Chapter 208: The Puppet

It was the start of the day, yet in this forest it felt as though it were dusk — everything was strangely still, the trees dry, the birds gliding without making a single sound, as if it were a forest of ghosts!

Zaylon stood on one of the hills, his army behind him, and before him, on the near horizon, lay a kingdom whose atmosphere was strangely calm.

Zaylon waited patiently until one of the fourth-level elf warriors appeared beside him.

"General, your letter has already been delivered!" The warrior knelt beside Zaylon, awaiting orders.

"Good," Zaylon nodded. "Wait here for me until I return!"

Upon hearing this, the eyes of the fourth-level warriors widened, and some of the older commanders advised him, "Wait a moment, General Zaylon, this is a risk there’s no need to take. At the very least, bring a few other fourth-level people with you — we don’t yet know whether this kingdom has acquired any fourth-level people of its own!"

"Don’t worry about me — no one surpasses me in the ability to conceal myself, including little brother Imris, and I don’t believe anyone besides His Majesty King Vaelor can detect my presence when I vanish. This kingdom must submit today, by tomorrow at the very latest," Zaylon spoke in a calm tone as he looked toward the silent Kingdom of Ravens.

"You’ve all heard His Majesty Vaelor’s order — he singled out both myself and little brother Imris to return promptly, ahead of the rest. This kingdom must submit today, and we must return today as well. If we return tomorrow, it will be an insult to us, let alone returning any later than that," Zaylon’s voice turned cold toward the end of his words, and he continued in an irritated tone...

"And if I haven’t returned within half an hour, you have my order to attack this kingdom!"

The moment he said this, Zaylon vanished from the spot as though he’d never been there at all, the only sign that he’d been standing there just moments ago being his voice, which still echoed in the air.

In the throne hall of the Kingdom of Silent Ravens, Queen Olivia — Queen of the Kingdom of Silent Ravens, who had inherited the throne from her sister, the Silent Queen — stood surrounded by numerous nobles and elders who were shouting at that very moment.

"We must gather whatever treasures we can carry and flee before they come for us!"

"What in God’s name are you all so afraid of! It’s only one single fourth-level person, and that’s probably all they have — they sent him just to intimidate us!"

"One person? Then what about that king of theirs, and what about that general he mentioned in his letter — are you telling me these people command a fourth-level person and yet aren’t one themselves?!" one of the elder nobles shouted at the rest. "Forget all that — what about our former queen and the rest of the kings of the other kingdoms who were killed in that cursed city? They took most of our armies with them, and only a few returned! And those who did come back have told tales we still dare not believe to this day, and after all that you ask us what we’re afraid of!"

"If we’re going to flee, then what of the rest of the kingdom and the rest of the people, what of our rule and our sovereignty. And if we’re going to flee, where exactly would we flee to!" one of them shouted in protest, veins bulging on his forehead from sheer rage.

"Damn the kingdom and damn the people — I was never in favor of entering this war from the very start, and now that its consequences have caught up with you, you want me to keep clinging to these damned principles! Damn you and your principles!" that noble shouted again, quickly drawing his sword from its sheath and brandishing it in the faces of the rest, "Whoever stands in the way of my escape will find nothing but this sword of mine at his throat — I’ve warned you, so let it be on your own heads!"

Queen Olivia stood watching this entire farce calmly. To them, she was nothing more than a puppet they had placed on the throne to fill the position of queen, simply for being a member of the ruling family and the closest relative to the former queen!

Olivia was, just like her sister, in possession of a Heaven-grade talent, but unlike her sister, the Silent Queen, Olivia had never been trained in combat or in the use of law. She was like any ordinary person at the third level — perhaps even an ordinary third-level person was better than her in terms of combat ability. Meanwhile, her sister, the Silent Queen, had been trained in combat, in governance, and in the use of law since childhood!

One of them had been raised to be a queen, while the other had been raised to be nothing more than a flower in someone’s garden, or someone to be bought at the right price!

Olivia looked at them with pity — though she herself was more deserving of that pity — and unable to bear this squabbling any longer, she opened her mouth and finally spoke. "We will surrender!"

When Olivia’s voice was heard, no one paid it any mind at first, but after they’d focused a moment on what she’d said, they all turned toward her.

"Say that again, what did you just say?" one of the nobles cupped his hand around his ear and tilted his head slightly toward Olivia, mocking her!

"I said we must surrender. We shouldn’t have taken part in that war in the first place — I advised my sister many times before to stop herself and her army from joining that war, but she wouldn’t listen, and her greed got the better of her!" Olivia paid no mind to their mockery and spoke with whatever courage she could muster, gripping her dress tightly as she did!

"Hahahahahaha, look at this fool, she’s exactly like her damned stupid sister. We’ve been cursed with two fools of queens, one after the other. The first led the kingdom to ruin, and the second wants to lead it so that its people become slaves to the elves!" one of the nobles laughed, a man who looked to be in his fifties, and looked toward Olivia with intense hostility...

"You, you nobody, are nothing but a puppet we’ve placed on that damned chair only because of your bloodline, and you have no say here. Aside from that, tell me — what’s stopping me from killing you right now, or even... violating you!" that man said menacingly, his tone finally turning filthy as he looked over Olivia’s body!

In terms of beauty, Olivia was far more beautiful than her sister, one of the most beautiful women a man could ever hope to lay eyes on in his lifetime... but she did not possess the strength to protect that beauty!