Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 419 The Queen's Dowry

The silence in the dark cell lasted for a long time.

Sacelle, like a lost child, leaned against the wall, silent.

Samir kept his head down for a long time, his body stiff.

Thales stood there, swaying precariously, lost in thought.

It wasn't until Ricky, who was standing outside, let out a soft sigh that everyone's attention was drawn to them.

Sacel slowly stood up from the ground.

“Thank you for your question, child,” the former knight of punishment stepped forward sadly, offering his JC dagger through the gap in the fence.
"And your razor."

"This is a fine knife; it shouldn't be used to shave a sinner."

The fence cast shadows in the firelight, etching dark lines on Sackel's face.

With a heavy heart, Thales took a deep breath, forced a smile, nodded, and took the dagger.

Sacel's hands were rough, with calluses so hard they were unlike skin.

Thales grabbed the dagger with a troubled mind, but when he turned around, he saw Ricky staring at him expressionlessly.

Crassus, the Sword of Calamity, slowly extended his right palm towards the prince, his hand slightly raised.

Thales was slightly taken aback at first, then looked at the dagger in his hand and let out a helpless sigh.

He stepped forward in frustration and placed the JC dagger in Ricky's hand.

Ricky then gave a faint, knowing smile.

The leader of the Blade of Calamity lowered his head, casually flipped his hand, and saw a line of text on the black scabbard of the dagger:
A true king does not prioritize bloodline.

Ricky suddenly realized something. He looked at Sackel, then at the sullen Thales, and gave a soft snort.

Sacel watched their interaction, a slight smile playing on his lips, his tone nonchalant:

"Thank you... thank you for not being a hallucination."

Thales gave a half-smile, trying to dispel the gloom that inexplicably lingered in his heart: "How would you know?"

Sacel smiled.

"of course."

“Or perhaps your hallucinations are even more intense than the ones we’ve had before,” the Punisher Knight shook his head, rubbed his hair as if he were becoming more lucid, “but you know, every time it happens, it’s like my head turns into a giant pot, and twenty people take turns stewing beef in it…”

He frowned, but his expression was somewhat dazed.

“They never shut up, but they never asked me anything—never how I felt, never who I met. They'd never ask me anything unnecessary, just like you,” Sacel said, sometimes gritting his teeth, sometimes forcing a bitter smile, finally settling into a helpless resignation as he opened his mouth to laugh.
"Because they already knew."

He shook his head, as if mocking himself:
"Just as I know it myself."

As he spoke, Sacel seemed to amuse himself, suddenly slapping his thigh and laughing uncontrollably:
"Haha, I know it myself... Hahahahahaha..."

Amidst his laughter, the wrinkles on his forehead appeared and disappeared, pulling at the brand of sin on his forehead, causing the hideous "S" to tremble back and forth.

The scene seen through the cell door was quite heartbreaking for Thales.

Samir, who was standing next to him, could no longer hold back and spoke with a heavy heart.

“You know, Saxel,” the former standard-bearer took a deep breath, “I can still get you out of here—whatever comes after that, you won’t have to face this situation again…”

Sackel's laughter stopped.

“No need,” he said in a low, somber voice.

"Everyone has to pay a price."

Sacel glanced around his cell.

“This price,” he murmured wistfully, “is what I deserve, just right.”

Samir gently closed his eyes.

A few seconds passed.

“What about the others?” Sacelle sighed. “You’ve been up there, haven’t you?”

This question left Samir speechless once again.

"them……"

Samir hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Barney's roar, and the sight of the remains of his thirty-seven brothers appearing before his eyes at the same time, made his lips tremble.

Finally, Samir managed a smile and said with difficulty, "I've seen it."

"good."

Sacel did not reply immediately.

He stared intently at Samir, watching him turn his head slightly after speaking, avoiding eye contact.

"That's it."

Sacel smiled faintly, as if he understood something.

"That's good."

He nodded slowly, turned around, and murmured, repeating:
"That's good."

Suddenly, Thales felt that the man's back had become hunched and thin.

It's like I've aged ten years in an instant.

Samir dared not speak again, but stood alone to the side, his face contorted in pain.

Ricky, who was observing everything, did not speak, but simply watched the prisoners in the cell with great interest.

Until Sacelle sighed softly.

“Speak,” the Knight of Punishment said surprisingly gently, “what brings you here.”

He looked at Thales:

"For the sake of this child."

Thales smiled at him.

In that instant, Samir and Ricky were both startled and looked at each other.

But they quickly realized: the other party had cooperated.

With a hint of joy and excitement, Samir nodded to Ricky and spoke decisively.

“We just want to verify some things, Sacelle.”

Sacel didn't speak, but simply raised his chin slightly.

Samir cleared his throat and frowned slightly, as if recalling his problem.

But taking a step forward, it was Ricky who spoke first:

"First of all, Sacel, how much do you know about the Tower of the End?"

Upon hearing this, Thales frowned slightly.

He suddenly recalled what he had seen and heard when he was taken hostage in the tavern: the Swords of Calamity had attacked the Tower of the End, suffered heavy losses, and retreated to the Blade Fang Camp to regroup and invade the Prison of Bones while the army was on its westward expedition.

From the Tower of Endings to the Prison of Bones, there must be something driving the Sword of Calamity's every move.

And that was...

"The Tower of the End?"

Sacel's lifeless tone snapped Thales out of his thoughts.

He stood with his arms crossed against the wall, a disdainful sneer curling at the corner of his mouth: "Not many."

"A treacherous, cunning, and self-righteous shameless force."

what?
Thales was slightly taken aback.

Insidious and cunning?

opinionated?

Shameless?
He scratched his head and suddenly realized that this description was completely out of place with his previous impression of the Tower of the End.

Over the years, whether it was the loyal attendant Wyatt, the heartless and simple-minded Cohen, the cunning schemer Raphael, or the aloof beauty Miranda, even his former enemy, the loud-voiced Kroeshe, or even the "wolf in sheep's clothing" (Cohen's words) old drunkard Kaslan, these people from the Tower of the End have constantly instilled this impression in Thales through their beliefs and actions:
The Tower of the End is a noble and neutral place of inheritance, teaching combat skills, imparting the power of the end, and dedicated to preserving humanity's vitality and fighting strength. It aims to pass on the spirit of camaraderie and loyalty during the final battle, and the spirit of unity that once commanded hundreds of people, from generation to generation.

But today...

Thales frowned as he looked at Sacel, who had a disdainful expression, and listened as he continued to describe his impressions of the Tower of the End:
"...They claimed to remain neutral and never establish a nation, but in reality they were local warlords who controlled their own territories."

"They waver on the international stage, change their allegiance to the wind, and have no shame. They also constantly encourage their subordinates to go out and do mercenary work that is dirtier than that of most countries, calling it a 'trial'."

As Sacel spoke, his expression grew increasingly ferocious, seemingly harboring a deep-seated prejudice against that place:
"For hundreds of years, those hypocrites who call themselves swordsmen have been lying on the bones of their ancestors who have been cold for centuries, basking in fame and glory that do not belong to them. They have been using hypocritical and pretentious excuses to attract generations of hot-headed young people, claiming to pass on skills and protect humanity, but in reality, they are cultivating henchmen and building up their own power."

He gritted his teeth, and at the very end he even spat out a harsh "Pah!" which made Samir outside the cell frown repeatedly.

Ricky's eyes lit up, on the contrary.

"They spend all day studying how to kill, and then teach their subordinates so that they can go out and fight for wars and conflicts between countries, killing more people, shedding more blood, fighting more wars, and making the world more chaotic—all thanks to those disgusting little people in the End Tower."

"Afterwards, generation after generation of war orphans, filled with the hatred and ambition left by the previous generation, came to their doorstep again, surrendering their loyalty and belonging to those self-righteous hypocrites in exchange for the skill of killing, continuing their fateful cycle."

Sackel clenched his fists as if he were there, like a righteous outlaw:

"And those despicable and shameless people still stand aside, and have the nerve to maintain their so-called noble integrity and precious neutrality—because all they offer is the sword, and only others wield it, as if filth and depravity have nothing to do with them."

"Pooh."

The Knight of Punishment fiercely cursed:

"Fuck the Tower of Destruction."

Thales looked at Sacel with a strange expression, thinking to himself that Ricky had just asked him how much he knew about the Tower of the End...

Is this what you call "not much"?
However, Sacel's assessment, or rather his accusations, are not yet over.

"Have you ever seen a shameless scumbag who wears a face full of pity all day long, rushes off on missions, shouts about loving peace and protecting humanity, yet never stops and never hesitates to sell weapons of mass destruction all over the world?" Sackel curled his lips, revealing his teeth fiercely:

"That's them."

"The dregs of the Tower of Ending".

After saying that, Sackel ended his brief observation with a "humph" from one nostril.

There was an awkward silence in the dark cell for a moment.

Samir was momentarily at a loss for words, Thales raised his eyebrows, but Ricky, unconcerned, burst into laughter.

“Yeah, I like this guy,” Ricky laughed, scratching his chin as he looked at the Punisher Knight with interest.

"Are you sure you don't want to get out of prison? We'll work together very well."

Sacel gave him a cold smile in return.

Samir coughed and whispered to Ricky:

"Because of many past experiences, he has a deep prejudice against the Tower of the End."

Ricky shook his head dismissively: "The point."

Samir sighed, then pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.

This action caught Thales's attention: he sensed that this was the true purpose of the Sword of Calamity.

Samir gently unfolded the paper and spread it out in front of Sackel through the fence, illuminating it with the firelight.

“Sakel, do you remember this?”

Sakel squinted, initially flinching at the approaching firelight, but as his eyes adjusted, he slowly stepped forward, scrutinizing the paper in Samir's hand.

In that instant, Thales suddenly sensed that Sacel's aura had changed.

His gaze sharpened, and his expression was no longer as indifferent as before.

It was as if he had transformed from a pitiful person who had experienced many hardships and was exhausted back into the imperial guard he once was.

But he simply examined the contents of the paper closely without uttering a word.

This made Thales even more curious: what exactly was written on the paper in Samir's hand?
But Samir was standing closest to the cell, and Thales could only see the blank back of the paper. Samir held the paper up so high that Thales couldn't see it.

Just as the prince was hesitating about whether to peek out in front of the two powerful kidnappers, Sacelle, who had become serious, suddenly reached out and took the paper.

This shattered Thales's hopes of glimpsing the truth.

Sacel frowned, staring intently at the contents of the paper.

Outside the cell, Samir and Ricky waited quietly, but Thales could sense that they were holding their breath, eagerly awaiting each other's response.

After a long while, Sakel finally raised his head, his expression solemn.

He waved the papers in his hand and slowly asked the two uninvited guests:
"what is this?"

Clearly encouraged by the other party's unusual reaction, Samir smiled and said, "It's a sketch I drew from memory after seeing it once."

"As you can see, the real thing has color, and it's much more vibrant."

Sacel's brow furrowed more and more.

He first glanced at the two men outside the cell, then snorted coldly:
"How would I know what this is just from this piece of paper?"

Samir stared coldly at his former colleague.

"If it were someone else, or something else, perhaps the answer would be no, but..."

Samir raised the torch high, enveloping Sakel's entire face in the firelight, but Thales only felt that the latter's expression was somewhat gloomy.

"Did you see its outline? Did you see how special it is?"

“I saw it more than a decade ago when I was on duty at the entrance to the Royal Treasury in the Palace of Restoration,” Samir stared intently at the prisoner. “I only caught a glimpse of it from afar then, but I will never forget it.”

Thales' heart skipped a beat.

The royal treasury in the Palace of Rejuvenation?
Sacel did not answer, but his gaze shifted to the paper, and his fingers gripping the edge gradually tightened.

Samir's tone became somewhat somber, seemingly because he was talking about the past.
"The treasures in the royal treasury are all priceless and of great significance. In the entire Palace of Restoration, apart from the royal family, only one position in the guard has direct access to them."

"That position safeguards the lineage of the Royal Guard, knows countless secrets, and can only be held by those who are highly trusted and expected to succeed them—by convention, it is basically the next captain of the guard, the commander."

Sakel remained silent, but everyone in the room understood what Samir meant.

Samir composed himself, pointed to the paper, and solemnly said:
“Guarding the royal treasury and managing the entry and exit of secret treasures is one of his unique duties. I can guarantee that this thing is definitely on his guard list.”

At this point, Samir took a step forward, almost touching the fence.

“Tell me, Sacelle, the former Royal Guard Watchman,” the former standard-bearer said coldly.

"What exactly is that thing drawn on the paper, that thing that was treasured in the royal treasury so many years ago?"

In that instant, Thales felt the atmosphere in the arena turn cold, and the air pressure around Sacel seemed to drop another notch.

Ricky's gaze toward Sackel gradually sharpened.

This made Thales even more curious about the piece of paper in Sackel's hand.

The Knight of Punishment let out a cold laugh.

"You went through all this trouble just to have me appraise an antique?"

He raised his eyes and scanned Samir and Ricky.

Samir gritted his teeth almost imperceptibly.

But he knew he couldn't be forceful with the person in front of him.

So Samir simply took a deep breath and said gently:

“Please, Sacel, this is very important to us.”

Ricky remained motionless.

Sacel stared at the contents of the paper a few more times.

He casually countered, "Why ask that? Where did you find it?"

Samir exhaled and frowned, saying:

“Sakel, I am the one who asked the question.”

But Saxe simply shook his head:

"The value of intelligence lies in its back-and-forth exchange, which allows both sides to take valuable actions based on feedback and gains."

"If you don't tell me more information, my answer won't be able to be more accurate."

He held the paper up to eye level and waved it between the two of them.

Samir was about to say something when Ricky interrupted.

"We found this thing in the House of Inheritance of the Tower of the End not long ago."

The three of them turned around at the same time, looked at Ricky, and said calmly, "As their top secret in recent years."

Thales's brow twitched again.

The Tower of the End... its top secret?
"The Tower of the End?"

Saxeel's expression finally changed.

He looked thoughtful.

“I guess you weren’t invited to visit, were you? The House of Heritage is their core area,” Sacel pondered for a moment, then gave a gloating smile. “By the way, well done.”

But Ricky just shook his head.

“We didn’t get it—the Tower of Endings always protected it very well, and even though we paid a terrible price, we could only catch a glimpse of it.”

Samir's expression darkened, and he nodded silently.

“And according to intelligence, the tower master of the End Tower, that old man from the Far East, values ​​it immensely,” Ricky said, looking at Sacel with an unusually serious expression. “According to his own words, it may be the key to changing the world.”

Sacel frowned deeply.

"Shao?"

He looked disgusted: "That stupid, old codger in gray robes?"

Thales ignored Sackel's disrespectful remarks about the Tower of the End, but he was drawn to Ricky's words.

The Tower of the End contains...

The key to changing the world?
what is that?
Thales stared at the paper with increasing curiosity, imagining what was drawn on it.

"Now you have the information you needed, Punishment Knight."

Ricky gestured towards the piece of paper: "We found it in the Tower of the End, and Samir was the only one who recognized it—that brought us here, right here in front of you."

"Even if it's just for the sake of us barging in to keep you entertained... Sacelle, answer us, what exactly is this?"

He focused his gaze on Sacel's calm, somber face, as if trying to discern something from it.

Sacel remained silent for a long time, staring intently at the paper.

But Ricky and Samir also seemed very patient.

Until the former Royal Guard Watchman spoke up quietly.

"Three hundred years ago."

Samir was taken aback: "What?"

In the firelight, Sacel approached the fence, revealing his face, which was half-lit and half-shadowed.

The hideous brand on his forehead was incredibly clear, while the lower half of his face was completely shrouded in darkness.

But his eyes were bright and alert, scanning the guests outside the cell like flashing swords, showing no sign of a mentally unstable person.

Sacel continued:
"In the year 349 of the End Calendar, Esola Yelu married into the Starry Sky royal family and became the queen of Midil IV."

Thales, who was listening intently, was momentarily taken aback.

Midil IV.

Wouldn't that be...

Ricky was still frowning in confusion, but Samir, who knew the history of the stars, showed a slight change in expression:

"Ye Luo, Ye Luo...you mean, the only Elf Queen in the history of the stars, Queen Esola?"

Sacel nodded slowly, his expression serious.

"And the thing on this piece of paper that you claim to have found in the Tower of the End is one of the dowry items that Queen Esola brought from the Kingdom of the Sacred Tree to the Palace of Restoration."

His voice was steady and his tone was solemn.

As the people outside the prison stared at each other in bewilderment, Sacel raised his right hand and gently turned the paper in his hand over, so that it faced Thales.

The moment the firelight illuminated the paper, the prince was slightly bewildered, then his spirits lifted!

The outline of a short sword was clearly drawn on the paper.

A peculiar counterweight ball.

The gem in the center of the sword hilt.

The guard bends in the opposite direction of the blade.

Thales stood there, stunned.

That is--

"Even among the vast royal treasury, it is a rather special member."

"Because this is the last ancient weapon in the world that has survived since the beginning of time, and it is said to be able to slay dragons."

Thales stared intently at the pattern on the paper, the unhurried yet strangely powerful voice of the Executioner Knight slowly reaching his ears: "The Holy Elves call it..."

"The Dragon Slayer".

Regarding the schizophrenia discussed in the previous chapter, some readers have interpreted it as "dissociative identity disorder" or "multiple personality disorder." Here, I want to clarify: this is a common misunderstanding. In reality, schizophrenia is completely different from the "multiple personality disorder" (the kind depicted in movies like *Identity* or *Shutter Island*) that the public perceives. Schizophrenia refers to a disconnect between cognition and sensory perception; in short, it's an inability to correctly perceive reality (the world you see is different from the world others see, which is terrifying to even think about). Schizophrenia presents with two types of symptoms: positive and negative. Common positive symptoms include auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations (not the kind in *The Avengers*), delusions, etc. The often-confused multiple personality disorder is correctly called Dissociative Identity Disorder. In fact, compared to schizophrenia, this disorder is much more academically controversial and cases are rarer. However, due to its topicality, it is frequently featured in works of art and has become one of the most familiar mental illnesses. I recommend an action game called *Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice*, which realistically simulates the experiences of people with schizophrenia. It helps players understand their feelings—they aren't crazy; they're just experiencing a world different from ours. Please don't throw them into a cold, indifferent hell. This isn't just for them, but for ourselves.

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(End of this chapter)