Chapter 10

At the critical moment, Phillips was bounced off me and I landed in a familiar embrace.

It's Burris. He's back.

"Phillips, you're damned! You fled the battlefield and you're going to hurt my fiancée." Burris looked at Phillips angrily.

Blood spilled from the corners of Phillips' lips as he struggled to rise from the ground and kneel to Burris.

"You misunderstand me, Prince Burris. I was just trying to come to the rescue and happened to run into your runaway fiancée. I was just about to teach her some lessons when you arrived." Phillips explained in a sincere tone.

I was afraid I would have believed him on this if I hadn't witnessed his evil deeds.

"No, he's lying, he's doing it to suck my blood." I said excitedly to Burris.

"Oh? If that's the case, why aren't we at the villa." Phillips said smiling at me.

He was right about one thing, I was running away. I couldn't argue about that and was speechless for a moment.

"Burris, what's happening?" It was an old voice.

Deep in the jungle, three old men in white robes and beards suddenly appeared. One of them was also pestling something that resembled a magic wand, and they were walking towards this way.

"Elder Mopso, I ran into Chris and Phillips and they seem to have gotten into some sort of argument." Burris said to the Elder who was pestling his magic wand.

It turned out to be the family Elders of Burris. They all looked serious, and their pale faces under their hoods looked extremely imposing.

"Good evening, Lord Elders, it's good to see you again." Phillips bowed to them respectfully.

The three Elders looked condescending and ignored his gesture, simply glancing at me and asking him, "Phillips, did you have an argument with Prince Burris' fiancée?"

"She's on the run, so to speak, and I'm just trying to help the Prince catch her." Phillips said.

"But I saw you trying to bite her." Burris' voice was cold, while his hands were still tight around me.

"Oh, I'm sorry, she's being so stubborn. I was just trying to scare her, it wouldn't really hurt her." Phillips said wryly.

The Elders pondered for a moment and then suddenly all looked at me, "You are leaving our Prince, aren't you Chris?"

Their pale and raspy voices were low and mellow, with an irresistible majesty that dared not lie.

I looked at them and replied in a low voice, "Yes, I don't want to marry Burris, I want to get ..."

"Chris! Shut up!" Burris snapped and interrupted me, and I looked over at him in confusion.

"She wants to get free." Phillips said what I hadn't finished.

Then his tone became a little sad, "Andrew was brutally murdered trying to stop her and I was badly injured, she was a born rebel and the Elders should put her on trial."

"No, he's lying! He's the one who killed Andrew!" I struggled up excitedly, itching to get up there and kill him, "Andrew's body is still there! Phillips, shame on you! You're gonna go to hell!"

"Burris, look at ..." My voice stalled and all that was left was a small white suit where my finger was pointing.

Andrew's body was missing.

"Poor Andrew had already disappeared to ashes." Phillips' disingenuous voice rang out again.

There were no witnesses to what just happened, plus Andrew's body was missing, and no one knew how he died.

"It is unfortunate, Prince Burris, that your fiancée murdered the Viscount in an attempt to escape, and she will be tried and punished." Elder Mopso said with his head hanging.

Burris looked at me with an icy stare, which made me feel helpless.

"Burris, you have to believe me, I didn't kill Andrew. he was trying to protect me and was killed by Phillips." I looked at Burris, pleading with him.

"Please give me some time, I need to calm Chris down, she seems a bit scared." Burris pleaded with the Elders.

The Elders looked at each other and nodded slowly.

Burris looked down at me, those beautiful golden eyes looking a little sad.

He leaned in close to me and whispered in my ear, "I'm sure you didn't hurt Andrew, but he was killed because of your recklessness. You should feel guilty, go to trial, it'll make you feel better."

I froze in place, the guilt weighing me down. I was taken away by the Elders, and as I passed by Phillips, I saw him smiling at me smugly like a demon.

Burris's POV.

Chris was taken away, I didn't stop the Elders, and the woman deserves a little punishment.

Andrew was killed by Phillips, and I hated to rip Phillips's head off immediately, but the thought of Diana forced me to hold back.

It's all because of Chris' recklessness, and Andrew might not have died if he hadn't been trying to protect her.

Still, because of the escape, this woman had always planned to escape. Despite her thin strength, her humble status, and the fact that she was always wounded, she never tried to give up, and the look in her eyes at me was always firm and stubborn.

In my long life, there had never been a woman like this. She defied all hierarchy like a warrior who did not fear hardship and did not stop even in the face of death.

She was an impulsive and brave woman, and it was because of this impulse that Andrew gave his life for her.

Chris's POV.

I didn't go to see Burris, Andrew's death made me feel guilty about him. I could tell from Andrew's description that Burris loved Andrew like family and his death must have broken his heart.

If I hadn't insisted on running away, nothing would have happened to poor Andrew.

I was in an endless state of self-recrimination, as if I were in hell.

The Elders took me to a room that was completely dark. Even though I had vampire eyesight, I couldn't see anything there.

I was naked and could only feel the pain of the whips landing on my body as they whipped me so hard that my wounds would not heal, and used silverware to make numerous cuts on my body.

"Did you realize your mistakes??" An old and muffled voice came to my ears.

It was Trial Elder Hampton.

I gritted my teeth and didn't say anything, I regretted taking Andrew with me and running away, but I didn't think it was wrong to run away.

"Go on, Hadro," Hampton said to the Executive Elder numbly and ruthlessly.

The whip landed on me again, and I could even hear the sound of flesh splitting open, and a few cries of pain were spilled out of my throat uncontrollably.

Executive Elder Hadro's force was so strong that each stroke was like a lash to my soul.

They judged me tirelessly, from night to sunrise. There should have been a hole in the roof, which wasn t light for me but another kind of torture.

My skin was exposed to the sun and it caused repeated burns. Because only when part of my skin was exposed, it couldn t kill me, but it could cause me endless pain.

I had my arms outstretched and was tied to the rack in what I assumed was a cross shape. It was ridiculous, the monsters were using God's way of judgment as well.

Burris was right, a trial would make me feel better. The guilt I felt inside finally dissipated and transformed into hatred for Phillips.