Su Ling looked at Tii as she kissed her forehead, a complex flicker of emotion crossing her eyes. She had never imagined that behind this red-haired girl who always wore a smile, such a heavy past was hidden.
“It sounds a bit pathetic, doesn’t it?” Tii gave a bitter smile. “I also feel that the experiments of the Black Feather were too cruel, but I had no other choice. Seeking revenge against the Kingdom of Ansel was not entirely my own will, but the destiny my father created. He possessed a deep patriotism and always hoped that Valivadan could step out from the shadow of the Kingdom of Ansel.”
“However, little Su Ling, you don’t need to worry. In my country, every human is equally protected by the law. Once we get there, you will be able to regain your status as a free person. I have some savings that will allow you to live a happy life there.”
“Tii, I…”
Su Ling’s voice trembled slightly. She didn’t know how to respond to the girl in front of her. Tii had endured suffering she couldn’t even imagine, yet she still smiled so gently to comfort her. This made Su Ling’s heart ache.
“You’ve done so much for me, I don’t know how to repay you…” She finally lowered her head and spoke in a small voice.
“Little Su Ling, look at me.” Tii placed both hands under Su Ling’s chin and lifted her face. “I don’t want any kind of repayment! Your being alive in this world is the best repayment to me.”
“Tii…”
Tii pinched Su Ling’s cheeks until they were crumpled, staring at her for a moment before letting out a soft laugh.
“Hahaha, little Su Ling, you’re so cute like this!”
“Hey, don’t laugh at me!”
“Hahaha!”
“Tii, really…”
Su Ling tried to push her hands away, but Tii instead took hold of Su Ling’s shoulders and leaned her head against Su Ling’s side.
“Su Ling,” Tii’s voice was as light as the wind by a lake. “I like you.”
Although she had sensed it vaguely before, Su Ling’s heart still skipped a beat, and her face turned slightly red.
“Before, I couldn’t confess my identity to you, and I was worried I might die during the mission, so I never showed my feelings,” Tii continued. “Now that the information on the Organization has been mostly collected, and the Heart Core of the Royal Family has been successfully obtained, I can finally tell you these things. When we return to my hometown, let’s… date, okay? I will take you to that promised sea of camellia flowers.”
“Tii…” Su Ling felt the warmth of the girl beside her, then looked toward the direction of the Seaside Castle with some concern. “But, can we really escape their Guards?”
“Don’t worry, Sista won’t catch up easily. She doesn’t seem to want Moria to obtain the Heart Core of the Royal Family.” Tii curled the corners of her mouth.
“Heart Core?”
“I shared the history of the Kingdom of Ansel with you before, right? Actually, many of those are fake stories fabricated by the rulers for their own benefit. In the Northern Region of the Kingdom of Ansel, there is a vast, boundless marsh. That is what the priests often call The Abyss. Rumor has it that the marsh is filled with dark, flowing sludge, and the Blood Clan was born from within it.”
“Born from the mud of the abyss, they return to a spring-like state after death, leaving behind only a crimson crystal—the Heart Core. The Heart Core is also the initial state of every member of the Blood Clan. When the Heart Core of a deceased Blood Clan member merges with the sludge of The Abyss and is infused with the Blood Wave of other Blood Clan members, a new member of the Blood Clan is born.”
As she spoke, a small glass bottle appeared in Tii’s hand, containing a crimson gemstone.
“Long ago, during the dawn of the Blood Clan’s birth, they also possessed the Ability of the First Embrace to turn humans into Blood Clan members. At that time, they created a large number of their kind. But after the gods handed down a curse, they could only reproduce through their own Heart Cores. This greatly reduced their numbers and allowed the Human Race the Ability to contend with them.”
Sista had also spoken to Su Ling about the secrets of Blood Clan reproduction before. Thinking about it now, this was likely why the Blood Clan of the Kingdom of Ansel was so scarce.
The Blood Clan had the advantage of strength, while the Human Race and Peng People had an absolute numerical advantage. Because of this, the current world had not turned into a hell completely controlled by the Blood Clan as it had been at the beginning of their creation.
“The Heart Core is extremely important to the Blood Clan, but I don’t know why Sista let Moria get this Heart Core. It probably has to do with the conflict between the two of them. Anyway, I suspect she will let us go…”
As Tii spoke, her brow suddenly furrowed. She abruptly looked back toward the forest.
Rustle, rustle, rustle…
The small boat had already traveled a distance, yet she still keenly heard the movement of someone passing through the forest. In the next second, a flock of startled birds flapped their wings and flew into the sky. Tii’s heart tightened instantly.
“Wait, that’s not right. Sista, she…”
She bit her lower lip, looking nervously toward the shore.
It’s okay, we won’t be discovered.
To evade the Blood Clan’s Guards, even though she deduced that Sista would let them go, Tii had still prepared a backup plan.
She had ordered those two Beastmen subordinates to take the horses and run toward the other side, intentionally leaving tracks on the wet mud to lure the Guards onto the wrong path toward the other side.
If everything went according to plan, they would soon move away from the lake and head toward the mountains.
“Tii, what’s wrong?” Su Ling asked worriedly, seeing Tii’s troubled expression.
“It’s nothing… it seems Lotus Green Pond still sent people to pursue us. But it’s okay, I have my own way.”
Tii pulled Su Ling’s hand and then suddenly pulled her into her embrace.
“I won’t let them have you, little Su Ling.”
She gently stroked Su Ling’s long silver hair, her eyes still locked on the direction of the cliff, observing the small black dots of figures moving in the distance.
Fortunately, after a while, the woods grew quiet. Tii finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s fine now. Come home with me.” She spoke softly, looking down at the delicate girl in her arms.
***
“Captain, why did you tell us to stay behind?” A young, brash cavalryman rode up behind Thomas and asked. “The main force has already chased toward the south. We’re staying here… just to watch the scenery?”
“Quiet, kid. What’s the rush?”
Thomas spoke in a low, stern voice. He was currently crouching on the ground, carefully observing a patch of damp earth in the meadow. On it were several strings of hoofprints, leading in a continuous line toward the deep forest in the south.
To an outsider, those hoofprints might have been deceptive. But Thomas was a veteran with keen senses. He had seen this kind of trick of creating fake tracks many times before, so he had been paying extra attention to the changes in the depth of the hoofprints from the start.
On loose, damp ground, the depth of the prints reflected the load of the horse. If someone left the horse mid-way and let the empty horse continue forward, the footprints left by the horse would become noticeably shallower.
Through observation, he could roughly deduce their escape route.
“Alright, we stop here.”
He walked forward slowly for a bit, then turned back to stop the two Guards behind him.
“They dismounted here and headed toward the lake,” Thomas continued, his expression firm. “If their goal is Valivadan, then starting from this lake, Lunli’er Bay is a necessary path. If we set off for that area now, we can definitely intercept them halfway.”
“Oh!”
The young soldier hadn’t quite figured it out yet, but his superior had already waved his hand, ordering them to gallop at full speed and head for the bay immediately.