Chapter 91: It’s your turn now

Catrina immediately turned toward him.

Lathel did not deny it.

Rhea continued:

"If you truly want to make amends, then heal yourself first. Stop forcing him to choose between his own safety and saving you."

Catrina looked at the bandages around her wrists, then at Lathel.

Her hesitation lasted only a few seconds before she asked:

"If I leave to receive treatment... will you disappear?"

Lathel opened his notebook.

Rhea glanced down, but this time she did not stop him from writing.

[Go get treated.]

Catrina stared at those words, and her hand began trembling again.

Lathel added another line.

[After you stabilize, we’ll talk.]

Rhea looked at the second sentence and frowned slightly.

"The first line was enough."

Lathel turned toward her.

Rhea remained completely calm.

"The second part was unnecessary."

Catrina immediately pulled the notebook toward herself and reread the words as though afraid Rhea might erase them.

"You said that after I stabilize, we’ll talk?"

Lathel nodded.

The corners of Catrina’s lips finally curved upward.

It was only a small smile.

Her eyes were still red, but the despair that had followed her into the courtyard had clearly faded.

"All right."

She closed the notebook and returned it to him with both hands.

"I’ll go see Elaria."

Catrina stepped back.

This time, she did not try to hug Lathel again.

Before turning away, her hand lifted slightly as though she wanted to touch his face, but in the end, she deliberately lowered it again.

"I’ll come back after I can guarantee I won’t hurt you again."

Lathel gave a slight nod.

Catrina turned and headed toward the gate.

Her gait was still somewhat stiff because of the wound on her thigh, but her pace became faster and faster.

The moment the two Black Rose knights waiting outside saw her, they hurriedly ran after her.

"Duchess, the carriage is this way."

"We’re not returning to the estate."

Catrina walked directly toward the western district of the Church.

"To the Hall of Life."

The two female knights exchanged glances, then immediately followed.

Only after her figure disappeared did Lathel turn toward Rhea and write:

[How long have you known Elaria could treat Catrina?]

"This morning."

[Why didn’t you say so earlier?]

"I only just received word that she had returned."

Lathel continued staring at Rhea.

She remained silent for several seconds before adding:

"I also wanted to see whether Catrina truly knew how to let you go."

Lathel: "..."

Pandora laughed softly inside his soul.

"I knew she couldn’t be completely kind."

Rhea looked in the direction Catrina had left, then turned toward her subordinate.

"Have someone follow her."

Lathel immediately frowned.

Rhea looked at him and explained:

"Not to stop her from getting treated. I want to make sure she actually goes to the Hall of Life instead of turning around halfway and standing outside the gate again."

The reason was so reasonable that Lathel could not argue.

Rhea took his wrist and led him back toward the building.

"Come."

Lathel opened his notebook.

[Where?]

"Breakfast."

He looked at the sunlight already high in the sky.

Rhea added calmly:

"Because of Catrina, you skipped a meal."

Lathel lowered his eyes toward the hand holding his wrist.

Rhea seemed completely unaware that the way she was dragging him along right now was not all that different from Catrina clinging to him too much.

Pandora, of course, noticed.

"She just convinced someone else not to cling to you."

Lathel thought:

’I know.’

"So you’re not going to point that out?"

He looked at Rhea’s back, then slowly closed the notebook.

’I don’t want to explain anymore.’

...

At the same time, in the northwestern forest, Aldric and Kiyome had already caught sight of the first rooftops belonging to the Crimson Tail Tribe.

Kiyome stood on the hillside, looking at the red fox-tail symbol hanging above the tribe’s entrance.

Her grip on the fan slowly tightened.

Aldric stepped up beside her and smiled.

"It’s your turn now."

The Crimson Tail Tribe lay deep inside a valley surrounded by red maple trees.

Unlike the smaller Beastfolk tribes Aldric and Kiyome had attacked before, this place did not rely on a crude wooden fence.

Instead, living tree trunks had been woven together into a natural wall.

Red talismans hung between the branches, producing faint chimes whenever the wind passed through them.

There were nearly a hundred houses inside.

For a Fox Demon branch living independently from any major kingdom, this was already a considerable settlement.

Aldric looked at the cooking smoke rising from the valley and asked:

"How many?"

"Nearly five hundred."

Kiyome answered immediately.

Her auction house had traded with this tribe before.

The Crimson Tail Tribe supplied fire-element medicinal herbs, magical beast fur, and a kind of ore found only around the extinct volcano to the north.

"Any powerful fighters?"

"The chieftain is a fourth-level mage. Two other elders are around the third level."

Aldric frowned slightly.

"They’re that weak and still survived until now?"

"This forest has a natural barrier. They also maintain relationships with several merchant guilds and larger tribes. Outsiders have never had much reason to attack them."

Aldric looked at her and laughed.

"Today they do."

Kiyome said nothing.

The two descended the slope.

While they were still some distance from the gate, the Crimson Tail warriors had already noticed them.

But the moment they saw Kiyome’s fox ears and tail, the vigilance on their faces immediately eased.

One of them quickly approached.

"Lady Kiyome?"

Kiyome opened her fan and tried to keep her voice natural.

"It’s me."

The warrior immediately smiled.

"It’s been a long time since your last visit. The chieftain said that if you ever came again, we had to invite you to drink the newly brewed Firefruit Wine."

He looked toward Aldric.

"And this gentleman is?"

"A mage helping me research a soul ritual."

Aldric raised an eyebrow slightly but did not expose the deliberately simple introduction.

The Crimson Tail warrior did not suspect anything.

He immediately led them through the gate while asking about the condition of Kiyome’s merchant guild.

The people inside quickly recognized her.

Quite a few greeted her on their own.

Several children with red fox tails even ran closer and stared curiously at the fan in her hand.

Kiyome tried not to look at them for too long.

A little girl around six years old stood in front of a house, holding a fox doll sewn from red cloth.

When she saw Kiyome’s dark purple tail, she immediately tugged on her mother’s hand and asked:

"Mom, why is that big sister’s tail a different color from ours?"

The mother hurriedly pulled her daughter aside.

"Don’t point at guests. That’s very rude."

Kiyome heard every word.

She did not turn around, but her steps clearly slowed for a moment.

Aldric chuckled beside her.

"Don’t get softhearted."

"I don’t need you to remind me."

"Good."

They were taken to the largest house near an ancient maple tree in the center of the tribe.

An old man with red-and-silver hair was already waiting by the entrance.

The moment he saw Kiyome, he recognized her.

"So you really are Akemi’s daughter."

Kiyome’s body stiffened slightly.

She had not expected the man in front of her to know her mother’s name.

The old man stepped closer and observed her for a moment before smiling.

"Your eyes resemble your mother’s, though I imagine your temperament takes after your father. Akemi could never stand this quietly. Every time she visited, she would argue with me over herb prices for at least half a day."

The hand holding Kiyome’s fan tightened.

"You knew my mother?"

"More than knew her."

The old man invited them inside.

"When your tribe still existed, we once fought off a magical beast tide together. Your mother even saved my son’s life."

Kiyome sat down but did not touch the tea placed in front of her.

The Crimson Tail chieftain sighed.

"We heard about what happened to your tribe too late. By the time our people arrived, there was nothing left to save."

Kiyome slowly asked:

"If there were a way to bring the dead back to life, would you believe it?"

The old man looked at her for a long time.

"I would ask the price."

"Fate."

"Whose?"

Kiyome did not answer.

The Crimson Tail chieftain turned toward Aldric.

Ever since entering, the young man had not touched the tea either.

He was only studying the protective talismans around the room, as though calculating how best to destroy them.

The friendliness on the old man’s face slowly faded.

"Why are you really here?"

Aldric immediately smiled.

"We need to borrow your tribe’s ancestral ground to complete a ritual. As long as everyone cooperates, it won’t take long."

The chieftain asked:

"What ritual?"

"Gathering communal power."

"And afterward?"

"Afterward, they can rest."

Aldric’s voice remained perfectly natural.

But the chieftain’s gaze had already become wary.

He placed a hand on the staff beside him and looked at Kiyome.

"You know what he means?"

Kiyome could no longer pretend otherwise.

She closed her fan and answered:

"I do."

"So the price of this ritual is the Crimson Tail Tribe?"

"I need Fate to resurrect my people."

The old man looked at her as though he had just heard something unbelievable.

"Your mother would never accept that."

Kiyome immediately looked up.

"You don’t understand."

"I understand more than you think."

The chieftain slowly rose to his feet.

"Akemi would die to save someone else, but she would never slaughter an innocent tribe to buy back her own life. If she truly came back through something like this, the first person she would hate would be her own daughter."

"Shut up."

Purple mana began gathering around Kiyome.

The chieftain did not retreat.

"You don’t want to resurrect them for their sake. You want to resurrect them because you can’t accept the feeling of having lost them."

Aldric stood up, his patience beginning to disappear.

"I didn’t come here to listen to an old man preach."

He raised his wand.

The Crimson Tail chieftain immediately slammed his staff into the floor.

Bang!

A surge of red mana erupted.

The talismans around the house lit up simultaneously.

At the same moment, alarm bells rang throughout the entire tribe.