Chapter 96: The Unveiling of Truths

“At the boundary of the Sky Island, what else could it be, you silly thing?”

“Leaving aside other matters, both Peroy and Faltis seem to enjoy calling themselves ‘silly’,” Peroy remarked. “Now I understand why you said what you did earlier. Didn’t you claim I wasn’t your master? There’s no need to feign foolishness in my presence, then.”

“Peroy means to say that this vast sea was, in fact, created.”

“Then, has Lady Peroy ever witnessed the true ocean?”

“The true ocean isn’t vastly different from this region. If anything, our sea here is far cleaner than their waters.”

“Hey!” Eileen suddenly splashed water at Peroy.

“Is this how you serve as a maid?!”

“Oh, Lady Peroy, you might be surprised, but this is precisely how I treat Lady Faltis,” Eileen replied.

“Then why have I never witnessed you being so disrespectful to Faltis?” Peroy retorted, clearly annoyed.

“Please select a mode, Lady Peroy,” Eileen stated. “The first is ‘Work Mode,’ where I will only perform maid duties in their literal sense. The second is ‘Private Mode,’ which will unlock a few new service options.”

“Like this, for instance?” Peroy asked.

“Indeed. A normal maid would never behave this way towards her master. Therefore, please choose the mode you desire, Lady Peroy,” Eileen explained.

“How does Faltis usually choose?” Peroy inquired.

“Ah, that information will only be revealed to you after Lady Peroy makes her selection,” Eileen said with a mysterious smile.

“What’s the big secret? I don’t even need to think to know she’d choose the latter, wouldn’t she?”

“That’s right. If I were merely an obedient maid, I would be easily found. Thus, Lady Faltis wishes for me to be a rather unique maid,” Eileen clarified. “So, Lady Peroy, what is your choice?”

“Why, that would have to be!” Peroy declared, delivering a powerful kick into the water, a clear act of retaliation for the earlier splash.

Eileen countered. Though this was her first time engaging in such a water battle, she proved far more skilled than Peroy, who was steadily pushed back.

“Lady Peroy, let’s agree now, no using mag—” Eileen felt a shadow fall over her.

A massive wave surged towards Eileen. “I—”

“My apologies, my apologies! I got a little carried away,” Peroy exclaimed, reaching out to help Eileen, who had been knocked into the sea.

“Was that truly an accident?” Eileen had ample reason to suspect Peroy’s actions were deliberate revenge for what Eileen had done to her earlier.

“Truly! I’m not that petty,” Peroy insisted, even as she released Eileen’s hand.

Eileen tumbled back into the water.

“…”

“Are you angry?” Peroy asked.

Eileen stood up on her own, dripping wet, her dress clinging to her body, her hair plastered against her, and a few grains of sand sticking to her clothes.

Eileen brushed herself off, and then a layer of frost condensed on her body, freezing the moisture.

Eileen shook her hair. “Now, is your mood a little better, Lady Peroy?”

“What are you talking about? My mood hasn’t changed at all,” Peroy replied, elegantly wringing out the water from her clothes.

Peroy, on the other hand, used fire magic to dry the water from her body.

“Is that so? I thought Lady Peroy wasn’t in the best of spirits. After all, you didn’t look very happy this morning when you were gazing at the Tree of Origin,” Eileen remarked.

“So, what just happened, you did to lift my spirits?” Peroy asked.

“Not really. After all, *she* often does such things too. It’s just that after playing, Lady Faltis would usually catch her and punish her for some strange reason…”

Eileen certainly couldn’t voice the latter part of that thought.

“It seems Faltis doesn’t always wear that sour expression, then,” Peroy said, stepping onto the stairs and sitting beneath the parasol.

“Does Lady Peroy wish for anything to drink or eat?” Eileen inquired.

“No, just sit with me for a while and let’s chat.”

Eileen sat beside Peroy. “What would Lady Peroy like to talk about?”

Peroy pondered for a moment. “Eileen, you actually know the contents of the meeting, don’t you?”

‘So it couldn’t be kept a secret after all?’

But she couldn’t possibly reveal it. “How could that be, Lady Peroy? I am not privy to the contents of the meeting. At most, I will only learn about it after Lady Faltis returns.”

However, Peroy wasn’t concerned with that. “I’ll just assume you know. I, for one, don’t believe Faltis would keep such an important matter from you.”

“What matter?”

Peroy briefly explained the situation to Eileen—all about alliances and leadership, which was largely consistent with what Eileen had overheard earlier.

“So, what are your thoughts?” Peroy asked.

“I think…”

“Let’s be clear,” Peroy interjected. “I’m asking for *your* thoughts, not Faltis’s.”

“As for me, I actually prefer a quieter, more ordinary life,” Eileen said, gazing out at the sea. “Therefore, I hope there will be more dissenting voices.”

“Unfortunately, the dissenting voices won’t increase; they’ll only diminish. In fact, this matter was proposed twenty years ago, but it was immediately rejected back then. It’s not like now, where they’re actually dragging it out for another twenty years before giving an answer.”

“Is the outcome already inevitable?” Eileen still hoped that perhaps things weren’t as bad as Lady Faltis and the others thought. What if there was still a chance?

“Among the dozen or so queens, no more than half will agree. After the meeting concludes, that will likely be the start of the war.”

Eileen noticed the somber expression on Peroy’s face. “So, Lady Peroy, you don’t wish for war to begin either?”

“What kind of person do you think I am in your heart?” Peroy asked, too exasperated to complain further.

“While it’s true I’m somewhat warlike, I’ve never dealt a killing blow to my own kind. Most conflicts are stopped before that point. But if war truly begins, then my own desires won’t matter.”

“Lady Peroy, does His Majesty, the Red Dragon Sovereign, think the same?” Eileen asked.

“Isn’t that obvious? No one would wish for war to begin, especially against their own kin. We Red Dragons are indeed warlike, but not in the sense of all-out war.” Peroy sighed, precisely because she couldn’t change the situation, she didn’t want to attend the meeting.

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