Although we took a detour, we continued our steady advance to the palace of the North. The anthropoids’ army had basically been reduced to a useless group of low anthropoids. We hadn’t encountered any attacks from the tribes, themselves, either. I could still see some corpses hung up on the way to the palace. Perhaps the winged race really was carrying out their mission by killing their last opposition.
We passed towns, villages and cities, where I brought them under my control. Leah should’ve been assisting us from up ahead by convincing the citizens to not be hostile to us, making it seem as though we came to release them. We soon reached the palace of the North at the end. That was where everything would end.
The weapon I ordered at Troy City was on its way. It was the most important weapon for attacking the palace of the North and absolutely compulsory.
We were currently camped in the wild. We should reach the palace in less than a week’s time. Nobody could stop our advance now, so it was just a matter of time.
“Your Majesty, this is a letter from Troy City.”
I nodded. I stood up and slightly hastily took the letter. The heat stamp of the royal family on the letter told me it was a letter from Elizabeth and Nier. It was heart-warming to receive a letter from home at the time. I eagerly waved my hand to tell the messenger to leave, but he hesitated for a bit before reporting, “Your Majesty, the truth is, one more person came with me.”
“Who?! Don’t tell me it’s Nier! Nier!”
His answer startled me.
‘I feel that Nier really would come, given her personality. If it really was Nier, what would I do…? Am I supposed to just send her back…? Nier has been pregnant for at least four months, right…? How am I supposed to send her back like that…? It would be more dangerous to bring her along…’
‘Wait, no. If it was Nier, I’d bet my head that Lucia would’ve tagged along. I swear that the two of them come bundled, because they’d never let the other stay by my side alone. If that was the case, it shouldn’t be Nier. Could it possibly be Mommy Elizabeth? That’s impossible. If it was her, I’d have lost control over the army, so it couldn’t have been mom.’
‘Freya? No, that’s impossible. Freya has to work at Troy City. She has to take care of my wives on my behalf, so who else could it be?’
I nodded, “Let them in.”
“Your Majesty…”
The person in question pulled the curtain to the tent open. I looked at the face that appeared before me, frowned and said, “What are you doing? Gerald, I remember the task I gave you was to stay at Freya’s side and protect her. Why are you here? If you’re here, who’s protecting Freya?”
“Erm…”
Gerald scratched his head, unsure how to answer. I looked at him and coldly said, “What are you here for? Is there nobody protecting Freya? Gerald, you’ve failed your task. Your task was to protect Freya, not for you to run around. What did you come here for? For me to behead you?”
“No, no, no. Your Majesty… It does not count as me leaving my post on my own accord, as… Miss Freya wanted to send you a letter…”
“I’m your master. You should be following my orders, not Freya’s. Even if she did tell you to bring me a letter, you shouldn’t have come here.”
“No, it was not Miss Freya’s idea…”
“So that means you left your post on your own accord, then. Do it yourself. I don’t want to personally kill you. You should be aware how much I care about Freya. Freya is my only sister. If her bodyguard leaves his post on his own according, leaving her alone at Troy City, what do I need a guard like you for? Gerald, you’ve disappointed me.”
“No, no! Your Majesty! Do you not feel that Miss Freya is pitiful? Miss Freya clearly cares about you a lot, as well. She cares about you as much as Her Majesty and the Princess care about you, so why can she not write you a letter? As Miss Freya’s bodyguard, I must take care of her feelings, as well as her safety! Your Majesty, you do not want to see Miss Freya’s tears, as well, do you?!”
I chuckled softly, “You sure have a lot to say. You best pray that Freya is well during this time that you’re away, or you’re going to be miserable. Leave the letter and return. I’ll tell the messenger to bring Freya’s letter along next time, too.”
“Thank you very much, Your Majesty!!”
I waved my hand and took three letters. Seeing the familiar letters gave me a heart-warming feeling…
‘Wait, what…? Mommy Elizabeth’s, Nier’s, Freya’s… Wait a second… Why… do I not have one from Lucia…?’
========
Present time at the elven capital Duagarna…
While holding a small bottle in her hand, Vyvyan looked at the maid down below with an eerie smile “Without my permission, nobody is to… Forget it. I will not let you in… You are not allowed to enter. I’ll have to be a little cruel to you if you enter.”
In reality, nobody could enter the room even if she didn’t give the order, since she had created a barrier that would prevent anybody from breaking in.
This room was once His Highness’ room. What could be inside it now?
Vyvyan pulled the door open and entered. She then turned around and locked the door very carefully.
Lucia was sluggishly lying on the bed. She looked at the ceiling with her lifeless eyes. Her body jerked gently every now and then. She had her mouth slightly opened. Her saliva and tears ran down her cheeks. Her belly had a slight bulge. The amount of protrusion was evidently abnormal based on her stage of pregnancy. Her green eyes were void of life. Her only signs of life were her soft sobs and trembling body.
Vyvyan walked up to Lucia and poured the liquid in the bottle into Lucia’s mouth as if refilling petrol for a car that had run out of gas. Lucia began to cough intensely, and she shook with all her might. She squirmed with all her might to try and escape, but Vyvyan gave her no time to rest, pressing down on her neck to force all of the liquid down her throat.
“Puah!! Pfft!”
Lucia chucked up mouthfuls of water, only for Vyvyan to shove it back down. It seemed as though Lucia would die if it continued even if she was alive before. One might think Vyvyan was trying to execute her by drowning.
“Don’t… No… Your Highness… Don’t!!” sobbed Lucia, as she tightly gripped Vyvyan’s arm in despair. “It hurts… Your Highness… It hurts… My belly… my belly feels as if it is going to rip… I cannot breathe… I… I… It hurts… I…”
Vyvyan pressed her hand on Lucia’s mouth. She then looked at her and seriously said, “Be strong, Lucia. For your child and my son’s child’s sake, you should hang in there. You won’t die. Trust me. I must supplement your mana with the elven spring water, because you don’t have enough mana to sustain the mana of two kids. You must hang in there, Lucia. You have two kids in you right now. You must be strong for my child’s child and your own child…”
“It hurts so much… It hurts so much… I…”
“Sleep, Lucia. Sleep and it won’t hurt.”
Vyvyan stroked Lucia’s eyelid. Lucia gasped, followed by a full-body seizure before becoming weak as if she was dead once again.
She had two lives in her small body. Lucia’s mana level wasn’t high, but she had an extra child in her whose mana was virtually at Vyvyan’s level. That child could absorb all of Lucia’s mana. But as Vyvyan said, she had to hang in there for her child’s sake…
Vyvyan didn’t care if Lucia could survive or not in the end. All she wanted was for Lucia to give birth to the child. She only needed her own child to survive!
Lucia or whatever… Their lives had nothing to do with Vyvyan…
Previous Chapter l Next Chapter
