“My Queen!! Why did you do that?!”
The elder followed the Queen as he fumed. He couldn’t keep up to her due to his feeble legs. He looked particularly comical due to the way he was shaking with anger. The Queen turned her head around to look at him indifferently, “What’s wrong? Is there a problem? Marvel is the hero of the North, so it’s only natural that I send him my blessings and reward him as a member of the imperial family.”
“You went overboard with your reward!”
The Queen looked at him with a cold gaze and, “There’s no such thing as ‘overboard’ when rewarding bravery and loyalty. Those who are loyal are worthy of all rewards! Do you not agree? Only those whom are loyal have the right to enjoy every blessing, and only the valiant may have rich land. Do you not think so?”
“Do you think that I am not loyal?!” exclaimed the elder, with a furious wave of his hands. His face was totally red owing to his anger. He looked at the Queen and thundered, “I have done so much for the North! I have given up so much so as to not let the previous Ling down and for your elven race! Do you still question my loyalty?! Is everything I do not for the sake of the North?”
The Queen snickered, “You did it all for the North? How about, you did it for your tribe’s benefit…? What’s wrong? You have a case of indignation? Why do you refuse to acknowledge your deeds? You should feel ashamed of yourself when you do what you do, not be worried about others talking about you!”
The elder went to rage back at her, but she cut him off. She looked at him coldly and snickered, “Bring it. I have lost everything already, including my parents, my friend and even my own body. What else do I need to worry about? I’m not scared of you any longer. You wanted to threaten me? You wanted to punish me?”
The Queen ripped the buttons off her clothes, revealing her virtually transparent white skin while they were in the main hall. She wasn’t embarrassed or shy. Instead, she looked at the elder with a ridiculing look, but that was also her ridiculing herself. The elder looked at his Queen blankly. He then slapped her hard and shouted, “Do you not even feel shame anymore?!”
“I shouldn’t feel ashamed! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for what you did to me that day?! You’re the one who should be ashamed of himself, not me!”
“I did it for the North! I did it for the future of the North and your elven bloodline!”
“I am a pure-blooded elf! I should get married to a pure-blooded elf! I love Leah. I refuse to be with you anthropoids despite it being impossible for Leah and me to have children!!”
*Smash!!*
This time, he smashed her head with his walking stick. The Queen shrieked in a high-pitched voice, and then fell backward onto the ground. Dark red blood spilt slowly from her forehead. The elder was so infuriated that he was trembling all over. He pointed at her, while his lips trembled as though he was going to chant the most evil curse from hell.
“I never thought… I truly never thought that you would fall so low! I never thought that you would fall so low! I do not understand where the previous King went wrong raising you! I thought that I already corrected your wrong thinking and behaviour. I never thought that you would get worse, instead. I think that you should lock yourself up and reflect for some time…”
He clapped his hand, and then two guards from behind came over. They grabbed the Queen’s arms and dragged her aside. The elder looked at her final angry gaze and slammed his walking stick on the ground hard, before turning to leave. Absolutely furious, wasn’t enough to describe how he felt.
He was suffering from being made fun of and betrayed. He had been eyeing the Moon Fox Tribe’s status and resources for a long time. He never expected that a panther would obtain what he had been working hard for all the time, so easily. Though the Queen’s words meant nothing to him, she was still considered the most authoritative individual by the people. As such, the Queen’s command was the highest command. Since she gave the land to the panthers, he couldn’t go and snatch it from them, or else, he would be considered the one who betrayed the Queen and be considered a traitor.
He really wanted that piece of land. He wanted that sort of preferential treatment, but he didn’t want to be called a traitor by everybody from now on. If his reputation was ruined, his tribe would fall and never rise again, so he had to maintain his reputation to ensure that his descendants could be proud by everything he did.
Now, unfortunately, the Panthers had gotten ahead of him. The current battle was the best opportunity for the panthers to turn the situation around. The trust of the people, the Queen’s reward and even the right to enter the palace armed were privileges not even he had. That was one of the Queen’s ways of declaring her trust. It was an indication that the imperial family held the panthers in higher regard. That meant that all those with aspirations would seek the panthers from now, while his own power would continue to diminish.
The Queen grew more and more arrogant ever since humanity began their expedition to the North. He couldn’t kill her. She didn’t have children, and she was the final member of the elven tribe. Subsequently, she couldn’t die. If she died, his entire tribe would be wiped out.
The Queen was also an important piece in maintaining the peace between the four tribes.The Queen wasn’t his puppet. She was breaking the strings he had on her one after another. She wasn’t willing to be his puppet anymore.
‘Who gave her that courage?’
The elder shook his head, then turned and left the palace.
A servant waiting outside came up to him and whispered in his ear, “Your Excellency, the frontlines have reported back. Our army has retreated… The General said that it was your idea…”
“What?! Wh(y)-”
The elder was startled. He then stopped to think. As he deliberated the situation, he pinched his chin and made circles with his eyes. He then responded, “No, nothing. It was my order. Uhm. It’s good that they’ve retreated. That’s good. However, make sure to not be discovered. Once discovered, we must ensure that we have a reasonable explanation. Retreat from the battle in groups.”
“What about the time of the attack?”
“Delay it; delay it for as long as possible. We must withdraw our main forces before commencing the attack. Let those imbeciles fight. If we waste all of our strength there, then we will completely lose our position as the leader. We can’t let that happen. We absolutely mustn’t… Mm, you plan out a panther extermination as we did with the Moon Fox Tribe, understood?”
“Exterminate the panthers?” asked the servant. He paused before continuing with hesitation, “The panthers… The panthers are now considered heroes by the North. I-Is it all right for us to do that to them? I do not think that is wise. Further, if we cannot stop humanity, does that not mean we will be doomed…?”
“We can still become friends with humanity regardless of the end result, but if we leave the Panthers as they currently are, we will definitely be completely destroyed,” explained the elder. “We can have more than one friend, but if we have an enemy, we will be doomed. Go and do as I say. If humanity succeeds, get in contact with them before anybody else does, understood?”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
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