TGS - Chapter 92
Chapter 92: Meeting the Parents (?)
The lady-in-waiting Lorja was a follower left to the Princess by Selina.
If they had only been suspicious before, now they were certain.
The down-and-out Princess had studied at the Kadera temple for three years and just happened to pick up an unusual, mysterious teacher. Was that reasonable?
It couldn't possibly be such a coincidence!
If that lady-in-waiting was a guard left by the former king, she shouldn't be so curt and disrespectful towards Horst. When the former king was alive, he had valued this cousin of his the most.
Excluding the former king, there was only one truth—it was Selina.
It fit. This way, everything fit together.
The Stubborn Faction had been staunch opponents of the former queen from the very beginning.
Of course, it wasn't just because Selina had killed the former king. Long before the regicide, and even before the Princess's birth, the conservative Stubborn Faction had stood in opposition to Selina.
The reason for this was none other than the queen's background.
Selina came from a declining noble house. Because someone in her clan had gone mad and committed a grave crime, the already teetering family finally met its end.
The former king, then still a prince, ignored the opposition of his advisors and subjects, pushed aside all objections, and married Selina, thereby saving her life.
Helpless, the ministers could only concede, thinking that this might just be a passing fancy of the prince's. He would surely grow tired of her in the future, and then they could present a truly noble princess consort.
However, even after the prince became king, they never got that opportunity.
In the eyes of the Stubborn Faction, this woman was the only stain on the former king's life. Fortunately, she had the blood of a noble house flowing in her veins, so she was at least qualified to bear the royal bloodline.
But who could have imagined that when she went mad, she would actually kill the former king?
By now, the Stubborn Faction's feelings toward Selina were far from simple rejection. It was a deep-seated hatred mixed with anger, loathing, and abhorrence. If time could be turned back, these people would have killed her before the former king ever met her.
And then there was the Princess.
Being so close to the lady-in-waiting, she had probably long since been deluded by this woman into forgetting the hatred for Selina killing the former king. She had also forgotten her duty as a member of the royal bloodline.
It was precisely because she was deceived by the lady-in-waiting that Alyuin made such an incomprehensible vow to the River Goddess. This must be the lady-in-waiting's revenge against the royal family.
She wanted to end the royal line!
The more the old man thought, the more horrified he became. He breathed with his decrepit throat, laboring like a broken bellows. His eyelids twitched, and the whites of his turbid eyes trembled violently.
Before more symptoms could manifest, the physician in the residence saw that things were not looking good and promptly brought a medicinal soup, having the old man sit down to rest.
The old man held the medicine bowl. The nauseating smell of the boiled herbs didn't affect him in the slightest.
"I cannot go back in time to kill Selina."
He muttered to himself.
But could he not, here and now, kill the lady-in-waiting who had deluded the Princess?
"I can't."
Lotus sighed softly.
Alyuin wasn't surprised. She gazed at the stele before her, her long, dark lashes lowered, half-concealing her golden eyes, her expression unreadable.
"As I thought, it's not possible."
The tombstone was inscribed with only a single, sloppily carved phrase: "The Sinful Regicide."
Other than that, there was not even a name for the deceased.
This was a messy and desolate cemetery.
The graves of Solancians were usually not far from where they had lived. Some were even buried in their own courtyards, making it convenient for friends and family to visit and pay their respects.
The people held no particular fear of graves or remains. After all, in their mythology, the souls of the dead had long since departed with the Yilu River during the funeral, having no further connection to the bodies left in the world.
Neither graves nor burial goods held any meaning for the dead; they were merely keepsakes for the family.
But there was one exception.
That was for the dead who had committed grave crimes. No one held funerals for them, so their souls could not return to the hands of the Death God, Emute, and remained forever bound to their mortal flesh.
Such remains were considered somewhat dangerous by the Solancians and needed to be buried far from populated areas, well outside the city walls.
To prevent uninformed passersby from approaching, the cemetery had to be enclosed by a hedge, and warning signs erected.
Over the years, it became a fixed location. It didn't have a name; residents of the royal city would only say, "Oh, that place," when referring to it.
And in this place that ordinary people avoided at all costs, Alyuin's parents were buried.
Because it was outside the city, it wasn't convenient to visit normally.
The Princess had only come secretly once before. It wasn't until this time, using the opportunity of a noble's invitation to a hunt, that she could leave the city openly.
Without much hope, Alyuin asked Lotus, "Here, can you send them back to the Kingdom of the Gods?"
Lotus could only say, "I can't."
This was beyond the scope of the Yilu River Goddess's authority.
Although it was said before that souls without funerals were detained within the earth, in truth, even if they went to Suojia, the Goddess of the Earth couldn't help—it was not within her authority.
As for the Death God, Emute?
Lotus suspected he couldn't do anything either. The Death God only waited somewhere around the floating islands of the Kingdom of the Gods to receive souls. He also had a terrible sense of direction. Honestly, finding a Raven would be more reliable than finding Emute.
Besides, was this truly all the Princess hoped for?
Alyuin suddenly bent down and used her short knife to scrape away the inscription on the stele, bit by bit.
The words had been carved perfunctorily, and the stone wasn't hard, so erasing them wasn't difficult. The Princess meticulously ground away every dark mark until the surface of the stele was clean, without a single trace remaining.
Lotus couldn't help but look around. There were many blank steles of this texture and shape here. Once the inscription was removed, it would be difficult to tell them apart.
This way... she won't go to the wrong one next time, will she?
As Lotus thought this, she remembered the Princess's astonishing memory. Even if Alyuin remembered incorrectly, she herself would be there. They wouldn't lose it.
"Next time I come, I'll still be able to find this place." As if she knew what Lotus was thinking, Alyuin straightened up and sheathed her short knife again. "But Horst's people won't be able to."
Oh, fire prevention, theft prevention, and Horst prevention.
In this matter, Horst was probably equivalent to a "thief."
Alyuin stood there for a long time, then turned her head and gave Lotus a faint smile. "Actually, even if you could send their souls to the Death God, I wasn't planning to ask you to do so."
Lotus nodded. "I know."
"You've already guessed?"
"I imagine you'd rather bring Horst here first, make him kowtow and atone, and only then send them on their way."
Alyuin shook her head. "I really can't hide anything from you."
She reached out her fingertips, as if wanting to take Lotus's hand, but then she saw the dust and stone fragments on her own. In that brief moment of hesitation, the River Goddess took her hand instead.
Lotus's expression was calm. "Shall we go?"
Alyuin: "Yes, it's about time."
Lotus lowered her head slightly, as if in thought. Then she raised her free hand, and with a casual turn, a Snowtu flower appeared out of thin air in her palm.
The Snowtu was the symbolic flower of the Yilu River.
But it was suitable for many occasions. It could be displayed at banquets, carried at weddings, and even used to pay respects to the dead. After all, it was the Yilu River that carried the souls of the dead to the other side.
Lotus placed the Snowtu flower before the grave, adjusted its position slightly, and then said, "Let's go."
Alyuin lowered her gaze, watching her movements.
"Alright."
They walked out of the nameless cemetery. The moment they stepped beyond the hedge, Alyuin suddenly parted her lips. A soft, low question formed on the tip of her tongue, like water about to overflow from a lake. She was about to ask it.
Just then, Lotus gestured to her. "Let go."
Alyuin paused. "What?"
Lotus let go first, then condensed a ball of clear water that floated by her hand like a transparent, soft piece of jelly.
Lotus used the water to wash the dust from her own hands. When she turned her head, she saw the Princess was still in a daze.
With no other choice, she had to control the ball of water to envelop Alyuin's hand, rubbing away the dirt from her nails and between her fingers.
At the touch of the cool water, the Princess's eyelashes trembled rapidly, and she blinked to hide it.
Lotus finished washing her hands, feeling she hadn't missed a spot, and asked with a smile, "Isn't that much more refreshing?"
Alyuin said insincerely, "...Yes."
Not only was it refreshing, but her feverish mind had also cooled down.
The Princess began to reflect on the impulse that had nearly broken through the defenses of her reason, not noticing the fleeting moment of confusion on Lotus's face as she turned her head.
It must have been my imagination.
Lotus thought.
The two returned to the hunting party organized by a certain noble, using the excuse that they had accidentally chased their prey too far to explain their recent absence.
A still-warm piece of game hanging from a saddle served as perfect proof for their excuse, so no one else asked any questions.
Of course, this prey had actually been caught by the golden eagles, and it would be given to them as a treat when they returned.
On the way back, the noble deliberately rode beside the Princess, trying to find topics to get closer to her.
He had no choice; it was a task assigned by his elders at home. They had made it clear that he was to befriend the Princess, and even if they couldn't become close, he should at least not make an enemy of her.
The noble was in a difficult position. He had always been good at organizing entertainment, but he really didn't know what Her Highness the Princess liked. He had guessed that the warlike Princess would enjoy hunting and had gone to great trouble to put together this hunting party outside the city, but Alyuin didn't seem very interested.
After thinking it over and over, the noble came up with a new idea.
"Your Highness, have you seen one of Asilu's plays?"
"Asilu?"
Alyuin asked the name aloud, but in her heart, she knew exactly who this was.
The actress named Asilu was quite famous in the royal city. She usually played goddesses in various plays, and was even invited to portray deities in some sacrificial ceremonies.
Her name had spread far and wide. Previously, at the theater in Surinia, someone had praised an actress on stage as "the Asilu of the south." Yes, this was extremely high praise, which showed the extent of Asilu's own fame.
The noble, thinking the Princess was unfamiliar with the name, enthusiastically began to introduce her, before finally saying, "Asilu has a performance in a few days. If you'd like to go..."
Alyuin weighed her options for a moment. Seeing from the corner of her eye that Lotus looked interested, she replied, "I will go."
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