Chapter 85 "You are high above, I am as insignificant as an ant..."
"Yes, but she's been drinking it for a while and it doesn't seem to be working at all. But she's still drinking it with a glimmer of hope, and we don't know how long she'll keep going."
Luo An was silent for a moment, then asked, "Sister, what kind of help do you want me to do?"
“Find out what’s going on here,” I said. “Find out discreetly.”
“Okay.” Luo An agreed to me readily.
Two days later, Luo An brought me news. As dawn approached, a sliver of white appeared in the sky. He routinely brought me the day's supervisory data and said in a voice I could barely hear, "The previous king was tortured half to death and is in a deep coma. All his confidants were killed. The current king is not the legitimate heir."
“Aren’t he and his sister the first and second in line to the throne?” I asked in a low voice.
"Yes, if their mother wasn't a stepmother."
I suddenly understood. It turned out the previous king was the son of his first wife, while the current king was the son of his second wife. If there were no son from the first wife, the current king would be the first in line to the throne. That's why the current king once told me he was the first in line—what cunning logic!
In reality, the son of the first wife was the first in line to the throne, while the son of the second wife should have been ranked later.
I actually helped a traitor successfully rise to power!
But this traitor also seems to be the destined king—the country's most famous prophet, who had foreseen that the true king would replace the previous one.
So, was what I did right or wrong?
Is this "destined king" a good person or a bad person?
I once sympathized with the "destined king" who was paralyzed in a wheelchair and faced death several times. I also carried him away to save my own life and helped him recover his health. Was this following the will of Heaven or going against it?
Is he a good person or a bad person? If he is a good person, how could he have usurped power? If he is a bad person, how could he be the designated successor in the prophecy?
I racked my brains, but still couldn't find the answer.
Never mind, actually, I didn't help him because he was a good or bad person, but because I wanted to save my own life.
After that, Luo An would often use spare moments to convey information to me.
The previous monarch ruled this country for ten years, and the current monarch cannot overthrow him in one fell swoop. He is currently winning over prominent families and various financial groups, and dares not kill the previous monarch immediately for fear of arousing public outrage. He can only keep the previous monarch half-dead.
“He brought down the previous king in the name of revenge. The previous king poisoned him and his sister, leaving them paralyzed for twelve years. He also found a lot of evidence to prove that the previous king was also suspected of regicide. Their father’s death was very suspicious,” Roan said in a low voice.
"Is this true or a frame-up?" I asked in a low voice.
"According to my information, it should be true. The old king was very fond of the second queen, who was the mother of the two siblings. He intentionally violated the ancestral rules and bypassed the eldest son of the first wife to make the second queen's son the king. When the previous king and his family found out, they took the initiative and caused the old king's sudden death."
"And what about Black Wolf?"
"The current king's loyal subordinates, namely the chief of Nasiah, after the current king became paralyzed, captured about a dozen wild wolves from the most dangerous forests to be responsible for the current king's safety. After many years of breeding, they formed a wolf pack."
"Does the black wolf have superpowers?" I thought of the wolf that seemed to be able to talk.
"Probably not."
I pondered: Could the black wolf that spoke to me be an exception?
"Thank you, Luo An." After a while, I sighed again. Luo An was only ten years old, but he showed a shrewdness and intelligence that only adults possess when it came to gathering information.
“It was my fault that you were ruined, sister,” Luo An said with some remorse. “If I hadn’t been greedy for that bag of gold coins, you wouldn’t have ended up here. I hope I can make up for my mistake.”
“You’re already making up for it.” I patted him on the shoulder.
While others were taking their lunch break, I was wandering around. This was one of the few moments of leisure I had during the day.
After strolling through the garden and walking along the long path, a black wolf suddenly appeared behind me, its form shifting in and out of sight. Rounding a secluded corner, it suddenly drew closer, and a strange, deep, magnetic male voice reached my ears again, "Were you looking for me?"
I remained calm and stood still.
"If you want to escape, you must help me reclaim the throne."
My mind went blank. Could this wolf be the former king? Otherwise, why would it speak like that? And why did it turn into a wolf? Wasn't it in a deep coma?
"Otherwise, you can just wait to have your blood drained," it said viciously.
I slowly turned around, but the black wolf had vanished. Perhaps it was still hiding in the shadows, but I couldn't see it.
Could it really be the spirit of the former king possessing the wolf? This place is so strange, it's highly likely.
But it is precisely because of its strangeness that perhaps I can use this wolf king to leave this place.
A plan began to take shape in my mind.
The next day, after reporting my daily activities to the king, I looked up at him and said, "I have an idea, but I don't know if it's feasible?"
"Oh, what's your idea?" The Elf King on the throne was rather indifferent, flipping through some documents, too lazy to even look up at me.
"About the treasure vault."
His slender fingers, which were turning the pages of the case file, twitched slightly. He then waved away the other officials and looked at me coldly. "Speak."
“I’ve heard that you have a treasure vault containing several important seals of the country. I’d like to go in and take a look; perhaps it can help you find the kingdom’s seal.”
I just heard about this a couple of days ago—the current king is delaying the execution of the former king for two reasons: first, he fears incurring public wrath; second, the kingdom's seal has been hidden by the former king, and without it, it's inconvenient for the current king to issue certain orders.
The treasury was a very important private treasure trove of the previous monarch, containing important seals and some precious treasures.
"Why did you choose this treasure vault?" the current king asked me.
“I’ve heard it’s important and mysterious, and maybe superpowers exist there.”
After the current king ascended the throne, he took me to that secret treasure vault where I had fled, trying to use my special abilities to discover something, perhaps the seal, but I found nothing.
I told him, "My powers are no longer effective at the treasure vault you took me to last time. It's possible that the vault itself has lost its effectiveness for me, or it's possible that my powers are not working because I wasn't doing this for you willingly. Now, I'm willing to do this for you, but there are conditions."
The claim that superpowers only work when someone is willing was something I made up, just to get him to agree to my conditions.
"Speak," the current king said calmly, looking at me indifferently.
“I hope Princess Marcy will stop sucking my blood. If this continues, I’ll be drained dry,” I said.
"Exchanging it for this condition only?"
"Yes."
The current king stared at me and suddenly laughed, "I thought you would exchange wealth and honor for it, or perhaps you would want to become my mistress."
"You jest. You are so high and mighty, while I am but an ant. How could I be worthy of you? As for wealth and glory, what is more important than life?"
He looked at me for a while longer, his smile becoming increasingly strange, and I couldn't quite figure out what he was thinking.
“Good, very good,” his golden eyes gleamed, “as long as it’s not some kind of feigned indifference.”
I nodded and agreed repeatedly.
He laughed even harder, perhaps enjoying seeing the subservience and obedience of those in power towards those in authority.
The next afternoon, Chief Supervisor Nacia led me to the towering entrance to the treasure vault. I gazed at the intricately carved door and couldn't resist reaching out to touch it. "What ancient patterns these are! How many years old are they?"
"Several hundred years, since our Elven race was driven to this isolated place." Nasiah said coldly.
My fingers lingered on the grooves, not moving away for a long time.
Nacia was getting impatient. "You can go in now."
"Okay." Only then did I withdraw my hand.
Nathia pulled a gleaming golden key from his pocket, and I was almost blinded by its brilliance. It was so dazzling and beautiful. How could the elves, a race on the run, be so wealthy? Even their key was made of real gold.
Nasiah coldly observed my amazed expression and said, "Go in!"
The treasure vault doors were already open, and I strode in, with Nathia close behind.
The moment I stepped inside, I was stunned.
I have never seen such towering mountains of gold, silver, and jewels, all made of gold and silver coins and countless pearls and gems, along with chests and chests of jewels and countless silks and satins, their dazzling light illuminating the treasure vault as if it were daytime.
It was even more magnificent and stunning than what I saw in the underground treasure cave last time.
I murmured in amazement, "This could absolutely start several wars, absolutely!"
"Have you seen enough? Get to work!" Nacia urged. Although there was a fleeting look of amazement on his face, it was clear that this wasn't his first time here.
Seeing that I was still in awe, he took out a gleaming dagger and slashed it directly at my wrist. I cried out in pain as blood gushed out and fell to the ground.
Ignoring my angry rebukes, he half-squatted on the ground, observing the direction of the blood flow—clearly he had heard about my affair with the previous king in another treasure vault.
The blood scattered haphazardly, without forming any pattern, and he looked disappointed.
He tried ten times, and the result was the same each time. He then took some jewels, gold coins, and silver coins, and dripped his blood onto them, but the result was still the same.
When asked to try for the eleventh time, I refused and immediately bandaged my wound, saying, "If I try again, I'll bleed to death."
"I won't die," he said.
I insisted on refusing, saying, "Next time, there's plenty of time."
He reluctantly withdrew the dagger. "You, get out now."
In the stillness of the night, I sat on the windowsill, rubbing my bruised wrists in a daze. The moonlight shone on the soft carpet, moving slowly, and the night passed just like that.
As dawn approached, I wandered around the palace again. Around a secluded corner, the black wolf reappeared.
The first time I saw it face to face, I saw its bright green eyes, its terrifying white teeth, its imposing body that was half a person's height, and its long, upright tail that exuded a terrifying aura.
“Listen, I can’t help you,” I said in a voice only it could hear. “Only you can help yourself.”
Its green eyes gleamed with a venomous light as it stared at me.
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