Chapter 600 - 596 – THE TRUTH BEHIND THE WHITE-GOLD WALLS, AND A CHOICE WITH NO ANSWER

Dusk had just touched Fallen Star City when a flash of gold descended from the sky and landed on an empty plain ten kilometers outside the city gate. Sol shrank into a tiny cat, Noir slipped back into Sylvia’s shadow, and they walked into the city on foot as usual, as if they were just returning from hunting in the forest.

But Sylvia was not as usual. Along the black-paved street, now busy with merchants, she said nothing. She didn’t even turn her head when a spicy monster-skewer seller waved and offered a free stick.

’You didn’t take the skewer,’ Sol commented quietly from her shoulder.

"I’m thinking."

’That’s worrying. You never refuse skewers.’

"Quiet, Sol."

At the gate of the governor’s mansion, Celes was already waiting in her light black armor. The silver-haired commander gave a brief salute.

"My Queen. While you were away, there has been no movement from the Council’s Legion. Our elite troops are on standby on the north side of the port, and Princess Zhaoyue has been working from morning till night. Three Tianhua merchants tried to bribe the dock guards, but we’ve dealt with them."

"Good. Where’s Zhaoyue?"

"In her study, my Queen. She’s reviewing the first harvest reports from Stacia’s fertilizer fields."

"Please prepare the rear pavilion. I need to speak with her privately. Don’t let anyone approach, including you."

Celes did not ask. She simply nodded and turned away.

Zhaoyue appeared in the rear pavilion a few minutes later in a simple work dress, a report scroll in her hand. Her face was fresh, though there were faint circles under her eyes, a sign of lost sleep over the past few days. When she saw Sylvia sitting in the wooden chair by the window with a calm yet serious expression, her smile faded slightly.

"Sylvia. You’re back sooner than expected. Was your trip north a success?"

"Sit down, Zhaoyue."

That tone made Zhaoyue stop. She set her scroll on the table and sat across from Sylvia. Sol leapt silently into her lap and curled up there. An unusual act, as if the golden cat wanted to keep her company.

Sylvia snapped her fingers, and the pavilion’s sound-isolation shield lit up with a soft hum. The Mithril Altar had been dismantled since the gate was moved, but the space was still protected by its absolute formation.

"There’s something I need to tell you," Sylvia said. "It isn’t good news. And after hearing it, you’ll have the right to be angry at me, at your father, or at the world. I only ask that you listen to the end."

Zhaoyue’s heart beat faster. "My father?"

"Yes."

For the next twenty minutes, Sylvia told her everything in a flat, honest voice, without embellishing or softening. The Deathcloud Mountains. The marble mountain above the sea of clouds. The stone chamber at the bottom of the crater. Baihu, the White Tiger guardian of the west, one of the Four Ancient Guardians. The covenant offered by a Tier Eight mage named Hua Chen. The blood that dripped onto the magic circle. The purple chains piercing its flesh. The three energy-draining pipes flowing to the capital and holding up the Upper District.

Zhaoyue did not move at all. Her face slowly lost its color, and her two hands, calm on her knees a moment ago, began to clench until her knuckles went white.

"...Impossible," she whispered when Sylvia finished.

"I’m not making up a story, Zhaoyue."

"I’m not saying you’re making it up." Zhaoyue’s voice trembled. "I just... My father is the one who saved millions of people when the world cracked. He brought the survivors to this land, built Tianhua from the rubble, founded the capital on a floating island. All the people revere him as the founder."

"I know. And that may also be true."

Zhaoyue stared at her in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the same person can save millions of lives and do something cruel to a single creature," Sylvia answered quietly. "Heroes are rarely clean, Zhaoyue. I’m not a good example myself."

Silence pressed on the room. From Zhaoyue’s lap, Sol raised his head and looked at the girl with his golden eyes, then nudged his tiny head against the princess’s palm. Zhaoyue didn’t seem to notice. Her gaze was empty, piercing through the pavilion wall.

Slowly, fragments of memory surfaced in her mind, small memories she had once thought unimportant.

Her father, who disappeared for three days every month without guards and without explanation. The Council’s mages who set off north with a black seal on the sleeve of their robes. The crystal towers of the Upper District that sometimes blinked slowly on certain nights, which the servants called the "mana tide." The palace guards who always fell silent whenever anyone mentioned the Deathcloud Mountains. Even when she was little, she had once asked why the Council nobles were so rich, and her father had answered only briefly, "Because they guard something precious."

"Something precious..." Zhaoyue whispered. Her eyes began to well up. "That’s what he told me back then."

"Zhaoyue." Sylvia leaned in slightly. "You don’t have to just believe it. I’m not asking you to. But I want you to know that I saw it myself, with my own eyes."

"I believe you," Zhaoyue cut in quickly. Her voice broke. "That’s the problem. I believe you, Sylvia. Because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be this sad."

She bowed her head and covered her face with both hands. Sylvia said nothing. She simply sat quietly, giving her room. After a few minutes, Zhaoyue’s shoulders stopped shaking, and she wiped her face roughly.

"Tell me the rest," she asked hoarsely. "You’re not finished, are you?"

"Not yet."

Sylvia explained the three layers of the seal, and why Baihu would only last a few more days if left alone. She explained the core seal that could only be opened by the blood of a Hua descendant given willingly, and that Zhaoyue was the only Hua descendant she knew who was close enough to ask for help.

Zhaoyue listened to all of it while staring at the floor.

"If I give my blood," she said slowly, "the chains will come loose."

"The core seal. The binding chains and the draining channels still need to be destroyed. That’s my part."

"And the capital?"

Sylvia was silent for a moment. "That’s the hardest part."

Zhaoyue raised her face. "Tell me."

"Most of Baihu’s energy flows into the magic core that supports the Upper District. If those channels are cut, the floating island will lose its support. Not instantly. The magic core has reserves, perhaps a few weeks. But after that the crystal towers will go dark, the light carriages will stop, and the magic chains holding the island to the earth pillar will lose power."

Zhaoyue froze. "You mean the island will fall?"

"Downward. Onto the Lower District, where millions of commoners and refugees live."

The words hung in the air like a blade of ice. Zhaoyue stared at Sylvia with wide eyes, and only now did Sylvia see what really made the girl waver. Not just her father’s betrayal, but a cruel irony: freeing an innocent creature meant threatening millions of other innocent people.

"That’s why..." Zhaoyue swallowed. "That’s why my father couldn’t simply release it, isn’t it? If it were released, the capital would collapse."

"Maybe. I can’t read Hua Chen’s heart. But that’s one plausible reason."

"Then what am I supposed to do?!" Zhaoyue stood abruptly. Sol leapt to the floor, and the princess’s voice rose, trembling between anger and despair. "If I don’t give my blood, Baihu will die. A sacred creature betrayed by my father will die slowly because of the splendor my family enjoys! But if I give it, millions of people in the Lower District could be crushed by that island! And on top of that... I would be rebelling against my own father! Do you know what that means for the Kingdom of Tianhua?!"

"I know."

"I’ll be a traitor! Not just to my father, but to the entire kingdom built on those chains!" Zhaoyue gasped for breath. "And what about Brother Tianyu? He loves me so much! Does he know about this? If he knew and kept silent, I don’t..."

She stopped and covered her mouth with her palm. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Sylvia stood slowly, stepped closer, and for the first time since they’d met, embraced the girl. Zhaoyue flinched, then buried her face in Sylvia’s shoulder and wept without a sound.

"Listen," Sylvia said softly, patting her back. "I won’t lie. Your choice is truly hard. But there are a few things you should know."

Zhaoyue nodded against her shoulder, unable to speak yet.

"First, the Lower District. I won’t let that island fall. Nocture has the Astral Starforge Reactor. With Stacia, we can replace the energy source of the capital’s magic core, even with greater capacity. It will take time, perhaps a few weeks, and must be done before Baihu’s channels are cut. But it’s possible."

Zhaoyue lifted her swollen face. "You... can do that?"

"I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m saying it’s possible." Sylvia smiled faintly. "But that’s not my decision. It’s part of the price that must be paid. If you do this, the capital will depend on Nocture, at least for a while. And your father will know who caused it."

"He’ll consider me an enemy."

"Perhaps."

"Second?"

"Second, I’m not forcing you." Sylvia let go of the embrace, held both of Zhaoyue’s shoulders, and looked straight into her eyes. "Baihu itself said it doesn’t want to drag an innocent child into her father’s sin. It would rather wait for death than force you. If you refuse, I’ll look for another way, perhaps more dangerous and slower. I won’t hate you."

"Another way?"

"Destroy the core seal by force. The risk is that Baihu’s heart could burst. The odds of success are maybe fifty-fifty."

Zhaoyue lowered her head, biting her lip until it nearly bled. "And third?"

"Third, you have time." Sylvia looked at the dusk sky in the window. "The Council Guard Legion arrives in two days. I promised Baihu four days at most. So you have until tomorrow night to decide, so we have time to prepare everything if you agree. And if you decide no, I’ll respect that."

Zhaoyue closed her eyes. For a few seconds she simply stood still, breathing heavily. Then she walked to the window and looked at the city below. The magic lamps began to light up one by one along the black-paved streets. Children ran in front of the taverns, workers went home with cheerful laughter, and in the distance, the new port at Quiet Bay glowed with a warm light.

The city she had built, or rather, the city built together with Sylvia using the corrupt officials’ confiscated wealth and a courage she never knew she had.

"Sylvia," she finally said, without turning around. "You said you’re not a good example of a hero. If you were in my position, what would you do?"

Sylvia was silent for a long time. Noir stirred softly in her shadow, but said nothing.

"I don’t know," she finally admitted. "I can easily talk about killing corrupt officials or bringing down fleets. But choosing between the person who raised me and the creature he betrayed? That’s a choice no one can answer except you."

Zhaoyue smiled bitterly. The most fragile smile Sylvia had ever seen on her face. "Thank you for being honest."

"I’m always honest with you."

"I know. That’s why I trust you." Zhaoyue took a deep breath and straightened her back. Traces of tears still wet her cheeks, but her gaze was beginning to turn firm again, though the shadow of hesitation hadn’t vanished. "Give me until tomorrow night."

"Of course."

Sylvia walked to the pavilion door, but before opening it, she turned back. "One more thing. Whatever you decide, you’re not alone in this city. You have me, Sol, Noir, Celes, and all of Nocture behind you."

Zhaoyue lowered her head. "Thank you."

After Sylvia left, Zhaoyue stood alone in front of the window for quite a while. Sol, who hadn’t gone along, leapt onto the windowsill and sat beside her without a sound, looking at the same city. No telepathy, no words. Only the warm presence of a golden dragon disguised as a cat.

Outside the pavilion, Sylvia leaned against the stone wall and looked up at the sky, beginning to be dotted with the first stars. Noir emerged slightly from her shadow.

’You didn’t pressure her,’ the black cat remarked.

"I didn’t want to pressure her."

’That’s not like you. You usually solve problems the fastest way possible.’

"This isn’t a problem that can be solved quickly." Sylvia smiled wearily. "Some things have to be decided by the person concerned."

’And if she refuses?’

"I’ll find another way." Sylvia closed her eyes briefly. "But somehow, I have a feeling she won’t refuse."

In the distance, far beyond the darkness of the north, a cluster of small points of light began to move across the night sky, in neat formation, slowly approaching the southern territory. The lookout post guards at the border had seen them since the afternoon, and a courier eagle was streaking with the news toward Fallen Star City, cutting through the darkness as fast as its wings could carry it.