Chapter 880: Meeting Again

One had to admit that the nights in Urvashi were very different from those in the other cities of Theresis.

Thanks to the White Scorchstone regulating the temperature and shielding the city from snowstorms, the capital of the queendom remained brightly lit throughout the night, with no snow covering the streets and no icy winds sweeping through every corner.

As a result, Urvashi’s nightlife was far livelier than that of the other cities. Many taverns, inns, and restaurants stayed open after dark; there was even a night market, and businesses operated around the clock to serve the city’s residents.

Of course, the nobles enjoyed the richest nightlife and were also the ones who benefited most from the city’s conveniences and services.

As for the royal palace, once the nobles had departed and returned to their own residences, it became much quieter than it had been during the day.

The only people commonly seen were patrolling knights, guards standing watch, and servants moving about while carrying out their duties. Other than them, the palace was nearly deserted.

*SWISH!*

At one moment, outside a training field located on the edge of the palace, a figure suddenly appeared.

Dressed in the distinctive outerwear of Theresis, Riezel silently emerged and gazed at the spacious training field before him, an indescribable emotion surfacing in his eyes.

Tonight, he had not brought anyone with him.

Even Lilith, who normally stayed by his side every moment of the day and insisted on protecting him, had been left behind in their room.

Since the invitation delivered to him earlier had specifically requested that he come alone, no matter how he looked at it, the invitation was suspicious. Yet Riezel, relying on both his confidence and overwhelming strength, had accepted without the slightest hesitation.

Still...

"She actually picked a training field for the meeting. Is she trying to settle this with a fight right away?"

Muttering to himself, Riezel showed no fear. Instead, he smiled with a hint of anticipation before walking straight into the training field.

He had already asked the Aertel sisters about this place.

They had told him that it was a private training field that no one ever used except its owner, nor did anyone dare to use it without permission. Naturally, this private training field had been gifted by the royal family to the legendary Valkyrie.

Because of her unparalleled talent and astonishing strength, the royal family had made an exception by constructing both a private residence and a private training field for her within the royal palace, even allowing her to reside there permanently.

Not even members of the royal family themselves received such treatment.

Ordinary royals merely had assigned living quarters within the palace, yet the legendary Valkyrie alone had prompted the royal family to build both an entirely new private residence and a private training field just for her, proving how highly they valued her.

Of course, that also had much to do with the current political situation in Theresis.

Whether it was the Prince Faction or the Princess Faction, neither side wanted such a legendary Valkyrie to be recruited by the opposing faction.

To win over someone who possessed both overwhelming combat power and limitless potential, the two factions had fought countless political battles and clashed with each other more times than anyone could count.

In the end, however, neither side had managed to earn her wholehearted loyalty.

As a result, both factions had independently chosen to grant her every possible convenience in hopes of leaving a favorable impression. Because of that, she had received many privileges that even ordinary Sword Saints could never hope to enjoy.

From what Riezel had heard, the training field alone was said to have cost an enormous fortune to build. Not only were its construction materials specially designed to withstand tremendous impacts, but court magicians had also installed an elaborate defense system around it.

A large-scale Tactical-Class Magic Barrier remained active around the training field year-round. It could contain the shockwaves generated by battles inside, prevent outside observation and detection, and isolate all sounds produced during combat.

Being invited to a place like this in the middle of the night, it was no wonder Riezel suspected that the other party wanted to fight him directly.

If someone wanted to think more conspiratorially, they might even suspect that an elaborate trap had already been prepared. As soon as Riezel stepped inside, the barrier could activate, sealing him in before an army surrounded him, leaving him with no way to escape into the sky or beneath the earth.

At the very least, that was exactly what Lilith believed. Even Lizbeth had been deeply worried, as she believed the same.

Only Ivy and Leo thought that worrying about Riezel’s safety was an incredible waste of emotion.

"With his strength, he could walk all over the Hidden Land. Other than the priests, nobody can do anything to him."

"Instead of worrying about him, we’d be better off worrying about whether we’re gonna get attacked again tonight."

Back then, that was what the two of them had said.

As for Riezel?

He naturally had not been worried in the slightest and had truly come alone to honor the invitation.

And the facts soon proved that Lizbeth and the others had been worrying over nothing.

When Riezel entered the training field itself and stepped into the arena, only one person was waiting for him.

It was a young woman with waist-length ice-blue hair and matching ice-blue eyes, wearing a knight’s outfit designed for ease of movement. A cold aura surrounded her entire body, while an ice crystal-like longsword rested in her hand.

Appearing to be about the same age as Riezel, the young woman stood with her back to him as she practiced her swordsmanship.

*SWISH!*

*SWISH!*

*SWISH!*

Her swings were neither hurried nor slow, one slash following another.

Every swing looked utterly ordinary.

Every cut seemed completely plain.

It was a sword dance that could hardly even be called sword practice, since it looked more like someone lazily passing the time.

Yet as Riezel watched those seemingly ordinary swings and unremarkable slashes, his eyebrows gradually rose.

’Every swing gathers a trace of icy energy along the blade that ordinary people could never even notice.’

’Every slash has the potential to change direction at any moment.’

’Damn...’

Thinking that, the way Riezel looked at the young woman changed.

’Has she really improved this much in such a short time?’

It seemed there truly was a reason the young woman had become a legend.

*SWISH!*

Only after delivering another slash did the focused young woman stop.

She closed her eyes as if savoring every subtle change brought about by her previous strikes, carefully organizing her thoughts while preparing to improve further the next time she practiced.

After a long while, she finally opened her eyes, turned around, and looked at Riezel.

"..."

In an instant, the man and woman met each other’s gaze in the center of the training field.

His eyes were calm.

Her eyes were cold.

There were no sparks, nor was there any hostility.

They looked at each other as though they were complete strangers, making it impossible to believe that not long ago, the two of them had fought a desperate battle in the underground sea of lava.

"Charlotte Miraveth?"

Riezel spoke first after a long silence.

"Should I call you that? Or should I call you Ice Maiden?"

As he asked, there was an unmistakable hint of mockery in his voice.

However, the Valkyrie Charlotte Miraveth, who had introduced herself as Ice Maiden before him, remained completely expressionless.

"They’re both just names. Call me whatever you like." Charlotte answered without emotion. "Whether it’s the Holy Temple’s Holy Envoy or the captain-commander of the Queen Knight Order, they’re both me."

Hearing that, Riezel let out another mocking chuckle.

"I doubt that’s all..."

He glanced at the sword in Charlotte’s hand.

"As far as I know, that so-called national artifact you’re carrying is the holy sword passed down through the Theresis royal family for generations. Its history can even be traced all the way back to the Theresis Clan during the ancient magic civilization."

"It stands alongside Reinnail’s holy sword as one of the legendary holy swords known as the Vassal’s Sword, the Ice Sword, and the Lake Sword."

"After the modern magic civilization began, only the first queen who founded Theresis was ever qualified to wield it. For the next several centuries, not even the royal family’s descendants could successfully draw it from its sheath."

"But the fact that you were permitted to carry that sword can’t simply be because you’re the Holy Temple’s holy envoy, and definitely not just because you’re the captain-commander of the Queen Knight Order."

"Perhaps I should be addressing you as a princess instead?"

Just as only Lizbeth, a descendant of Reinnail, could use Moslow, the holy sword wielded by Charlotte could only be wielded by descendants of the Theresis Clan.

How could the royal family’s treasured national artifact be touched so casually by an outsider, let alone drawn from its sheath and carried openly?

Clearly, there was only one possible explanation: Charlotte had to be a descendant of the Theresis family as well—a member of the royal family, which was why Riezel’s words carried such obvious ridicule.

After all, the ancient ruins of Reinnail had been built by the Theresis family, and it had been the surviving members of that family who buried Euryale after her death.

Yet Charlotte, a descendant of the Theresis family, had actually led members of the Holy Temple to excavate the tomb of the very sovereign her ancestors had once served faithfully.

In Riezel’s eyes, there was hardly anything more ironic than that.

Unfortunately, this time, Riezel had guessed wrong.

"I am the Holy Temple’s holy envoy, and I am the captain-commander of the Queen Knight Order, but I am not a princess of the royal family."

Charlotte spoke in a cold, restrained tone, making the distinction clear.

"After the surviving members of the Theresis family arrived in this northern frozen land, they became the oldest, most mysterious, and most powerful tribe here."

"Later, under the first queen’s leadership, that tribe was integrated into the kingdom of Zynia and gradually spread its descendants throughout the country now known as the queendom of Theresis."

"I’m merely a descendant of a collateral branch of the Theresis family that drifted away long ago. Our bloodline has long since thinned, and we abandoned our family name generations ago."

A descendant of an impoverished collateral branch whose bloodline had long since faded?

How could that be?

If her bloodline had truly grown so thin, how could she have received the royal family’s permission to wield the national artifact?

"As for why I can wield this sword, the reason is actually very simple."

Seeing Riezel frown, Charlotte did not keep him guessing and gave him the answer directly.

"I am a rare case of atavism. My bloodline awakened after skipping several generations."

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[A bonus Chapter for reaching 400 Power Stones]

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