Chapter 388 The Life-Bound Feather
Lucian suddenly said, "Then give it to him."
Zara immediately turned and glared at him.
Lucian merely smiled at Cyranth. "Since it belonged to your late wife, it wouldn't be right for us to keep it. We'll return it to you."
Cyranth paused.
Zara's heart was practically bleeding as she cursed Lucian over and over in her head.
[This idiot has no idea how hard life is! How could he just give away something this valuable? We should've gotten some compensation out of him first! How can anyone be this useless?]
Lucian was speechless.
This woman clearly did not understand the value of earning someone's goodwill.
But since he had already made the offer, Zara could only stand there and watch.
Lucian untied the red cord from his wrist and handed it to Cyranth. The instant Cyranth took it, his pupils suddenly contracted, as though he had seen something within it.
Once he had the cord, he did not linger. "Thank you."
His figure vanished instantly. By the time anyone blinked, he was gone.
Sylphra had disappeared with him.
Zara slapped the table in fury. "What about my compensation? How rude can he be? He took the cord and even carried off my hostage without paying!"
As soon as she finished speaking, a feather slowly drifted down from the air.
It was pure white and luminous, unlike Lucian's wing. Despite its delicate appearance, it had the smooth, solid sheen of polished jade.
The feather floated directly toward Lucian.
He caught it, and his expression shifted slightly.
It had the weight of actual jade, far heavier than it appeared.
"What is this?" he asked.
Zara glanced at it. "Never mind. It's valuable enough. I won't ask him for anything else."
[Tsk. A life-bound feather. He was surprisingly generous.]
She turned away, thought for a moment, then abruptly looked back at Lucian. "Wait. Why did he give it to you? The red cord belonged to me."
Lucian quietly put the feather away. "It wouldn't be of any use to you."
Then, right in front of Zara, he slipped it into the pocket of his overcoat.
"That's my compensation!" Zara protested.
"I'll pay you for it."
"Deal, boss."
Across from them, Valerius and Lunelle were speechless.
They had witnessed the entire exchange and looked deeply displeased, yet neither knew what they could possibly say.
Meeting the ruler of a forbidden zone had left them both shaken and conflicted. They had finally understood exactly what such a title represented.
Cyranth had not spared them so much as a glance.
Yet even he had shown Zara a measure of respect.
At that moment, Valerius finally realized there was nothing more he could do.
Still, the thought that the sacred treasure his brother had taken was now in Zara's possession made his chest ache with rage. He remained convinced that all her power came from that treasure, even though she knew nothing about it.
If only he could get his hands on it...
If he possessed it, he would have gained the power to rule the entire Divine World long ago.
Noticing Valerius's expression, Zara spoke to him in a patient, almost comforting tone.
"Uncle, I know you're feeling humiliated and wronged right now, but that's simply how the world works. Look at you. You're not strong enough, so the ruler of a forbidden zone didn't even bother acknowledging you. Being the ruler of the Upper Realm must feel pretty pathetic."
Valerius was speechless.
Lucian gave him another pitying look.
Most people knew better than to strike where it hurt.
Zara, however, seemed determined to drive every word straight into his sorest wounds.
She was truly awful.
And yet, somehow, rather adorable.
Lunelle's expression was so stiff that she did not dare say a word.
Forget Valerius. During Cyranth's arrival, she had barely dared to breathe.
Zara and Lucian might not have felt the pressure of a forbidden-zone ruler, but the rest of them had felt it with terrifying clarity.
It had been suffocating, as though merely standing in Cyranth's presence was an act of disrespect.
And that was with him deliberately restraining his power.
Had Cyranth unleashed it fully, every mystic beast within a hundred-mile radius would have dropped to its knees and submitted.
That was the true power of a forbidden-zone ruler.
Cyranth's appearance also proved that such rulers truly existed. They simply rarely revealed themselves and had no interest in worldly authority.
Which made sense. At their level, what use did they have for political power?
The moment one of them appeared, even the most powerful rulers would be falling over themselves to earn his favor.
Zara went over her list of demands once more. By then, Valerius understood that arguing was pointless, so he agreed to every condition.
Even so, he believed there was still hope.
The sacred treasure could not remain inside Zara forever. Sooner or later, he would find a way to tear it from her.
As for Lucian...
Valerius's thoughts darkened as he began to question the man's identity.
He did not recognize Lucian, though he remembered that Zara had supposedly brought him from Earth. Yet he clearly was no ordinary human.
An ordinary person from Earth could never have crossed into the Divine World in the first place.
And judging by the power he had just displayed, Lucian could even withstand the ruler of a forbidden zone.
Where had someone like him come from?
With those questions weighing on them, Valerius and Lunelle left with grim expressions.
As soon as they were gone, Zara returned to the matter she cared about.
"Lucian, you still haven't told me what that giant chicken wing inside you is."
"It isn't a chicken wing," Lucian argued. "I don't know where it came from. Stop asking me. I don't know anything."
The rapid-fire string of denials made Zara click her tongue.
"Who are you trying to fool?"
Lucian looked at her seriously. "I'm not lying. I genuinely don't know. If that woman hadn't attacked me the other night, I wouldn't have known there was any power hidden inside me either. And I really was born on Earth. I have a birth certificate."
Zara stared at him in shock. "And you didn't tell me any of this?"
[There is no love left. Our partnership is officially over.]
Lucian shrugged helplessly. "It slipped my mind. I honestly don't know what's happening, and I've been looking into it myself."
Zara eyed him suspiciously. "Really? I've never seen a chicken wing like yours before. We should've asked that dramatic show-off while he was still here."
"Is this really what you should be worrying about right now?" Lucian asked. "Have you forgotten about your compensation?"
"Right!"
Collecting what they were owed was clearly the top priority.
Zara immediately dragged Lucian away to inventory their haul.