Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 78 Queen, Princess, and Fate (Part 2)
This chapter may contain some content that may be disturbing to readers. Please follow your doctor's advice and consume the medication as needed.

----------

"No, don't leave so soon!" Ke Ya stood up, a look of surprise on her face. "Oh, right, he hasn't met his older brother and sister yet!"

Thales felt a chill run down his spine.

"Ke Ya!"

Ginny shouted, her voice filled with—panic?
But Queen Koya simply turned around and walked toward the large bed in the distance.

"Lydia and Luther will be so happy to have a little brother..."

Thales finally realized that something was wrong with the room.

His pupils suddenly dilated.

Then, the gentle and considerate Queen Koya carried him out of the bed...

Two rag dolls.

Ginny's face was pale.

"Look, Luther, this is your brother Thales, say hello!"

Koya happily played with the rag doll in her left hand, raised its hand, waved it at Thales, and showed a happy smile.

Thales frowned.

As Koya spoke excitedly, she lifted the rag doll on her right and turned its head toward Thales.

"And you, Lydia, sit up straight—stop being naughty and call your brother!"

Koya's right hand was still waving weakly, as if the rag doll in her arms was struggling violently.

It was an extremely bizarre scene.

Thales' breathing began to become erratic.

Is it...

The prince was incredulous: the beautiful and elegant queen was happily playing with the two... rag dolls in her arms.

This...this is...

"Enough, Koya!"

Ginny, breathing heavily, strode forward and her first action was to pull Thales back.

But Queen Koya's expression quickly changed.

"what?"

"why?"

Koya looked at the rag doll in her arms, then at Thales, her expression suddenly turning strange, and her tone becoming flustered:

"Why, Luther, you—you don't have, your brother, Thalesgaard?"

Thales gritted his teeth and took a step back.

The next moment, Ke Ya looked as if she had seen something unbelievable, and her face turned fearful and terrified.

pat!

The rag doll in her right hand fell gently, but Queen Koya seemed oblivious.

She just looked at the rag doll in her left hand with a sad expression, on the verge of tears.

“I understand,” Koya said, looking at the doll with sorrow and despair. “The reason you’ve become shorter is because you’ve lost… lost…”

"Go!" Ginny gritted her teeth and said to Thales, "You go first."

But Thales was already frozen in place.

Ke Ya's hands were tightly gripping the rag doll.

A second later, Koya began to cry in anguish, uttering words that sent chills down Thales' spine:
"Luther!"

"Luther...head...head...you're missing a head!"

"Luther, your head, where's your head? Where did your head go?"

"Huh? Your head... it's gone?"

Ke Ya raised her tear-streaked face, screaming in panic as she lay down, looking around and groping for her head: "Quick! Quick! We have to find your head!"

Thales felt a chill run down his spine.

Ginny stepped forward and hugged Queen Koya tightly, trying to calm her down as she trembled.

"You!" Koya suddenly looked at Ginny, her eyes wide: "Did you see, did you see my Luther's head?"

"About this size..."

"Round and...it rolls..."

"It has two eyes..."

Thales stared in disbelief at the scene before him.

Koya suddenly struggled and frantically waved her arms!

"No! Don't stop me! I have to protect him! Protect Luther! My son!"

Ginny gritted her teeth and dragged her toward the bed with all her might.

Just then, Thales' arm was gently pulled by a hand from behind.

Thales was startled!

Still shaken, he suddenly turned his head!
He saw that the person holding his arm was a stranger.

She was a long-haired woman wearing a black robe and a down shawl.

The woman in black had delicate features, but her face was filled with sorrow.

Thales gasped for breath, finally managing to calm himself down.

The woman in black with long hair pulled on his arm and whispered:
"It's okay, let's go out first."

Thales looked on in confusion and turned to look at Ginny, who was trying to subdue Queen Koya.

“Taylor!” Ginny screamed through gritted teeth:
"I'll take care of things here. You and Her Highness the Princess, please go out now!"

your Highness?

But Thales didn't think much of it and was pulled out of the room by the long-haired downy lady.

Behind him, Koya struggled more and more violently, screaming frantically, "Guards! Guards! Quick!"

"An assassin! An assassin!"

Lady Goose Down, pulling Thales, whose face was ashen, quickly walked out.

All that remained was the distant, hysterical voice of Koya.

On both sides, maids and servants with somber expressions hurried toward Koya's room.

They seem to have gotten used to this kind of scene.

Koya's screams still echoed in my ears.

"Waaaaah—my Luther—no! No!"

"Your head... Waaah... Why can't I put it back together! Why can't I reassemble it! Why does it keep falling off! Why!"

"Stick it up! Stick it up, right? Luther? Isn't that right?"

Thales simply walked forward, his face pale.

He felt that what happened after his death was too cruel.

He couldn't face it.

They only stopped in a corridor when Ke Ya's voice had faded into the distance.

Thales glanced behind him, still shaken.

"I'm sorry," the long-haired woman in black said softly, "Normally, Koya's attacks don't happen this quickly."

Thales stared blankly behind him.

Doubts began to slowly creep into his mind.

Thales looked up at the woman.

“Back then, when Luther and Lydia—my brother and sister—were assassinated,” Thales said with difficulty, “was the Queen and Lady Ginny there? Were they there, witnessing it with their own eyes?”

After a few seconds of silence, a look of sorrow appeared in the eyes of the woman in the black down jacket:

"Yes."

She said slowly:

"That day, Prince Luther was..."

The down-colored lady, her eyes tightly shut, spoke breathlessly as she recalled her memories:

“Jennie and I rushed over as soon as we heard the noise, but we were too late.”

"It's said that his head rolled off the bed..."

“Princess Lydia was kidnapped, and Ginny grabbed a horse and chased after her. I ran to inform the guards, leaving the terrified Koya alone in the room.”

Thales let out a deep breath.

The answer suddenly came to him.

It turned out to be the case.

He was assassinated on his way to Fuxing Palace that day.

Ginny's unusual reaction... even alerted the assassin who wasn't originally coming for me.

Is that the reason?

They all experienced...that kind of scene?

That's why... Ginny lost her composure and hated assassins and killers so much.

“But you need not be afraid, Thales,” the long-haired, downy-haired woman in black said gently with a smile.

"...Queen Koya has been like this for many years."

“When she’s lucid, she’s always hysterical and full of resentment,” the downy lady remarked. “But when she’s having an episode, she’s quiet and peaceful, as if Luther and Lydia are still beside her, jumping and playing…”

The woman's expression gradually became desolate and tragic:
"After the tragedy that year, the palace was in chaos. Even King Eddy and His Highness Midil were... The guards were so nervous that they drew their swords at the sight of anyone... So no one paid attention to this place, and the servants all fled."

"Only Koya clung tightly to the prince's body, refusing to let go... It's said she locked herself in her room..."

“I was forcibly isolated in a safe house by the guards… The panicked nobles sealed off the Restoration Palace and locked down Everstar City… It was two weeks later before His Majesty Kessel took control of the kingdom and stabilized the situation.” The woman sighed and lowered her head.

Thales sighed softly.

"For two weeks, Koya stayed in her room, weeping while holding the dead Prince Luther, surviving on water from a vase..."

"You know, two weeks have passed, and the prince's body has become..."

Following the woman's description, Thales tried to imagine the scene and was immediately filled with dread.

"Two weeks later, when they broke down the door, we saw Koya, barely alive and nearly unconscious, with a baby in her arms..."

The woman sighed deeply, her face filled with fear:
"That scene was like a nightmare."

Thales swallowed hard, unable to bear the thought any longer.

For the Shining Star royal family...

A bloody year...

Is this what it looks like?

Born for the stars—is this the price?

silence.

It wasn't until Thales suddenly realized what was happening that he looked up and stared at the downy lady in front of him with a puzzled expression.

correct.

Just now, Ginny called her—

your Highness?

Judging from her age, she shouldn't be Kessel's daughter, so the princess refers to...

However, the youngest daughter of the late king, the younger sister of Catherine V, Princess Constance Starling, was not the one he saw in Starling's tomb...

A question popped into Thales' mind.

"So, may I ask who you are...?" Thales asked cautiously.

“Oh, the title ‘princess’ must have confused you.” The down-covered lady kindly eased Thales’ embarrassment, bowing her head slightly in embarrassment.

“My surname isn’t Canxing, and I’m not a real princess,” the “princess” gently shook her head.
"I am only the late King's adopted daughter, so I'm like your half-aunt."

Thales stared in astonishment, his mouth agape.

“I am Iris Sora, a little younger than Constance,” Princess Iris said with a gentle smile, revealing a charming dimple on her cheek. “But I am not worthy of bearing the surname of the Stars… Sora, this is my husband’s surname.”

Half... aunt?
Why hasn't anyone mentioned this before?

"Excuse me, who is your husband?" Thales asked mechanically.

“Count Sora… an honorary count during the reign of the late king,” Iris sighed upon hearing this, “passed away just two months ago.”

widow?

No wonder, it's people in black...are they still paying their respects?

"Two months ago? The Earl of Honor passed away?" Thales asked doubtfully. "Was it due to illness...?"

But Thales realized he had been rude and quickly bowed in apology: "I'm sorry, Aunt Iris, I was presumptuous."

Princess Iris was taken aback at first, then smiled wryly and said, "No, there's no point in hiding it..."

Princess Iris, the late king's adopted daughter, spoke slowly and deliberately:
"He died two months ago in the massive explosion in the center of Hongfang Street."

Red Town Street...

big Bang?
Telston froze instantly.

"Could it be...?" Iris said mournfully, "It was the night of the gang shootout in the XC district and the West Ring district."

Yes.

That's right.

It was me, Yordles, and Ashida who caused the explosion.

A wave of guilt washed over me.

Thales let out a breath.

"He, your husband," Thales asked slowly, suppressing the pain in his heart, "why was it that night, on Red Street?"

Wasn't there a curfew that night?

But Iris clearly knew little of it; she simply sighed.

“Our relationship wasn’t good. My husband… liked to go to Hongfang Street to have fun… A few days before he passed away, I went there to look for him and we had a big fight. He didn’t come back for three days after that…”

Little did I know that would be the last time we saw each other.

Iris closed her eyes, shook her head, and sighed.

She tugged at the down jacket she was wearing to keep warm.

But at that moment, Thales' pupils suddenly contracted!
That goose down... looks familiar.

Goose down...

Miss……

Red Town Street...

A few days before the explosion...

Looking for a husband... arguing...

Is it...

Thales trembled violently!
He looked at Aunt Iris's face again.

This time, my aunt's delicate face completely overlapped with a face I remembered from a very, very long time ago.

It's been so long that I've almost forgotten about it.

Yes.

is her.

It was that noblewoman in the goose down dress.

Thales stared blankly at his princess aunt.

That day, it was her.

It was she, draped in goose down, leading twenty Terminator swordsmen, who encountered Thales, who had ventured out to beg in the Blood Bottle Gang's territory, on Red Street.

It was she who gave the disheveled Thales twelve copper coins and... one silver coin in the street.

However, Thales has changed so much that even she probably wouldn't recognize that the Second Prince Thales in front of her is the same person as the beggar Thales from two months ago.

Thales touched his chest.

There, was the scar burned by Quaid with that silver coin.

It was because of that act of charity that the seriously ill Coria was able to survive typhoid fever.

It was because of that act of charity that Ned betrayed Quaid.

Because of that act of charity... myself... the beggars... Quaid... Yara... Red Street...

It was because of that act of charity that everything that followed came about...

Thales let out a deep sigh.

"What's wrong?" Princess Iris asked, looking at Thales with a complicated expression.

"No, it's nothing."

Thales looked up and gave a respectful smile.

This aunt suddenly seemed much more approachable to him.

"I just felt a bit emotional after seeing my family."

Ashda Sachs's smile reappeared in his mind's eye.

Is this what you call a coincidence?

Or perhaps—the robust Kessel before Thales' eyes, his forlorn figure in the royal cemetery—was it fate?
----------

The underground shopping street in the lower city, Sunset Bar.

"Cut it down."

"Just treat it like a piece of wood."

"Abandon useless emotions and principles, and become a true Surreyton!"

"Chop it down!"

No.

Do not!
LS Ridon suddenly woke up from a nightmare!
She rolled over in bed, panting heavily.

She remembered kneeling in the Sunset Bar for a long time after the three beggars were kidnapped.

Until he lost consciousness.

And now...

“It’s really ugly.”

On the other side of the bed, in the corner of the room, came a voice that Yara knew all too well.

"Do you have that nightmare every time you experience a shock?"

Yara let out a deep breath:

"Old man."

"When did you come back."

She closed her eyes and lay back down on the bed.

But the voice did not seem inclined to answer her.
“Ya L. Lyton, if you can’t face the fears of the past, you will always be a weakling.”

Yara opened her eyes, then pursed her lips, turned to face the wall, and ignored the old man's words.

"Even Rhoda could overpower you so completely... What a waste of those two excellent killing knives..."

Yara remembered the three kidnapped beggars and Kolia's heart-wrenching pleas.

[Sister Yara...]

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes.

But the old man's words still came: "A single fear has locked you up like this, you're no different from Quaid... back then..."

Nightmarish memories come flooding back.

Yara couldn't take it anymore. She rolled out of bed and yelled angrily at the corner:
"enough!"

"You don't need to remind me anymore!"

The old man chuckled deeply:

"Hehehe... What am I reminding you of?" The old man continued to mock her: "Hmph, look, you're so afraid you don't even dare to mention it..."

A "ding" sound startled Yara.

She knew that it was the old man flicking the blade with his fingers.

Despite being somewhat weak, Yara stood up defiantly.

"Hmph, it's as if I'll instantly become a master just by bringing it up."

“Who knows,” the old man said mysteriously, “but if you keep running away, you’ll never reach the ultimate… what happened yesterday will just repeat itself.”

"The Surreyton name will still bind you like a curse, for all eternity."

"Do you really want that man's nightmares to rule the rest of your life?"

"Or would you like to experience your own powerlessness and weakness again?"

Yara opened her mouth and took two deep breaths.

“What’s so difficult about that?” she said through gritted teeth. “It’s just that one thing.”

"Oh?" The old man's voice wavered slightly. "What is it?"

Yara's face contorted as she looked at the stone room.

No.

She began to tremble.

No.

Darkness and blood surged before her eyes like a tide.

No.

Her teeth started chattering.

No.

She could hardly breathe.

No.

I can't bear to recall it...

But the next moment, a small figure appeared before her eyes.

It was a cocky brat with black hair and gray eyes, covered in wounds, who, despite his overconfidence, resolutely said to her:

"I'll walk alone."

Yara opened her eyes and took a breath of air.

In my mind, I return to that stone room.

She spoke, her voice trembling:
"Twelve years ago, at Fuxing Palace..."

Cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

"Clang!" The sound of the old man fiddling with the blade echoed in the air.

The old man coldly said, "Go on."

Yara gritted her teeth, her face growing increasingly pale.

"My first time, my first mission..."

Yara's entire body began to tremble uncontrollably.

But then she saw in her mind yesterday the scene of Rhoda calmly gripping her knife and taking away the three beggar children.

That was... Coria's pleading look.

"I……"

Yara shivered, feeling nauseous.

"I……"

Yara felt something liquid flowing from her eyes.

"I……"

Everything in front of me turned bright red... How... terrifying...

Yara murmured, her lips unable to touch.

Just now.

It was the old man's furious shout!

"Say!"

Yara trembled violently.

What followed was a streak of silver light shooting straight toward her!

"Boom!"

A wolf-leg knife was firmly embedded in the wall, half an inch from Yara's left ear.

Yara jumped!
All the scenes, people, sounds, and colors from that day are vividly recreated before my eyes!

That day, I—

Her eyes were lifeless, and she involuntarily shouted:
"I beheaded a baby!"

After shouting those words, Yara gasped for breath, feeling all the strength in her body leaving her.

It's been twelve years.

She shouted it out.

She finally shouted it out.

"thump!"

Yara trembled, collapsed to her knees, covered her mouth, and, trying to suppress her nausea and vomiting, burst into tears.

From the corner, the old man's voice drifted out faintly:

"Now, pick up your knife."

"Your own knife."

"Not Surreyton's knife."

For readers interested in Sarityon, please refer to the third side story in the book's related section, which briefly mentions some related matters.



(End of this chapter)