I never thought it’d take so long to find someone.
I looked at my hands that were now shaking. The pain that gradually kicked in started to make me feel agitated.
However, the black figure was in front of me. She strongly resembled an elf, though she was much whiter than the elves in the south. She virtually looked transparent. She looked at me vigilantly with her purple eyes. Her black cloak was torn and tattered. Her clothes were evidently very old and tattered, revealing her white skin.
I pressed my hand to my forehead and took in a deep breath. It was a full-moon night tonight. I didn’t intend to see anyone from sunset onwards, but the group brought this woman over now.
I felt I had to see her. I looked at her and asked, “You are?”
She lingered for a moment; then she looked at me. Behind me was Ling Yue. She sighed, “Thank the gods. Thank god you are still alive, Miss Ling Yue. This must be a Galadriel, then.”
I looked at her and cleared my throat. I asked again, “I asked, who are you?”
She looked at me. She made a small bow before replying, “I am Leah. Leah Kran. I am the Queen’s personal bodyguard.”
“Are you talking about your Queen in the North?”
“Yes.”
I stood up then replied, “You’re our enemy, then. Since you appeared here after you people started this war, you must be a deserter, right?”
“No.”
“You’re not a deserter?”
“What I meant is that I am not your enemy. My Queen is not your enemy, either.”
A sharp painful sensation came from my head. I hadn’t experienced that sort of sharp pain that felt as if my skull was going to be ripped apart in a while now. It felt as though came from within my bones, leaking into my veins and then shooting to my nerves. It hurt so much that I virtually wanted to yell. I sat down and picked up a cup of wine by the side to drink, but it was pointless.
I fought to keep my mind clear and together. I looked at the black silhouette with my now blurry vision and asked, “What did you mean, then?”
She looked at me and anxiously replied, “My Queen did not ignite this war. It was the eight people from the four tribes that ignited this war. They were also the ones who killed the brains and loyal Moon Fox Tribe. My Queen has lost power already. After the previous King passed away, My Queen succeeded the throne at a very young age. She is now but the nation’s puppet. My Queen strongly disapproves of this war, but she has no means of stopping it.”
I pinched my temples, “That has nothing to do with me. Your internal affairs have nothing to do with me. It doesn’t matter whether or not this war has anything to do with your Queen; the people see your Queen as your ruler. If I don’t punish your Queen, your people won’t think they’ve lost the war, and our people won’t consider it a victory.”
“But this has nothing to do with our Queen!! She genuinely wanted to object to this war! That is why she sent me to find you!”
She got emotional as soon as her Queen was mentioned. She wanted to come forward, but my two guards at my side drew their swords and held them at her neck.
“What does your Queen want to do, then? What does she want to do by sending you to find me? It’s pointless to find me to object to the war. You want me to pull back just because your Queen is against the war? Your anthropoids owe us a blood debt. How are we going to settle it?”
I snickered as I raised my head. I then exclaimed, “I’m not that naïve. I don’t care what ideas your Queen has or how your internal affairs are. I only know that your people invaded us and killed my people, so I’m going to get revenge. Ling Yue gave her everything to me, and I promised to help her get revenge!”
She froze then looked at Ling Yue. Ling Yue nodded. She then sighed, “Esteemed King Galadriel, Esteemed Elven King, you have misunderstood. I am not asking you to pull back. To the contrary, our Queen would like you to attack. She hopes to see the Galadriel tribe come to her rescue.”
I leaned back a little and looked at her, “You’re saying that your Queen wants us to kill the four tribes?”
“Yes. That is the simplest way to end this war. Our Queen does not want this war. As long as you can attack the North, defeat the current army and kill the eight individuals, this war will end. Although our Queen does not hold any power, she is still viewed as the Queen by the people. I will implement actions in the North to try and convince as many people as possible to not put up a resistance against you.”
She looked at me and continued in a frustrated tone, “We did not want this war. Our Queen simply wants to return home. She wants to return to this side to have a look. The Galadriel Tribe exiled us, but the resentment and bloody fate should be no more, right? We heard that the Galadriel Queen accepted all elves. I think we can return home now.”
I looked at the elf, who had lived in the North for who knows how long and should’ve been living in the south.
They had been exiled for too long.
“In that case, I want to know what I stand to gain by helping you.”
I looked at her and quickly got to the most important topic. My body was about to give in.
‘I think I’m going to start rolling on the ground if we continue any longer. Mommy Vyvyan isn’t here. Is there nobody else that can help me release my mana? I’ll have to fight it until the sun comes up. My Luna is no longer around, so I’ll have to bear the pain of her not being here.’
To be honest, though, even this sort of pain where I feel that I’m being ripped apart is nothing compared to the pain I felt when I saw Luna’s corpse. That didn’t rip my body apart, but it ripped my sanity cell by cell, ruining my memories and future.
She looked at me and replied with earnest, “You will be able to obtain the entire North, including land, people, resources and everything else. It may be mere frozen land, but as long as you have the spring water, you will be able to return the land back to its rich state as it was in the past. Our Queen knows that she will lose her throne after this war, but she does not mind. She is willing to give you the entire North just in exchange for letting her return home.
I kept my eyes on her as I stood up, “The land in the North should’ve belonged to me to begin with. Even if I refuse you here, it would be mine after I conquered the North whether you like it or not.”
From behind, she loudly shouted, “But the people will not think that way. From your perspective, it is revenge. From their perspective, however, you are an invader. I do not think that you want scorched land. You want a healthy North, do you not? Otherwise, you would not have wanted to help a fallen noble tribe of the North. You see Ling Yue as a tool to handle the nobles and people in the North in the future, do you not? Our Queen is personally helping you now.”
I stopped in my tracks and went silent, but the painful sensation in my head inhibited my thinking.
“Have a good rest for now. I’ll give you my answer tomorrow.”
I needed to go somewhere nobody could see me.
‘I can’t let anybody see what I’m like on full-moon nights.’
Ling Yue looked at me with concern from behind. She watched me swiftly vanish behind the tent. She exchanged eye contact with Leah. Ling Yue bit down on her lip, and then swiftly went into the tent at the rear.
“Miss Ling Yue!!”
“Don’t butt in.”
Shusia, who was at Philes side, stopped him as he went to speak.
“But…”
“Miss Ling Yue won’t harm His Majesty. Furthermore, His Majesty’s private life is none of our business.”
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