Chapter 25: A Nightmare and a Traitor Revealed

Lucia gently lifted Xina back onto her chair. Xina was already deeply asleep.

Alice produced a comb from beneath her skirt. She meticulously smoothed Xina’s disheveled golden hair.

All eyes in the room remained fixed on the newly awakened lady.

“Is there something on my face?”

Alice’s fingers lightly brushed her cheek as she looked at everyone with a puzzled expression. Robert, however, was staring intently at Alice, shouting, “Witch! Only a witch uses magic!”

Before he could finish, Robert began to foam at the mouth. His body had reached its absolute limit.

Alice’s emerald eyes blinked slowly. She cast a fleeting glance at the poor man before turning her gaze to Xiao Nuoqi.

“Why did you bring him to the castle instead of a clinic?”

“When I found him, he was collapsed in the rice fields. It seemed he had crawled all the way here. He kept saying he needed to see the Lady, so I brought him. Besides, Avros doesn’t even have a clinic…”

Xiao Nuoqi lowered his head, guilt etched on his face.

Alice sighed. She swept her side hair back and casually placed the comb on the table.

“A vast earldom like this, and not even a single clinic? You truly haven’t inherited any of the Empire’s strengths. Never mind. I know medicine. Who will assist me?”

“I will.”

Lucia volunteered herself. Alice nodded silently, and together, the two women carried Robert deeper into the castle.

“I shall take my leave now.” Xiao Nuoqi bowed slightly, his gaze drifting towards Xina. “Lady Xina… is she alright?”

“Just let her sleep for a while.”

Chloe waved, signaling Xiao Nuoqi to depart. She was utterly exhausted, yearning only to surrender to sleep as soon as possible.

She leaned against Xina’s shoulder, allowing weariness to consume her entirely.

****

When Chloe reluctantly opened her eyes, pairs of bloodthirsty eyes were fixed intently on her, as if she stood at the very center of the world.

Chloe desperately wanted to flee, yet she was surrounded by a throng of people.

They extended their blood-soaked hands, lunging towards Chloe.

“Stay back!”

Chloe struggled, trying to push them away with her hands. Blood dripped from her fingertips, splashing onto the nearly transparent floor. She attempted to kick them, but her feet were seized in an unyielding grip.

Their decayed vocal cords emitted unrecognizable sounds. To Chloe’s horror, she realized some familiar faces were among them.

Chris Hino’s face was purple, his eyeballs bulging. His once handsome features were now disfigured, a rope tied tightly around his neck.

Robert, his body aflame, dragged himself towards her.

Glais II waved a putrefied hand, directing these abominations to rush at Chloe. Only two rings remained on his hand, glinting in the pervasive darkness.

Light spilled unevenly across the floor. When Chloe’s skin touched a beam, it hissed and crackled as if burning.

Alena stood at the boundary between light and shadow. The light illuminated her face, revealing her beautiful features entirely.

However, as she turned towards the darker side, her face appeared as if corroded by strong acid. Only chunks of flesh writhed on her face, and her hollow eye sockets were utterly devoid of life.

The other ‘people’—some clad in coarse linen, some in armor, some wearing crowns—all scrambled, vying to attack Chloe.

“You weren’t killed by me, no…” Chloe struggled, trying to crawl away, but she was quickly dragged back by the figures behind her. Her fingernails scraped against the ground, leaving several deep gouges.

A pair of hands pierced through the cloud-like darkness, reaching out to Chloe. She quickly grasped them and was lifted upwards.

Chloe blinked, attempting to discern the features of her savior, but the person’s appearance remained blurry and indistinct.

“Brother.”

The voice was ethereal, like a floating cloud, yet it resonated as if right beside her.

“Wake up!”

Chloe’s eyes snapped open. She found Xina’s face pressed tightly against hers.

Xina was puffing out her cheeks, energetically rubbing Chloe’s face.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” Chloe wrenched herself free from Xina’s ‘poisonous’ grip. She clutched her reddened face, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

“Was I too rough? I’m so sorry!”

Seeing Chloe’s eyes well up with tears, Xina quickly apologized.

“No, it’s not because of you.”

Chloe wiped away her tears. She had never cried before, not even when her parents passed away—for at that time, there was someone else weeping far more intensely, who needed her comfort.

‘What could this dream possibly mean?’ Chloe temporarily pushed the question aside. She turned to Xina and asked, “What happened?”

“It’s already ten in the morning!” Xina pointed to the grandfather clock in the council hall. “Little Chloe really loves to sleep in.”

“What time did you wake up?”

Chloe asked Xina, her tone probing.

“I just woke up too! Now I’m full of energy!”

Chloe had no desire to discuss the topic of oversleeping with someone who had just enjoyed twelve hours of rest. She shook her head, trying to clear her own mind.

“So, during the time we were asleep, did anything happen?”

“Apparently not. Could it be that the common folk forgot about today’s ‘Meet the Lady’ day?”

‘They probably believe that coming to see the Lady won’t solve their problems,’ Chloe mused. ‘After all, Lord Norlin completely eroded the government’s credibility during his tenure.’

“Shall we go take a look at Pearbrook Village later?”

Chloe suggested, feeling a lingering sense of unease about the recent attack.

“Mm-hmm.” Xina’s lips trembled. “We also need to build gravestones for Miko and Jack.”

‘Miko and Jack?’ Chloe thought. ‘Those sound like Xina’s childhood sweethearts. Though I’m curious about what exactly happened to them, I don’t want to upset Xina right now.’

“Can you tell me about them?”

Her curiosity, however, ultimately won out.

Xina’s eyes were already glistening with moisture. Chloe quickly waved her hands, saying, “I was wrong! You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to!”

Xina rubbed her eyes, then began to recount her memories.

“When I was very, very young, my father once took me to Pearbrook Village to stay for a while. Miko and Jack were the miller’s children there. Miko, being the oldest, was always our leader.”

“We used to play together every day, sometimes exploring caves, other times foraging for wild vegetables. Miko was very brave, but her younger brother, Jack, was even smarter.”

“Once, Miko and I got lost in the forest, and it was Jack who found the adults to rescue us.”

Chloe listened quietly to Xina’s childhood stories, finding them quite captivating. Xia Ni, in contrast, only remembered building mud pies with her younger sister as a child, then accidentally splattering her with mud, which made her cry inconsolably.

“Not long after that, my mother took me to my grandfather’s house, and we never saw each other again.” Xina sighed, a hint of sorrow in her voice.

Chloe suddenly thought of something. She encouraged Xina, “It’s possible they escaped. In that chaos, how could Robert know for sure who died and who didn’t?”

A spark of hope returned to Xina’s eyes. She nodded, “You’re right! Miko is so agile, and Jack is so smart, they must have gotten away!”

“I apologize for interrupting your conversation, but I have some bad news.”

Alice approached from a distance, pulling off her blood-stained white gloves. Her face held a complex mixture of emotions.

“Robert didn’t make it.”

“How could that be…” Xina said, her voice laced with sorrow.

Alice held up a single finger.

“That’s not even the worst of it. Before he drew his last breath, he remembered the leader of those bandit knights. His name is Baron Olga Bryan—your beloved Knight Commander, Lady Xina.”