Chapter 302: Ten Years

Naimi Xisi's fingertips brushed the long table bearing the tulip emblem, and the obsidian tabletop reflected Ke Litte's eyebrows worn by time. The setting sun, through the colored window, projected a blood‑red iris flower onto her shoulder armor, as if recalling the unhealed wound of ten years ago.

"Tell me, these ten years." Juan Ce Long's voice made the air ripple; the Royal Annals on the shelf automatically turned to volume three, and the yellowed pages exuded the smell of Tie Xiu.

Ke Litte removed her pendant sword and laid it across the table; the silver‑threaded bells wound around the scabbard suddenly shrieked in unison. She drew three jade‑inlaid hairpins and struck them on the table—the tips still clung with dried dark‑gold liquid. "The night Princess Ai Selin was murdered, it was this that pierced her own throat, at least that's what the queen wants us to believe."

At the third year's autumn hunting banquet, the daughter of Prince Lei En—Princess Ai Selin publicly questioned the queen's decree for the collection of refined gold. Ke Litte unfurled a silk soaked with blood, on which the words "Silver Moon Dust" were fixed. The next day, the carpet of her inner chambers was soaked with blood, yet the corpse was as pale as moonstone—except its heart was filled with that. She pushed aside a fragment of a crystal bottle, inside which clung a black viscous substance that, under the cursed flame, emitted the foul stench of the false holy oil.

A ripping sound of paper came from the depths of the bookshelf; the queen's signed execution order drifted onto the table. Naimi Xisi's dragon eyes narrowed—the parchment's edges were covered with dense fingerprints, all the dying curses of the burned‑alive nobles.

"We all know exactly who killed the princess, but the queen staged the scene as if it were done by Mistra's followers, and sentenced twelve nobles of Prince Lei En's line to death."

Twelve heads were hung on the capital bridge, claimed to be vengeance for the princess.

Ke Litte again pried a rusted shackle with her sword tip, "The second son of Duke Gavin also followed the princess shortly, and was burned to death wearing this."

"From start to finish, our beloved king acted like an aged senile, showing no reaction at all?" Naimi Xisi said incredulously, recalling that the king had seemed perfectly normal the last time.

Ke Litte scoffed, "The king? He has long become the queen's puppet."

Outside, a patrol passed, and the clank of armor startled the crows. Wu Er Mu suddenly covered his ears—the crows' cries were actually the squeak of tightening ropes. Uncontrolled cursed flame erupted, scorching the curtains into countless tiny holes, each hole reflecting the swaying corpse on the old gallows.

"The most ironic is this," Ke Litte said, pulling a Mistra Holy Emblem from a hidden compartment, its surface riddled with bite marks. "The queen issued the 'Pure Night Decree', ordering a nationwide purge of Mistra's followers; the followers were forced to swallow their own emblems and die." She flipped the emblem; the back bore the Royal Guard's numbers. "And now those wearing these numbers are the transformed condemned."

Naimi Xisi's pupils contracted, astonished: "Has the queen gone mad? Does the Silver Moon Church not react at all?"

Such a massive purge of Mistra's followers is tantamount to grinding a deity's face under one's feet.

Ke Litte shook her head blankly: "Master Ilminster has arrived, claiming to bring the will of the gods. At that time we also thought the arrogant darkness would soon reap its own consequences, but"

"He disappeared," Luo Silien said calmly, "a Legendary Mage, a Silver Fire Chosen, has vanished."

"The specifics are also unclear," Ke Litte swallowed, "I only know that night the capital's palace—oh, now renamed by the queen as the White Day Royal Court—was engulfed by towering black‑red flames and an immensely massive evil aura."

"But soon, everything vanished without a trace, and Master Ilminster has not appeared since."

Naimi Xisi fell silent; Ilminster's reputation is well‑known across the entire Feren Continent, and everyone knows he is the strongest among the living mages.

According to his conjecture, the kingdom's current predicaments are caused by the queen, and the culprit is likely a high‑ranking vampire noble, perhaps even a Vampire Grand Duke of Legendary stature.

Only such a being could have exchanged a couple of moves with Ilminster. But to say defeat Ilminster? Naimi Xisi thinks it unlikely.

He shook his head, setting the vexing question aside for now. Glancing at Wu Er Mu beside him, he asked Luo Silien, "What about your prophecy? Did it foretell Wu Er Mu's arrival?"

The blind half‑elf nodded, then shook his head again, "I saw in the prophecy a boy cloaked in cursed flame, but I wasn't sure who. Only when I saw him did I confirm my prophecy."

He said with a pallid face, "In these ten years, the kingdom's vampiric plague has grown more rampant; desiccated corpses litter mountain villages everywhere. Over more than seven hundred days and nights, I have been using prophetic arts to search for a solution to this disaster."

He bowed his head guiltily, "Sorry, master. We failed to manage your domain; the vampires have drained the subjects' blood and the realm's wealth."

Naimi Xisi gently shook his head, "It's not your fault; if my guess is correct, the queen's power is likely beyond what you can contend with."

"However," he said, smiling lightly at the two Dependents, "as I mentioned in my Message Art, I am now terrifyingly strong."

Luo Silien forced a smile, "My prophecy failed to find a cure for the vampire disaster; instead it revealed a darker future."

"Master," he said, looking at Naimi Xisi; though his pupils were empty, Juan Ce Long inexplicably felt the weight of being watched.

"I see that with your arrival, an even darker, ancient force will soon come to the Yinbu Tu Kingdom."

"I cannot discern it; it is a city hidden within shadows. It floats in the sky, blotting out the sun, even the mighty Vampire Queen bows her head before it."

!

"That boy," he said, seizing Wu Er Mu's shoulders hard, his hollow pupils staring like dry branches gnawed by maggots, "protect him; he must not be taken by the city in the shadows, or in the unseen future everything will be destroyed."

Wu Er Mu had long been frozen in terror; Luo Silien seemed to notice his overexcitement, stood up and pursed his lips.

Naimi Xisi furrowed his brow; could this suddenly‑appearing boy truly be that important? It's absurd, Juan Ce Long now deeply feels his recent encounters must have been influenced by some deity.

This is too coincidental, the boy who appears just in time to be the key to saving the world? Naimi Xisi is not that movie cannon fodder who sticks evidence to his face yet still fusses over proof.

The only thing that piques his curiosity now is which holy hand crafted this boy.

"Alright, let's drop this for now," Naimi Xisi declared with a sweeping hand, then told Wu Er Mu, "You heard it too; those who now seek your life will be countless like ants. If you wish to live, stay by my side and don't step out of this castle even once."

Wu Er Mu nodded earnestly; he was already frightened to his core.

After Naimi Xisi fortified Rosa Castle with various powerful Constant Spells, he returned to his room to rest.

That night, the never‑dreaming Naimi Xisi had a strange dream.

(End of Chapter)