Chapter 35: Just The Two of Us
The Starkeeper was dressed in loose-fitting men’s loungewear, the clothes far too large for her small frame. The shirt hung down to her knees, and the pants were clumsily rolled up, which gave her a somewhat comical appearance. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
The Starkeeper had been boiling water and brewing tea when Adeline opened the door without knocking. She watched Adeline intently for a long moment, blinking her two differently colored eyes.
Then, suddenly, the Starkeeper dropped to her knees. “Your Highness Adeline.”
It was a peculiar sight: the room filled with the lingering spicy scent of tea, illuminated by slanting sunlight through a large window. The Starkeeper’s expression remained as expressionless as when she first met Adeline, yet there was an unspoken intensity in her clear eyes. With palms on the floor, she bowed deeply, respectfully lowering her head.
“What are you doing?” Adeline asked.
Even the Lion King, who came after Adeline, also had a puzzled look on his face.
The Starkeeper spoke without lifting her gaze. “Your Highness Adeline, I must ask a question.”
“What?”
“I seek a sincere answer from you.”
“So, what is it?”
“Princess… do you desire to become a queen?”
“What?”
The atmosphere was suffocating.
Adeline halted in her tracks, unable to respond. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
The Lion King was similarly struck silent.
The Starkeeper remained unmoved even as she noticed the Lion King gripping the sword on his back.
A tense silence filled the room, permeated by the lingering scent of tea.
“Please answer,” the Starkeeper insisted.
“I know from the beginning that you like to make fun of your life… But I don’t know you’re also making fun of my life.”
“Please give me an answer.”
“What did the Starkeeper predict? I’m trying to become a king?”
It missed the mark entirely. She loathed the King. She despised royalty. Every royal she encountered was a hypocrite and a cold-blooded murderer. A snake slithered beneath the King’s tongue, venom simmered in his gut. The more she dwelled on it, the more her heart seethed.
“Please answer,” the Starkeeper persisted. She was obstinate. She remained prostrate on the ground, unmoving. She seemed oblivious to the Lion King’s sword, indifferent to whether she lived or died as long as she received an answer.
“They call you a mysterious prophet, but you’re just someone who wields your tongue like a poisonous snake. You’re no different from a con artist who preys on people with lies.”
Adeline hated these people. And she also disliked the people who blindly put their faith in their beliefs. She didn’t know what the Starkeeper saw in her, but the statement was far from the truth. It was so dead wrong. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“I’ll tell you. So listen carefully….” Adeline squatted down in front of the Starkeeper and clasped her hands together. She then spoke very frankly, “I’m going to kill them all.”
Her voice was full of determination. She gritted her teeth as if she wanted to force her teeth out. It was a wish that had festered and rotted in her. a burning desire that would consume her if left unfulfilled.
“The ones who captured and sold me and my mother, those who greedily awaited their profits from selling us, the ones who murdered my mother even after she was sold…. I will hunt down every last one of them. I will rip their limbs apart and gouge out their eyes. Do you understand?”
“Your Highness.”
“If they beg for mercy, I would pull out their tongue and throw it into the fire. If they try to run away, I would cut off their ankles. I won’t let go those who separated child from mother, who made children cry for help and tortured mothers who fought to protect them—I’ll drag them to hell and ensure they suffer eternally.”
“Your Highness…”
“I will do all those things.”
That was her revenge.
That was her revenge. Adeline’s mother was a beautiful woman, diligent and hardworking, sewing day and night to keep her child from starving while hiding in the remote countryside. However, her mother’s shining silver hair and beauty unwittingly led them into great tragedy. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“The way the slave hunters looked at mother and me who looked identical was like they were eyeing gold coins. They were salivating at the thought of doubling, even tripling their usual prices and earning more gold coins. I still remember it vividly—the auction house in the underground ruin where we stood. My mother stood there too, crying endlessly in the middle.”
The mother begged for the child to be saved. She begged with her hands became her feet, kneeling on her knees, bowing her head. ‘I’ll do anything, but please don’t harm the child’. Adeline was nine years old at the time.
“I remember it all.”
That sadness and helplessness, there was nothing the young girl could do. She couldn’t even comfort her mother. She was scared.
“There is no God in this world. If there is one, I would kill him.”
Her face was reflected in the Starkeeper’s eyes. It was a very familiar face. She was a witch without blood or tears. An expressionless face armed with murderous intent. In times like this, her whitish hair and cold blue-violet eyes were quite helpful to her.
The Starkeeper gazed up at Adeline, still on her knees. “Then, what will you do after you’ve killed them all? There will always be others who oppose you, who seek to harm you. Will you continue to kill them too? If all you do is kill and kill, what will remain in your hands, Your Highness? Relief? Is that truly what you seek?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I understand your desire for revenge. But they too have families and loved ones. Your methods, Your Highness, will create more victims. Even if you’re prepared to bear that burden, do you truly need to go through with it?”
Adeline didn’t know what kind of prophecy the Starkeeper had received. But she could guess vaguely. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“How funny. You came to the auction house to avenge the gypsies, and you said something like that. Now, I’d like you ask you the same thing. I wonder, don’t the people you’re trying to kill also have a family?”
“Your Highness.”
“If you hesitate because of guilt, then you could go back. No one will blame you.” Adeline shook off her skirt, rose to her feet, and glanced around the room.
The Lion King silently offered her a chair, standing stoically by the entrance as Adeline and the Starkeeper exchanged words. Adeline took the cue and settled into the chair positioned opposite the window.
Finally rising from her kneeling position, the Starkeeper approached Adeline cautiously.
“Your Highness, please take this.”
“What is this?”
“The southern base of the human trafficking ring.”
It was a map—a surprisingly detailed map of Southern Marma.
Adeline looked at Starkeeper’s hand with surprise. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
“I compiled the information sent by the slaves who risked their lives. Of course, there are names too. I couldn’t find the Southern bigshot that Your Highness wants, but if we trace the names written here, we’ll eventually reach him
The locations marked as bases were mostly on the outskirts of Southern cities. The size and detail of the map were impressive, showing the routes and main trafficking areas meticulously. This wasn’t a casual map drawn over tea; it must have taken at least half a day to create.
Adeline stood up from her chair, holding the map in her hand.
The Starkeeper looked at her defiantly. “Let me join in your revenge, Your HIghness.”
“You were planning this from the beginning.”
“I wanted to thear you determination.”
If Adeline were her old self, she would have slapped the cheek of this arrogant Starkeeper. However, when Adeline thought that the Star Keeper could memorize and draw such a detailed map because of her revenge desire, Adeline refrained This woman had her own reason. That was why she asked if Adeline would want to be a queen. She wanted to find out whether this revenge was Adeline’s personal revenge or for a coup.
“The stars have raised monsters.” Adeline muttered to herself. She neatly folded the map handed to her by the Starkeeper and placed it in her pocket. Read the translation on itsladygrey.com.
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