Chapter 253: A Dead Man's Smile

Ravian did not stop at her words; he tilted his head slightly as he looked at Layla hiding behind the two guards, then raised the red stone level with his face.

“Crazy? That’s not a very nice way to speak to someone offering you exactly what you just asked for, Miss Augus.”

The guard with the eye patch moved before Ravian finished speaking. Ravian barely caught the beginning of the motion before the old man’s fingers closed around his wrist, stopping the hand holding the stone from moving any farther forward, while a sword blade settled between them without touching him.

Ravian stopped and lowered his eyes to the hand gripping him.

The grip was firm, and the slight pressure he applied failed to move his wrist at all. His body had become far stronger, but the gap between the Ninth and Sixth Ranks was not something he could overcome simply by wanting it badly enough.

Even so, his smile remained.

“Keep it away from my young lady,” the guard said quietly, all traces of his earlier disdain gone. “We can talk without you approaching her like this. If you want to die, don’t drag everyone else down with you.”

Malrik immediately stepped forward, followed by Darius, who still held his sword, but Ravian raised his free hand toward them before they could come any closer.

“Hold on, everyone. It seems this gentleman has finally started speaking in a way I can understand.”

He turned back to the guard and looked at the grip around his wrist.

“But that hand of yours is getting in the way of the conversation.”

The man did not loosen his grip, his green eye moving between Ravian’s face and the red stone. He saw no wound in the young man’s palm, heard no groan, and found nothing in his expression to suggest he was struggling with pain he wanted to conceal.

The young man stood before him holding the very thing that had cost everyone who approached it their lives, yet his complaint was about the hand around his wrist.

“Put it back in its box first.”

Ravian looked at the box he had tossed aside, then back at the old man.

“Why? If you had the guts to take it from my hand right now, I’d give it to you for free.”

The guard did not answer immediately.

“Does it take that much thought, or are you just cowards? Either take it from my hand now, free of charge, or you’re cowards and can forget about it.”

The guard’s frown deepened, but he still did not answer, prompting a short laugh from Ravian.

“Take your time. Apparently, it takes some thought to tell the two apart.”

“Let go of his hand,” Layla ordered.

The guard looked at her without moving.

“My lady, he…”

“You heard me.”

He remained silent for a moment, then slowly opened his fingers and stepped back half a pace, keeping himself between Ravian and his young lady.

Ravian rotated his wrist once, inspected where the man’s fingers had gripped it, then looked up again.

“That’s much better. And honestly… it suits you.”

Some passersby had moved away at the sight of the swords, while others watched from a distance without knowing what had caused the confrontation. Layla glanced at the surrounding faces, then at Ravian and the stone in his hand.

She had come for a particular object, yet here she was in the middle of the street, standing behind two guards who had drawn their swords on the man who had bought it. If this continued, she would not have to wait until morning for questions to begin about what a daughter of House Augus had done in the City of Light, in full view of the commoners.

“You shouldn’t have taken things this far,” Layla said, trying to bring the conversation back to where it had been. “I was only offering to buy it.”

Ravian nodded slowly.

“And I refused your offer, more than once, I believe. But apparently, you mistook my refusal for weakness, so I needed a little help bringing you to your senses.”

The guard with the eye patch frowned, furious at the way Ravian spoke to his young lady, but he no longer truly cared. As far as he was concerned, Ravian was already a dead man after touching the stone with his bare hands.

“But I never ordered anyone to attack you,” Layla said, referring to his attempt to frighten them with the stone.

“And I never said you did,” Ravian replied. “If you had, I’d have hurled this stone at you in an instant, before you knew what was happening.”

Both guards shuddered at the thought and readied themselves. After all, the stone only had to touch their bare skin to finish them off.

Ravian’s smile widened at their frightened reactions, which only angered the guards further as they realized he was manipulating them with a few words, without so much as lifting a finger.

“You threatened to make an enemy of me, Miss Augus, and told me I wouldn’t be up to the challenge, all to get something I own. I was simply making sure you saw what I’m like as an enemy. You should understand that spiritual rank is only one factor among many; in the end, the mind decides who wins.”

Layla’s lips parted, but she closed her mouth without speaking.

Hearing her own words repeated in that tone was worse than a direct insult, particularly while she still stood behind her guards and he held the stone so comfortably before her.

Ravian studied her face for a moment, then moved his hand slightly to the side, away from her and the guards. The old man’s eye immediately followed the stone, and Ravian noticed.

“Relax. I don’t intend to throw it at your young lady. If I’d wanted to, I wouldn’t have needed to come near her in the first place.”

The man’s grip tightened around his sword.

“Ravian,” Malrik said sternly from behind him.

Ravian turned to find his captain looking at him without a trace of amusement.

“Enough. We need to find a solution to the mess you’ve already made,” Malrik said, looking at the hand holding the stone without any barrier.