Beastly savior 91

Chapter 91. The dying flower

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As soon as Ihedia stepped out of the carriage, with Adeline  in her arms she hurried toward Apeso's spring.

The child was still sobbing at the top of her lungs.

In her haste, she dropped her shoes and had to step on the cold dirt with her bare feet, but Ihedia didn't notice.

The courtiers were out of breath as they chased after her frantically up the valley.

On this cold day, the sight of her trudging barefoot through the mountains, without a coat on, did not look sane to say the least.

But could anyone blame her since she had to watch her child bleed in front of her eyes?

The soles of her feet were blackened with dirt and pooled with blood where she had been stabbed by something sharp, but Ihedia had no time for such things.

A short time later, they reached the entrance to the small palace, and the courtiers could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

As soon as she opened the door, she plunged into Apeso's spring with Adeline in her arms.

A familiar sensation took over her body.

Ihedia quickly unwound the hemostatic cloth from around the child's arm.

The blue glow of the spring water lingered on Adeline's wound.

The blood drained from the cracked skin.

Only after watching the wound slowly close could Ihedia breathe a sigh of relief.

In time, the child's deathly wailing subsided.

Her mind, which had been racing with worry about Adeline, was once again calm.

She pondered what Hashad's unsavory behavior toward Adeline could have been for.

‘I hope not.’

When Hashad took Adeline's blood in a vial, the first thing that came to her mind was the blood oath.

Was the tool that had brought Evan and Patrick's lives together now in Hashad's hands?

No one knew exactly where it had gone after her father’s untimely death.

If the tool had fallen into Lena's hands, it was possible that she would have given it to Hashad in exchange for something.................

But it was all speculation.

Ihedia's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Adeline whimpering.

Ihedia scooped the child up and stepped out of the spring.

***

With the collapse of the White Wolf's defenses, the main battle lines were fixed on the capital's perimeter.

Imperial soldiers fought a fierce defense at the seven gates, the last bastion.

If they were breached, the war would end and the throne would change hands.

All routes to the outside would be blocked, and those inside would rot like stagnant water.

It was obvious that the Emperor's side would raise the white flag without much effort, just a matter of time.

But Kayan had no intention of giving Hashad that kind of time.

None of Hashad’s men survived the battle.

He would relentlessly pursue every fugitive and behead them.

Even if the other side surrendered, they would lose their lives.

It was an unspoken rule among Anut warriors that all who took up arms on the battlefield were to be killed.

It didn't matter if it was by decree or if they had no other choice but to live.

Captives were limited to women and children, and even then, if they showed any sign of rebellion, they would be killed without mercy.

If relegating them to slavery instead of killing them was a form of mercy, it was mercy.

Even when victory was assured, he would attack even more fiercely, driving his enemies to the brink.

He was fiercer than he had been in years of conquest.

The foreign reinforcements that came to the emperor's aid were not welcome.

Hashad's repeated attempts to get them to come to his aid were met with vague replies that they were far from ready and would need more time.

From a third party's perspective, it was pointless to risk their lives in a fight whose outcome was already known.

If Kayan gained the imperial throne, their pact with Hashad would be like falling into the mud.

The emperor was at a loss as to what to do about this predicament.

All he could do was curse at his servants as they came to report and vent his anger at his courtiers.

His anxiety was unrelenting, and he drank himself to death.

The courtiers watching him beat their chests in frustration.

The more calculating among them quickly left the palace in search of a way to live.

Those who remained shuffled their feet, confused by the chaotic atmosphere of the palace.

The lack of freedom of movement in and out of the palace meant that Ihedia would benefit from the news.

But even as a prisoner in the West Palace, it was not hard to recognize the tense air that permeated the palace.

Some of the palace's guards hadn't been seen in days, and the expressions on the faces of those who remained were grim.

‘I wonder if the war is turning against Hashad.’

Kayan's victory was a good thing, but Ihedia couldn't help but wonder.

As long as he believed Adeline to be Hashad's blood, he would not leave her alone.

Ihedia turned to the nanny who had stopped by to tend to the child.

"Is there something going on at the palace?"

The nanny handed Adeline to Ihedia, sounding somewhat troubled.

But the nanny avoided her eyes and pursed her lips a few times.

When Ihedia continued to follow her eyes insistently, she reluctantly opened her mouth.

"It’s..................."

"...."

"No, nothing. Never mind."

Whether she'd changed her mind in the meantime, the nanny didn't let Ihedia know what she was going to say.

"Garel, I know there's something going on inside the palace, but could you do me a favor and tell me something?"

Perhaps because of the tenuous rapport they'd formed over Adeline's care, the nanny had been relatively kinder to her than the other guards Hashad had assigned.

In a way, she was the only person she could hold a conversation with in this dreary prison.

But she was no ordinary nanny.

As she was also one of the watchmen and had received strict orders from the emperor, she could not convey to Ihedia the daily news of the inside and outside of the palace

It wasn't that Ihedia didn't understand Garel's position, but there was no one else she could ask.

"I'm just worried that something might happen to Adeline."

Garel sighed softly at Ihedia's pleading question.

"Well, there is talk that the imperial army is about to be overrun by the Alliance. The imperial soldiers are holding the gates of the capital and fighting with all their might, but they say it's a waste of time unless other countries send reinforcements, which is why the palace is in such a state of turmoil."

So it looked like the war would end soon.

That meant her time with Adeline would soon be over.

When Ihedia's face darkened significantly, Garel added.

"Still, perhaps the Emperor will find a way for us to live......"

"Do you really.................. think so?"

Garel hesitated, then fell silent as Ihedia's despondent words followed.

Hashad was a cold father who never hugged his child after she was born.

Even though he was in the middle of a war and had no time for anything else, a good father would take care of his family.

Ihedia and Adeline were nowhere in Hashad's mind.

People were even talking about how the mother and daughter of the West Palace were worse off than the Emperor's pet wolf.

His cold demeanor led some to wonder if Adeline was not of the Emperor's blood.

But it was also odd that the Emperor would pretend to be oblivious to the fact and keep Ihedia and Adeline alive all this time.

In any case, Ihedia was now discarded like a broken toy.

There was no fence to protect her.

Kayan's anger at Ihedia, who had been a slave to the Bayate family and had betrayed her master and risen to the position of concubine, was bound to rise.

Sooner or later, if the Emperor was defeated, Kayan would not leave Ihedia and Adeline alone.

With a heavy heart, Garel stroked the child's soft cheek to soothe her anxiety.

There was no way she and Adeline could get out of here before Kayan caught them.

There was a sad glint in Ihedia's eyes as she looked away from the child.

Seeing it, Garel couldn't hide the bitterness in her heart.

She pitied the mother and daughter's plight.

Even though she was the Emperor's consort, her life was no better than that of a prisoner.

The father hadn't even given the child a name and seemed to have forgotten she existed.

There were nasty things said about the mother, like she  had possessed the emperor, but Ihedia didn't seem like the kind of opportunist who would do that.

She was more like a flower that had never been watered and was dying.

Sometimes, whenever the subject of the emperor came up in conversation, she seemed to freak out.

Sometimes Garel wondered if Ihedia was really the woman who had betrayed Kayan and demanded a place in the Emperor's court.

Perhaps she had been lured here by the machinations of the Emperor, whose temper was notoriously fierce.

Garel looked at Ihedia and started to say something more, but stopped herself.

The battle was far from over, and it was best to refrain from rash actions.

If, by some miracle, reinforcements arrived in time, the tide might turn.

Garel's gaze left Ihedia and landed on Adeline, who was smiling back at her.

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