Chapter 134
***
“I see. So you drove everyone out of the royal palace…”
Through the half-collapsed ceiling, she could see the clear sky. A tawny eagle circled the sky, where wisps of clouds drifted by. The spirits swarming around her spoke in unison.
This is where you belong.
‘This is where I belong.’
You’re safe here.
Stay here with us. We can help you forget everything.
‘Can I really forget?’
She felt a sense of doubt. Could she forcefully tear away a face already etched into her retinas? She hadn’t realized it while she was dreaming, but the moment she opened her eyes, someone’s face was clearly imprinted in her mind.
The devil’s appearance, the devil’s voice, the devil’s embrace. All of it.
“Where have you been, Diana? We’ve been looking for you for so long.”
At the eerie, echoing voice, her heart thudded and tightened.
The pressure of obedience, deeply ingrained in Diana over the past seven years she had spent in the Empire, was still very much alive. The urge to flee back into her dreams was overwhelming.
Diana barely managed to shake her head, banishing her fear.
“No. I can’t just stay isolated here.”
Above all, she hadn’t been able to bring Elliot with her. If everyone from the royal palace had been expelled, Elliot would surely be among them. If, while she was gone, Senz Rossi dared to do anything disgraceful to the Crown Prince…
‘Then I’ll never be able to hold my head high before Queen Ianna again.’
That thought snapped her back to her senses.
First, she needed to find out how much time had passed outside. Diana ran her fingertips across the shimmering water’s surface.
The water rippled, revealing a scene that wasn’t here. It was the main gate of the royal castle, surrounded by lush greenery like a jungle. From the outside, the castle looked like a massive natural fortress encircled by a dense forest.
A shocking scene was unfolding there.
“……!”
As Diana leapt to her feet, fierce ripples spread across the water’s surface. The spirits that had been drifting beneath the water surged upward to grab her, but it was too late.
Diana pushed off from the Spring and began to run. Toward the entrance of the royal palace, shaded by dense willow trees.
***
“I was wondering how I could get the message to you, ackk.”
As soon as he spotted Diana, Elliot gave a weak smile.
“So you found me first, after all. Thank you, Let.”
“Stop joking, Your Highness! How could this happen? Since when have you been subjected to such humiliation?”
As soon as Diana pulled Elliot down from the castle gate, she scanned him from head to toe.
Elliot was literally hanging from the royal castle’s gate. With his hands tied behind his back, the boy was swaying at a dizzying height, supported only by a crude footrest and a single chain. Even after spotting Diana, he shook his head vigorously, signaling her not to approach. It was a truly shocking sight.
The place where Elliot was hanging was at a height he could never have climbed down from on his own. Especially for a small boy like Elliot, if he slipped and fell, it was obvious he wouldn’t survive. As soon as Diana spotted the boy, she summoned the spirits.
The willow roots that had grown up the castle wall moved with supple grace, enveloping Elliot. After lowering the boy safely to the ground, Diana placed her hand on his forehead. He was burning up.
“How long have you been up there? Surely not all night?”
“I think I saw the sun set about twice.”
Had the cruel man left the child in this state for two whole nights? As Diana struggled to contain her dismay, Elliot forced out the next words.
“Diana, we need to get back to the Spring… Her Majesty must know about this by now, so she’s surely taken action. Grenia and Delos—ah, and the Kingdom of Lelon—might have already sent troops…”
Elliot muttered something and then let his head drop suddenly. Cold sweat drenched the young boy’s forehead and cheeks.
Diana hurriedly used her purifying power to wipe away Elliot’s sweat, but the Crown Prince, who had lost his strength and fallen asleep as if fainting, showed no sign of waking up anytime soon.
An unbearable rage boiled up from the depths of Diana’s being. She commanded the spirits in a voice strained with suppressed anger.
“Take care of His Highness. Move him to the safest place by the Spring.”
The tree roots that had gently cradled Elliot began to move.
Diana waited until she was certain the boy had disappeared into the Spring before standing up. If the Crown Prince’s true identity had been exposed, the knights of Ormance who had accompanied him would not escape unscathed. And it wasn’t just them.
‘Grenia, Delos, Lelon.’
These were the names of the kingdoms that shared a border between the Karman Empire and the Kingdom of Ormance, each occupying a significant territory that could not be ignored. They, too, must be aware of this strange phenomenon unfolding in Mepen. If some of those nations had already dispatched troops, it was as clear as day that a bloodbath would once again sweep through Dortes.
Diana, who had been standing motionless for a while, spun around abruptly.
The area up to the main gate of the royal palace was Diana’s domain and a sanctuary protected by the spirits. The moment she crossed the stone bridge connecting the palace to the capital’s streets, the protection of the Spring vanished.
The flag of the Karman Command was fluttering atop the watchtower directly across from that bridge.
Diana stepped onto the bridge. As if they had been expecting this, the atmosphere in the watchtower began to grow restless. Instead of walking all the way there on her own, Diana stopped at the boundary where her protection ended.
“I won’t give you much time.”
The wind carried her low voice far and wide. It was a resonance loud enough to reach the watchtower across the bridge.
“If you don’t come out now, you’ll never get another chance.”
In the royal audience chamber, where she had finally come face to face with the Emperor, she had made her position clear. This is my kingdom, and you are the invader. Therefore, your orders and threats hold no value for me.
If the Emperor’s chosen response was yet another act of desecrating her world, she had no choice but to accept it willingly. Hanging her allies from the city gates was tantamount to a declaration of war. Elliot and Ormance would be just the beginning.
Diana glared across the bridge with bloodshot eyes. Flags bearing the howling tiger emblem stood tall throughout all of Mepen.
She had thought that once the Valestega Spring was revived, her work would be done. But she had been mistaken. She realized anew that her homeland was a colony.
She thought of the commoners in Kairam, trapped at the bottom of the food chain, struggling to survive day by day. She recalled the harrowing sight of the Dortes, the original inhabitants of this land, reduced to a state worse than slavery under the pressure of the Imperials and the settlers.
The same things were happening in Mepen, Kairam, and countless other small towns and villages across Dortes. Diana now truly understood the hatred and hostility that Walter, the owner of “Kairam’s Rogue,” had displayed as he spat in the direction of the Imperial Command.
Until Diana returned to him, the man would oppress and destroy her loved ones one by one. All the while expecting her to cling to him, weeping and wailing as if he were her savior, just as before. He was a man incapable of thinking any other way.
But who was truly the blind one?
Now, Diana could see and read more than she had during her time of blindness. Though she could detect no intention other than coercion and restraint in the man’s arms that had held her captive in the audience chamber, her perception changed completely the moment she saw his expression and gaze.
Who is the one truly desperate?
Diana counted silently. One, two, three.
‘Four, five, six.’
She could endure it for only one minute. No more than that. Diana stood with her fists clenched and closed her eyes.
‘…Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.’
The sun was setting beyond the bridge. The rain-drenched royal palace was bathed in the red glow of the sunset.
Diana’s hair, which had grown to her waist while she slept, also glowed with the light of the sunset.
‘Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four….’
If he didn’t come out by the end…. Diana’s tightly shut eyelids trembled slightly. If it couldn’t be resolved peacefully, there might be bloodshed. If armed conflict was not the worst option but the best, perhaps she must be willing to accept it.
However, there was no need to count down to sixty. When the clock in Diana’s mind reached thirty, a figure appeared on the bridge. She could recognize him instantly from the silhouette alone, which dwarfed the culprit.
Black hair that devoured even the intense sunset light, black clothing without a single brooch or epaulet, a black cloak fluttering behind him, and black military boots striding forward without hesitation. The man, clad entirely in black, approached with long strides.
The sun was sinking toward the west. As he drew nearer, the lengthening shadow looked like a grim reaper following him from hell.
The distance closed in an instant. Diana straightened her shoulders, determined not to cower.
Don’t be afraid. Don’t view the present through the lens of the past.
I am no longer your servant, and you are not my master. Not for a single moment have you ever ruled over me.
That, and that alone, was the truth.
***
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