Chapter 213: Loose Ends

In Demor, things were far from peaceful. Elric’s death and Bethany’s "disappearance" had placed a heavy burden on Elena, who had been filling in for Sylvia all this time.

"One of the students died..." people whispered in the hallways.

"I heard his younger sister is missing."

"I think I heard who it was: Count Varkas’s son. Apparently, he never left Demor and had problems with his family."

"The sword genius?"

"Don’t call him that. It was clearly just luck," one of Elric’s friends, who had been listening to the conversation, interjected disdainfully. "Elric always told us how much his brother envied him because he was the one who would inherit their father’s title."

"Even so, the new headmistress has it rough."

"Mmm, a lot of people are starting to question whether they can still trust the academy."

"It’s not like there are any better options..."

"The students who came from Pradiles last time seemed competent. My parents are considering transferring me there."

"Uh? All the way to Pradiles? Are they really willing to leave Demor?"

The student who had brought up the idea of transferring shook his head and looked toward the entrance. Count Varkas, with deep dark circles under his eyes and looking completely devastated, had just arrived. Eleanor accompanied him; she didn’t seem to have taken the loss well either.

"It must have been him... that bastard... she shouldn’t have fallen for him..."

Elena stepped forward to receive them with a serious expression and led them to a private room.

Meanwhile, at the castle...

Rosalind received the news of Elric’s death with mixed feelings. What worried her most now was that Bethany was nowhere to be found. The fact that Mina was missing as well somehow put her slightly at ease. But even so...

"Worried?" Caelia’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

Rosalind nodded, looking down at the floor with a dejected expression.

"I don’t think you should worry too much. Something tells me that Bethany’s maid couldn’t hold herself back..."

The pink eyes lifted to meet those of the former empress.

"Are you sure?"

Caelia licked her lips.

"Mmm, I won’t be able to hold out much longer either if that man keeps making me wait like this."

"Cassian is looking for Margery."

"Mmm, two sisters disappearing at once. You really aren’t having much luck."

Rosalind frowned, glaring at her. Caelia let out a laugh and shrugged.

"Either way, his business outside Demor shouldn’t have taken this long if it weren’t for those two women..."

"Elizabeth and Adela aren’t to blame," Rosalind replied curtly.

"No? It seems to me that what they tried to explain last time proves otherwise."

But Rosalind wasn’t going to play Caelia’s game. Instead, she asked:

"Haven’t they noticed in Midvern yet?"

Caelia let out a restrained laugh.

"It seems they’re infiltrating properly, although I don’t think Cassandra was the best choice for writing the reports..."

"Uh? Why?"

Caelia handed her the note one of the shadows had brought. Rosalind scanned the paper, expecting to see a general report on how things were going, but the paper only said:

"No problems."

"Mmm, a little short, but it doesn’t seem that bad."

Caelia smiled, brought ten more pieces of paper over, and laid them out in front of her:

"There were no problems."

"It should be fine."

"We arrived."

"No problems."

Rosalind gathered all the notes and handed them back to Caelia, a crack of frustration appearing on her face.

...

"Are we going to keep doing this?" The elf narrowed his eyes as he looked at the woman, displeased.

Evelyn turned toward Kieran with a doubtful expression. Then she looked back at what had caught her attention and bit her lip. Her eyes were fixed on Ravena far away from them. She was identical to Diana...

"Evelyn, I didn’t follow you here just to watch you hesitate," the man insisted again.

"Her children aren’t here. There’s no point in confronting Diana’s sister for no reason."

"That woman broke through transcendence on her own. She’s a threat."

"If you really believe that, then go and face her yourself."

Kieran took a step back. Cowardice, doubt... He looked down, unwilling to face the woman standing before him.

Evelyn saw his reaction and sighed resignedly.

"Perhaps we should have gone to the Elven Forest... What happened to your people is still a mystery."

Hearing that seemed to rekindle Kieran’s determination. He raised his head to meet those amber-gold eyes and replied:

"Only Diana has the strength to do something like that, Evelyn. I’m sure it was her."

His fists clenched tightly as the roots of the surrounding trees stirred violently, as if responding to his emotions.

"Diana wouldn’t do something like that. There has to be another explanation."

Kieran nervously bit his lip again, trying to calm himself.

"What do you suggest we do, then?"

Evelyn turned her gaze toward Ravena again, who could be seen in the distance through one of the palace windows.

"Do you really think Diana died?"

"What are you talking about? Jacken died in front of us. Diana couldn’t have survived either."

"But we never saw her body. If anyone can know what happened to your people, it’s Diana. And you said it yourself: she’s the only one who comes to mind strong enough to pull off something like what happened in your hometown."

Kieran frowned.

"We could ask the Black Widow Clan."

"They see us as worker ants. They don’t care what happens to us as long as we follow orders."

"Then... would we be doing all of this for nothing?"

An uncomfortable silence settled between them. It seemed that what the elf had just admitted weighed on both of them more than they wanted to acknowledge.

Kieran was the one who finally broke the silence.

"Even if that’s true, they still have to give us what they promised..."

But his strong voice gradually faded as he saw Evelyn’s eyes.

...

In Azure...

Coraline’s body was being carried away carefully by the servants.

Zakaer finally moved his hand away from Lumia’s eyes, and she immediately glared at him furiously. But those eyes, which seemed bloodshot with anger, quickly welled up with tears before bursting into sobs.

"Sob, sob, sob," could be heard.

"Father! Zakaer!" she exclaimed pitifully. "Thalassa must have had her reasons... sob, sob... She would never do something like that..."

The princess’s gaze turned toward where the body had previously lain. Even though she hadn’t witnessed it with her own eyes, she had been able to discern what had happened simply from everyone’s reactions and what they had said. Yet she still couldn’t believe that Thalassa was the one who had done something so... cruel.

Lumia quickly pushed the thought out of her mind: "No, Coraline was cruel... but even so... did she deserve to die?"

She lowered her shoulders in defeat.

Zakaer noticed the contradiction on her face. His eyelids narrowed, revealing an attitude he had never shown in front of her before.

"Coraline played with something she shouldn’t have, Lumia, and you need to understand the consequences that can bring."

"But even so..."

"Even so, what? Hidria disappeared from the map in a single day. It happened because someone stronger decided it should. Today, nothing particularly different happened."

"Lumia." King Oreon’s raspy voice interrupted. "I think it’s best if we all get some rest for today. Coraline’s family won’t take long to make a scene over this, and we still need to ask Thalassa for an explanation."

He mentioned the latter especially for the princess. If anyone could get the tutor to talk, it was most likely Lumia.

His Majesty rose from his seat, looked across the dining hall one last time, and fixed his gaze, particularly heavy, on the spot where Nereon had previously been sitting.

He nodded one last time toward Zakaer and left the room with resolve.