Chapter 10 The Queen: "I've waited so long to finally have someone like you..."
The news caused a sensation throughout the castle.
Because external objects cannot enter this island, but the storms these past few days have been so fierce that a hole has been broken in the island's barrier, allowing external objects to be washed here.
When the Queen heard that two outsiders had arrived, she insisted on going to see them despite the objections of her old maid who had served her since childhood. The old maid reminded her of the ancestral precept against contact with outsiders, but the Queen still went anyway, thus sowing the seeds of disaster.
When the veiled queen appeared, she stirred up an inner storm in the hearts of the outsiders that was no less intense than a storm at sea.
Because the Queen was so beautiful, breathtakingly so, she had to wear seven layers of veils whenever she met people, otherwise those around her would have difficulty breathing or faint from her beauty.
The young, silver-haired man fell deeply in love with this stunningly beautiful queen.
In the deep darkness of night, the silver-haired man knelt before the silver-haired woman, begging her to help him win the queen's heart. The silver-haired woman angrily slapped him. It turned out that this silver-haired woman was the man's fiancée; their wedding was in a month, and she never expected him to make such a shameless request at this time.
The silver-haired man quickly swore that he loved only the silver-haired woman, and said that he was only pretending to be with the queen to possess the island. He also promised that if he could win the queen's heart, he would give the silver-haired woman's family the richest territory of the country after he ascended the throne.
Faced with the prospect of family gain, the silver-haired woman was tempted. Little did she know, however, that these were all lies told by the silver-haired man, a way to deceive her into believing he could help him marry the queen.
The silver-haired woman began to scheme to win the Queen's favor and quickly gained her trust. She created numerous opportunities for the Queen to become infatuated with the silver-haired man. The silver-haired woman even claimed to be the silver-haired man's sister, hoping the Queen would be with her brother.
The Queen believed it.
Not long after, the Queen and the silver-haired man were married at the Black Castle. On their wedding night, the silver-haired man fainted several times from the Queen's stunning beauty beneath her veil, and then became infatuated and went mad.
The silver-haired woman was in agony, wailing all night and vowing revenge on the woman who had stolen her fiancé.
A few months later, the Queen discovered she was pregnant, and the silver-haired man was overjoyed, with the entire castle celebrating for three days and three nights.
But just after the Queen fell asleep from exhaustion, the silver-haired woman, like a ghost, led the silver-haired man by the hand to the tunnel and revealed the secret she had painstakingly uncovered.
It turns out that the original owner of Black Castle was the most famous elf race on this continent many years ago.
The elves were originally the true masters of this continent; the silver-haired man and the other races were all foreign invaders.
Long, long ago, the world where the silver-haired man lived was on the verge of destruction. They had to find a new place to live, and some wise man discovered this continent outside the barrier and moved there with his entire tribe.
The most powerful race on this continent was the Elf race. Just as they welcomed other newcomers, the Elves welcomed the Silver-haired race with the same friendliness, helping them establish themselves. However, the Silver-haired race was inherently greedy, selfish, and cruel. In their quest to become the most powerful race on the continent, they secretly slaughtered the elite among the Elves. Years later, the Elf race grew increasingly weak, while the Silver-haired race, though splitting into multiple kingdoms, flourished in both numbers and wealth.
Later, seeing that things were not going well, the leader of the elves led his people away one day, and no one ever heard of their whereabouts again.
It turns out they migrated to the depths of this secluded ocean.
It is said that the elves took a vast amount of rare treasures with them when they left, and whoever obtains this treasure will rule the continent. Faced with such immense wealth, the silver-haired man's mindset changed. Ambition and desire overcame his love for the queen, and he began to secretly plot with the silver-haired woman how to obtain the riches.
On one hand, the silver-haired man used sweet words to deceive the Elf Queen and tricked her into giving him the talisman to open the sea barrier; on the other hand, the silver-haired woman secretly contacted the people of her own kingdom and ordered them to bring their army.
The day the silver-haired man obtained the talisman to open the island's barrier, and his army stormed into Black Castle, a brutal, bloody, and inhumane massacre began.
Countless elves screamed in agony as they were slaughtered, leaving mountains of corpses and seas of blood, with countless elven bodies floating on the black sea.
The Elf Queen was both surprised and furious, which caused her to prematurely induce fetal movement and give birth to a beautiful silver-haired little prince.
When the silver-haired man and woman, accompanied by imposing guards, stormed into the Queen's room, the Queen was kissing her newborn prince. Looking at the silver-haired man and woman, the usually strong Queen suddenly burst into tears, begging them to spare the elves still alive in the castle.
The silver-haired man and woman agreed, but demanded that the Queen hand over the key to unlock the underground volcano containing hidden treasure. Once the key was given, the Queen would no longer be the master of this place.
Whoever controls the enormous treasure is the master of this place.
When the weak and frail queen agreed and handed over the fake key, the silver-haired woman suddenly became curious and asked her why she had to pay such a high price to protect a group of maids.
The Queen replied that the remains of the chiefs who migrated to the island were buried beneath the castle, and only these maids would hold regular requiem ceremonies for them with devout hearts.
The elves have always placed great importance on funeral rites, and the silver-haired man and woman believed it.
But what they didn't know was that the Queen, like all the elven leaders, possessed the ability to foresee the future. She sensed that the little prince's life was in danger, and to save the little prince's life, the Queen had to first protect the long-haired maid in the castle.
Only the long-haired maid knew how to place the severely injured prince inside the black tower with its glass dome, and regularly soothe his soul so that he wouldn't be weakened and his soul would dissipate.
Two days later, after the Queen used her last bit of strength to hand the little prince to the silver-haired man, she breathed her last.
All the long-haired maids by the Queen's bedside began to wail, and slowly the entire Black Castle was filled with cries, which drifted from the castle windows all the way to the sea, and then soared into the sky, seemingly shaking the entire ocean...
The story ends, yet it seems to remain unfinished...
As dawn broke, dazzling golden sunlight streamed through the window, casting streaks of light and shadow on the translation manuscript in my hands.
Looking through the translated manuscript and reflecting on this incredibly long story, I was filled with admiration.
Everything is both real and illusory, like a bubble, fleeting yet truly existed.
If this story is true, then what role do I play in it?
That evening, I unexpectedly received a call from my cousin. She said casually, "How have you been lately? I heard from my mom that you've already gone home."
I was silent for a moment before saying, "Don't you think you owe me an explanation? Where did that comic book come from?"
My cousin didn't hide anything this time and answered frankly: "My dad has a relative, an uncle, who loves to travel. Once, he brought back a beautiful stone from Africa, saying it was a gift from the chief of a primitive tribe. My uncle gave them a lot of clothes and food, and the chief reciprocated with this stone, saying it was very valuable and had been passed down for generations in their tribe. My uncle just accepted it with a smile, even though he didn't think it was worth much. When he saw I liked it after returning to China, he gave it to me. One night before bed, I played with this stone, and after falling asleep, I had a strange dream. When I woke up, I picked up a pen and couldn't help but draw what happened in my dream."
Primitive tribes in Africa!
The same place the castle maid described.
My hand holding the phone started to tremble. "Do you still have these dreams?"
“No. It’s strange, ever since you were admitted to the hospital, I haven’t had any dreams or drawn any of these pictures. I can’t even draw them when I try to.”
After hanging up the phone, I proactively left a message for the "Castle Maid" on Weibo: "My cousin went through something similar to what you've experienced, also related to a primitive tribe in Africa. Don't you think you should contact me?"
But the castle maid's avatar remained gray and she never replied to me.
A week later, I suddenly received a stone from my cousin in the United States. It was a snow-white, round stone that looked no different from an ordinary stone, but when you looked closely at it in the sunlight, you could see that it was covered with transparent little crystals.
That night I put the stone under my pillow.
After not having a dream for half a month, I had a strange dream, but at the time I didn't think it was a dream, I thought it was real.
——
In my dream, there was a hazy, dark, deep sea.
I was chatting with a beautifully dressed woman on a dugout canoe.
Looking around, all you can see are these dugout canoes, drifting on a vast, seemingly endless sea.
Without the dim yellow orbs of light floating in the air and the pale yellow lights floating on the river, it would be pitch black.
The beauty wore several layers of veils, but her stunning features were still faintly visible.
"Where is this? And who are you?" I asked.
"Shh!" The veiled beauty put her finger to her lips. "Keep your voice down."
I stopped talking and looked around at the small boats.
You wouldn't believe it until you see it. The small boat was filled with ferocious wild beasts: wolves, tigers, lions, leopards, and more. They sat quietly on the drifting boat, like statues.
The beauty whispered, "Do you see them? They are all spirit beasts that died on our continent. In life, they looked just like you humans, but after death, their souls revealed their true forms. It was they who almost wiped out our elven race."
In that instant, I realized that the silver-haired man and woman were both ferocious beasts, and the beauty before me was the Elf Queen—who wore a veil because she was too beautiful.
The beautiful woman smiled slightly, "I've waited a long time to finally meet someone as destined as you."
I asked, "Why me?"
The beautiful woman replied, "I don't know why it's you. Perhaps it's related to your birth date or your constitution; these are things that represent human vitality or destiny."
I sighed softly and asked, "What do you want me to help you with?"
The beauty said, "Our elven race cannot be destroyed. We must survive even if we have only a breath left."
I asked curiously, "Weren't all the elves in Black Castle slaughtered?"
"No. The long-haired woman you saw at Black Castle was an elf, as were the handyman, cook, and others you didn't see. But many civilian elves were killed, and only a portion escaped by boat at the very beginning of the massacre. We cannot be wiped out, and if one race becomes too powerful, the world will be out of balance."
What does "imbalance" mean?
"Simply put, it's a matter of natural disasters and man-made calamities. Wind, rain, and snow can all cause disasters, but we elves have ways to prevent and resist them. Without us as the original inhabitants, the spirit beasts wouldn't be able to survive here for long. As for man-made calamities, they are more destructive than natural disasters and can even cause natural disasters. I can't tell you about them in a simple way."
Seeing that I was staring at her veil, the beauty suddenly reached out and tugged at it, "Do you want to see what I look like?"
"certainly."
Everyone has curiosity.
Despite being mentally prepared, I was still stunned the moment the veil was removed. Her features were stunningly beautiful, radiant; her eyes, nose, and lips seemed to glow. She was dazzlingly beautiful, otherworldly, and even resembled a silver-haired prince.
I was so stunned by her beauty that I was momentarily blinded, and my breathing became increasingly rapid...
I suddenly opened my eyes and woke up.
It turned out to be a dream.
A note from the author:
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Sigh, I didn't expect that having less than 30,000 words would disqualify me from being recommended. I'm so frustrated. I thought I could get promoted for the first time this week, but oh well, next week will do.
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