Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 208 Rhys x Talia

"What I want is you, Granny."

Disrespect.

Never once had Talia felt this disrespected before, not even by her allies whom she betrayed during the war, and not even by wardens and guards who had come and gone. She was an icon, someone who stood on the pedestal of mankind — and yet right now, this lowliest of the low was casually approaching her… even taking a seat on the ground beside her sofa.

"Stop. Invading. My. Spot," Talia exclaimed word for word as she looked at Rhys.

"Do you know what I find funny, Talia?" Rhys, however, completely ignored her and even rested his arm on the side of her sofa, causing her to slightly scooch to the other end.

"Stop saying my name with your mouth," Talia crossed her legs to make sure she was as far away from Rhys as possible while still seated on her luxurious sofa. She tried to look at the guards, but none of them seemed to want to take Rhys away.

Wait… were they deliberately letting Rhys pester her so that they could get back at her for treating them like peasants?

"You… you're not really a Lowborn, are you!?" Talia then smiled and scoffed, "The prison… the prison planted you to humiliate me!"

"Huh…?" Rhys turned to look up at Talia, "Unfortunately, I can give you my birth certificate and it would say Lowborn."

"That can't be true!"

"It is," Rhys then pointed at his buzz cut, "See the hairs that are already growing after a week? They're black. But I didn't notice last week…

…but you have very beautiful blue eyes, Talia."

"Don't even look in my direction," Talia refused to lose as she did not avert her glare from Rhys; his silver eyes, however, were making it hard for her to stay calm. Of course, not because Rhys has beautiful eyes that complimented his even more face, no—that was not the case at all. It's because he's a Lowborn,

"Your… imperfection disgusts me."

"Hm," Rhys shrugged before looking away, finally allowing Talia to let out a sigh of relief, "Do you know what I found funny?"

"I'm not interested in talking to you," Talia clicked her tongue as Rhys repeated his question.

"Power," Rhys, however, completely ignored Talia, "Whether it be on Underworld, the Surface, or in the prison — power still trumps over anything."

"Hmph," Talia scoffed, not really refuting Rhys's words, but not nodding as she did not want to seem like she was agreeing with him.

"Some say it's authority," Rhys then turned to look at the guards, "But clearly not."

"Power is authority, boy," Talia scoffed.

"Oh… you finally called me something human," Rhys then smiled as he glanced at Talia, who just quickly glanced away and said nothing else, "I guess we're making progress?"

"Progresz? What progress?" Talia's eyebrows lowered; her wrinkles once again forming on her face. There were moments when Talia just looked like in her 50s when her face was just at neutral, but turning 60s whenever she knotted her eyebrows or moved just a bit of her face — which is quite impressive, seeing as how she was literally around 120 years old,

"Progress… so you really are planted by the prison to do something to me! Confess or I kill you!"

"Progress to your heart, Talia," Riley smiled.

"Wh—Stop saying nonsense, imbecile!" Talia scoffed as she shook her head; uncrossing her legs as she slightly moved closer to Rhys to point right at his face, "If the prison wanted to disarm me, they should have put up someone superior and at the same level as me — not you, you are just a breathing piece of excrement."

"Hm…" Rhys just let out a small hum as he stared Talia in the eyes, "You've enslaved men, women, children, and elderly as long as their Lowborns— placed them all in a single area where no human could and should ever live."

"What…?"

"You let them bathe and swim in their own shit and piss," Rhys continued to talk as he strayed his eyes away from Talia, "You used them as miners, forced them to build your weapons and then murder them with them, you shaved off their scalps so that you wouldn't see their so-called imperfection. You raped them, you castrated them, you lobotomized them like animals."

"Hm," Talia only breathed out as Rhys listed her and her people's crimes, "Do not speak to me of my achievements — I was there."

"Yes, you were," Rhys let out a very long and deep sigh, "Out of the 4 million Lowborns recorded to have been killed, you were responsible for more than a quarter of it…

…Why?"

"Because you and your kind taint the rest of us. You are weak, feeble, ugly."

"Am I?" Rhys then slightly stood up from the ground before just letting himself fall on Talia's sofa, causing her to once again scooch to the other end.

"What are you—"

"Am I all that you said I am, Talia?"

Before Talia could get away, however, she found her wrist being grabbed by Rhys and then forcefully pulled closer to him; her face, now just a foot away from his.

"Why… are you doing this to me?" Talia's eyes then very slowly turned red as her frustration suddenly reached to the very depths of her body — twice now that she had been manhandled by a creature she thought infinitely inferior than her,

"Just fucking kill me and get over it."

"I don't want to kill you, Talia," Rhys let go of Talia's arm… only to hold her hand; placing his fingers between hers, "...I want to understand you."

"Let. Go. Of. My. Hand," Talia said while almost sucking in her breaths. But after a moment, she also tightened her grip on Rhys's hand, "Or I will show you that you made a mistake of getting this close to me.

I can kill you from this distance without even having to move a muscle."

"No, you can't," Rhys let out a small chuckle as he looked Talia in the eyes, "You see, Talia — you don't hold the chains between us."

"Eep!" Talia then almost gasped as Rhys once again forcefully pulled her even closer to him; her face, now planted on Rhys's chest. And before she could even try to push away, Rhys let go of her hand and then grabbed her by the back of her neck.

"At this distance…" Rhys then slightly lifted Talia by the neck and placed her chin over his shoulder, "...I can do whatever I want with you before you can even use your abilities."

"You overestimate yourself." Talia did not blush at all, or even turn angry anymore — her eyes were just suddenly completely still and calm for some reason, "I don't need to use my hands to use my abilities, and your neck is just right beside my face."

"Do you want to know one of my abilities, then?" Rhys whispered; the warmth of his breath, trailing down Talia's old neck, "I can sense danger — I don't from you."

"Because I know I can kill you anytime I want in this position," Talia slightly moved her face away, but failed to do so.

"Then do it," Rhys smiled, "Try if you can kill me faster than I can snap your neck. But I do have to tell you, I also have the ability to heal myself — amongst many others."

"...What?" Talia's eyes started to move, "Just… who the fuck are you?"

"Rhys Wilder," Rhys then slightly pulled Talia's neck away so he could look at her face.

Talia also looked Rhys in the eyes; a slight tremble escaping her lips.

Of course, she wouldn't say this at all — but aside from Rhys's black hair, everything about him was perfect. His arm was missing, but that was irrelevant. If only he wasn't a Lowborn, then Rhys would probably personify the person that she and her people strived to reach.

A perfect being — strength, beauty, and dominance all wrapped in one.

And of course, Rhys knew this; that is why he was acting this way in the first place. He had never truly used his looks actively as he had brought him nothing but pain; but now, it was the most useful thing he had.

"You… you're still a Lowborn," Talia could not help but whisper loudly, "The Fuhrer… was not wrong."

"Adolf Strickler took his own life when everyone went against him," Rhys scoffed as he finally let go of Talia's neck, "I guess he wasn't all right."

"You do not have any right to say his real name!" Talia bellowed as she scooched away from Rhys.

"Heil Nobler," Rhys then sarcastically raised his palm in the air, "Where did the name Nobler even come from?"

"Because he is the best Noble the world has ever seen!"

"During that time?" Rhys let out a small scoff as he shook his head. He then nonchalantly took a piece of one of the grapes that was being fed by Talia and ate a piece, "I think you were better, no?"

"No…" Talia's eye twitched as she watched as Rhys ate her food, "...And that's mine."

"You can share, it's fi—" Rhys then suddenly stopped talking as he blinked several times, causing Talia to suddenly put up her guard.

"What's wrong with you?" Talia breathed out.

"...How long have they been giving you food?" Rhys then lowered his voice as he scanned the guards.

"What?"

"How long have they been giving you food?" Rhys repeated his question.

"Since I demanded they give me a different meal from the rest of these peasants."

"Well, Talia…" Rhys then let out a sigh as he crushed the grape in his hand,

"...This thing is poisoned."