Chapter 178: An Interlude

The night after Gael reported about Gray, he with Aiden and the four royal knights had stayed at the palace to wait for the arrival of all leaders from the Combat Hall and Royal Army.

At present, the three deputies of the Royal Army were confirmed to be on their way. They would have arrived sooner if a transmission array had been in the city. Unfortunately, due to the previous emperor's suspicion of a military rebellion, he ordered the destruction of all transmission arrays within the capital connected to the ones in the Royal Army's Headquarters in the north, east, and west of the empire.

When Euan succeeded the throne, he did not order these arrays to be fixed. Instead, he had different transmission arrays built on three smaller cities near Meliora. These three cities were, Athanelm in the north, Thunlough in the east, and Mourchton in the west. The transmission arrays there were connected to new transmission arrays outside the cities of the other Royal Army Headquarters.

It was confirmed that among the three deputies, Deputy Marshal Ingrid was the first to arrive in Athanelm from Northbliss Castle and was already on the way to Meliora City. Deputy Marshals Mannick, and Imman, were still in Timen and Thunknam Peak, respectively, preparing to activate the transmission arrays going to Thunlough and Mourchton.

As for the leaders of the Combat Hall, all of them were already in Meliora and were on their way to the palace.

The Combat Hall only had three leaders, Duan, Janaia, and Millan. All of whom were above average human combat specialists.

Euan also sent an invitation to the leaders of the Conclave, Templar Code, and Aureole. But since their military forces were only needed to report and apprehend Gray if they found him, they were expected to join the rest after Euan, the Combat Hall leaders, and the Royal Army leaders were done with their meeting.

In the afternoon, Euan ordered all the leaders in the palace to gather in the meeting hall.

Haylee, who had just come out of the room on the first floor, saw Aiden, Gael, and the four royal knights through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows along the corridor.

The six of them were on their way to the meeting hall, a separate building at the back of the palace.

"Princess, your royal tutor had said that your afternoon riding class is canceled and instead is replaced by your practical magic training in the training hall." Haylee's maidservant reminded from behind.

"Hm," Haylee replied absentmindedly her attention fixed on the six people below.

As if noticing that someone was looking from above, Gael looked behind him, then at the first floor, and caught Haylee looking at them.

Haylee did not look away when she saw Gael looking back at her. She retained a blank expression as she stared back at him.

Gael paused for a second as he held her stare. In the end, he only nodded to her before lowering his gaze and followed Aiden and the rest to the meeting hall.

Haylee continued to watch until she lost sight of them. She was the next successor. Thus, Haylee more or less knew that something big had happened within the empire. However, if she had to be honest, even if Gael was the Grand Marshal and was a crucial member of the empire, she never liked him.

The truth, Haylee's grandfather, was not a tyrant during the early years of his reign. It was only after Gael became the Grand Marshal that he became one. Of course, that was what she heard from her biological mother before she passed away. After all, she never met her grandfather because he died of heart failure.

Still, she had always disliked Gael because of her mother's words. Now that her father was the emperor, she wanted to keep an eye on him.

"Princess?" The maidservant called after seeing Haylee's distracted expression.

Upon hearing her maidservant's call, Haylee closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes and turned to her maidservant, she wore a bright smile as if nothing was wrong and said, "Let's go."

"Yes, your highness." The maidservant bowed her head, and the two of them made their way to the training hall.

The moment the maidservant focused on the path ahead, Haylee's sapphire blue eyes glinted, turning her usual beautiful angelic face colder.

====================

After talking to Zephyr, Kyran went to the back of the cottage. He found Anette looking like a mess with her gray robes smeared with dirt. Even her face and hands were covered with mud.

The moment Kyran approached her, Anette, who was plowing the soil where she planned on planting herbs, was shocked that she thought Kyran was a ghost.

It took her a few minutes before she calmed down, and Kyran initiated a 'talk.'

However, the topic of their talk was not what Anette expected. Because Kyran suddenly mentioned a girl's name: Cyneah.

With her imagination getting ahead of her, Anette wondered if their talk would be similar to how sons talked to their mothers about taking a wife. It was a very strange feeling.

Unfortunately, Kyran shattered her imagination when he mentioned that the girl, Cyneah, was someone he met in Valley of Morte.

Anette might have been out of the loop for years, but she knew what and where the Valley of Morte was. Hearing that Kyran found a girl there piqued her interest.

The following half-hour, Kyran told Anette about Cyneah. From how he found her in a cave after collecting the Theihorns and how he almost killed her because he initially thought he was a threat. Then he explained Cyneah's condition, which led to his decision to 'help' her.

When Anette found that Cyneah was blind, she felt a little sorry for her. Especially when Kyran said she was probably only ten or twelve years old. Being a woman who thought she was way past the age of having her own family, Anette's heart went out for her. She could not help but applaud her godson's, big heart.

Finally, after much hesitation, Kyran told Anette about their encounter with the mutated Basilisks and how Cyneah sang an ancient song titled "Lament of the Souls" to assist him.

When Kyran told Anette about how the pain in his magic core alleviated from Cyneah's singing, Anette's initial reaction was Kyran was messing with her. But after seeing his serious expression, her brain almost shortcircuited from the information.

If what Kyran said was true, it meant Cyneah was related to the Soul Emperor's family. As to why she was not in the Royal Family, it could be her ancestor was only a branch family that had been forgotten or had lost connection with the main family. Of course, this was only Anette's speculation, and whatever the truth was, Cyneah's family might be the only one who knew the answer. Unfortunately, Cyneah had already lost her mother, and the family who took her in did not want her. There was also the possibility they were not her real family.

Anette told Kyran about her thoughts and asked if he was alright. After all, the girl he saved might be related to the family that made all ancient magic forbidden and thus, put his life and his clan in danger.

To Anette's surprise, Kyran only shrugged, not caring at all.

Since Kyran already knew the families connected to ancient magic, thanks to Stella, he already thought that Cyneah might be linked to the Royal Family. Or at least the Hero Family that, based on the 'truth' he managed to unravel, betrayed his predecessor.

But being linked to them by blood did not make Cyneah guilty of their sins.

Besides, it was still early to say that Cyneah had soul magic. It could be that the song she sang was a chant that could call on the power of souls, and she was not using real 'soul magic.'

Either way, as long as she could heal his magic core, regardless if she really had soul magic or just channeling soul magic through the song, was all that mattered to him.

Finally, Kyran told Anette his assumption that Cyneah might not be blind by birth and asked her if there was a way to restore her eyesight. Sensing his sincerity to help Cyneah, Anette could not help but smile secretly in her heart. She then told him saint-tier level potions could help heal a person's eyes. However, the ingredients were rare and also hard to find. Still, she needed to check Cyneah's condition first and confirm if her sight could be restored.

Anette told Kyran, if Cyneah's sight could not be restored, she could teach her another way to 'see.' Since Kyran also mentioned Cyneah's ability to see 'lights,' Anette assumed she could also perceive magic energies like her. She could teach her how to maximize this ability and 'see' using magic sense.

Hearing Anette's suggestion was also her subtle consent to look after Cyneah.

After being reminded about magic sense, Kyran was put into another dilemma. He wanted to learn how to use magic sense and wondered whether to learn it before going to Hanaan to get Cyneah.

In the end, Kyran decided to get Cyneah first. This way, Anette did not have to teach it separately. He would learn it with Cyneah.

Once the matter with Cyneah was settled, Kyran told Anette he would improve the cottage's array.

Anette had no qualms over this matter and just asked to keep the array's formula of keeping Spirits out of the cottage.

Kyran agreed and did not ask her reasons. He did wonder why, after all, she was her mother's sworn sister, and yet she appeared to be not on good terms with Spirits. But then again, given a Spirit's nature, he was not surprised that most people did not want to be near them.

Hell, even a person, exempli gratia Silas, who dealt with them wanted to keep his distance.

Speaking of improving the cottage's array, Kyran was reminded of the ingredients he would use. Then he saw Anette plowing the soul and was further reminded of the herbs he picked at the Misty Forest.

He thought that it would be a waste to keep it for future use, and decided to have Anette grow them. This way, when he needed it, he would have more ingredients to spare.

For another half an hour, Kyran and Anette sorted the herbs in his possession.

Anette was very happy to find so many rare herbs and busied herself in creating a good environment for each.

Kyran, on the other hand, went to the flowering tree to start improving the cottage's array.

There, he found Zephyr was sitting at a nearby boulder.

Without saying anything to Zephyr, Kyran started studying the array within the flowering tree. 

Kyran knew why Zephyr was there. Since he said he would improve the shrine's array, Zephyr definitely wanted to see his Array attainments.

Kyran did not mind. Besides, he already had a rough list of formulas he planned to include in the cottage's array. Of course, he first needed to break down the array's formation before integrating the additional formulas.

For the next few hours, Kyran busied himself improving the cottage's array. He was too absorbed in what he was doing that he forgot, the last time he had eaten was the meal he had with Cyneah.