TGS - Chapter 121
Chapter 121: Under the Firelight
Alyuin passed through the door of the ritual chamber.
The sound of her long boots on the stone floor was quite rhythmic. The person standing before the idol, head bowed in prayer, did not react immediately. Only after finishing a long sentence of praise did she turn her head at the sound.
“Your Highness.”
Rhea greeted her with a bow.
At this moment, Rhea wore a simple white robe with blue trim. Although her stature was still petite, the aura she projected was solemn and convincing.
This type of robe was the daily attire of a High Priestess of Solancia.
Rhea had inherited the position of High Priestess a year ago.
The previous High Priest of the River, her teacher Saige, had persevered for more than two years, moving between his sickbed, the ritual chamber, and the library. He had diligently instructed his successor until Rhea had mastered all he had taught. Only then did he pass away in peace.
The former High Priest's funeral was held on the banks of the Yilu River on the outskirts of Akhet, and Rhea's succession ceremony followed immediately after. From then on, Rhea, who still looked like a little girl no matter how you looked at her, donned the ceremonial robes of a High Priestess and became the person closest to the Goddess of the Yilu River in the eyes of the Solancian people.
Alyuin, of course, also attended this grand ceremony, present as the highest-ranking believer of Lotus.
As the young High Priestess walked step by step toward the idol, the Princess watched the silver-blue patterns painted on Rhea's skin. Her gaze was faint, but her fingers hidden beneath her sleeves curled into a fist. Bitterness, melancholy, a faint, searing pain.
In Solancia, only the high priests of the gods had the right to paint the symbols of the deity they believed in on their skin, usually on the forehead, neck, and arms, and always with a special paint.
During public ceremonies, they would bare their arms and tie up their hair to expose their necks, displaying the symbolic patterns of the gods to the crowd—an ancient, complex, and mystical beauty.
—It was also proof of the special honor of being close to a deity.
Alyuin watched the ceremony quietly. Besides herself, no one knew what the Princess was thinking.
Returning to the present, Rhea had now been the High Priestess of the River for a year and often had to paint the patterns, even though the process was tedious and tested one's patience.
In Rhea's eyes, this was an expression of piety.
As for these patterns that occasionally flashed before her eyes, painted on someone else's body, Alyuin was becoming more and more able to view them with a calm heart... probably.
The Princess gave Rhea a shadowed glance.
Rhea understood. She slowly gathered the offerings on the altar that needed to be replaced, placed them on a tray, and then nodded. “Please, make yourself comfortable, Your Highness. I will take my leave.”
The High Priestess left with the tray, closing the door to the ritual chamber behind her.
Locking herself in the ritual chamber to “monopolize” the idol was a habit Alyuin had developed since childhood.
Previously, during the time she was accompanied by Lotus—whom the Princess had thought was an incarnation of the goddess but was in fact the goddess herself—the frequency of her solitude had greatly decreased. In the last three years, it had risen again, even more so than before.
Rhea had grown accustomed to it. Whenever the Princess came, she would consciously and automatically yield the ritual chamber—after all, she had seen her mother do the same many times at the temple in Kadera, and now she was just following her example. Besides, the Goddess valued Her Highness so much; such private time must surely be approved of by the deity.
However…
Rhea's steps slowed. She looked up at the sky, her bright, round eyes reflecting the clear, cloudy heavens.
The Divine Envoy… it's been a long time since she appeared.
Inside the ritual chamber, before the idol carved from pure white marble, Alyuin tilted her head and let out a light, self-mocking laugh.
The Princess moved the newly replaced offerings on the altar to the side, where they were squeezed together pitifully. Then, bracing one hand on the edge of the altar, she lightly sat down on it at an angle.
Her long legs dangled just above the ground, crossed at the ankles.
Her posture was casual, yet noble and elegant.
Alyuin raised her head slightly, gazing at the idol's cold, lustrous gemstone eyes, and spoke as if making small talk. “Three years. Does that sound familiar?”
“The last time, you were gone for just as long. Lotus.”
Yes, the last time.
Back then, Alyuin had waited at the border for three years before Lotus returned, fully believing it would be their last parting.
But this time, the waiting period was so vague and uncertain. The Goddess of Love's casual remark, “It's a long time even for a god,” felt like a death sentence.
Alyuin lowered her gaze to the wine cup beside her. The filtered wine was clear and crystalline, reflecting the Princess's young, magnificent face.
Perhaps due to three years of careful maintenance, the Princess's face hadn't changed much since she came of age. In fact, her skin might even be more delicate and refined now.
However, even if her regimen was effective, in ten years, twenty years, or even fifty… she would eventually grow old. It was an inevitable part of being human, an irresistible law.
Alyuin raised a hand, making a grasping motion in the air, clenching and unclenching her fist.
The power she possessed, which few could match, would also fade with the passing years, leaving her weak and frail. Her mind and thoughts would gradually slow, and perhaps she would even struggle to decide what to have for dinner.
Power, beauty, and intellect—the things the Princess took pride in—would be lost one by one, returned to time.
The most tragic and terrifying part was that even then, she would still be unable to cast aside her feelings for Lotus. Perhaps they wouldn't be as fiery and vivid as they were now, but they would only grow deeper, more intense, and her obsession would worsen.
Alyuin knew she would.
This feeling had long since merged with her faith and her life. It was impossible to sever. To do so would be to carve out a part of her soul, and would she even be herself anymore?
Alyuin picked up the wine offered to the goddess and drained it in one gulp, pulling herself out of that day's contemplation of the future.
The Princess swirled the empty wine cup, her face expressionless as she said, “I don't know if you can hear me. The time to act has been set. Everything is in place. We're just waiting for tomorrow night.”
She turned her head, looking in the direction of the royal palace. An icy chill flashed in her eyes before they turned back, returning to their usual calm.
“My victory will be crowned with your name.”
“But I will not pray for your protection.”
“If you could witness what is about to happen…” Alyuin stopped there.
She gave the idol one last deep look, then rose and walked out of the ritual chamber, taking her unfinished words and the empty wine cup with her.
The next evening.
The magnificent royal palace stood just as it always had.
The only difference was that tonight, the palace seemed exceptionally bright. This light was completely different from the usual daily illumination and patrol lanterns. The glow of firelight projected onto the white stone walls, reflecting the glint of blades and the shadows of sporadic, small-scale skirmishes.
The city gate guards had formed two encirclements: one around the entire royal palace, and another around the King of Solancia's bedchambers.
Within the palace grounds, there was no sea of bodies and river of blood that one might normally expect. In fact, the resistance encountered by the Princess's forces was very limited.
Three years of lying in wait had not been for nothing. Given the current situation, even if the Princess had stabbed Horst to death with a single sword strike in the royal court before all the ministers and nobles, the transition of power would not have been overly chaotic or unstable—it would just be easy to miss many of his people.
At this moment, Alyuin stood before the palace doors.
The torchlight illuminated half her face, revealing a breathtakingly cold and heroic beauty.
“Has there been any movement from the person placed by Horst's side?” Alyuin glanced sideways, questioning the deputy commander of the city gate guard. Although he was nominally the deputy, his control over the army was far greater than the commander's.
“No, perhaps something went wrong…”
Before the deputy commander could finish, a dull roar suddenly echoed from within the palace before them, as if something had collapsed. Even the palace gates trembled violently.
Alyuin's expression darkened slightly. “Something's wrong.”
She strode through the palace gates and into the innermost chamber, where she saw a man half-kneeling, pressing down on a wound in the abdomen of a white-armored Royal Guard, his expression anxious.
“Your Highness!” Looking up and seeing Alyuin arrive, the man breathed a sigh of relief, then showed a look of shame. “Horst escaped.”
This man was Wick, the envoy Horst had once sent to Digebia City. But now he had another identity—a loyalist to the Princess.
Alyuin first ordered someone to call for a physician before asking, “What happened?”
Hearing this, Wick gritted his teeth. “There's a secret passage here!”
The course of events was not complicated. There was a secret passage under the bedchambers that most likely led outside the city. When Horst heard word that the Princess was making her move, he immediately fled with his son and two or three confidants. In his haste, he didn't even bother with the queen, who was not far away.
Alyuin had previously considered such a scenario and had instructed her mole, planted as a Royal Guard by Horst's side, to kill Horst directly if necessary, without worrying about taking him alive.
When he discovered Horst preparing to escape, the mole did indeed try to do so.
Unexpectedly, the commander of the Royal Guard, Niwei, suddenly burst forth. He fought to protect Horst even at the cost of serious injury. In the struggle, the mole was defeated, and Horst and his few companions fled in a panic.
Alyuin raised a hand to her temple, not saying a word.
Wick lowered his head. “It's my fault. You clearly instructed me to pay attention to this matter and investigate whether any construction had been done on the bedchambers, but I didn't notice anything…”
Alyuin gestured for him to stop, saying indifferently, “It's not surprising. Horst probably discovered a secret passage built by a previous king.”
She walked to the edge of the dark opening and looked down. The secret passage was completely blocked by stones, clearly a pre-existing mechanism designed to hinder pursuers.
“Horst will only go south, to the major coastal city guarded by his brother. Whether he escaped or not, that place must be dealt with,” Alyuin mused. “There's no rush.”
Wick let out a small sigh of relief. Hoping to atone for his failure, he added, “Also, that Perfumer you mentioned—I've found out where he is.”
A remote attic in a corner of the royal palace.
The Perfumer was held at a table by several fully armed soldiers. The joints of his hands and feet had been dislocated, leaving him with no ability to defend himself, yet his expression was remarkably at ease.
“I imagine you are aware of some of my past works, Your Highness,” the Perfumer said unhurriedly. “The astonishingly effective things in Horst's possession were all my creations.”
He spoke eloquently, but failed to notice the cold glint that passed through the Princess's eyes.
“I am willing to serve you. Frankly, I don't care who I'm loyal to. As long as you are willing to provide me with the materials and space to research new fragrances, I can create all sorts of useful perfumes and poisons for you.”
No one in power, no ambitious person, could refuse such a temptation. After all, there were plenty of dark dealings, and who wouldn't want a convenient, easy, and safe method?
Just like Horst back then.
The Perfumer was very confident about this.
“Is that so? Can you create a perfume or poison that can make an enemy army of thousands collapse at a single whiff?”
“That…” How could that be possible? The application of poisonous incense was limited, unless it was put in food or drink. And if you could already poison their food and drink, you could use any poison; there was no need to research something new.
“Or can you confuse the minds of enemy leaders, making them surrender unconditionally?”
“…” That was also impossible. If he could make such a fragrance, he would have used it on the Princess before him long ago. He wouldn't need to be here trying to save his own skin.
“Can you make crops yield more, or livestock reproduce faster, or any other practical things?”
The Perfumer was at a loss for words.
Alyuin looked down at him, her eyes cold and cruel.
The Perfumer's skeletal hands trembled nervously. He suddenly quickened his speech, “I haven't done it, but I can try—”
“You can't, and you don't even want to,” Alyuin cut him off, seeing right through him. “What you are obsessed with and fanatical about are only things that people like Horst need. I do not.”
Were they useful? Of course, they were.
But Alyuin disdained to use them.
The Perfumer finally recognized the condensed killing intent in the Princess's eyes. In that moment, he understood that Alyuin had never intended to spare him or employ him from the very beginning. No matter what his answer was, there was only one outcome.
“Beast God…”
The Perfumer uttered his last words, but before he could finish, Alyuin's longsword was already drawn.
The blade fell, tracing an arc of cold light like a crescent moon, seeming to illuminate the dark, narrow room filled with bottles and jars.
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