TGS - Chapter 12
Chapter 12: Motive and Turning Point
The scene in the shallow dreamscape had remained unchanged for three years. Countless scrolls were neatly arranged by category, and Alyuin sat among them, holding a book, though her mind was clearly elsewhere.
Suddenly, she looked up. The moment she saw Lotus’s figure, her eyes curved into a smile, and she said obediently, “I knew you would come.”
Lotus nodded, her voice gentle and concerned. “I have seen everything that happened tonight. How are you feeling now?”
“I’m fine.” The young princess tilted her head in thought, then had a realization. “You’re the one who woke me up before that assassin made his move, weren’t you?”
Lotus smiled. “It was just a reminder. I trust that your vigilance is enough to turn the tide in a crisis, but it was safer to awaken you beforehand.”
I trust you.
Hearing those words, an image of Rhea’s shy yet determined and adoring face flashed before Alyuin’s eyes. In the past, such a comforting phrase would have made the young princess happy for a long time, but the thought that it wasn’t exclusively for her tainted her joy with a strange, sour impurity.
She lowered her gaze, deliberately pushing the thought away and turning her mind to the matter at hand. “Right, I understand who was behind this attack, but there’s one thing I can’t figure out. Do you know why they chose to act now?”
Seeing that the young princess’s expression was normal and that she didn’t seem to be suffering from any psychological trauma, Lotus felt half-relieved.
Her expression grew serious. “It’s related to the changes in Akhet. Half a month ago, Horst announced that he was making his only son the Crown Prince, and the grand ceremony was held the very next day.”
Horst—that was the name of the current King of Solancia, and the name of the uncle Alyuin hated.
The young princess’s eyes turned cold. For a moment, she was once again the helpless girl from three years ago, watching her parents die as the perpetrator acted with impunity, twisting right and wrong while she could do nothing.
“I thought it would be sooner, or later. But if his son has already been made Crown Prince, they should feel more secure. Why would they suddenly move against a princess who lost all her power long ago?”
“That is true,” Lotus said. “But that’s based on the assumption that they see you as no threat.”
Alyuin was taken aback. “Did they find out I’ve been sneaking out to practice my martial arts?”
Lotus chuckled lightly. “My messenger would not allow such a thing to happen.”
“Oh, Miss Messenger helps me keep an eye on my surroundings, so there’s no reason for them to have found out.” The young princess fell into deep thought.
After a long while, she said in an uncertain tone, “Was it… my father’s former confidants?”
Lotus sighed. “Not just them, but also the supporters of the direct royal bloodline.”
This was the conclusion Lotus had reached after some thought.
First, it was important to be clear that although the young princess currently seemed to have been forgotten in a remote temple, she was still the only member of the direct royal line in her generation.
In the previous generation, there was also only one direct royal, but it was not Horst, who had replaced the former king. It was the former king’s only sister, the God-Concubine who had been sent to the City of the Sun God in her youth.
Horst was nominally Alyuin’s uncle, but he was actually from a collateral branch of the royal family who had simply grown up with the former king. His ascension to the throne was not only the fruit of his own meticulous scheming but also the reluctant result of a compromise between the major powers in Akhet.
However, there were always those who were dissatisfied, such as some of the former king’s old subordinates and the supporters of the direct royal line. They had originally planned to have the young princess’s future offspring inherit the throne, which was why they had tacitly allowed Alyuin’s exile.
First, the blood of a sinner flowing through her veins must be cleansed, only then can she be brought back to give birth to a little prince.
In the eyes of most of them, childbirth was the princess’s only purpose. As for whether Alyuin’s education and martial skills would atrophy in a remote place, these people couldn’t care less—one didn’t need to be particularly intelligent or strong to bear children.
As it turned out, three years later, Horst had secured his throne and no longer needed to consider this faction’s opinions. He directly ordered his own son to be named Crown Prince.
These people immediately panicked. The throne was about to fall completely into the hands of a collateral branch—how could they allow that? They urgently needed a figurehead to stand in opposition to the Crown Prince, and so the young princess, who had been living quietly in Kadera City, “re-entered” their field of vision.
So, why was Alyuin suddenly the target of an assassination?
Because certain people in the royal city had become restless, and Horst had noticed. The obstacle he had failed to completely remove back then was now about to become a threat to his son’s succession. Naturally, he could not sit by and do nothing.
After sorting through it all, Lotus looked at the young princess with a sense of helplessness, seeing the shared understanding in their eyes.
Incapable of accomplishing anything, but more than capable of ruining things. That was the perfect description for those who had stirred up trouble in Akhet.
Alyuin sighed. “Looking at it this way, I’ll probably have to face more assassins.”
Lotus pondered for a moment. “The assassination attempts won’t stop, but you won’t have to deal with them yourself.”
Hearing this, the young princess looked at her with anticipation.
Lotus said, “Not all supporters of the direct royal line are hopeless. Within a few days, their people will arrive.” Though their reaction was slow, at least they had reacted.
Alyuin was speechless.
She lowered her head in disappointment.
“What’s wrong?”
“I thought you—you would send a divine messenger to protect me.” The young princess had almost blurted out, “You would protect me,” but worried her intention was too obvious, she changed it to “divine messenger.”
Ah, that was something she hadn’t considered.
Lotus paused, then said gently, “That’s a very good point.”
However, sending a divine messenger was unlikely. Even her messenger, the Blue Heron, was just a form she had taken. If she were to disguise herself as her own envoy to spend time with the young princess, it would feel rather awkward.
So Lotus said, “I will use my divine power to create an avatar and come to the mortal realm to accompany you. If any unexpected situations arise, you can also communicate with me through the avatar.”
The unexpected joy made the young princess’s eyes widen. She knew that deities had the ability to walk the mortal realm using avatars, but she had never expected—or rather, never dared to imagine—that Lotus would descend in an avatar for her sake.
Though it was called an avatar, it was still the consciousness of the deity herself, no different from a god’s actual descent.
“Are you really going to do that?” Alyuin confirmed.
“Yes. Unless you wouldn’t welcome me—”
“No, I would welcome you very much!”
The young princess exclaimed, and the oppressive feeling that had been faintly coiled around her heart vanished in that instant.
No matter how many believers Lotus had visited in their dreams, she was the only one for whom the goddess would descend as an avatar. She was the only one who could be this close to her.
As for the others… what others?
Alyuin didn’t know, but at this moment, she was utterly content.
That night, the temple staff witnessed the weak and helpless princess following behind the priestess, being led sobbing to the sacrificial chamber. It was said that the intruder had frightened her so badly that she could only calm her nerves beside the statue of the Goddess Lotus.
A corpse was carried out of the princess’s room, covered in haphazard scratches. A blood-stained short sword was also brought out. The sword, of course, did not belong to the princess, but it was the weapon that had ended the assassin’s life.
Based on this evidence, the course of events must have been as follows:
The assassin broke into the princess’s room late at night, attempting to commit the grave crime of murdering a royal. But he was unskilled and was somehow killed in return by a twelve-year-old girl.
The princess, in her effort to defend herself, had unleashed astonishing strength, and was now so frightened by the aftermath that she was mentally distraught. Hopefully, it wouldn’t cause any lasting problems.
Except for the last sentence, this account was not far from the truth.
The Kadera Temple had always been under the priestess’s strict management, so although the incident was a hot topic of gossip in private, no one spoke of it outside.
Except for one girl.
Tarsha was one of the few students who did not go home after the test, and she was the only child who had gone to see the scene after the incident.
Returning to her room, she said to the guard beside her, “Did you write down everything you just heard?”
The guard bowed respectfully. “Yes, my lady.”
“Then hurry back and tell my father. Do I really need to teach you how to deliver a message?” Tarsha said coolly, her expression as arrogant as it had been three years ago.
She certainly had reason to be arrogant. Before Alyuin’s arrival, Tarsha had been the highest-ranking student in the temple, a status granted entirely by her family background.
Within Kadera City, what family could be more prominent than that of the city’s lord?
“Crash!”
A valuable ornament was violently swept aside. The usual smile was long gone from the Lord of Kadera City’s face.
“Good, very good. The warrior I meticulously trained was killed by a little girl. Are you joking with me?”
The guard knelt at the lord’s feet, not daring to breathe. He said with difficulty, “It must have been an accident. The wounds on his body have no pattern. Perhaps the princess’s potential was unlocked in a life-or-death struggle, and that’s how she luckily survived.”
“I don’t care what accidents happened in between, I only care about the result!”
The two guards standing behind him exchanged a look. One of them said, “My lord, we still have a chance. Please send me. I will finish her off cleanly.”
The city lord sighed heavily and slumped back into his chair. “What do you know? There are no more chances… The princess has locked herself in the sacrificial chamber of the Goddess Lotus. Even if you dared to murder a royal under the nose of a god, could you even step foot inside that chamber?”
The guard said cautiously, “But she has to come out eventually—”
“It’s too late. The letter that was delivered to me said that the people sent by the other side are on their way to our Kadera. At their pace, they will arrive tomorrow.”
The Lord of Kadera City shook his head incessantly, muttering, “I should have done it three years ago. Why didn’t I do it then?”
The long night was about to pass, and the horizon was turning the fish-belly white of dawn.
A troop of riders arrived before Kadera City, bathed in the morning light. The man in the lead showed a token to the guards. The city garrison, which had intended to report to the city lord first, was so stunned by the authority the token represented that they scrambled to open the gates.
The troop did not stop for a moment, their horses’ hooves striking the earth with a uniform rhythm.
Finally, they arrived before the temple. The others waited while only the leader dismounted outside and walked toward the priestess who had come to greet him.
“I am here to see Her Highness, the Princess,” he said.
Comments
Post a Comment