Hellbents
Chapter 142: Attention

Maybe Ellijah had realized before, only he rejected the idea.

Eve was still a tough opinion, always assume that what he was talking about was always right, because that gave rise to stubbornness. The girl also did not trouble herself with the nonsense of others. Although many nobles indirectly urged the princess to actively fight for the throne, Eve still preferred to focus on what artifacts she wanted to make, leaving Prince Marvin to fight alone with the colossal ego of King Dion who is not willing to appoint an heir, too afraid such as the power of the crown prince he appointed will exceed his power.

When strung together with positive sentences, Eve only lives for herself. But when judged objectively, he is apathetic and individualistic.

However, ever since the princess's escape incident was true, Ellijah still could not believe that Eve was indeed sent to explore-Eve returned to the palace with subtle changes.

Eve sometimes acts protective.

As they engage in a bombing in the capital, Ellijah's back burns. However, because the ice attribute he inherited made his body temperature naturally cold, coupled with his body's increasing resistance along with the high level, the burns that hit him did not hurt in the slightest. Despite that, she would not forget the gentle demeanor that Eve showed after seeing her ripe and red back.

Later during an emergency meeting, Ellijah is a little astonished when the princess helps her sister argue in dealing with the chatty nobles for no reason. Especially when the king ordered him to make an artifact. Usually Eve will only say without really intending, knowing that the king only makes a performance of authority for others to see. But this time Eve really followed orders diligently. Did Eve really intend to create an item to resolve the incident?

What made Ellijah the most shocked was of course last week's incident, which involved a small beastman. It is not a strange sight when discrimination against racial minorities occurs openly, but that is the first time Ellijah heard Eve raise an octave of her voice out of anger. Because upper-class manners education, especially royal, contains ways of behaving and speaking elegantly, not using emotions. So even though she and the princess often argue with sharp words, their vocabulary and speech are still fairly graceful due to ethical learning embedded since childhood. And that royal princess unleashed her anger openly just because of the pushed little boy?

Lastly, it has to do with the little dragon. If indeed he was not a mistress as Eve claimed, it meant that the boy had the status of a stranger in their eyes. However Eve did not even hide her worry during the monster attack last night, immediately heading towards where the dragon was fighting in a hurry. So, Siwon is really Eve's son and an adult dragon? Just imagining it makes Ellijah want to drown the island.

Between those events, he pulled a point. Eve was sympathetic to the weak. The weak, the wounded, the oppressed, belong to a minority, or a small child.

In other words, Eve now had a weakness, a weakness she could exploit.

To test his assumptions, Ellijah took out her sword. Shuts! A wide incision from his elbow to his wrist poured blood profusely. The sword returned to the inventory.

Directly, Ellijah could see Eve instantly stopping her steps. The girl seemed to sniff the air, as she turned her eyes widened, Ellijah was immediately approached. "A-- Aren't you from behind me? Where did this wound come from?" Rose swiftly gave the healing potion along with a handkerchief when the princess raised her hand. In a flash, Ellijah's skin was covered without a trace due to an efficacious remedy. However Eve was still not finished with her confusion, "Are there any monsters whose main weapon is speed? Or the invisible?"

"I just scratched a tree branch."

Eve clearly doubted it. Naturally, because the wound he had was too deep to be categorized as a scratch. In the end, the princess did not ask any further, but she was given a warning, "Then be so careful, there would be no point in having a guard if she was injured."

Eve then orders them to continue the journey, turning Siwon's body still glancing at the curious Ellijah. The song they were singing continued.

Ah, true. Eve has an interest in music now. In retrospect, he found his fiancee who had run away because of a moving image captured by a count on a ship they happened to be riding with. Eve can also cook, an ability she would never have expected from a princess who is always surrounded by servants.

Did during the 4 months the girl disappeared, Eve could turn that drastic?

...

By the way, the experiment was successful, but Ellijah was still not convinced. So, he should try it again later.

Slightly injured in response to the attention of Eve, it was also possible.

The girl does not know that her careless attention brings up a dangerous hobby for Ellijah.

Ellijah is suddenly injured, but the man has no intention of revealing what really happened. Embarrassed? Eggs hurt? Regardless, Ava put up a misgivings throughout the rest of the trip, raising her sense-point status to 80% in order to successfully detect danger early. Fortunately, after Siwon was released from boredom and the butterfly monster was no longer able to distribute it, they finally reached a lake.

... Inhere?

... Did Ava misunderstand again? He refrained from massaging the bridge of his nose.

No, it's impossible. Siwon clearly said "mama's office", and of any culture or ethnicity Ava did not see a lake defined as an office. "Here?" Ava asked to be sure.

"Yes!" The little dragon then descended, scrutinizing the ground closely. After a while, Siwon's voice could be heard merrily, "Ah, see you!"

Click! Metal with metal meet, similar to the sound of a key on the door.

Guoong! Suddenly the land they were shaking, a small earthquake made ripples on the surface of the lake, the water overflowed to wet their toes. Simultaneously, huge glass tubes emerged from within the lake, the longer it got closer to where they stood. The clear door of the tube opens with the sound of "ces!" and warm steam.

... Doesn't this kind of mechanism look more modern? It's a fantasy world, not sci-fi, right?

By the way, if the entrance alone was that grand, wouldn't this lab be a bigger problem than Ava thought? Although Ava knew early on that Eve had named this location a "secret lab", she thought it was a deep-ground bunker, old but sturdy, with a thick iron door to block it from being built, considering he wasn't given the key by Eve.

So his decision to make Siwon a guide was right? Because otherwise, Ava would not have been able to find a way to bring up the tube that seemed to function as the elevator.

By the way, if Eve labeled it "secret", the entrance should be quieter, right? Not accompanied by an earthquake that can be heard from a distance like before.

...

Hm, not his business.

Ava unhesitatingly enters into the open tube before her, Rose and Ellijah follow.

"Oh, kalhian shiap!" Siwon was the last to ride. And like its shadow, the tube is indeed used as an elevator.

But what Ava failed to anticipate was the speed of that thing.

After Siwon pressed the buttons that appeared next to the door, they drove as fast as the wind. Ava even lapsed backwards, befalling Ellijah who helped her downfall. Not only that, their stop was also sudden, their position was instantly reversed, both of Ellijah's hands caged Ava's body as the two fell forward. Forwarded as the tube descended, the lost gravity suddenly made their bodies float. Finally, when he reached the destination point, three people hit the cold floor of the glass tube. Fortunately, Ellijah briefly hugs Ava before they are slapped in gravity, preventing new bruises from appearing. Only Siwon seemed to be unaware of the danger of the elevator they were riding.

Ava's heart was still beating hard, her breathing was also in a hurry. He licked his dry lips.

Wow, that was brutal.

Eve was supposed to be putting on a seat belt or something.