Chapter 330: Manipulation Like No Other

Growl~growl~

The sound coming from Celestinia's stomach brought a huge blush to her face, it was a good thing that no one could see such a scene, normally hunger wasn't something that affected her but the lock that was placed on her seemed to do much more than she understood,

"Hungry are we?"

A teasing voice took her out of her thoughts as she looked at the figure in front of her, right now a table appeared in front of the cloaked figure as different sets of cooking equipment kept flashing into the table,

"You're going to cook?"

Her voice itself contained her confusion,

"I have my own taste and I prefer to eat my own made food, the reserved ones, just don't match my taste"

The figure responded as it started to cook, Celestinia's eyes sparkled for a bit as she looked at the scene in front of her, each movement of the figure had a sense of beauty that compelled others to gaze at it, the movements was precise, portraying experience and understanding, for a moment she herself got lost onto it.

Soon half an hour later the tantalizing smell of food started to fill the cave, making Celestinia's stomach growl louder, unknowingly she took a gulp, as in for the first time in a long while, she felt the innate desire to feast upon the food before her, due to her standing the food she ate were the best of the best and the unknown figure she just met seems to have the capability to match her best cooks!

Another 15 minutes went by before which the food was neatly arranged on the table, glistening and attracting Celestinia's attention, soon the figure turned towards her who was helplessly leaning onto the wall,

"Should I feed you?"

It asked, making Celestinia pensive,

"Why are you so nice to me now?"

She questioned back,

"Not much reason, before you were a pain in the ass, now I don't find your attitude repulsive plus no matter how nonchalant I seem, I am not stupid enough to let you starve and have your revenge when you seem to find your strength back, however you have lost them"

The figure responded clearly displaying its logic and understanding, making Celestinia quiet as she kept brooding on her current situation, the thought of someone else feeding her didn't sit well with her, even in this broken stage she refuse to be looked down upon,

"How long for my poison effects to disappear?"

She asked,

"Two to three days, give or take"

Hearing this she winced but her expression then turned determined,

"Thank you for the offer but I shall starve for now"

"Okay"

The figure didn't argue much after it as he sat on the table, tasting the food and eating his fill, somehow it looked like torture to Celestinia, who could only close her eyes to not feel tempted, to her, her pride was higher than some hunger, finally, after a grueling 10 minutes, the figure finished its food.

Even now the hood was on and only the scene of a fork disappearing into its darkness before appearing can be seen, after another 5 minutes everything was clean and stored back before which the figure took a seat on the floor once again,

"How long to reach the place I desire?"

The figure suddenly asked breaking Celestinia out of her thoughts, right now she was looking through her body trying to determine the amount of time the seal would stay on her,

"If we travel at the current pace, about 2 months..."

She replied, her answer seemingly making the person before her silent,

"That long....huh...."

It replied, before asking,

"How long will this situation of yours continue?"

Celestinia didn't readily answer, as she formulated the answer herself,

"About 2 and a half months...."

She replied, bringing silence to the cave, each of the two people in their own thoughts,

"What is your plan?"

The figure finally asked,

"Can you elaborate?"

Celestinia requested,

"Sigh.....what I meant was, are you going to go with me? to the testing grounds? or are you going back to the safety of your family? I refuse to believe that you don't have at least one thing that would make you contact or ask for help"

The figure's words ripped into Celestinia's dilemma, indeed, its words were true, she has a way to call for help but she refused to do so, once again it was her unchecked pride acting up, she was smart and cunning yet her pride was her greatest power yet fault, the Dragon God itself wanted to deal with this flaw,

"I wish to travel with you"

She finally spoke,

"You will be a burden to me"

The figure replied, hurting her pride but in this case, she couldn't refute it, she knew that it was true, the deeper they move into the jungle the more powerful will be the beast they face, there's also the problem about the terrain and all other dangers that may come their way, yet she was still adamant on going through, she wished to show her idol that even without her powers she would still shine,

"Even then I wish to come"

She stubbornly spoke, not backing down, her eyes peering into the hood, wishing to see anything that might help her understand the person in front of her better,

"I helped you twice that was just out of my goodwill, what makes you think I will keep helping you?"

The figure asked, its hoarse voice serious,

"I can pay you back for all your troubles"

She replied but what she got back was a shake of the head,

"Treasures and gifts are only of worth if I live to use them, the jungle is a danger to me, currently I can't promise that I would be able to survive, adding you might only be dwindling my chances"

Hearing so Celestinia bit her lips, knowing well that she couldn't just stop him now from standing up and leaving, since she had already told him about her recovery time he could leave now and disappear without her finding anything about him, plus what he told was right, how could some favors and gift mark up to someone's life?

"Even if you leave me now, I will still try to move forward and if I end up dying, then my parents would do everything in their power to find out, in their wrath, even the innocents might get hurt..."

"You!"

Her last suggestive words riled up the person in front of her, she was intently using threats to make the person move, there was no assurance that the Dragon Emperor might not have any means to find out about the figure's interactions and refusal of help, then would the cloaked figure survive the wrath of a Dragon?

Nope.....the figure would not,

"You are a lot more shameless than I give you credit for"

The figure now spoke in a cold tone, having lost all good will but Celestinia didn't back down, she would move forward by hook or crook, finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence the figure leaned back to the wall as it spoke,

"Fine, we shall go together but if I die, know that I will not forgive you even in death"

"Hehehe....don't worry I won't let you die"

Celestinia spoke in a coy voice, not knowing how much this trip was going to change her, not knowing how she for the first time would feel true despair...