“Uncle Aaron, how is your body?”
“Thank you for your concern, Miss. The abnormality has disappeared, but the Douqi within my body has vanished completely. I’m afraid I won’t be able to protect the Trenton Family anymore.”
“But thinking carefully about my life… I joined the army as a child, relied on my Violent Blood technique to achieve many battle merits, and became a squad leader in the Silver Vulture Legion. Later, I was transferred back to the Imperial Capital to protect you and the young masters. I’ve accumulated quite a bit of military merit and salary. It’s about time to buy a house in the capital and live the life of a wealthy man with a wife and children.”
“It’s just that I haven’t reached the retirement age stipulated in my contract. This is an unexpected retirement. I hope Duke won’t dock my wages.”
“Pfft~ Don’t worry, Uncle Aaron. If Uncle dares to withhold your salary, I won’t speak to him for a month! I’ll ignore Big Brother and Auntie too for a whole month!”
“Hahaha, in that case, Duke would definitely be driven crazy by Madam and the young master.”
After reaching the peace agreement, Olivier was quite forthright in giving them the antidote.
She herself took the delegation and the half-dead Gaius to fulfill the promise she had made earlier.
There were also many matters to handle on the Empire’s side.
Just explaining the current situation clearly would waste a lot of breath.
However, this matter didn’t require Winnidith to worry about it, so she was ordered by Isabella to come and take care of Aaron.
Throughout the whole process, Aaron had been trying his best to cheer Winnidith up.
With his various jokes, the room was filled with the girl’s silvery laughter.
“That’s how things are. Next, we will cooperate with Leah and Olivier, with the Empire as the commanding body, to eliminate the traitor Elaril.”
Isabella finished an entire pot of black tea before finally giving a simple explanation of the overall structure of the matter.
But topics about the Sacred Tree and Spiritual Power were clearly beyond their understanding, so Isabella considerately omitted these and replaced them with a simpler explanation.
Elaril attempted to use the power of the Sacred Tree to create a huge monster that would threaten the entire world, but her actions were not accepted by the Elven King.
So, she used the Demonic Arts of Alandin to control all the elves within the City of Emerald Shadows, attempting to stage a coup.
Facing the rebel elites, the Elven King exhausted all his efforts to send Leah out, while he himself trapped all those elites within the Holy Ground.
She and Winnidith accidentally encountered the pursued Leah while out traveling.
But because the enemies were too powerful, they, along with the only uncontrolled Etheriel, were forced to use the teleportation array beneath the Historical Archives to escape.
The teleportation location happened to be the elven dungeons, where several elves who had accidentally stumbled upon her plans were imprisoned by Elaril.
They rescued those elves and discovered the dungeon was located right beneath the Silver Moon Palace, so they used a teleportation scroll to return to the Silver Moon Palace.
Never mind how much this statement didn’t match what Olivier had said.
This was the official explanation given by the royal family.
Even if they had doubts in their hearts, they could only believe it.
Moreover, they were already exhausted.
The fear of being hunted had been tormenting their nerves constantly.
Now that the crisis had passed, the suppressed fatigue surged up like a tidal wave.
Some people even couldn’t stay awake and fell asleep while Isabella was explaining the situation.
This was fine.
Isabella massaged her temples.
Next, they still had two things left: infiltrating the palace to obtain the crown and dealing with Elaril.
They couldn’t help with these two matters.
Neither could she.
‘As expected, in the end, what carries the most weight is still power.’
Olivier had used so many excuses but couldn’t change her mind because at that time, their strength far surpassed the other side.
They had enough confidence to refuse her peace talks.
But when she placed the card of the Kingdom’s army on the table, Isabella knew she absolutely couldn’t do anything about her this time.
As for the teleportation array, she didn’t want to gamble, nor did she dare to, because betting wrong would cost Winnidith’s life.
“Sacred Fruit.”
She lowered her head, pondering these two words.
She was born with a Magicless Body, incapable of holding a single trace of Mana within her.
Unfortunately, her mother had suffered an accident while pregnant with her, causing her to be born with a weak constitution.
Even with various medicinal treatments later, she still couldn’t cultivate Douqi.
Therefore, she had always been considered the least likely royal child to become the heir, because the one sitting on the imperial throne couldn’t be a frail ordinary person.
For over a decade, she had exhausted all methods and finally discovered a way to defy fate—consuming the elven Sacred Fruit.
It was the residual power of successive Elven Kings.
Consuming just one was enough to allow the next Elven King to become a Dual-Saint Realm powerhouse.
It was the most precious treasure of the elves.
Logically, no matter the reason, the elves would never sell it.
But this time, the Sacred Tree bore two Sacred Fruits.
She had once been ecstatic about this news and believed it was an opportunity bestowed upon her by the gods.
But now, it clearly seemed like a trap set in advance.
The target of the trap was Winnidith, but within the entire Empire, only she could take Winnidith away without arousing anyone’s suspicion.
She suddenly remembered her father’s meaningful words when he entrusted this task to her.
“Bella, this is your first time taking charge. You need an assistant.”
“I promise you, no matter who you want as your assistant, I will override all objections and let them accompany you.”
Her thoughts gradually returned to that morning when she heard the news.
With her eldest brother going to the Iron Thorn Fortress to inspect the border, her second brother going to the Empire to promote imperial prestige, and her younger brother still too young, she was indeed the only royal member who could go to the City of Emerald Shadows.
So, she didn’t have the slightest suspicion.
She just followed her personal desire and pulled Winnidith onto that carriage.
She was the one who pushed open the cruel side of Winnidith’s fate.
Thinking of this, Isabella felt a tightness in her chest, and even her vision before her eyes wasn’t very clear.
“Isabella.”
Leah’s voice pulled her thoughts back from grief to reality.
Leah, now dressed in military attire, and Etheriel spoke to her regretfully:
“Those beasts have already left.”
***
Earlier, at the gates of the City of Emerald Shadows, the slender, rainbow-like figure held something in her hand, causing even the cold wolf’s eyes of Gareth to show some shock.
“Gaius? The sacrifice you promised us is him?”
Gareth could hardly connect the dying old man on the ground with the most famous of the Seven Riders of the Alendine Kingdom.
Although he looked down on Gaius’s character, he also knew Gaius was the most powerful person under the royal family of the Alendine Kingdom.
But now, this dignitary was dragged on the ground by Olivier without any semblance of dignity, a long trail of blood stretching from the Silver Moon Palace all the way to the city gates.
He should have died long ago, but Olivier had kept him alive until now, squeezing out his last bit of value.
“Of course. Gaius’s strength is comparable to Aaron’s. As a sacrifice for your young master…”
Hearing his name from the beauty’s mouth, Forge immediately straightened his back, only to quickly crumble again under Olivier’s approving, alluring glance.
Gareth saw all this and sighed helplessly in his heart.
“His strength is sufficient, but his soul can’t compare to an Empire warrior. I’m not sure if he can attract the attention of the War God.”
“Hah, since when has your War God ever cared about souls?”
Olivier’s words made Gareth look at her sideways, but she continued.
“Moreover, you also attacked the Silver Moon Palace. Given the Empire’s vindictive way of handling things, I don’t think they’ll let you off.”
“They now have Leah and a Ninth Tier powerhouse as fighters. Even you can’t guarantee their safety, can you?”
She said ‘them,’ but Olivier’s gaze was only focused on Forge, making the pure young wolf shrink his head again.
Hah, men.
She chuckled softly, withdrew her gaze, and looked at Gareth.
“I must remind you, here I will prioritize the Empire side as an ally. If you don’t leave in time and get held back by the Empire…”
Olivier rested her chin on her hand, smiling as she watched his eyes.
“I wouldn’t mind using your heads to guarantee my safety.”
Gareth didn’t doubt she could do such a thing.
This woman had never had so-called bottom lines.
He looked at Gaius, hanging by a thread, and his eyes gradually became firm.
“Young Master.”
He tightly gripped Forge’s shoulder and brought him before Gaius.
“Please accept this sacrifice to please the War God’s power residing within you.”
A sacrifice?
Forge met Gaius’s lifeless eyes.
The small divine body slowly bent down, the exposed wolf fangs gradually approaching the fragile neck.
Thump!
Under the moonlight, the wolf completed its metamorphosis.