The Kind of Evil

Chapter 627 - 627: For reasons.

‎"Can I ask you something?" Anastasha asked as she looked at Rasmus who was taking a bath in the natural hot spring in the mountain."Knowing you asked that question first, it's not something serious?" Rasmus glanced at Anastasha sitting on top of a big boulder with Serena, enjoying the alcohol that Natia brewed.

‎"Well..." Anastasha poured the alcohol into Serena's cup. "That depends," she shrugged. "Anyway, since you can alter your appearance completely, have you never been curious to become a woman? And what about you, Lady Aris? You never tried to become a man since you're capable of doing that as well?" She asked with her brows raised.

‎Serena coughed because she choked on the alcohol in the middle of swallowing it. Aris was also taking a bath across from Rasmus, and she didn't expect to be a part of the question as well.

‎"I could, but Sanya told me something about the benefits of being a female," Aris answered as she looked at her reflection in the water.

‎"Oh? Can you tell me about those benefits?" Anastasha asked as she looked down at Aris with curiosity.

‎"Bone structures that give flexibility and have better balance than males. For humans, males are stronger because of their muscles, but for us Orthias, strength is the same for everyone because we don't use muscles, we use Mana as measurement," Aris answered as she watched Serena sliding down the boulder and decided to join the bath. "And being female is less threatening for humans. They tend to see female as something delicate and fragile even among other females. It's hard to get rid of that because that's how humans think no matter how powerful the females are," she added.

‎Anastasha hummed as she nodded with understanding, and then she looked at Rasmus. When their eyes met, she only shot her brows up, waiting for him to give his answer.

‎"I don't want to be stared at by men in that way," Rasmus answered.

‎Anastasha chuckled and then turned into laughter. She didn't expect to hear such a straightforward answer like that from Rasmus. She never saw this side of Rasmus, and somehow she wanted to see that side of him more.

‎"Why not? There are no men hear right now," Anastasha smirked playfully. "Why don't you give it a try while we are in this subject?" She chuckled mischievously as she slid down from the boulder and dipped her legs into the hot spring.

"Just once?" Serena raised her brows and stared at Rasmus as she sat beside Aris and rested her head on Aris' shoulder.

‎Aris and Serena looked at Rasmus, and the worst part was that Aris was as curious as the other two. He could see it in her eyes even though she didn't show any expression. He let out a quiet sigh before he closed his eyes and imagined the anatomy of a female body. With mere thoughts, his body began to change and he could feel the weight in his body shift and faint ticklish feelings all over his body. When he opened his eyes, the three of them were staring at him without blinking.

‎"Oh, he just looked like you, Lady Aris," Anastasha raised her brows with a shocked expression.

"It's not a surprise since Aris and Rasmus share the same origin," Serena pointed out as she narrowed her eyes, staring at Rasmus thoroughly. "But isn't he looking more like his mother the more I look at him?" She asked Aris and tilted her head to the other side.

"You have met her mother? I thought she died at the public execution?" Anastasha looked at Serena with a confused look.

"I saw it in Rasmus' memories, she's like Aris but looks more delicate and fragile," Serena answered as she kept staring at Rasmus.

Aris had been quiet the whole time and when her eyes met with Rasmus, she felt something in her chest like a connection that she never knew it existed before. She had lived among the females of Orthias her whole life, and she never had male Orthias around her. When she saw Rasmus in a female form, she felt like she saw another Aristoria instead of a man with an Aristoria's blood running through his body.

"That should be enough," Rasmus said and slowly changed his appearance back to his male body. He was fascinated that his body remembered what his body looked like as if it had a shape memory ability.

"Oh, you should keep..." Before Anastasha could finish her sentence, the words were sucked out of her breath and her eyes fixated on something behind Rasmus.

The hot spring suddenly lost its warmth, the water became eerily cold and the steam slowly turned into mist. Rasmus could see Aris and Serena's eyes fixated on something behind him. When he slowly looked over his shoulder, he saw black smoke in a shape of a person, staring at them with glowing dark orange eyes from beneath the mist. He knew it was Rullein, but what he saw there wasn't the same Rullein he knew. It wasn't just Rasmus who saw her that way, Aris and Serena also saw her in the same way. The three of them used to see Rullein's power to be vague, something that couldn't be explained, but now they could sense danger from her.

"You're back," Rasmus said and stared directly into Rullein's draconic eyes.

The black smoke dispersed and Rullein appeared from it with a playful smile written all over her face.

"Enjoying the hot spring without me?" Rullein asked as she walked into the hot spring and the black gown she wore vaporized into black smoke the moment it made contact with the water. She then sat beside Rasmus while looking at the others with her brows raised. "What?" She asked as she reheated the spring water, regaining its warmth.

"Congratulation, on your awakening," Rasmus said as he closed his eyes to enjoy the bath again. "But there's something that I want to talk about, Rullein," he pointed out.

Aris understood what Rasmus meant and slowly rose from the hot spring. She patted on Serena and Anastasha's shoulders, signaling them to give those two some privacy. Seeing Aris, Serena, and Anastasha leaving, Rullein furrowed her brows with a confused look and then she looked at Rasmus with her head tilted.

"About what?" Rullein asked.

"About us," Rasmus answered and looked her in the eyes. "We have gathered enough information about spirits here, and I know that you also know more about them ever since you took reign over the Great Spirits. I'm talking about the bond between spirits and the person they're attaching to," he explained while maintaining eye contact.

Rullein went quiet and she averted her gaze, realizing what Rasmus was talking about. She than saw Rasmus' hand in front of her, and she looked down at it for a moment before she took it. She read the memories of his when she was busy subjugating the Great Spirits. She saw what Aris had said to him, about Rullein growing stronger that would affect Rasmus because neither could get stronger without devouring the other's power.

"You want me to sever our bond?" Rullein asked, her voice quiet.

"I want us to live," Rasmus answered. "As you can see from earlier. Your power and the Overlord's power are starting to intertwine. Sooner or later, you'll absorb everything withing my body and I'll have nothing, including my life," he added with his brows raised.

"I don't want to..." Rullein said and looked at Rasmus. "I don't care about the Overlord's power, I don't care about anything. I just don't want to sever it because I'm comfortable, and you are the very reason why I can restraint myself," she explained.

Rasmus nodded with understanding without saying a single word. It was as Aris said that severing the bond would make the spirit lose the purpose of existing.

"I don't want to sever it," Rullein exclaimed as she stared into Rasmus' eyes.

"I heard you," Rasmus looked at Rullein with a bit of a smile formed on his lips.

"That's it? Is that really it?" Rullein asked as she searched Rasmus' eyes and tried to see if he was lying or pretending but she couldn't tell.

"That's it," Rasmus nodded as his smile widened. "Just don't devour me yet. I still need to finish what I came to this world for," he added before he closed his eyes as he dipped into the water deeper up to his chin. "You don't have to think about it anymore. I mean it."