TGS - Chapter 104
Chapter 104: The Moon Goddess's Confusion
The residences of the powerful and noble in the royal city were all concentrated in the same district.
The buildings here all had at least a century of history, and within these manors, aristocratic families had thrived for generations.
Many among them revered tradition and believed in the supremacy of bloodlines. Some participated in court politics yet looked down on their commoner-born colleagues; others engaged in commerce and trade yet disdained self-made merchants.
If you were to ask these people which was more important, bloodline or ability?
They would choose the former without hesitation.
The old man leading the Stubborn Faction came from such a family, and it was his decades of teaching by example that had further entrenched these views within his clan.
For the past several years, the Stubborn Faction families, with him at their head, had consistently refused to recognize the new king's legitimacy, causing Horst no end of headaches. But ever since they had reached a consensus on the matter of the princess's arrangement, the Stubborn Faction had shown a tendency to side with Horst.
Interestingly, the Pragmatist Faction, which had once supported Horst, chose to back the princess after her return.
—Two almost diametrically opposed forces had swapped positions, a situation quite rare even in the kingdom's history.
And this state of affairs was about to be shattered.
For the first time since returning to the royal city, Alyuin stepped into a residence belonging to the stubborn old guard. Her long boots made a slightly muffled sound as they trod upon the stone path in the garden.
The manor was shrouded in silence, with only the faint sound of scolding coming from the main building. The servants kept their distance from their master's location, not daring to breathe too loudly as they waited outside the door.
A maidservant heard the footsteps, turned to look, and cried out in alarm, "Your Highness the Princess!"
The scolding from inside the main building immediately ceased.
Alyuin gave a nod and led several of her personal guards toward the entrance.
Someone came out to greet them—a plain-looking young man. He bowed respectfully to the princess. "Your Highness, I have handled things on my end."
From the foyer, an aged and furious rebuke rang out once more. "You defiant creature! You actually pledged your loyalty to a woman! Our family's honor, passed down for generations, is ruined at your hands! Ruined!"
Through a short corridor was the main hall of the house.
The old leader of the Stubborn Faction was seated, unable to move with a guard's hand on his shoulder. He could only glare at the newcomers with a look of profound grief and anger.
Two other guards stood opposite him, restraining a short, foppish man who was panting heavily, refusing to let him go no matter how he struggled.
The plain young man ignored the old man's tirade and spoke only to Alyuin. "As Your Highness instructed earlier, I have not yet summoned the law enforcement team. I was waiting for you to make the decision."
Alyuin nodded. "It is time."
"Before I call the law enforcement team, is there anything else you wish to say, Lord Elder?"
In ancient Solancia, elderly and powerful nobles were respectfully addressed as elders.
But in the current context, the title sounded more like mockery.
The old man glared daggers at the princess but did not speak, as if his earlier shouting had exhausted his strength.
Alyuin said leisurely, "Since you have nothing to say, allow me. First, do you recall how many times you reached your claws out for my lady-in-waiting?"
"Are you here to settle the final score?" the old man ground out. "For that person of Selina's—"
"She is not my mother's person. She is mine."
"I have already fallen into your hands. At a time like this, there's no need for pretense."
"It is the truth, and something you should know."
The old man did not understand the meaning of her words. He was overconfident in his previous deductions and had never considered the possibility that the lady-in-waiting had no connection to the former queen at all.
Alyuin had no intention of explaining. She merely curled her lips, though there was no mirth in her eyes.
"Since you won't speak, allow me to count."
The princess raised a hand, symbolically ticking off on her long, white-gloved fingers. "Three attempts to abduct her, one assassination attempt, and one more still in the planning stages, correct? A pity you won't have the chance to carry it out."
"What's the point of settling such accounts now!"
"The point? Of course there is one."
Alyuin spoke to the guards holding the short fop. "Let him go."
The guards complied. The moment he was free, the fop's first reaction was to grimace and touch his arm, which the guards had gripped painfully. He glanced fearfully at the princess, then pleaded with the old man, "Grandfather..."
The old man was shocked and enraged. "What are you going to do?"
"You are old. A single misstep could easily send your soul back to the Kingdom of the Gods, which would be a poor bargain." Alyuin mused, "I hear this is the grandson you favor. You would cover for him no matter how many crimes he committed, is that right?"
The young man, reading the situation, spoke up at the right moment. "That is so. My younger brother has been spoiled by our grandfather. When he heard of Grandfather's plot, he even dared to have foolish delusions about you, saying that your lady-in-waiting—"
He fell silent under the princess's cold gaze, not repeating the rest of the original words, which were undoubtedly unpleasant. A flash of satisfaction crossed his face, however.
Alyuin lowered her head to look down at the fop. Her previously nonchalant expression shifted slightly, as if taking on a cold, cruel scrutiny.
It was not the way one looks at a living person.
The fop had gotten away with a great deal under his family's protection, but he had never experienced the killing intent honed on a battlefield.
For a moment, he was so terrified he even forgot his grandfather. He turned to flee, but the princess kicked him to the ground from behind. Before he could scramble up, he let out a piercing scream.
"My hand—my hand!"
Alyuin's black boot was planted on his wrist. It didn't look like she was using much force, but no matter how the fop struggled, he couldn't free his hand.
"Don't move, unless you want your wrist bone shattered."
Alyuin's expression was indifferent.
The fop immediately froze. But just as he relaxed, the silver-trimmed black boot suddenly shifted upward and ground down hard on the four fingers splayed on the floor.
The fop's horrific howl completely drowned out the cracking and crunching of breaking bones.
The princess remained unmoved, continuing to grind her boot back and forth with methodical slowness until she was certain the four finger bones were thoroughly shattered.
The fop had already lost consciousness from the pain, lying on the ground like a dead pig.
"Four times. And right, one planned attempt."
The black boot moved to his chest and came down hard. The sound suggested two or three ribs had been broken.
The fop's body jerked violently.
At this sight, even the young man who deeply hated the fop couldn't bear to watch, to say nothing of the old man who doted on him. He looked as if he might faint along with his grandson.
Alyuin gave a light laugh.
"This is my repayment to you, Lord Elder."
"Notify the law enforcement team. They can be taken away now."
"Yes!"
Without a second glance at the grandfather and grandson, Alyuin turned and walked toward the door.
The old man's frail shoulders slumped, as if his life force had been drained in an instant, making him appear even older.
He said in a low voice, "It really was for that lady-in-waiting."
Without turning her head, Alyuin replied, "I'm glad you've realized that."
"I fell into your hands only because of that despicable descendant who abandoned his family's dignity. But my old friends are still out there. We made an agreement long ago... Unless you can stay by that lady-in-waiting's side forever, she will sooner or later go to see the Goddess Lotus..."
Wishing for someone to meet the god they worshiped could, in some contexts, be a curse—equivalent to wishing them dead.
But when applied to Lotus herself, it became rather interesting.
With her back to the infuriated old man, Alyuin subconsciously smiled before turning her head slightly to say nonchalantly, "Unfortunately, they're too busy to worry about anyone else."
The old man's eyes widened as he suddenly realized something.
Alyuin was already out the door.
Only the three generations of the family—grandfather and grandsons—remained in the main hall. The old man recovered from the shock and looked numbly at the young man.
This grandson had always been one he ignored, and now he seemed like a complete stranger.
The old man's withered lips moved, but in the end, he could only force out one sentence: "Has our family ever mistreated you?"
"But you never gave me a second glance, just because my mother was from a merchant family." The young man shrugged. "However, from now on, the head of this family will be the descendant of a merchant. I hope you like that result, Grandfather."
The young man strode out of the foyer and found that the princess had already left, leaving only one of her personal guards standing at the door.
Knowing this was a future colleague, the young man went forward to greet him.
The guard responded politely, then said with a hint of confusion, "Her Highness asked me to tell you: there won't be a next time."
The young man paused, then said solemnly, "I understand."
Bringing up the fop's vile behavior at the opportune moment was indeed just a way to see his brother, who had bullied him for years, suffer a little more.
But what he hadn't expected was that, compared to the fop's other deeds, the princess seemed far more concerned about his potential verbal offense against that lady-in-waiting.
This was a bit unusual.
The young man rubbed his chin, thinking to himself that the lady-in-waiting he had yet to meet held a great deal of weight in the princess's heart.
The "lady-in-waiting who held great weight in the princess's heart" was currently speaking to a deer.
To be precise, she was conversing with the messenger of the Moon Goddess, Anmila.
It was a young deer with pale golden fur, looking very gentle and lovely. But influenced by Anmila's will, it always appeared somewhat cold and aloof—the same principle by which the Goddess of Love's white rabbit always had an inexplicably flirtatious air.
Estimating that Alyuin would be back soon, Lotus prepared to bid the messenger farewell.
But the Moon Goddess's deer did not leave.
Lotus could actually discern a look of hesitation on the deer's face.
"Is there something else?"
The young deer blinked its moist, dark eyes and said in a naturally cool yet sincere voice, "If you don't want to raise a human anymore, just come back to the Kingdom of the Gods. Don't kill the human princess."
Lotus: "...?"
The young deer continued, "Using divine power to kill a person is ineffective and will cause you discomfort. I also don't recommend using human methods to kill her. She is certainly an important figure designated by 【Destiny】 and will not die at the hands of a god at this time."
Lotus had no idea how the Moon Goddess had come to such a misunderstanding. She could only shake her head helplessly. "I have no such thoughts, Anmila. Why would you say that?"
The young deer was perplexed. "You don't?"
"No."
"But on the night of Suriel's festival, I saw you on top of the human princess. This is probably a human method of fighting." The young deer hesitated. "Is it not?"
Lotus: "..."
In that instant, the blood of a god rushed to her head, momentarily dyeing her earlobes and cheeks red.
The moonlight. The moonlight on that night.
According to ancient Solancian mythology, any ground illuminated by sunlight or moonlight was a place the twin Sun and Moon Gods could see. They patrolled Solancia, the land of the gods, by driving their sun and moon chariots across the sky.
For a moment, Lotus was unable to reply, her gaze growing a little distant.
The young deer: "Lotus?"
Just then, the sound of familiar footsteps came from outside the garden.
It was Alyuin.
Lotus subconsciously picked up the young deer and set it to one side.
The deer: "?"
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