“This city, huh? How nostalgic. It’s not just the food and hot spring that’s nostalgic, but also the things that happened here. I think that it was here that I fell in love with that man,” said Ling Yue, dexterously hopping off the horse carriage.
Ling Yue silently declared, “I once came here, but nobody cared about me. The only reason that I was respected was because that man brought me in. This time, however, I have returned with Troy’s emblem. When Nier and Lucia aren’t present, I’m Troy’s main wife!”
The maids and guards respectfully saluted Ling Yue, but their surprise showed in their gazes. Troy’s influence no longer reached Troy City. That was why many people didn’t even see Troy this time.
Ling Yue asked the maid next to her, “Have lots of people been switched out?”
“How did you know?”
“I can tell by the smell.”
Tanya hopped off the carriage and caught up to Ling Yue. After she made an invitational hand gesture, Ling Yue gracefully went up the immaculately maintained steps. She proudly held her red tail and ears up. The confidence and grace she radiated depicted her as the mistress of Troy City. Only Ling Yue, who was always a noble, could display such a graceful, calm and confident demeanour. Or rather, the woman considered a mistress, Ling Yue, had the demeanour of a Queen more than anyone.
Ling Yue went up the steps and specifically made a stop by her husband’s office. She stopped at the simple and unadorned timber door. In a serious tone, she expressed, “Tanya, I want to go in and take a look. While my husband isn’t here, he did leave traces of his time here. I want to take a look.”
“All right,” responded Tanya, with a nod.
Tanya pushed the door open. The room was sparkling clean. The table was set up to cater to her husband’s requirements. Ling Yue nostalgically scanned the surroundings after sauntering in. In a soft voice, remarked, “When I came to this city, I conversed with him here. How nostalgic. Those days of tumult were the days I was my naïve self. My daughter is capable of finding her dad now.”
Liu Yue hopped out of a maid’s arms and cheerfully ran over to her mom. She excitedly asked, “Mom, is this where Dad works?”
“No, it’s one of the places where your dad works.”
Ling Yue rubbed her daughter’s head and then went over to the seat to sit down. She pulled open her husband’s drawer and examined the items inside. She frowned. She looked up at the maid. Somewhat perplexed, she asked, “Did you touch my husband’s stuff?”
“Consort Ling Yue, those things are King Troy’s personal belongings. We have never dared to touch anything without permission. We absolutely dare not.”
“Is that right?” remarked Ling Yue, nodding. She stood up and shut the draw.
Liu Yue looked at her mother, confused. Ling Yue led her daughter by her hand as they left the room and shut the door. Ling Yue sternly said, “In that case, nobody is to open the doors to this room other than my husband from now, understood?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
========
There were over a dozen of them, yet not one of them dared to act hasty in Elizabeth’s presence. Elizabeth, who had spent many years on battlefields, caused everyone to tremble in fear with her overwhelming killing intent. The group of individuals in black robes merely tried to create what they considered hell; however, Elizabeth walked through such a hell before, and she had created an equivalent hell before. That wasn’t to mention the fact that the amateurs had to use drugs to be able to pull it off. The mother wolf standing before them, to the contrary, could raze an entire city without batting an eye.
“How interesting. You’re carrying this out wearing your own insignia. Whether the people you kill are the new church’s people or not, you’re in my city. Killing people and burning things in my city are the equivalent of insulting me. Your murder and arson crimes are enough of a reason for me to kill you, but that’s not the real reason I want to kill you. I want to kill you merely because you insulted me.”
Elizabeth raised her sword without a hint of hesitation. She severed all four limps of an individual before her and tossed the limbs aside. She didn’t plan to let him die so easily. What she wanted to do was let him experience the despair of death. There was no need for an interrogation. All she needed to do was to throw their heads together with the corpse from yesterday. Elizabeth finally understood what the old church’s agenda was. They took revenge into their own hands. Nevertheless, they didn’t want to bring the old church into their revenge – at least, not the pope. As such, there was no reason for her to go to the old church to search for anything after killing this specific group.
Elizabeth’s current plan was to continue keep the matter under wraps. Her son was still in the city. Allowing Troy City’s new church and Hilles City’s old church to break out in a fight would very likely cause the two cities to fight. The old church and new church possessed deep-seated influence that also extended far beyond Hilles City. In turn, that would lead to the leaders of the two respective cities, Elizabeth and Troy, fighting.
Elizabeth was willing to do anything for her son. For the meantime, she didn’t intend to confront the old church. Instead, she planned to threaten them. That was her way of suppressing the two churches’ anger. She didn’t care what the two churches wanted to do once her son had returned to the North.
The one thing that hadn’t yet clicked for Elizabeth was why the new church didn’t retaliate despite having weapons.
Elizabeth contemplated, “They had the batch of guns that they smuggled into the city, yet didn’t use it this time. Instead, the old church’s weapons used in this attack seemed to be the batch that was smuggled in. Could the old church be the ones who smuggled the weapons in from Troy City? Was the old church the ones who falsely transported weapons here under my son’s name? They smuggled in weapons from Troy City, the place where the headquarters of the new church is? Or… or did the new church script and direct this themselves?
Could the new church be the one that’s trying to instigate a war between Troy City and Hilles City? So, they wanted the old church to kill members of the new church. Then, the two churches would engage in full-blown warfare to break off the relations between Troy City and Hilles City? If that’s the case, Troy and I would become hostile to each other. To put Troy away, I would have to take the initiative to seek out the new church. Now that is vicious. Unfortunately for you, my relationship with my son isn’t that weak. The conflicts between a monarch and his successor that history has witnessed, will never happen during my reign.”
Previous Chapter l Next Chapter
