Things were going out of hand. "Umm…. Calm down?" I tried to think of a logical way to confront this. But I couldn't co up with anything.
Have all of them gone mad or this is a different world?
"Is- is that you Daarc? Is it really you?" Jowy stood up in confusion and awe. "Are you sure it's you Daarc?"
Did you even hear what you just said?
"DO you want to punch you, your majesty?" I was kind of ticked off.
He cleared his throat and sat down again.
Lianne ca closer to . "How-how is this- how can this be?" She was touching a bit too much.
"Calm down. Why are you so flustered?" That really was the question. Ever since I turned to a girl, every single elf I saw, showered with respect and even these guys.
"You-you look almost like mother!" Lianne couldn't hide her emotions. I really didn't think elves were capable of this much emotion all at once.
"Co again?"
I didn't have ti to react. She hugged tight, tears in her eyes. Everything struck as weird. I looked around and most of the guards were displaying similar vibes.
The hell?
Jowy ca over "Can-can I get a hug too?"
"No thank you." My voice went flatter than I intended.
Soone cleared her throat. I looked for the source. It was Imazael.
"You look like the sanest. Care to explain?" I asked.
Imazael seed casual, like she didn't have a care in the world. Maybe she didn't. "Elves are quite a fickle race. Normally they don't show much emotion but when that emotion is stored for a few centuries, they tend to get like this."
My eyes twitched: my teeth grinded. "You know that's not what I ant, right?"
She cleared her throat again. All of this was seriously starting to piss off. "You seem to resemble the late empress."
"Say what?" My jaw dropped. Lianne ntioned sothing about her mother as well. The whole day was full of shocks but this was probably the most shocking. "Seriously? I don't even have ears like…"
That's when I realized. Among all the Jowy lookalike pictures, there was a picture of a beautiful girl. But I was too tensed to rember the face. And last I rembered, she did have smaller ears than typical elves.
"Your ears might not reflect on the elves but you do bear a striking resemblance. And her Excellency also had small ears you see. Besides, black hair is considered sacred in Alfheim."
Sacred?
I looked around and sure enough, no one's hair was black. But my hair was black when I was a guy too, so how co they never treated well?
Wait a sec…
They had treated well. They even threw a party for . And the first prince even wanted to be his brother. aning they were basically telling to get married into the family.
If a certain sobody hadn't betrayed , none of this would have happened. So basically, everything was set for the mont I was born with black hair? Then they the hell wasn't I born an elf? They would have treated like I was so sort of god or sothing!
But was this coincidence supposed to be funny? Cause it certainly was not.
I tried to take off the bangle but Lianne didn't let . She was still attached to . "Just a little longer. How I've missed you so…"
She buried her face in my chest. I would have appreciated it if she'd done it while I wasn't a girl. But I couldn't deny that I kind of liked it. It did tickle a lot more than desired though.
I sighed, cleared my throat and everyone in the room regained so of their composure, at least on the outside. Lianne still stood rather close to .
"Anyway, I'd like to leave as soon as possible. So would you mind returning my stuff?" I had to be blunt. I had no intention of staying in this place.
Jowy walked around. He seed kind of tensed. Sothing was wrong. "Of course. But there are so things that we need to cover first. Why don't we et father?"
"Father? That dude's still alive? Then how co you're the emperor?" I didn't feel like sugarcoating my emotions any longer. I didn't care if he was the emperor. I'd done enough caring.
"Acting emperor, to be specific. Co with ." Jowy walked out.
I followed Jowy. He acted all serious but it all got ruined as he kept on stealing glances at . Lianne didn't leave my side while the demigod followed us. Honestly, it just felt weird.
Here I parted from the guard. He wished luck and left. I didn't catch his na. I didn't even get to thank the guy properly. Maybe next ti I ought to treat him a little better.
***
The elven palace was pretty big and everything was made from crystal. There were even living organisms based on the crystals too. I had a lot of questions but I kept my mouth shut. The less I knew the better. That way I won't be dragged into more trouble.
We walked down a corridor and there were loads of pictures. I carefully examined one of them. It was the empress'.
My eyes twitched. Biteria poked out, looked at the picture then at , and then back at the picture again. I could understand her confusion. If I had pointier ears, I'd pretty much be considered the empress by now. It was like I was literally looking at a mirror. Actually, I might have looked a bit younger than the picture.
I sighed again. Everything was wearing down. I needed to rest.
We arrived by a large door. It was probably the emperor's chamber. Jowy knocked, asked for permission and we went in.
If these morons are reacting like that, how the hell will the emperor react?
I steeled myself and went in. But my fears were dumbfounded. The emperor didn't react. More like he couldn't. He was unconscious. There was a doctor in the room and he was probably the one who permitted us in.
"I'd assu you have a reason to bring here?" I didn't see any reason to be here.
If the emperor was unconscious then I didn't have any business with him. He looked awfully pale, and he was also sweating in buckets.
"La-lady Anasia!?" Apparently, the doctor recognized . He was wrong though.
That's a pretty na…. But stop calling that!
"He is not our mother. This right here is the person we talked about. Currently, he is wearing the bracelet of Arcs," Jowy explained.
I had no idea if this bracelet even had a na or not but it didn't really matter at this point anyway.
The bracelet had a na too, huh?
The doctor didn't look convinced. "My apologies. But he looks just like-"
I tapped my feet in annoyance. "We get it. Can we move on?"
So this guy knows.
If the doctor was soone qualified enough to cure the emperor then had to be pretty good or at the very least, soone important. He even knew about .
"Right, I brought you here to see if there's anything you can do about father," Jowy said sothing. It caught my attention. But the way he said it, made weary.
"What do you an?"
"I'll explain. You see, I can manipulate water and I could use healing dicine in an efficient way to increase the potency. But I can't really control the holy elent. You on the other hand can do that. The emperor was heavily poisoned and there is also a curse that binds him. Healing won't do much as he's a half-dead. But maybe the holy elent could do the trick." Imazael was right behind us. "And compared to Lianne his curse is much weaker so your powers will be more effective for cleansing."
"And what if it backfires? You do rember holy is like poison for the undead right?"
"In that case, we'll accept the outco. But he is not an undead. He is a half-dead. So we're counting on his living side." Jowy butted in.
Jowy's no-pressure dialogue wasn't really helping.
"Not quite." Imazael tapped my shoulder. "If the mana is pure enough, it won't harm him." Of course, she was referring to but I couldn't help but feel like a goat. "Besides," she whispered. "As long as you don't intend to harm him, it should be good."
The last part really had worried. So what if, I did intend to harm him? A lot of these things could have been avoided if the damn emperor paid more attention to his brats in the first place. He even made stupid decisions and trusted his family a bit too much. So I did resent him a little. And what if that resentnt made harm him too?
"Really?" It wasn't a question. It was more like I declared my doubts.
"Believe ," Imazael said.
Trust ; I don't believe you one bit.
I had to co out clean. I didn't sugarcoat my thoughts. "Sorry but I don't believe you. However, I do have so respect for this man if not pity. Even after all that he stretched his hand to Araan. That took so serious guts." I did respect the man if only a little.
They looked away. I could get their feelings but that didn't an much to .
"Even so, please…." Lianne pleaded from my side.
"Fine. Don't bla if I'm not pure enough," I said under my breath. I reached for the emperor, my hands above his chest. "Here goes nothing." I made up my mind.
They could have killed if they wanted to. But they didn't. Because of this?
I didn't trust them anymore but I couldn't just doubt every single one of their motives either. I had to move on.
And if wanted to do sothing, I was going to see it through all the way.
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