As evening approached, the wind howled, scattering purple roses across the Fountain Garden.
From here, looking toward the northern horizon, thunderclouds had once again gathered.
“The older siblings said that the twenty-three of us, such small children, couldn’t spend the rest of our lives living under others’ control like them. So, they secretly used magic to disguise us and send us out with Princess Amidina. Sister said she would find a way to handle her own matters, but she couldn’t protect herself at all…”
“The Whale sleeping in Silver Tears Lake, although Parkes said it was still young… but, but Sister’s magic isn’t strong enough. The magic array will drain all her vitality…”
“We also thought about sending silver there… we thought, if we throw more silver into Silver Tears Lake to attract more wraiths, Sister could save some magic power used for the Purification of Wraiths…”
Bella, hood drawn low, spoke softly, “But Sister told us she doesn’t need us to send silver.”
“Sister said refusing to cooperate and finish what they want is her stance. I don’t understand what she means by ‘stance’, only that she’s going to die…”
After hearing all their explanations, Lin Nuo finally spoke, “So, you want to escort the silver to help Amidina one last time?”
“Yeah, very much so!” Bella said.
“The plan to tame that whale is top secret. They can’t hire other adventurers to deliver silver to Silver Tears Lake, so they went through all this trouble to find us… Parkes doesn’t want Sister’s magic to be drained by purifying wraiths either.”
“But we shattered the stones on our bodies and weren’t controlled, which means they know there’s no time to get silver now. That fish is about to wake up…”
Before Bella, voice trembling with helplessness, could finish, Lin Nuo, who had already led her to the north-side moat of the castle, pulled her close and motioned for her to look ahead.
Outside the moat, in a wide open space, horses snorted as they bore heavy loads of silver ingots and black boxes of jewels.
The silver ingots, bright and gleaming, were bundled by the servants of Claremont Manor in batches across the horses’ backs.
Bella and the twenty-two other timid children were stunned by the unprecedented display of wealth.
“This silver is from the Claremont Manor treasury. It’s in your hands now,” Lin Nuo’s gaze swept across the faces of all twenty-three children.
“Take this silver and deliver it. This is all I can do for Amidina.”
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Bella led the other children in thanking Lin Nuo for his care, and most of all, for his generosity in offering the silver ingots to help Sister.
One by one, they climbed into the carriage.
With tender hands grasping the reins, a soft “Giddy-up” sent the horses on the road to Silver Tears Lake.
As the carriage faded into the distance, several children cast long looks back at Lin Nuo, who waved at them once more before shaking his head with a sigh of helplessness, then turned to walk back into the castle.
Bella hugged the smallest child close, tears spilling anew, finally kneeling on the carriage seat in resignation.
“It turns out the adults never truly had a solution, but they tried their best. Don’t cry, don’t cry… Delivering silver is the only thing the adults and we can do…”
Yet no one noticed the white Fatty Bird above, fluttering its wings as it flew toward Claremont Manor…
“Chirp chirp!”
“Have you spotted their direction?”
“Chirp chirp…”
“Well done, let’s go!”
Lin Nuo, carrying a concealed magic item taken from the Sacred Relic Hall and the Frost Soul Bow on his back, followed the Fatty Bird’s guidance and the wheel tracks quietly behind the carriage.
“Do you think I’m just a little rookie trying to sabotage a plan that the Sixth Duke’s family has been preparing for seven years, apparently with the old king’s backing? Too reckless?”
“Chirp chirp…”
“Even if I say I have my reasons, it seems like I’m ignoring my parents’ wishes, going head-to-head with other dukes… it still feels improper…”
Crossing a patch of swamp, Lin Nuo felt inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a leaf of Yongqi Cao, a courage grass that dispels fear—blessings only granted to holy knights fighting for justice.
“My father slipped this to me secretly. He didn’t stop me; on the contrary, he fully supports me. I guess this is something he wishes he could do but can’t. What do you think?”
“Ready to go crazy with me once?”
Lin Nuo whispered, “Like the way someone threatened with his own life to release my Amidina…”
“Like Yulilian, who has always been willing to sacrifice herself for others, whether in the original story or now.”
“Chirp chirp?”
The Fatty Bird pecked at Lin Nuo’s face from his shoulder, as if telling him it didn’t understand his rambling, then opened its beak, signaling for a bite of preserved fruit—it was hungry!
***
Meanwhile, inside Claremont Manor.
In a lavish bedroom that always smelled faintly of herbs.
“Do you remember? When the seven great dukes gathered at the Angekesai House, the original intention was to celebrate Princess Amidina’s father’s birthday, but the head of the family proposed using his daughter’s purification ability to control magical beasts with a magic array.”
A noble woman’s voice, rich with nostalgia and some anger, said, “Among so many nobles who once benefited from Amidina’s father, and the Angekesai House filled with guests, only you slammed the table in fury and spoke out—I couldn’t calm you down…”
“In the end, not only did they not stop it, the old king agreed to the plan. I was made to accept Amidina as my betrothed. The four great dukes pressed repeatedly. Even as I watched the girl be taken away, I was powerless.”
Her deep, somber tone suddenly shifted: “But don’t you think our son might achieve what I couldn’t?”
“I don’t know, but the way he left just now, he really looked like you going to battle the monsters!”
“Hahaha, haven’t you noticed? That fool was already like that eight years ago!”
***
“Thunk thunk thunk—”
The sound of wheels rolling deeper into the northern forest.
As the mist slowly rose around them, Bella suddenly called the horses to a halt.
Once inside the Mist Forest, besides their clothes and the silver on the carriage, Parkes would never allow any other items brought from outside to be carried on their persons.
Bella gathered small stones to make a marker behind a large tree to identify their location.
After some thought, she decided not to touch the cloth covering the silver ingots that protected them from the mist, instead collecting branches and leaves to create a dry area.
Finally, reluctantly setting down the small round mirror Lin Nuo had pressed into her hand—one she had used to trace the shape of Silver Tears Lake—
“I wonder if there’ll be a chance to come back for this.”
Bella climbed back onto the carriage, unaware that not long after, a small figure cloaked in black appeared, with a Fatty Bird wearing a tiny black cloak and a little hood on its head following closely behind as they stepped into the mist.
No one knew how much time passed.
A tiny Paper Crane suddenly fell from the sky, landing beside the round mirror.
A graceful silhouette emerged from the fog.
Pale jade hands picked up both the mirror and the Paper Crane.
“To think she gave the mirror I gave him to another little girl, even forgot to take it back… unlike when he was injured and slept all day, letting me watch over him from dawn till dusk…”
The very pleasant female voice stretched the last words out: “Our young master’s getting more and more unruly lately.”
“Grabbing little girls’ hands again, rushing out at night to save other girls… my young master really is… a bit troublesome.”
The folded Paper Crane flew back into the mist toward some unknown destination, and the figure set off.
The pristine hem of the Priestess’s robe caught the dew crystals clinging to the emerald grass in the mist, tracing a light, graceful arc through the fog as she moved.
As if she were born to thrive in the magic whale’s fog.
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