446 A Moth
Selma Payne’s POV:
“Please don’t say that. You’re a kind friend, and you don’t have to be so formal with your friends.” Chena City’s mayor shook his head. “I shouldn’t have asked too much about your private affairs. However, if you’re willing, Chena City is more than willing to become a place for you to evacuate.”
“It’s nothing. I just...”
I stopped halfway through my sentence. Was it just that my arrogant self-confidence was destroyed by reality? Was it just that the dead spirits under the city walls cried day and night in my dreams? It was just that I regretted coming to the Elf Forest, and I’d returned to being that little girl who escaped from the world.
There were thousands of words on the tip of my tongue, but I could only sigh helplessly in the end.
All in all, after receiving a letter personally written by Chena City’s mayor, our follow-up actions were much more convenient. The complicated inspection process was suddenly reduced by more than half, making me uncomfortable.
Perhaps people wondered why I moved so slowly. Was I not worried about my Spring Rain Pack and my husband, whose life and death was unknown?
Of course, I was worried. I was so anxious, but my father’s orders made me hide all my worries and pretend everything was fine in my hometown.
According to the news from the Spring Rain Pack, Aldrich’s situation had temporarily stabilized. He had fallen into a very strange ‘balance’. Some power was suppressing the spread of the poison, preventing it from harming Aldrich’s core. However, that was all. The power did not remove the poison in Aldrich’s body.
In the eyes of the werewolf grandmaster and the doctors, rather than saying that this power had the effect of dispelling the poison, it was more like it could provide Aldrich with an endless stream of vitality, which just happened to neutralize the damage to his body.
I suddenly recalled the black opal embedded in Aldrich’s chest. I had never felt so fortunate that I had been a god for a minute. If I hadn’t become a god and condensed this life-saving gem for Aldrich, I would have long been wearing a black veil and crying in front of his grave.
As for why I had to act like I didn’t care, it was because the Lycan pack was currently in a precarious situation.
After being accused of having an affair with wandering forces and cultists, the Evaria Family suddenly did not care about anything. They became more and more unreasonable and actively bribed various forces in the dark to get more support. This wasn’t just for obtaining a greater right to speak in the imperial court but also for the clan’s ambitions that had persisted for countless generations.
The Evaria Family’s ambition for the throne was now evident.
To be honest, I didn’t really understand why this family could act so brazenly, especially when their leader was an important official trusted by the Lycan King. Wasn’t this family torn apart?
However, my doubts didn’t last long, and I quickly felt relieved.
This was as simple as ‘you can’t put all your eggs in one basket’. Be it the Evaria Family or the Earl of Marlowe; they wanted the outside world to see a divided family.
Half were loyal to the King, while the other half were ambitious to reach that supreme position. The defeat of either side would not be a fatal blow to the Evaria Family because they had the other half of the victory.
From ancient times until now, how many ancient families had survived because of such opportunistic wisdom?
Right now, the conflict between the Evaria Family and the Oromalivira Family had reached a level that even passersby could understand. As the heir to the throne, my existence was naturally the most eye-catching.
The Spring Rain Pack was a brand-new city model, and it attracted the attention of the entire werewolf pack. If I succeeded, then countless poor, weak, and even small cities that were about to disappear would be able to find a way to regain their vitality. If I failed, all my efforts would be a farce, and I would become an unqualified Crown Princess who was ‘whimsical and incompetent’ in the eyes of the people, which would be a huge blow to even the entire royal family and me.
The Evaria Family had wanted to get into the Spring Rain Pack countless times. If they knew that the Spring Rain Pack had countless hidden dangers, they would not give up this opportunity to dig at my foundation.
So, as the actual controller of Spring Rain Pack, I had to do it flawlessly and not let the enemy see anything. Even if my heart was in pain, even if I was biting my lip so hard that it was bleeding, I had to endure it. This was the cruelty of politics. Most of the time, it was not profound, and the stupid and laughable situations would exhaust you.
These few days, I didn’t feel much of the outside world, as if an invisible and untouchable layer of preservation film isolated me from the world. Even my emotions were slow, and it was hard to feel anything other than numbness and self-loathing.
Rationally, I couldn’t help but think about all the possible outcomes and countless possible solutions. However, in reality, I lazily forgot everything in the next second. I hated myself, the Evaria Family, the danger Aldrich was in, and this world.
I felt like a desperate moth, stumbling to a dead branch and using the last of my strength to spin a cocoon, trying to use this fragile disguise to hide from the world.