Chapter 57: Swearing Fealty

Still standing stupefied, the Koschei siblings finally managed to overcome their initial shock, but were now trying desperately to arrange their disarrayed emotions, as they struggled whether they should feel frightened, impressed, angered, ashamed or a myriad of other feelings fighting for dominance in their shaken hearts.

But before they could do so, the doors of the Hyacinth Moon behind them suddenly swung open, and from it emerged six woman wearing the uniform of the inn, while closely trailing behind a tall woman draped in black clothes from head to toe, without revealing even a single inch of her skin, and yes even her eyes and face, which were covered by a golden mask of a crying woman, which reminded the siblings of the man they met in the Luminous capital.

But before they could travel further down the road of conjecture, they heard Hasdrubal exclaim "Oh! It seems today is just full of surprises, to think I would finally meet a member of the legendary Gold Masks today."

"Greetings lord Hasdrubal, my apologies for not welcoming you sooner." The masked woman responded in a serene yet emotionless tone, as she perfectly curtsied.

Shaking his hand in a dismissive way, as he apologetically replied "You don't have to apologize, if anything I should be the one to do it. After all, I'm pretty sure I just ruined your mission, am I right?"

"Of course not, my lord." The woman responded in the same tone, as she straitened her back and continued "Our orders were to merely keep an eye on them without interference, but if they continued sneaking around, we would have had to eventually intervene, you merely sped it up."

The siblings tightly clutched their hands until they almost bled, as anger and shame erupted from their eyes after hearing her words, which seemed to extenuate that they were nothing more than a couple of clueless children running around were they shouldn't have.

But what infuriated them even more was the fact that they couldn't find any words to refute her claims, since even they realized the futility of their own actions up until now, as they obliviously danced to the tunes of this newly crowned emperor, like two soulless marionettes, mindlessly moving to their captor's will.

"I see, that's good then." Hasdrubal said, as he felt slightly relieved from her words.

Finally turning to face the siblings, the masked woman stated "As for you two, I have already sent one of my subordinates to deliver a message to our superior, and they should soon send a squadron of Palace Guards to escort you to the royal palace, so I ask you to remain patient for now."

The siblings merely nodded to her, understanding that resistance was utterly futile by this point, and they might as well bend to the way the winds were blowing.

Besides, they also realized, much to their horror, that if the Bloody Emperor wanted to do them harm, he would've already done so and they would've been non the wiser, still trapped in their own delusions of secrecy.

This affected Leonid especially, as he once again felt like he couldn't defend his family despite all his powers, which in turn gave birth to a new spark of determination within him, a spark he would fully ignite when he once again met with the emperor of this land.

But before any of them could dive deeper into their thoughts, they all heard Hasdrubal's voice saying "There's no need for that, I'll escort them there myself."

Hearing his words, the masked lady felt it would be slightly inappropriate to do so, but she couldn't exactly say no to him, since despite Hasdrubal not being her boss and the one she reports to, he was still her superior in every other sense of the word, so she simply replied with the same voice she has held since the beginning "As you wish, my lord."

Hasdrubal nodded his head to her in acknowledgement, before turning around and beginning to leisurely walk in the opposite direction towards the palace, while being silently followed by the Koschei siblings.

"Oh? And what might that be?" Alexander curiously asked.

"I want your word that you will never do any harm to my sister." Leonid boldly said, as he raised his head to stare directly into Alexander's eyes, knowing full well that his words were not appropriate.

And even though Leonid knew that his request was foolish, since ethereal things like honor and morals held very little sway to men of such high position like Alexander, but Leonid still chose to put his trust in him, like he did when he helped him find his long lost sister.

After a few seconds of suffocating silence, were each breath one took felt like they've just swallowed a handful of razor blades, they heard Alexander respond calmly with a hint of disappointment "Wait, is that it?

Very well then, you have my word that neither I, nor any of my subordinates shall ever harm your sister."

"Huh?" Was all Leonid could muster as a response after hearing his words, not expecting it would be that easy.

"You seem confused." Alexander stated.

"Well...I...I just thought..." Leonid struggled to find the correct words.

"I am not in need of a useless pawn, Leonid Koschei." Alexander resolutely declared, as his once oppressive but restrained air around him exploded outwards, as if a once calm slumbering volcano suddenly erupted, but instead of spewing out infernal heat and ash, it unleashed a blizzard's haunting chill as everyone present felt their own blood abruptly freeze in their veins.

"I have no desire to own a soulless blade or a mindless puppet. Nor do I have any aspirations of keeping a vengeful slave by my side. I want a champion. A herald of death and carnage, who can swiftly enforce my will on all who dare defy it.

But most of all, I want a loyal knight who I can entrust my back to when the time is dire, and the wolves are at our door. Do you understand me, Leonid?"

Stunned by the profound and heartfelt words he'd just heard, Leonid simply lowered his head almost to the point of his noise touching the floor, as he contemplated his response for a few seconds, before calmly but powerfully saying "I swear to you my liege, and let all the gods and those present here today be my witness when I say that I shall meet your expectation without fail, or die in it's pursuit."

Despite Leonid's raspy and unpleasant voice as well as his short reply, an air of somber sanctity was unexpectedly formed between the two, one a mighty emperor and the other a roaming warrior with no place to call home.

Appreciating this remarkable scene before them, the people present here today decided to remain silent and simply bask in it's beauty, until it was suddenly and rudely shattered by the hearty laughter of non other than the Archpriest of the empire, lord Adam Sekhmet.

"Sorry, sorry." He repeated as he slowly calmed down, when he noticed all eyes were pointed at him questioningly, before he happily clarified with a smile that could only be described as jolly "It's just been such a long time since I've seen such resolve from such a young man."

He finished as his glowing green eyes burned even brighter, and blew a deep breath towards the siblings, who despite being several meters away still felt the wind brush by them, as a serene and peaceful energy enveloped them in it's embrace, giving them a cool and refreshing sensation, as if they were laying comfortingly on a cool summers day in an open field, surrounded by blooming flowers and covered by the sun's golden rays, especially around his throat and her face.