Soft afternoon sunlight immediately streamed in through the window and fell across her face. Her porcelain-like skin was so translucent that the fine blood vessels beneath it were almost invisible.
The Chancellor's daughter looked somewhat cold. When her gaze fell upon the courtyard, she saw through the shade of the trees that several more men and women in black robes had appeared in the courtyard inside the covered corridor.
They had dazzling black hair, fixed at the back of their heads with hairpins or ribbons. Their distinctive wide robes and long sleeves seemed to prove their identities.
These people had either come from Nine Phoenix or at least had bloodlines from Nine Phoenix. But Delphine knew more. In Nine Phoenix, only the royal family could wear phoenix ornaments. These people, however, used black fire-phoenix patterns and blood-red brocade designs as decorations, so they could only have one origin.
The Ghost Chariot clan.
Cruz had a long history of commercial dealings with Nine Phoenix. As a descendant of the Nidwen Family, she understood these people's position in Nine Phoenix better than Brando did.
The organization's circumstances were not actually as terrible as people imagined. The Way of the Jade Phoenix and the Ghost Chariot had originally come from the same lineage, and the Ghost Chariot clan's ability to multiply and survive on Swallow Plain was partly thanks to the former's permission. In her opinion, Nine Phoenix's royal family acted with excessive leniency and indecision, while even the commoners below still retained at least a measure of respect for the Ghost Chariot clan.
That was simply unimaginable in Vonder.
The relationships among the Nine Swords were far too complicated, but she knew that the Ghost Chariot had already strayed from their path.
She silently watched the people from the Ghost Chariot converse