Aimoer felt her heart constrict.
A sense of foreboding welled up inside her.
‘No way…’
The innocent, smiling face of Senteli surfaced in her mind.
Her hands trembled slightly.
She swallowed nervously, then leaned close to Qingling, her voice quivering as she spoke.
“Miss Qingling, could I take a look at the newspaper?”
“Huh? Umm… sure.”
Qingling flinched, startled, but seeing Aimoer’s grave expression, she simply pressed her lips together, pulled a chair over to indicate Aimoer should sit, and personally handed her the newspaper.
Aimoer snatched the paper and read the headline word by word.
The first half detailed the specifics and circumstances of the attack on the City of Purification.
At the very end of the article, a cold, clinical sentence ran:
[The day after the attack ended, according to information from frontline reporters, during the daily church service in the City of Purification, Senteli, the Human Chief Nun, did not appear. She is suspected to have been attacked, alive or dead unknown,]
“It can’t be… Maybe she’s just injured…”
Aimoer muttered to herself.
She simply couldn’t accept the possibility of Senteli’s death.
A close friend she had appreciated flowers with just yesterday—to be separated by life and death the very next day was something no one could easily accept.
Qinglin sat silently on the side, shrinking into herself, twisting her fingers as if wanting to say something but hesitating.
“Miss Qingling, do you know anything?”
Aimoer acutely noticed Qingling’s hesitation.
She pushed the newspaper aside, took a few deep breaths to calm herself, then stared intently at Qingling with a serious expression.
“I… um… Do you really want to hear it?”
Intimidated by Aimoer’s intensity, Qingling shrank further into her chair, her gaze drifting, looking flustered.
“Of course.”
Aimoer answered without hesitation.
Qingling gently pushed Aimoer back, closed her eyes, pressed a hand to her chest, and let out two breaths.
Then she straightened up, her expression turning serious.
“Alright. If you insist on hearing it, I’ll share a little information with you.”
Qingling raised her hand, formed a small golden light, and flicked it to the ground.
From the center of the light, a translucent semicircular barrier emerged, gradually expanding until it enveloped them both, forming a small sealed space.
“Ever since the human City of Purification was attacked last night, Torlenlans’ Border Intelligence Guard has been investigating through their intelligence network. Up until this afternoon, they have sent me seventeen reports. They roughly cover the cause, course, and result of the attack, including the human casualties afterward.”
At this moment, Qingling had completely shed her previously submissive demeanor.
Her silver armor gleamed, her expression was upright and dignified, and every gesture carried the commanding presence of a seasoned general.
She looked at Aimoer, hesitated for a while, and finally let out a soft sigh.
“Miss Aimoer… According to the reports, your friend’s situation may not be optimistic.”
With Qingling’s words, the atmosphere instantly fell into dead silence.
Qingling’s clear eyes watched Aimoer, who was biting her lip.
She snapped her fingers, and as the barrier receded, the awe-inspiring general aura around her also shattered.
In that moment, Qingling reverted to the timid, soft, easily swayed elven princess.
Worry filled her eyes.
She trotted over to Aimoer, bit her finger, and looked as if she wanted to say something—probably thinking about how best to comfort Aimoer.
But Aimoer had already composed herself.
She took several deep breaths in her heart, forcing herself to calm down, then put on a composed expression and patted Qingling on the head.
“Is that so? I see. By the way, I never expected you to have that side to you. It looks pretty impressive.”
Aimoer silently filed the information away.
The elves’ intel could serve as a reference, but she couldn’t take it as absolute truth.
Until she had definite news, she couldn’t let emotions cloud her judgment.
She decided to look up the envoy delegation later and ask about the situation.
‘Please be safe. You promised to treat me to pudding. Don’t you dare stand me up, you jerk.’
Aimoer cursed inwardly, but on the surface, she remained calm and collected, smiling at Qingling, thinking about teasing her to lighten the mood.
“Uh… That’s work mode. My sister said I have to be serious when I’m working, so… so when I’m working, I turn into that. Wuwuwu—”
Qingling now looked completely pliable, twisting her fingers, her neck slightly red, her face clearly saying “What should I do?”
“Is that so?”
Aimoer placed a finger on her lips, putting on an expression of sudden understanding, then flashed a mischievous smile.
She gently slid her hand down and pinched Qingling’s long, slender ear.
“Ah! E-ears… no… you can’t… wuwuwu—”
Qingling twisted her body under Aimoer’s hand, gritting her teeth as if enduring something.
Her eyes glistened with moisture as she whimpered.
‘So an elf’s ears are their most sensitive spot. Maybe I can try this on Qihuo next time?’
But Aimoer’s mind was elsewhere.
She couldn’t seem to focus.
Even seeing such an adorable reaction, her emotions were still a mess.
“Um, you don’t seem to be in a good mood. Wuwuwu—”
“Do I not? I’m fine.”
Aimoer thought maybe she hadn’t teased her enough, that’s why she was still feeling down.
“Forget it. I’m a bit tired. Thank you for the information, Miss Qingling.”
In the end, she did nothing.
She sighed, waved her hand, and prepared to leave.
Qingling now blushed deeply, twisting her body.
She watched Aimoer’s somewhat dejected back and asked with concern.
“Miss Senteli… is she a friend of Miss Aimoer?”
“Yeah… A very important friend.”
Aimoer didn’t have many friends in this world.
Most of them were already separated from her by life and death.
Now that she’d finally made a new friend, this had to happen.
At this moment, Aimoer’s heart felt like it was stuffed with paste—aching and suffocating.
‘Damn it, what the hell happened? We only parted a day ago. How did it come to this?’
“You go ahead. I’ll just find something to eat.”
Aimoer let out a long sigh and walked straight into the manor.
She didn’t want her negative mood to affect others.
She pinched the corners of her mouth and forced them upward, then stuffed a packet of sugar into her mouth with an “om” sound.
After composing herself, she found the manor’s Head Maid, asked for a map, followed the directions out of the manor, and after some fumbling, finally returned to the Elven Capital Vitarlety.
‘It’s not over yet. I need to investigate more.’
“Ouch, I’m exhausted. Next time I’ll have to find a chance to ask how to use that Teleportation Array.”
Walking along the capital’s streets, Aimoer held her lower back and looked around, searching for the location of the envoy delegation’s residence.
‘I think it’s in the southern district.’
Aimoer followed the signs and arrived at the residence.
The moment she entered, she ran into the Foreign Minister, who looked grim.
He was deep in conversation with the Cardinal who had accompanied the delegation.
When he saw Aimoer enter, he only gave a slight nod in greeting.
The residence was thick with an ominous, storm-laden atmosphere.
Almost everyone wore grave, serious expressions.
‘Something’s off. Are they preparing to go to war with the elves? Why so serious?’
A strong sense of foreboding filled her heart.
Aimoer slipped past the two men, grabbed a member of the delegation, and whispered.
“What’s going on? Why does everyone look like this?”
The delegation member sighed, then whispered into Aimoer’s ear.
Instantly, Aimoer’s pupils dilated.
She looked utterly incredulous.
‘No way…’