CHAPTER 291: CHAPTER 290 - THE GROUP ARRIVES AT CRADLE.

"Aren’t you the least bit curious why you’re alive at all?"

The moment Valeria heard that question, she inadvertently gritted her teeth.

She didn’t like the look on his face. It made it seem like he already had her in his palm.

But it wasn’t just his look that she hated. She despised everything about him.

Unlike her, who preferred ending everything in one go and talking straight to the point, he twisted his words and played with others’ minds.

Zephyr, on the other hand, smirked wider, already expecting such reactions from Valeria.

He knew she wasn’t going to speak, so he replied to his own question. "You’re alive because I still don’t know who you’re being supported by."

Valeria’s head snapped toward him, brows furrowing. "...Huh?"

What the hell was he talking about?

Her genuine confusion, however, only deepened Zephyr’s smile. He tapped one finger against the bar, rhythmic and mocking.

"Don’t play dumb with me. When you wandered the Ashen Expanse, I sent ten of my undead to kill you. Not one, not two—ten. They should have torn you apart, and yet... here you are. Alive. My subordinates, on the other hand, are dead."

His eyes glowed with quiet fury beneath the calm exterior. "That doesn’t happen. Not unless someone powerful interfered. Someone outside the family. Someone even Father wouldn’t know of."

Valeria’s chest tightened.

She remembered now.

Raven, her dear brother, and his strange group had saved her once in the Ashen Expanse.

As soon as that memory flashed through her mind, she realized that Zaphyr was talking about them.

However, the strange thing was that the guy thought the people who had helped her weren’t from her family.

This worked in her favor, as she didn’t want to expose Raven.

No—she wouldn’t expose Raven.

They were hiding from the world, and it was because they were training. So, until Raven decided to come out by himself, she wasn’t going to tell anyone about him, especially not Zephyr.

That, however, didn’t mean she wouldn’t utilize this chance to wipe that smug look from Zephyr’s face.

With a grin now stretching her lips, she spoke. "So that’s it. You’re scared of them."

For the first time, Zephyr’s smile faltered.

Not fully, just enough to make the air heavier. Then it returned, sharper, teeth glinting in the dim light.

"Scared? No. But I’m not foolish. Making enemies of shadows I cannot see—that is a poor game, even for me. Knowledge is power, and right now, all I have is ignorance."

He stepped closer to the bars, his voice low but silken with menace.

"Tell me who it is, Valeria. Spare yourself what comes next."

She snorted softly, lifting her chin with mock arrogance. "Why would I? Go ahead, kill me. But then—" her eyes glittered with false certainty "—better sleep with your eyes open. Because whoever they are, they’ll come for you. And you’ll never see it coming."

Zephyr’s smirk froze. His hand, still lazily resting on the bars, tightened until the iron groaned. His violet eyes lost their amusement, narrowing with a predator’s focus.

The silence stretched, thick and suffocating.

Then, suddenly, hurried footsteps pounded against the corridor.

The tension snapped.

Another Vaise sibling burst into view, panting, his face a mask of both annoyance and alarm. But before he could speak, Zephyr’s voice cut sharply and coldly.

"Speak, Elyas. But I also want you to pray that you have a reason worth interrupting me."

The boy gulped, bowing his head quickly. "I, I do, brother. News from the capital."

Zephyr’s eyes narrowed, but he gave the smallest nod. "Go on."

Elyas licked his lips, then rushed out.

"Raven and his group—they’re alive. They saved the crown prince from a demon attack. The king... the king is dead. The prince now wears the crown."

Valeria’s eyes widened, her breath hitching when she heard the first part, fearing that Raven was caught, but as soon as she heard the rest of it, she sighed in relief. ’Alive... and not in hiding anymore.’

Elyas continued, words tumbling over themselves, "They are being hailed as heroes. By evening, the palace had called for all nobles to gather. It is mandatory."

The prison chilled as those words settled.

Zephyr’s smirk finally cracked—not into panic, but into something sharper. His gaze sharpened to a knife’s edge, calculation flashing behind his eyes.

"When?" His voice was low, but it carried like thunder.

"This morning," Elyas answered quickly.

Zephyr’s brows furrowed. "And I hear of it only now?"

"My informant—" Elyas stammered, then swallowed hard. "He couldn’t leave the capital until recently. The city is surrounded by... strange shadows. Beasts of some kind. They move unpredictably, as if guarding the boundaries. He only escaped after hours of watching their pattern."

The words hung heavy.

Silence fell over the cell, thick as stone. Valeria could hear her own heartbeat in her ears.

But then—

BOOM!

The world shook.

Dust rained down from the ceiling. The iron bars rattled violently as the floor trembled beneath them.

Valeria tensed as she felt the tremors. It was as if someone or something was hitting the ground.

Elyas stumbled, nearly falling, while Zephyr remained steady, unflinching.

His smirk was gone.

He merely stared upward, violet eyes glowing in the dim cell, his expression unreadable as the prison groaned under the echo of the explosion.

For a while, his gaze kept scanning the ceiling until finally, he turned his eyes back toward Valeria, the faintest curve returning to his lips.

"Stay put, little sister," he said, his voice smooth but edged. "That cell you’re in was forged to restrain monsters far stronger than you. Don’t test it."

His stare lingered like a needle, sharp and irritating, before he spun on his heel.

Elyas, still dazed, hurried after him. Their footsteps echoed down the corridor, fading into the growing silence.

For a moment, Valeria merely stood still, her fists clenching at her sides. The smug echo of his voice made her grind her teeth. She hated being caged—more than anything.

Silence reigned for a heartbeat.

Then—

Squeak!

A small furry blur dropped from the ceiling and landed right in front of her cell. Valeria blinked.

A squirrel.

Wearing a tiny satchel.

It proudly held up a sign scribbled in hurried, familiar handwriting:

"Follow the squirrel.

– Raven."

Valeria exhaled sharply through her nose, somewhere between disbelief and relief, a smile inadvertently stretching at her lips. "Of course it’s him..."

But as she saw the squirrel and recalled Zephyr’s words from a few seconds ago, she rubbed her temple and muttered, "That’s cute and all, but unless you can pluck the keys from Zephyr’s pocket, we’re not going anywhere."

The squirrel squeaked again, almost offended, and trotted to the keyhole.

Valeria arched a brow. "Are you trying to chew the lock—?"

Click.

Her eyes widened as the lock gave way with a clean metallic snap.

"...What?" She whispered, genuinely stunned.

The squirrel flicked its tail smugly, and she saw why—its fur shifted, bristles weaving into thin, wiry shapes that retracted from the lock like tiny tools.

"You can manipulate your fur...?" Valeria muttered, stepping cautiously out of the cell. A long sigh escaped her lips, half in awe, half in exhaustion. "Raven, your companions get weirder every damn day."

She dusted herself off but froze suddenly.

Her head snapped toward the ceiling, where the faint tremors had come from. Her expression darkened. "Wait..."

Her gaze turned to the squirrel. "That explosion just now... was that Raven?"

The squirrel nodded once, matter-of-factly.

"Dammit." Valeria clenched her fists and broke into a sprint, her voice low and urgent. "I have to stop him before he fights Zephyr. Raven can never defeat him! Above all, he needs to know that the undead are all scattered throughout the mansion!"

Her footsteps echoed as she vanished into the shadows of the corridor.

Behind her, the squirrel remained where it stood.

It tilted its little head, tail swishing, the sign now dragging on the ground. Its tiny eyes narrowed, and if it could talk, it might have said, "Ungrateful humans... not even a ’thank you.’ Typical."

It squeaked once in disdain before scampering after her anyway, muttering its complaints in squeaks only other squirrels could understand.

...............................

Meanwhile, in the vast ground of Cradle, the place where children were trained, stood Raven.

His group was right behind him, with only Jessy at the front because she was causing as much destruction as possible, wanting to attract the attention of everything and everyone in the area.

"Why are we doing this again?" Alex, with two new squirrels, called Tinny and Binny, who had taken Nibbles’s spot on his shoulder, tilted their heads, and Raven, without even looking back, replied.

"The undead we once fought in the Ashen Expanse must be scattered around every wing of Cradle, and since they fight anything that causes trouble, we are bringing them in one spot."

"How do you know they are all scattered throughout the Cradle?" Alex asked again, but this time, everyone turned to him with a ’really now?’ look.

Even Tinny and Binny, who could only understand some of what the humans said, facepalmed.

"That’s the most obvious thing, you know," Rufus muttered from the side, making Alex scratch his head for a second before slapping his palms together.

"Yes! Yes! The most obvious thing!"

He made it seem like he understood it, but everyone knew that he didn’t.

Still, no one said anything, as they knew that even if he didn’t have the brain, he had the brawn, so at least he wouldn’t mess things up.

It was then that the ground trembled as the heavy door of every wing burst open at once, ancient hinges shrieking in protest.

From the shadows, the undead poured forth—dozens, then hundreds—eyes hollow, but their stance sharp and practiced.

It was as if a horde of intelligent zombies was rushing at them.

Raven exhaled, steady and cold.

"Well, let’s end this fast."