??Chapter 273: Chapter 272: The mory of the Dead (Extra, Votes for Monthly Ticket)
Chapter 273: Chapter 272: The mory of the Dead (Extra, Votes for Monthly Ticket)
Deep within Shadowfla Volcano, the lava channels.
Princess Anxia ca alone, standing at the end of the passageway, looking at the Shadowfla Dragon whose head was the only part visible amidst the churning lava.
The Shadowfla Dragon did not open its eyes, nor did it move; the lava continuously nourished its body, healing the wounds suffered from the great battle. But most importantly, the power of the earth roiled within the lava, converging ceaselessly from all directions.
This earthly power would brew in the lava, condensing into an even greater force, then replenishing the Shadowfla Dragon, aiding in the recovery of its essence.
As long as the volcano remains active, it would not die.
The Warm Enclave expanded unceasingly, its power flowing without end.
“Shadowfla Your Excellency,” Princess Anxia watched for a long while before finally speaking, “I’m very sorry to disturb you.”
The Shadowfla Dragon still gave no response.
Princess Anxia did not expect any reaction from the Shadowfla Dragon but continued to speak: “Marquis Arno ca with a ssage from my father, originally hoping that Kunstan could marry a duchess from the kingdom as a bride, but…”
With a slight choke, Princess Anxia continued, “But Kunstan died in battle, and Marquis Arno told
that my father would not change his mind about the alliance through marriage. Hence, if Kunstan cannot enter into the alliance, it can only be Kunlaya’s turn.”
The Shadowfla Dragon gave no response.
Princess Anxia felt a wave of powerlessness wash over her and couldn’t help but cry out, “I don’t want to agree, I hate the Lieyang royal blood flowing through my veins, and I don’t want Kunlaya to leave
either… but I don’t know how to oppose it!”
She slumped to the ground, covering her face and weeping, “I dare not defy my father, nor do I have any confidence to defy him, throughout my life the one ti I defied him, it led to my utter disgrace, becoming the sha of the kingdom…”
In the midst of crying, Princess Anxia couldn’t suppress the terrible mories of her youth, the mories she never wanted to revisit in her lifeti.
That year, she was seventeen, and had fallen in love with a young guard in the palace.
Love, secret rendezvous, entanglent, then for the first ti, she gathered the courage to cast aside all societal constraints and planned to elope with the guard.
They succeeded, the kingdom’s princess fled the cage-like palace with the impoverished knight.
The young Princess Anxia didn’t notice any pursuers from the palace; there were no wanted posters along the way, nor were there any roadblocks set up.
She thought the letter she left behind had successfully cald her parents, convinced that she would be happy.
The two fled to a rural manor, intending to go further to the caverns, but the caverns were too cold for Princess Anxia to endure the hardship. Even in the rural manor, Princess Anxia couldn’t adapt, not knowing how to do any work.
The knight also quickly developed a gambling addiction, losing all his money, and even sold off all the gems Princess Anxia had brought with her.
After that, the mory seed to suffocate Princess Anxia.
The knight no longer treated her with love and respect but instead frequently demanded money with threats and violence, even threatening to sell her to a brothel if she didn’t provide money.
At that point, all her dreams were shattered.
Weeping, Princess Anxia confessed her identity to a nobleman from a nearby manor and pleaded for help. The nobleman showed no surprise and, smiling, took her back to the palace; her mother didn’t bla her.
Although her father didn’t see her, he didn’t punish her either.
It was as if the elopent had never happened.
However, she soon heard the news that the knight had frozen to death in the snowfield due to gambling debts.
The guards who had once been assigned to protect her, regardless of gender, were all sent to the battlefield in the snowfield, and none of them ever returned. From that ti on, she was no longer allowed to leave the palace even by half a step, nor could she speak more than a word with any male guards.
Then, it was the following year.
That day, she finally saw her father again, and although his smile was gentle, the words he spoke chilled her to the core, “You have disgraced the Lieyang Royal Family, Anxia. Now is the ti for you to repay the kindness you have received and wash away the sha… Go now, and bear offspring.”
And so,
Despite her desperate pleas, the King of the Scorching Torrent Kingdom chose to marry Princess Anxia off to the naturally dull-witted Marquis Quntro…
After being tornted by dead mories for a while, Princess Anxia, exhausted from crying, said, “Lord Shadowfla, I am just a naive and foolish woman who thought I could live a good life with Kunstan and Kunlaya…”
“Now, now everything will beco a re pipe dream, even though I still could reside within Red Castle, living a life of plenty, without a worry for food and clothing. But of what use is all that when I can’t even protect my own daughter!”
With both hands propping her up from the ground, Princess Anxia remained wordlessly still.
After a long period of silence,
Princess Anxia’s ears suddenly picked up the oddly lodious syllables akin to the bubbling of magma, syllables she once strived to learn.
She was an Ard Knight, too, equipped with Battle Qi, and able to comprehend the aning contained within those syllables.
It was the Dragon Language, evolved from Magic Power: “The weak cannot save themselves, Shadowfla has its own troubles to attend to.”
“Ah!” Princess Anxia cried out in agony, the crow’s feet on her beautiful face growing more pronounced as she appeared to age several years in an instant.
Staggeringly, she stood up and made her way unsteadily towards the magma passage.
Just when her heart felt dead and ashen, the gurgling syllables of magma spoke once again, instilling a desperate hope in her like a drowning person clutching at straws: “Russell Fluorescent Fungus, Shadowfla likes this little fellow.”
“What, Lord Shadowfla?” Princess Anxia imdiately turned around, incredulously asking, “You… You… You would choose him…?”
Unfortunately, she never heard the Shadowfla Dragon’s language again. The Shadowfla Dragon remained dormant in the magma, as if the previous exchange had never occurred.
“Mother, mother…”
The voice of Princess Kunlaya brought Princess Anxia back from her mories.
Looking at the narrow sky above her, she revealed a gentle smile: “Let’s go, it’s ti to return to the palace.”
Back in the palace, Princess Kunlaya whispered, “Mother, I don’t want to marry and go to the kingdom. I don’t want to leave you… I will train hard in Battle Qi, with the aim of becoming a Lady Knight, then bond with a Fantasy Beast, contract a Bipedal Flying Dragon!”
Princess Anxia gently stroked her daughter’s hair: “Good, mother will not let Kunlaya leave; mother will be there to see Kunlaya getting married and having children.”
“What, no way! I don’t want to marry and have children,” blushed Princess Kunlaya in embarrassnt.
…
Leaving the inner palace grounds, Russell was sowhat baffled, not quite understanding the real reason why Princess Anxia had invited him to dine.
But having eaten already, he decided not to worry about the why anymore.
“It’s almost March, I need to visit my sister at Blackgarden Mountain,” thought Russell as he walked. “Find ti to visit grandfather, then bring along so Cloud Mist series cigars for him, maybe I could land a batch of orders.”
The Ice Pellet Pearl he had obtained on the Snowfield battlefield had all been used to nurture the dragon egg.
If he didn’t make so money soon, his purse would once again run low, and he needed to amass a sum quickly, to establish the Warm Enclave in a year or so, ensuring he had the funds to build it.
He couldn’t always rely on support from Fluorescent Castle.
“A single penny can stump a brave man; I always feel like I’m reaching too far… It’s all Shadowfla Great Dragon’s fault for gifting
the dragon egg, making it too easy for
to overextend myself!” Russell grew anxious with this troubleso happiness.
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