Chapter 78 - A Confession and a Funeral

"If I am to choose, I would rather appear as Zenia Anisen before you because that's who I really am. I am just granting your request for meeting the Young Master from the Principality of Ismund." Zenia remained polite but cold when she uttered the words.

Zenia knew that the woman in front of her deserved to be treated as a person and not an object that could be discarded once it served its purpose. She did not want Elida to think that the reason she dressed as the Young Master from before was to trick her and make her talk. Elida's admiration for the person in front of her only increased, and it did not matter anymore whether she was a man or a woman.

"I know now that you are a woman, and I now understand the reason why you were so good to me back then. I already detected that something was off, but I chose to ignore it and believed that you were a Young Master instead of a Young Mistress. Knowing that you are a woman – I don't regret anything." Elida flashed a faint smile.

Zenia was aware that Elida was in pain as she tried hard not to let it show on her face. She remained indifferent and cold toward Elida.

"Let's hear what you have to say. I don't have a lot of time."

Elida did not mind Zenia's cold treatment and began her confession.

The Ninth Prince had been coveting the throne since he was young. But, he knew that the King had already set his mind in making Vaughn the heir to the throne. He could do nothing since he was a powerless orphan of Concubine Jayda, unlike Vaughn whose mother had a strong family to back them up. Damien knew that the King would not favor him.

Damien knew that Queen Mina only took them in because the King ordered her. Fortunately, the Queen did not neglect them and still provided them nothing but quality things. He and his sister did not look shabby at all. In fact, they looked more elegant than the rest of their siblings other than Vaughn.

But, Queen Mina's kindness was not enough to quench his desire to have the throne for himself. He was not grateful to Queen Mina at all. The Left Minister trained him well and the evil ways were rooted deeply into his bones. He realized that he had a powerful backing all along and that was his grandfather, the Left Minister.

Damien tried his best to please his grandfather, but it was futile. He established Luna Inn, which became the haven for mercenaries and assassins. He took in the men whom he thought to have great potentials. Later, he even collaborated with the masked man.

Damien had doubts regarding the origin of the masked man, who told them that he was from Venetia. The masked man had a bearing similar to the Royal Family of Tissuria. He even suspected King Tarendino of having an illicit affair with a Venetian woman.

While in the Left Minister's estate, he discovered a doc.u.ment containing the names of the soldiers in the Left Minister's private army. Damien had it copied and kept it in his private quarters in Luna Inn. He had never met the soldiers, and he had no idea about the location of their base.

Damien told his men to search far and wide, but they still did not find it. He was beginning to lose hope and focused his attention to something else – breeding the heroza insects. Once they awakened, they would start gnawing the innards of their host. After playing for two years, they would burrow themselves in the crevices of the rubrostipa tree where they sleep until they die.

Damien met a witch doctor who told him about the deadly secret of the heroza insects – they can be given to a person who can be the food host of the insect. Although the heroza insects were harmless outside the body of the host, they could kill the host.

The intestine could provide the ideal environment for the heroza insect to thrive. It would take twelve hours to awaken the insect once the host ingested it. When it awakened, it would start gnawing at the host inside. Only Damien's expulsion pill could stop the insect.

At that point, Elida's face was turning white. Zenia could see that she was in a lot of pain, but she continued confessing what she knew. Damien gave her the last surviving heroza insect. He failed at breeding them.

Elida warned Zenia not to search for anything in the Palace of the Ninth Prince. They would never find anything there because he would never let anyone had reasons to implicate him. The Left Minister remained oblivious of the Ninth Prince's plot.

"That is all I know. The Ninth Prince is a highly ambitious man. He will do anything and everything that he could to obtain the power that he covets. You need to be careful." Elida held Zenia's hand and looked at her deeply in the eyes.

Zenia wanted to retract her hands but couldn't.

"Did he make you ingest the insect?"

Elida nodded her head. It was becoming more difficult to speak and move. Elida loosened her grip on Zenia's hand.

"I will arrange for your funeral befitting a noble lady. I promise to avenge your death. If there's a next life, I hope we can become good friends."

Elida's tears rolled down her cheeks. Ah, being a friend was still good enough for her. She was already content that Zenia accepted her even as a friend. She could go peacefully.

Elida leaned on the chair and closed her eyes. She was smiling and Zenia knew that she went without regrets.

* * * * *

Zenia told Vaughn and Redivo all the things that Elida had confessed. There were a lot of things that they still need to do. They must find out the location of the secret base, collect the doc.u.ment from Damien's private quarters in Luna Inn, and other things.

"Your Highness, Big Brother Vaughn and I can go to Luna Inn to collect the doc.u.ment."

'Big Brother Vaughn?' Redivo gave a light chuckle, and Vaughn glared at him.

"It can be done, but we need to attend some of the gatherings first. I have a hunch that some noble families are collaborating with the Left Minister."

"We will follow your arrangements then, Your Highness."

Damien began to worry that something must've happened to Elida. He was confident that the woman wouldn't betray him. He wanted to ask her about her lover's appearance. Their investigation revealed that the young man had really died, and he was the one that Elida had been searching for.

Elida was already late and Damien knew that she must've died somewhere. He did not receive any message and was once more left with nothing.