Beware of Leah
I thought the place that was larger than I imagined would be dark and have a putrid smell, but it turned out to be unfounded concerns. I remember an intense stench of blood woke me up when I first landed; however, it was no longer there. Surprisingly, there weren’t corpses littering the ground made from exquisite materials after what should’ve been an intense scuffle. The candles saluted us in lines as we strolled through. I could barely believe the stark contrast to the outer perimeter of the castle.
“Have we come to the wrong place? I know Sisi. After conquering the castle, there’s no way she’d leave empty handed and even protect it as if it was a cultural artefact. She’d do everything she could to plunder in order to brag, wouldn’t she? This place is unbelievably neat and tidy. I’m not convinced Sisi didn’t take anything,” I deliberated.
As I checked out at the big throne on the resplendent stairs at the end of the hall, I asked, “Is that the demon king’s throne?”
“Uhm. I killed the Demon king. And the Queen here,” answered Veirya. She then pointed to a spot in the long corridor we crossed and expanded, “At the time. We broke the glass screen. To come in. I don’t know why. But the screen has been repaired. It seems. Someone came. To repair the place.”
With a hint of anticipation, she voiced, “If I didn’t have another job that day, I would’ve been here to witness the moment, too. I might’ve been the one to have the glory of slaying the Demon King instead of Veirya. Then, I’d take this punk back and create siblings for Veirya day and night. How nice would that be? Just why did I have to have another job that day?”
Angelina wore on a heartbroken look and tugged my shirt. I quickly took a small step back, asserting, “Your thinking is too dangerous. I’m glad it was Veirya who found me back then.”
Veirya vigilantly pulled my arm to put distance between me and Angelina. I sure would prefer having my head lopped off in one go than be captured and treated as a stallion day and night.
On second thought, if Angelina was the one who found me, she might not do that. Well, whatever, she was just cracking jokes. She might just have sold me off after deciding I was useless. Or, I might’ve helped the chapel and elves to harm Veirya that time. One thing is for sure, though. The chapel couldn’t possibly have accepted Leah.
“I think. Putting away my sword that time. Was the best choice. In truth. I thought about killing you and Leah. When I saw you protect Leah. And her cry. I stopped.”
Veirya should’ve added, “And that also saved my life.” She never would’ve been able to sort out the mess the North was, otherwise.
I took hold of Veirya’s hand.
Leah scanned the surroundings and then pointed to the wall behind the throne: “At the time, I hid over there. I was afraid Mama Veirya would find me, and she found me in the end. And then, she hunted me down.”
“I, actually, had noticed you. From the moment I entered,” stated Veirya.. “Leah. I told you. You must pay attention. To your surroundings. On the battlefield. Else, it’s easy to end up being ambushed. So. I knew you were hiding there. It’s just that. Since you were a child. I didn’t pay much attention to you.”
Veirya steadily crouched down and touched the brick floor: “I can’t sense it. Or blood. As if. There’s no blood. And there are. No traces of damage around, either. I can’t sense. Anyone’s presence. Which is strange. Why exactly. Can’t I?”
“Maybe somebody came and cleaned it. They might’ve repaired the place, too. I don’t know why they’d do that, having said that,” I proposed.
That was the only explanation I could come up with. If it held true, Queen Sisi actually did have an agenda for the castle, then. She cleaned and repaired the castle but not the walls. From that, I could infer that she planned to do away with the walls. I suppose she didn’t plan to create a fortress and was confident there wouldn’t be any more enemies here. I guess she planned to make it her sojourn palace. With that said, I never heard her mention it before. Perhaps it was just too far, and she forgot due to her workload.
“Papa, Papa, look. That was my former dad’s throne,” enthused Leah, tugging me by the hand and pointing to the tall throne.
Honestly, I didn’t think of it as a seat. Call it a mountain. Maybe it was supposed to symbolise that wanting to climb to the throne was as difficult as climbing a mountain.
“Papa has never been suited for that. That’s why Papa won’t sit on it. Papa is scared of being there. Plus… it’s not ideal if I’m being honest.”
Veirya did slice off the head of the guy who sat there, after all. It scared me to just think about it. Hence, I didn’t go sit on the throne.
Angelina, constantly stealing ganders Leah’s way, cautioned, “It’s best not to sit there. It is the Demon King’s throne, after all. It’s best for a human not to sit on it.” Angelina came to my side and whispered in my ear, “I would be wary of Leah if I were you. You mustn’t sit on that throne. The mission I went on that day was to question a demon with intelligence. According to what he said, the throne controlled demons. I’m certain Leah is telling you to sit in it for anything but an innocent reason. Leah isn’t your daughter; she’s a succubus, understand, idiot? If I were you, I’d leave tonight. Don’t stay here for too long. This place is Leah’s castle, not our home. I’m certain that Leah came here with a design in mind.”
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