TGS - Chapter 128
Chapter 128: Blasphemy and Betrayal
In an administrative office adjacent to the royal court, a heated discussion had just come to a close.
Upon receiving the urgent military report of the Sanur Tribe's attack, Alyuin had immediately convened an emergency court council to discuss how to respond to the unexpected assault.
Once the various matters had been settled, the ministers hastily took their leave, their expressions anything but relaxed as they departed.
Alyuin sat alone in silence for a moment before lowering her head to continue reviewing documents, her expression unreadable.
Only the way her left hand rose to gently finger the blue chalcedony bead on her amulet betrayed the slight turmoil within her.
Alyuin was all too familiar with the defensive layout of Digebia City.
In the past, the Sanur Tribe had been savage and brutal, their combat prowess formidable, but they had never formed a complete, unified regime. The various tribes were not of one mind, so the threat had always remained within a controllable range.
As Solancia's first line of defense in the northwest, Digebia City had always possessed sufficient troops. If deployed well, it could be rendered utterly impregnable—just as Alyuin had done during her time in the army.
Recalling the enemy formations described in the battle report, Alyuin found it difficult to remain optimistic about the current situation.
Worse, if the Kasnie Kingdom was behind this surprise attack, and if they were aiming for a swift and decisive battle—
This urgent report, which had only just arrived in the royal city this afternoon, was describing events from three days prior.
And now.
The evening twilight streamed through the skylight of the administrative office, scattered into several beams by the window frame, casting mottled patterns of light and shadow across the documents.
Alyuin stared at the paper, her brush leaving marks of vermilion ink.
No matter how urgent the situation, the established facts could not be changed. Even if they began preparations through the night, with the Royal City Army assembled and ready, the earliest they could deploy would be the following morning.
Factoring in the travel time, she feared it would be too late.
She hoped the major cities behind Digebia would at least take the initiative to send some reinforcements, rather than just cowering in their own walls and waiting for orders.
But from what Alyuin knew of those lords, the latter was far more likely.
Time trickled by, and the sky grew dark and heavy.
A wave of weariness washed over her. Alyuin paused, immediately sensing that something was amiss.
Though she was as mindful of her health as an elderly minister or a noble lady, Alyuin was only in her twenties and full of vigor. She rarely felt drowsy.
So what was this...
An invisible wind swept past her side.
Alyuin could not see it, but the Dream Succubus from a foreign land had landed beside her, folding its gray wings.
Before that, a fine powder shed from those wings had already dispersed throughout the room like dust from a butterfly's wings. It was a powder capable of plunging humans into sleep, originating from the Kasnie people's imaginings of a dream god in their ancient myths.
"Why isn't she asleep yet?"
The Dream Succubus was growing impatient. According to the properties of her divine power, a human should collapse into a deep sleep the moment they touched her powder. There should be no need to wait.
A few seconds later, the hand Alyuin used to hold her quill finally loosened, and the pen fell, rolling across the desk.
She rested her head on one hand, her eyes closed peacefully, as if merely resting. The Dream Succubus had to check several times before confirming that she was truly asleep.
"Very well, Princess of Solancia. Let me see, what is your weakness?"
The Dream Succubus smiled in satisfaction and reached out a hand shaped like a bird's claw. But just as it was about to touch Alyuin, it trembled violently and shot back.
"What's happening!" The Dream Succubus's eyes widened. She suddenly noticed the amulet hanging quietly from Alyuin's neck and understood. "So, she's a believer protected by a Solancian god. No wonder I can't touch her dream..."
Entering dreams was an exclusive power of the gods, and they could only enter the dreams of their own devout followers.
The Dream Succubus was an exception. By virtue of her divine office, she possessed the ability to enter human dreams in her true form. However, when faced with a believer under the protection of a higher god, she had to settle for the next best option.
She would have to use her divine power to conjure illusions, drawing out the human's greed, wicked desires, indulgence—all their darkest aspects.
The effect was more or less the same, but this way, she wouldn't be able to discover the weaknesses of this human whom Lord Perseus had specifically singled out.
The Dream Succubus pouted. In the end, she flapped her wings, shedding another, differently colored powder.
Like fine snow, it vanished the moment it touched the princess's skin, as if melting away.
Alyuin's eyelashes trembled slightly.
She was dreaming.
She was back on that day, in a noble's garden in the northern city of Senna.
The bushes were lush and the lawn sprawling. The local flowers, nearing the end of their season, were at their most vibrant, as splendid as woven brocade.
The stiff corpses of two long, twisted vipers lay on the ground. One of them was nearby, pinned to the earth by a sharp sword, silent and still.
Alyuin heard the confession she had once made spilling from her lips again.
"It was because I thought this was a dream that I kissed you, so recklessly."
"I am perfectly clear-headed. I always have been."
"Knowing this, is there still nothing you wish to say to me?"
This time, Lena did not arrive to interrupt them.
Lotus stood quietly before Alyuin, her expression momentarily stunned. Then, she spoke gently, "This is merely an illusion, born from the time we have spent together."
"Now that you are well, we should part for a time. It will give you a chance to calm down."
"Then you will realize it is nothing of consequence. All right?"
How could it be nothing of consequence? How could it not matter... How could it be an illusion?
Then what had been tormenting her for the past four years?
Alyuin lowered her gaze, hiding the darkness that was deepening in her eyes.
This should not be happening.
Yet the streak of madness that ran in the blood of the Solancian royal family, in the ever-patient and restrained Alyuin, seemed to manifest in only two areas.
One was the battlefield, the other, her heart. But in these two domains, victory was never guaranteed simply by giving one's all to the point of madness. There was no fairness to be found in them.
Seeing her silence, the river goddess before her gave a slight nod and turned to leave. The sight of her retreating back, the hem of her dress and her silk shawl fluttering, was like a cluster of ghastly white flames searing itself upon Alyuin's eyes.
Her back.
She had seen enough of that retreating back.
Alyuin took a step forward.
She did not notice the fine powder from some unknown source swirling around her, as if drawing out everything she had long suppressed.
The viper on the ground seemed to come alive, its body coiling and twisting. A snake existed on this lawn, but it also existed in the depths of Alyuin's heart, breeding wantonly, dancing.
The people of Solancia considered the viper a creature of evil, an animal to be deeply loathed—insidious, cunning, and deadly... It also symbolized venomous, wicked desires.
When someone used vicious tricks or showed disrespect to the gods, they would be condemned: "You viper!"
Alyuin now felt she probably deserved such a rebuke.
Her feet, uncontrollably—or perhaps, quite honestly—moved step by step toward that retreating figure.
Catch her. Hide her away.
Destroy all her temples, dismiss all her priests, and make her a god for me alone.
Nothing will ever take Lotus from my side, not even she herself.
I will not be abandoned again.
But... but.
Can I really do this?
Alyuin's feet continued to move forward as a soft sigh escaped her lips. "Lotus."
The Dream Succubus had no choice but to wait outside, bored to tears. Suddenly, she pricked up her long, pointed ears.
"Did I hear that right? Lotus?"
The Dream Succubus studied the sleeping princess probingly, a dark light flickering in her eyes.
Although she did not understand why the indulgence, wicked desires, and dark side of this Solancian princess—a devout follower of the River Goddess—were connected to Lotus, she sensed a great opportunity.
The Dream Succubus considered this, then raised her gray wings, letting more powder fall as she transmitted her voice to the dreaming princess.
To better exert her divine power, she even manifested a physical form.
"Resentment? Weariness? Hatred? Are you unreconciled? Are you forced against your will...?"
After listing every negative emotion she could think of, the Dream Succubus changed her tone, speaking with apparent regret. "But no matter how unreconciled you feel, it is impossible for a human to do anything to a god."
After speaking, she tried with all her might to capture Alyuin's "heart-voice" within the dream, but she heard nothing, as if the dream's owner had fallen completely still.
The Dream Succubus was secretly puzzled, but she continued her bewitching whisper. "But a god can. As long as you are willing, anything you wish to do to her can be achieved—"
—even killing a god is not impossible.
But before she could utter the second half of that sentence, the Dream Succubus sensed her divine power waver. The dream induced by that power naturally began to falter as well.
The Dream Succubus froze, her expression changing in an instant.
Unable to enter the dream herself, she had no way of knowing that Alyuin was now staring at the viper's corpse on the ground with an icy gaze.
The Dream Succubus's voice had been transmitted through the mouth of the viper.
Alyuin gripped the hilt of her sword.
Twisting the sword in her palm, she ground the pinned snake's head to a pulp. Her eyes were on the viper, but also on the thing behind it. Her voice was chilling as she spoke, enunciating every word.
"What... thing... are you?"
The next moment, the dream shattered.
The sensation of instantly losing a portion of her divine power made the Dream Succubus's face go white. She instinctively glanced down to see that Alyuin had, at some point, opened her eyes.
Before the Dream Succubus could react, Alyuin had already drawn the longsword propped beside her in a reverse grip. The blade left its sheath and, in the blink of an eye, was pressed against the Dream Succubus's neck, held firmly against skin of an unnatural, inhuman color.
The blade in Alyuin's hand did not waver as she slowly rose to her feet, meeting the dream god's gaze.
The Dream Succubus ignored the blade at her throat, staring at Alyuin in astonishment.
"How did you wake up...?"
"What else would I do?" Alyuin's gaze swept over the creature's gray wings. She gave a sudden, inexplicable smile and continued, as if to herself, "I once swore an oath. Never to betray, never to blaspheme."
"I've already committed one of them. If I were to commit both, I would truly deserve death."
The Dream Succubus did not understand the human princess's meaning, but she could tell that the other woman was merely talking to herself, not offering her any explanation.
"Nonsense."
She scoffed, lamenting her failure to achieve her goal, but there was nothing to be done. As a dream god, this was the extent of her power.
Alyuin's sword was still at her throat, but the Dream Succubus spread her clawed hands and said dismissively:
"I admit, you are a troublesome human. But so what if you can wake from a dream? As I said, it is impossible for a human to kill a god."
As she spoke, the Dream Succubus tilted her head with a contemptuous smile, intending to press her neck forward to demonstrate her point.
Malice flashed in her eyes.
In that instant, Alyuin recalled the assassin who had tried to attack Lotus, only to die a bizarre death. Her expression darkened, but the hand holding the sword remained perfectly steady.
"A human cannot kill a god. But what about me?"
At this stalemate, a familiar, clear, and cold voice sounded from the doorway.
Alyuin's breath caught. The light in her eyes fractured and shimmered, like the surface of clear golden water rippling in the sun.
She turned her head with excruciating slowness, her gaze meeting Lotus's frost-blue eyes.
Get instant access to all the chapters now.
Comments
Post a Comment