Their time was short, so Isabella did not go into too much detail, only telling her the key points regarding the Dark Elf, the Sacred Tree, and spiritual power.
But even these abridged contents were enough to leave Leah’s mouth agape in shock.
This was simply too unbelievable, almost entirely contradictory to all the information she had accepted over the past 20-plus years.
The Sacred Tree is an evil god?
It wants to turn the entire Elf race into puppets?
Light Elves are actually twins at birth?
She was supposed to have a younger sister?
She wanted to tell herself these were false, but the events that had truly transpired today did not allow her a shred of doubt.
Moreover, this explained why she always felt especially satisfied when she was around Vilda.
Because they had always been together, even before they were born.
“My father never told me any of this.”
After hearing these words, Leah did not refute them.
Instead, she sat on the ground with her knees pulled up, wrapping her arms around her shins and burying her face between her thighs so no one could see her expression.
Her father clearly knew everything, so why had he never told her?
Was he worried about her safety?
Or did he think it would be useless to tell her?
Or perhaps, he was worried she would ruin everything?
At the thought of this, Leah’s heart constricted suddenly, and a pain thousands of times worse than being minced wrapped around her instantly.
She pressed her face deeper into her thighs with more force.
At this moment, this proud Elf Princess had lost all her former brilliance.
Covered in blood and sitting on the ground in tattered clothes, she looked so lost and helpless.
Like an abandoned child.
She needed time to digest this information and the pain it brought, but Isabella had a pile of questions that urgently required answers.
“Leah, what exactly happened in the Royal Palace? And why were you being hunted by those Elves?”
Her questions struck at the very thing Leah wanted to avoid most.
Her expression twisted several times, but ultimately, she forced herself to remain calm and recounted what had happened within the Royal Palace.
“Elaril and… the Sacred Wood Monastery rebelled in public.
The High Priest used some unknown method to control the two Ninth Tier Captains of the Guard in the palace, launching a surprise attack while Father was preparing for the festival.”
“But they were no match for Father, so the High Priest’s daughter used my trust to lure me to the Holy Ground, and used me to threaten Father to stop his resistance.”
“Father pretended to agree to their demands, then used the moment their guard was down to send me away with all his might, instructing me to seek help from Uncle Etheriel at the Grand History Library.”
“You know what happened after that.”
The Sacred Wood Monastery had rebelled?
Hearing this news, the three of them found that they were not very surprised; instead, there was a sense of “it finally happened” relief.
From the moment the Elf King and Elaril held completely opposite opinions regarding Winnidith, they knew this day would come, though Isabella had not expected them to act so quickly.
In her projections, Elaril should have acted right after the festival ended.
By that time, Alvain would have returned to the Sacred Tree, and Leah, having just succeeded as Elf King, would not yet be familiar with her power; their success rate would have been much higher than it was now.
Did something force her to act early?
Isabella immediately looked at Winnidith.
If anything had truly caused Elaril to act early, it could only be the spiritual power Wendy had obtained.
But Wendy had only told her and Arns about this, so how could Elaril have known?
Her gaze returned to Leah.
She remembered it was Leah who had taken Winnidith to the Fountain of Memory.
If the Sacred Tree made a move, Elaril could only have known about Wendy obtaining the spiritual power by exploiting Leah’s trust in her.
And.
Vilda had also betrayed her, even using her to threaten her father.
Isabella’s intuition told her that the latter hurt Leah more than everything else combined, because if one day Winnidith told her that everything she did was just to use her, she would feel the same way.
Perhaps, would she even be willing to be used by her?
Isabella suddenly realized that her own sense of belonging to the Empire did not seem to be that high.
When Leah said these words, her face remained buried in her thighs, causing her voice to sound muffled, as if she were crying.
Winnidith wanted to come forward to comfort her, but she was slow with words and did not know how to organize them.
She just squatted silently beside her, a layer of golden light slowly coating her palms.
“Winnidith? You…”
Leah suddenly felt the surroundings become very warm.
She tilted her head and saw that Winnidith was gathering the surrounding Light Element.
She was stunned, and her question was stifled before she could finish it.
“Leah, you are using the surrounding Light Element to replenish your body, right? I have a high affinity for elements, so I can increase the concentration of the surrounding Light Element, which can help you heal your wounds quickly.”
Leah stared at her blankly.
The surrounding environment was very dark, but the girl was shimmering with light.
This light flocked around her, showcasing the girl’s gentleness and beauty with absolute clarity.
Like a goddess pitying the world.
She was comforting her.
A warm current suddenly flowed through Leah’s heart, and her past confidence and vigor seemed to return in full.
She wanted to hug her, so she did just that.
“Winnidith! After I become the Elf King, will you be my wife?!!”
“Huh? Wait… wait! Don’t get so close! Mmph!!!!”
Before Winnidith could react to what was happening, her head was pulled tightly against Leah’s chest, and no matter how much she struggled, she could not escape Leah’s embrace.
A Mage’s physical strength was simply too far behind a warrior’s.
Tsk, how did Elaril let you out back then?
On the other side, Isabella’s expression turned extraordinarily dangerous the moment she heard Leah’s words, and she even entertained some dark thoughts.
But seeing that a few teardrops were spilling from the corners of Leah’s eyes, she eventually suppressed the impulse to have Arns pull the two apart, turning her back and choosing to ignore what she could not see.
However, just as she turned away, a mournful complaint from Winnidith drifted from behind her.
“It’s so bony…”
CRACK!
In an instant, the scene fell completely silent.
Leah’s smile froze entirely on her face; her arms around Winnidith loosened slowly, then reached back up to her own chest.
She squeezed.
She could barely feel any curve.
Leah remained in place, and the whole person seemed to have returned to that grayscale state.
I can’t be blamed for that.
Winnidith rubbed her aching face while defending herself.
It was Leah who had hugged her without a word, and she had only told the truth.
“Pfft.”
Isabella laughed out loud upon seeing this scene and immediately took a step forward to pull Winnidith against her chest.
Winnidith, having been hugged for no apparent reason yet again, was confused, but this time the pillow was warm and soft, and the fragrance on her body was one she was familiar with, so she did not struggle.
Isabella smiled and looked at Leah.
Although she had said nothing, Leah inexplicably felt as if she had been stabbed once more.
This world was still far too cruel to female Elves.