to life and he’s after my core."

Rhea felt her heart slam against her rib cage. Erebus, the evil entity was here in the dragon realm, and is after the core...

Before Rhea could digest those thoughts, Draven began to pull her out of the house. "Prince Ethan and Lilac are still in the house!" Rhea reminded him, "we can’t leave them in there."

"I’ve already taken care of them," Draven replied, a red glint, which Rhea didn’t notice flashed in his eyes. "Don’t worry, I will take care of you as well."