Free Web NovelChapter 579: Mind Games
Third Person’s POV
’As expected. The Ice Emperor’s Clan found me and kidnapped me from my sealed chamber in the Aurora Frost Mountain Range.’
Outwardly, he merely nodded and adopted a thoughtful expression as if he were contemplating nothing more than the information she had revealed.
Seeing that Ethan remained silent once more, Shixea finally sighed softly.
The constant exchange of half-truths and cautious probing was becoming exhausting.
More importantly, she realized that Ethan had no intention of revealing anything substantial unless she took the initiative first.
Therefore, she finally decided to reveal part of the truth.
"To be honest with you, I am one of the wives of the Ice Emperor."
Her words caused Ethan’s eyes to narrow slightly.
"My son, Erius, brought your coffin into this castle. However, he was not the one who discovered it. Someone else unearthed your coffin first."
Hearing this, a meaningful look appeared in her eyes.
"And to this day, Erius does not know that you have awakened."
Ethan remained silent, but his mind was anything but silent.
His gaze briefly lingered on Shixea, and he couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of disappointment when he heard that she was the wife of the Ice Emperor.
This beautiful black-haired woman was already married, and not to just anyone.
She belonged to the Ice Emperor himself, the supreme ruler of the Northern Glacial Region whose name had echoed throughout these frozen lands for centuries.
Yet strangely, instead of extinguishing his interest in this woman, that realization only caused a darker thought to surface within Ethan’s mind.
He wanted to make this woman his secret lover and fuck her in her husband’s castle itself.
The idea was immoral, reckless, and alarmingly dangerous, but it still appeared in his mind regardless.
The thought of stealing such a beauty who was the wife of such a powerful existence and making the mighty Ice Emperor a pitiful cuckold caused a strange excitement to stir inside him.
Naturally, Ethan showed none of it on his face.
Meanwhile, Shixea observed him carefully before continuing.
"If you are willing to tell me the truth about your background, I am willing to help you gain your freedom."
Her pale blue eyes remained fixed upon him.
"But in exchange, I only ask for your assistance in helping me achieve a certain goal."
The room became quiet once again as even Elis had stopped speaking.
Only the faint sound of the cold wind outside the palace windows remained as both sides quietly measured each other, fully aware that the true negotiation was only beginning now.
"What goal?"
Ethan asked quietly.
He had immediately jumped to the end goal of her explanation, completely ignoring everything she had said about her son, Erius, and how he had not been the one to unearth Ethan’s body from the Aurora Frost Mountain Range.
He had also ignored the fact that she had casually revealed that Erius was her son.
That information barely registered in his mind, and the reason behind his reaction was simple.
Ever since he had learned that she was the wife of the Ice Emperor, Ethan had already decided what he wanted to achieve regarding her, so details such as her family relationships were of little importance compared to the purpose behind this conversation.
Shixea seemed slightly taken aback by his directness.
She had expected at least a few questions regarding Erius, Ivan Froststar, or the circumstances that had brought Ethan to the Ice Emperor City.
Instead, he had ignored all of it and gone straight to the heart of the matter.
Still, she quickly composed herself and answered while looking directly into his crimson eyes.
"I want you to kill the Ice Emperor’s grandnephew."
The room seemed to become quieter after those words left her lips.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed slightly, and a faint crease appeared between his brows as he processed what she had just said.
Until now, he had already suspected that he had somehow become entangled in the affairs of an influential faction.
But hearing her request openly confirmed his suspicions.
He had unknowingly stepped into the middle of an ugly and vicious power struggle within the royal family of the Ice Emperor City.
The realization immediately made him uncomfortable as he had only recently awakened after a year of unconsciousness and knew almost nothing about this continent’s current situation.
At the same time, what he wanted most was to be reunited with his family.
The last thing he wanted was to become a weapon in someone else’s political scheme, yet Ethan did not voice those thoughts.
Instead, he calmly focused on the most important part of her earlier explanation, i.e, the talk about her granting him his freedom.
"And if I don’t agree to your condition, then what will you do?"
The moment he spoke, a subtle change occurred within the room.
Ethan did not move, nor did he raise his voice, but an overwhelming cold aura suddenly erupted from his body.
The chair beneath him froze instantly.
Frost spread across its wooden frame with audible cracking sounds before turning the entire chair white. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
The temperature within the room plummeted rapidly.
Thin layers of frost appeared along the floor while the luxurious decorations nearby became covered in sparkling ice crystals.
Even the sunlight entering through the massive windows seemed dimmer as a pale layer of frost slowly crept across the glass.
The room felt less like a royal chamber and more like an ancient frozen tomb.
Elis’s teeth immediately began clattering as her body had not fully recovered from her earlier encounter with Ethan, and now she found herself struggling against the oppressive cold radiating from him.
The chill seeped into her skin, muscles, and bones, making her feel as though she had been thrown naked into a blizzard.
Meanwhile, Ethan’s expression remained unchanged.
His crimson eyes were colder than the frost spreading throughout the room as they remained fixed upon the beautiful black-haired wife of the Ice Emperor.
However, Shixea seemed completely unimpressed and seemed to be resisting the cold quite easily.
