Chapter 197 Traitor

p Once we were back out onto the streets, I started to notice that people were not only avoiding eye contact with us but also giving us a wide berth as we passed. It was strange that the Queen would brand me as a traitor but then not do anything about it.

"Why are there no guards here to just come and pick me up?" I asked as I looked around from Mishal's arms as we walked.

"I don't think she actually wants to talk to you. I think that she is hoping that this will deter you from coming to the castle. This is just how Melrose deals with most people and the reason why so many of the Easterners leave the city. Once you have been marked as a traitor in Bramma, all services are cut off to you. Those that don't follow the same have the same happen to them unless you are Peekaan," Mishal explained as we turned west down another road to point us at the castle that I could see in the distance.

"What? So if you are a Peekaan, you are exempt from the laws laid out for everyone else?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"I am not the one that decides this, but that is how it goes most of the time. It wasn't always like this, but over the last ten years, things have gotten worse. Melrose has sat on the crown for over thirty years, but only in the last third has she started to become like this. I am not sure what caused it, but things have gotten harder for even Peekaan. That is why I left the city," Mishal explained, and I let out a long sigh.

This was messed up. How was a place supposed to function like this? How was it functioning? From what I saw, no one really looked like they were doing that bad, but this might be from the Queen. She might have ordered everyone to act a certain way. Melrose probably thought that I would just leave if I wasn't welcome.

"Well, looks like I am going to break the mold today on the way that things are done. Still, the control over the people is almost impressive, but it feels like something else is controlling all of this. I really hope there is. If the Blood Witch isn't the cause of all this, I am not sure what I am going to do," I said, pondering what I was going to say or do.

I wanted to just march in and tell everyone to get their shit together, but that wouldn't work in a good situation. Eliza was a special case, and I didn't think that I was going to make Melrose instantly fall in love with me or scare her into submission. A woman didn't have this kind of control over people without being a hard person herself.

It took about twenty minutes to get over the large gates of the castle. That was because the last street to the castle gates was packed with dark-skinned women. The moment that they saw us, the women moved aside, looking away, but this made the moving slow.

Once we made it to the gates, there were two dark-skinned women in strange shell bikinis that looked like it was meant to be armor. Each fitted shell covered the breast perfectly, and their lower halves were covered in skirts made from shells that clicked as the breeze lightly blew.

"You are to leave the city. The Queen has branded you both as traitors to the crown," One of the women said as Mishal walked up with me in her arms.

"No," I said and then jumped from Mishal's arms, transforming in the air to stand before the guard who immediately brandished her spear in my face.

"Demon! Get back!" The woman shouted and then tried to stab me in the face with the spear she was holding.

Magic pulled to me, and I pumped heat into the solid spear as I tipped my head to the side to avoid the trust. The woman tried to pull the weapon back but screamed, dropping the weapon. The guard jumped back, looking down at her now badly burnt hands.

"Is this how you treat all your guests?" I asked curiously to hide my annoyance. The woman was lucky that I didn't melt the damn thing in her hands after trying to strike me.

"You are a traitor, not a guest!" the other guard snapped, coming over to stand by the other one with her spear up.

"Really? You just saw what happened, and now you are going to try the same thing? Do they not teach you to use your head in situations like this? Or are you just not taught anything at all?" I asked, my voice heating up.

"Women, Galio is going to go talk to Melrose whether you approve of it or not. I suggest that you step back before someone has to get hurt worse," Mishal warned, but there was another woman in a more exquisite guard uniform.

"Open the Gates. Galio, Cat God, and Traitor have been granted an audience with the regal Melrose, Elegant Queen of the Port City of Bramma!" The woman announced from a paper she was holding.

I was about two seconds from just walking past everyone and smashing my way to the Queen. Being called a traitor was starting to get on my nerves when I had done nothing to warrant it.

"Galio," Mishal said as she came up beside me and put her lips to my ears. "I know that this is hard for you to bear, but please. This is the way that these people have been living for a long time. This is not these people's fault that they were raised this way."

I sucked in air with a hurricane force and then exhaled, forcing myself to calm down. There was more than just this city bothering me right now, and I needed to make sure my personal issues didn't spill over.

"All right, take me to see Queen Melrose," I said, and the woman rolled up the paper, and the gate slowly opened.

"You are a traitor and will make no requests or give any orders. From this point, you are under arrest and will be taken to the Queen for sentencing," The woman barked at me, and I gritted my teeth and nodded my head.