This whole barrage of scenes from the past flashed through her mind very quickly. Before the flow of her energy struck Hadjar, Elaine cried out in horror, “Hadjar!”
The white energy pierced Hadjar’s chest, but no fear or pain could be seen on his face. In that cry, full of horror and fright, in the way Elaine pushed off from the column and rushed to catch him, in her outstretched hand, trying to grab her brother’s, Hadjar recognized his sister. Not the doll that Primus and the Governor had created, but his actual little sister.
Almost five years ago, he’d left the village in the Valley of Streams with only one wish — to save his sister. As his father had taught him, a man always had to complete what he’d set out to do. Hadjar would meet his forefathers with honor now.
Elaine didn’t manage to grab her brother’s hand.
Flying through the broken wall, Hadjar fell into the dark lake water. Huge chunks of the collapsing Palace followed after him, crashing down on top. They buried both the lake and the lifeless body of Primus leaning against the tombstone.
Lian shuddered when she heard Elaine’s cry. She was standing in the middle of the square, which was littered with bodies. That cry meant only one thing — the craziest of the Mad General’s plans had succeeded.
***
Holding the sword in her hand, Elaine went out to meet the thinned, but still formidable Moon Army. How would they greet their General’s murderer? She met Lian’s gaze, the gaze of the renowned archer and current leader of the Army. Would her arrows end Elaine’s life?
Lian raised the flag of the Moon Army.
Elaine was ready to meet her family at the home of her forefathers. She wasn’t going to defend herself from what was about to happen. She even wanted it.
“The King is dead!” Lian suddenly exclaimed, dropping to her right knee. “Long live Queen Elaine, slayer of the false Prince!”
“The King is dead!” The Army numbering thousands of soldiers shouted. “Long live the Queen, slayer of the false Prince!”
The soldiers chanted these strange words, but Elaine couldn’t understand what was happening. She went over to Lian and flinched, seeing tears on the brave warrior’s face.
“What is this…”
“Everything is going according to plan, my Queen,” despite her tears, Lian’s voice sounded stern. “You have defeated the false Prince and suppressed the uprising. You are the daughter of Primus Duran, the last of the Duran family line. You are the legitimate heir to the throne. The Queen of Lidus... That is the truth that the Empire will be told.”
“The King is dead! Long live the Queen!”
“The King is dead! Long live the Queen!”
Only the tears flowing from Lian’s eyes, saturated with impotent anger, showed how difficult it was for her to participate in this insane plan of the hero who would forever be remembered as a traitor.
Chapter 255
Wearing a red dress, Elaine stood atop the hill where the castle of her ancestors had once been. It had recently been dismantled for stones in order to restore the Palace and construction was in full swing.
It was rather quiet in the Kingdom. Queen Elaine had received a request for a meeting from the ambassador of Balium. The two countries had signed several trade and military treaties. They now had a shared border and an army of soldiers from both countries had been created, intended to protect them. It had been given the name ‘Northern Moon”.
Then the ambassadors of the Empire came. They’d been greatly dissatisfied with the uprising that had killed the King and the Governor, but, upon seeing that the young Queen had adequately managed the situation, had left satisfied.
Ore deliveries were still proceeding smoothly, so the ambassadors didn’t make a fuss, simply installing a new Governor who was slippery, domineering, and dangerous, just like the previous one.
Elaine was well aware that they wouldn’t be able to get rid of the mine for the foreseeable future. All she could do was change the mine management system: make it easier for people to work there, pay them not with beatings, but with money. In contrast to Primus, she saw mere mortals not like a herd that could be slaughtered for meat when needed, but like people.
Lian became her First Military Councilor. They had a difficult relationship. In public, they always smiled at each other, but when they were alone... Well, they never were. Elaine knew that Lian blamed her for the General’s death and the fact that the bards’ songs had changed. Now they glorified Prince Eren and Queen Elaine, and denigrated the name of the false Prince Hadjar who’d risen up against the King.
Only in the darkest hours, in the most remote taverns, could the old songs about the Mad General still be heard. How he’d sacrificed himself to save the people of Lidus, how he’d single-handedly deceived the whole Empire. These stories and rumors were punishable by law, and people were sometimes imprisoned for telling them. Elaine couldn’t change that — for the sake of the majority’s survival, she had to sacrifice the rebellious minority.
Elaine clenched her fists, her nails dug into her skin, and blood fell to the ground.
“You’re a fool, brother,” Elaine whispered, wiping away tears and leaving bloodstains on her cheeks.
Suddenly, it seemed to her like a warm, calloused hand had touched her face, like in that underground cave long ago. Her imagination was probably playing tricks on her...
“I like to think that my plan was brilliant.”
Elaine opened her eyes. A tall, handsome young man in simple clothes stood in front of her. His long, black hair fluttered in the wind. In the depths of his blue eyes, a dragon slept, and the muzzle of a white tiger cub protruded from his clothes.
“Are you a ghost?” Elaine took a couple of steps back.
“I don’t know,” the young man laughed, grabbed the Queen by the wrist and pulled her toward him.
