Chapter 41: Even (Part 4)
Xia Yibing was chased away by Hitzfeld before she could even warm up her slippers. Afterwards, she picked up the phone and dialed the number herself, connecting to reality through the Shadow City, a transit station, and dialed the number on the Tree Ring Table in one go.
"I thought you were going to write to me," Ruth-Annular said with a hint of sarcasm in her first words. "Your owl is much safer than a telephone line."
"But it's too slow." Hitzfeld ignored the insinuation in her words and just smiled and said, "...I'm so glad we can still be like before."
"Oh, the Tree People have had experience in serving God after all." Nian Lun didn't expect her to be so straightforward and sincere, and he couldn't make any subsequent inferences. "You don't have to express your feelings. After all, we still have to call you 'Your Majesty' in public..."
"Then I will also call you 'Your Majesty the Annual Ring'."
"... Stop kidding! How can a god and a mortal call each other Your Majesty?"
"You are not a mortal."
"Is there any difference?" Nian Lun was really going crazy. She suddenly realized that someone like Hitzfeld who was sincere was much more difficult to deal with than Xia Yibing.
"Anyway, I will deliver what you want as soon as possible. Do you want to..."
"I asked Xia to go to the White Shadow Palace to pick up Emily." Hitzfeld suddenly interrupted her, "They should go shopping for something. I hope the Treemen can help with this, and it will also save time."
What time does this save?
Nianlun looked at the wall clock and saw that the time was 7 o'clock in the evening.
It was certainly late for dinner, but by salon standards, it was not uncommon for dinner to start at 8 or 9 .
Otherwise, why do people say that humans become bad when they have money... Those so-called nobles even invented tea parties and snack parties in order to avoid going hungry while waiting.
They are not like farmers and workers who have to get up early to work the next day. For those who can sleep until dark, it is never too late.
"Your Majesty is coming too." Hitzfeld's words successfully made her face change drastically, and then without waiting for Nian Lun to start a long speech on this topic, she hung up the microphone in a split second.
This damned Aisuen!
Hearing the noise, Nian Lun was stunned for a moment, then immediately stood up from the table, picked up her veil and hat, and ran out.
From time to time, he would meet tree-man guards on duty on the road. While responding to their greetings, Nian Lun was thinking about the phone call just now. He always felt that the Goddess of Shadow Night had something else to say.
Yes... Even with Erwin, he shouldn't have chosen the excuse of "saving time". After all, the nobles have been beaten into being very obedient now, and His Majesty doesn't have to get up early every day to handle government affairs, so it's okay to take a nap occasionally.
If that's the case - it seems like she deliberately changed the subject when I mentioned those three things?
It's not a clever trick. If I were talking to someone else, I would think that the other party was hinting that someone might be eavesdropping on me, but this line leads directly there. Who has the ability to eavesdrop on this?
She suspects that there is a traitor from the Tree People among me?
You need help buying things... You mean you might get attacked when you walk on the street? You need us to protect you?
Hitzfeld didn't know that Nianlun had extrapolated so many meanings from just a few of her words. The down-to-earth atmosphere of Xia Yibing's shopping with her daughter turned into an "inspection from the superiors" through the operations of the tree people.
For example, buying groceries.
From a distance, you can see her walking towards you, holding the jumping Emily. Beside them is a big white dog, wagging its tail happily.
"What do you want to eat tonight?"
"It depends on what mom wants to do..."
"Oh, you know, even the most skilled chef can't cook a good dish without the ingredients. And unfortunately, we are the ones in charge of purchasing today. To be frank, whether she can cook a good dish depends on our mood."
"Hey! Emily is so amazing!"
"Of course you are amazing~ After all, you are our daughter...Want to see further?"
“I want to~!”
"Then come on!"
He reached out and Emily was held in Xia Yibing's arms, and then he advanced to riding on her neck. His sight suddenly changed from a subordinate to a superior, and he could see very far away.
This made Emily very happy. She experienced the perspective of an "adult" in advance and secretly vowed that she would grow this tall in the future so that she could hold her sister the Queen in her arms.
But the good times didn't last long. She quickly frowned and leaned close to Xia Yibing's ear: "Mother Xia..."
"how?"
“I feel like someone is watching us.”
"I felt it too... Aisuen is right. Your starting point is really enviable."
Also, can you please stop calling me Mother Xia?
It sounds weird, and there's a sense of being treated differently, which is really unpleasant.
As we continued walking forward, the feeling of being watched became more and more obvious.
But it didn't contain any malice. Emily could vaguely feel that it was a gaze that contained emotions such as love and respect. Well... that means it's one of our own?
Unconsciously, the crowd began to thin out.
People leaving the vegetable market would not notice anything unusual because there was no abnormal effect on them.
It's just that someone blocked the entrance, so the crowd couldn't get any replenishment.
After walking a few more steps, Emily and Xia Yibing both noticed some "suspicious people" appearing around them.
They wore casual clothes and pretended to be shopping, walking around in the crowd. Occasionally they would squat down to pick out ingredients and chat and bargain with the boss.
This is no longer interesting.
Xia Yibing frowned. This was not the parent-child scene she wanted.
Although she could understand it - after all, thanks to Aisuen, she was able to rise to the top overnight... and obtain a status more respected than the king.
And with Emily here, theoretically the protective measures should be as strict as possible.
But it is indeed very stressful.
I originally wanted to make it up to Emily by playing with her, but this incident reminded me that there is still evil coveting the world in secret. How can I relax?
"What's wrong, mom?"
Emily suddenly hugged her head and whispered in her ear.
"It seems like mom is very nervous... Is there a bad guy?"
"Are you doubting your mother's ability?" Xia Yibing pretended to be angry, grabbed the girl's raised ankle and started shaking her.
This was the "riding a big horse" segment that excited Emily the most. She grabbed Xia Yibing's hair and shouted all the way, and together with the big white dog that followed them, they once again left a legend in the world.
But Xia Yibing's heart sank.
Mainly because they are too similar.
When the Kingdom of the Sun God was facing a crisis, it was assumed that many of its main combat forces, including Amen-Haven, were tied up elsewhere and unable to move. The gray fog actually had the power to extend to the ground, directly leading to the deaths of at least three Si Chens.
What about Aisuen and I...if we fail to handle this crisis, will Emily suffer the same fate?
Thinking of this, she suddenly felt that she completely understood and saw through her wife's thoughts.
Aisuen's sense of urgency is justified.
At this point, she no longer had the heart to accompany her daughter in her rage, and went straight to buy food. The wicker basket in her hand soon became full.
"Mother."
Emily was sensitive to her low mood, and she asked to get off the ground and let her lead the way as she walked beside her.
"Ok?"
After collecting the change, Xia Yibing looked down at her and asked, "What's wrong now?"
"I want to ask you something about Sister Alwyn."
"Just ask me and see if I know."
"My sister...is she considered the legitimate heir of the Harwin family?"
Why is she asking this when she has nothing to do?
Unable to help but look down at her again, Xia Yibing couldn't figure out what she wanted to know for a moment.
"Of course it's orthodox." She felt there was nothing to hide in this regard.
If he was not orthodox, he would not have been chosen by Charuni as his successor.
The most important thing is that this orthodox evaluation standard is not idealistic, it requires objective conditions - that is, the blood of God. In this regard, Elwin has proven herself, whether it is her special affinity or her ability to inherit the power of Sina, she has long proved that she can freely manipulate the mechanical sun to fight.
"Which branch of the orthodoxy is she from?" Emily asked again.
"Why do you care about these things when you have nothing to do?" Xia Yibing was really shocked. She pulled her daughter to the side of the road, put down the basket, and squatted down to look her in the eye.
"Tell me, what happened?"
"Did Alwyn ask you to ask these questions? She wants to investigate her ancestors' origins?"
No.
Emily curled her lips inwardly.
I saw that she was investigating these things, and I just wanted to help out of my own will.
The experience in the Grey Mist Temple was a dream to them all. After coming out, Elwin plunged into the library to check the information - she first had to determine which branch her ancestors came from and who the Sun King and his father were.
But this kind of question...
This is something that should be common knowledge within the family. If you didn't know it growing up and your elders never mentioned it, then it is likely that it has been lost.
Trying to verify it by scraping the study was unlikely, and Emily thought there was little hope.
The Queen sister may have her own persistence, but what is involved behind this is the "Temple of Sacrifices" and the many gray fog evil gods imprisoned there.
Privately, I wanted to help, but publicly, it was inappropriate for the two of them to keep such an important matter secret.
So after meeting Xia Yibing, Emily kept looking for an opportunity to tell them about this experience.
"wait!"
Xia Yibing was just about to listen to her when she suddenly thought of Hitzfeld's several confidentiality measures.
She quickly stopped Emily and asked them both to switch to talking through "mystery".
So, just like that, Xia Yibing listened to her daughter's story of a mythical journey beside the smelly drainage ditch in the vegetable market.
"..."
She was in a daze.
This is of course... of course a very important clue. But she was shocked that she and Hitzfeld had never discovered this secret!
Oh, you can’t say “actually” either.
According to the Gray Mist Skull, also known as "Lika-Haven", two conditions must be met at the same time to trigger this secret.
The first one is the orthodox descendant of God.
The second one is Hitzfeld...the divine eye brought by the Secret Keeper family through time and space!
This is the "key" mentioned by the other party!
How could this be?
Her first reaction was disbelief.
The "Mother Goddess" the other party mentioned could undoubtedly only be the Sun King, but was the Sun King's purpose in leaving behind the Secret Keeper family just to serve as a "key" for his descendants?
This is even a conservative statement. You have to know that the reason why God-Eaters have always had short lives is because their vitality has been sucked away by the god's organ. Removing this organ rashly will not free them from this support relationship. On the contrary, the balance will be broken due to the loss of the blessing of the organ, and there is a great possibility that they will die directly!
What "key"? This is simply a "sacrifice"!
When Alwin's gentle smile appeared in front of her, Xia Yibing felt a surge of anger in her heart.
But she quickly suppressed it.
Don't lose your temper...
she said to herself.
Even if it's true, it has nothing to do with Elwen... She has always been very kind to me and Aisuen. Without her trust, we wouldn't even be able to deal with the nobles, and we wouldn't have come to this point...
But after thinking it through, she discovered another detail.
"You...actually tricked Alwyn into sleeping with you?"
Xia Yibing stared at her daughter suspiciously, feeling suspicious.
