The void receded like a tide.
Night lay as deep as water. The window stood open, and the curtains danced like ghosts. At some point, the candle had gone out, and moonlight poured into the room like a silver train.
"Do you believe her?" After a long silence, Sidney asked.
Brando fell silent. "She didn't lie."
But that was all. Not lying did not mean she harbored good intentions, just as lies did not necessarily mean malicious motives. Even the truth could conceal a deadly trap.
Neither of them was a novice. They both understood this.
"Then what are you planning to do?"
"We'll have to change our plans a little." Brando replied, "I'll go get Charles and Mordefis. Lady Sidney, sorry to trouble you, but please notify the ladies."
The saintess of Lion Sanctuary Palace nodded.
Outside the window loomed the enormous shadow that occupied the Imperial Capital.
Yet beneath that shadow, what multiplied was not fertile soil for prosperity. Ever since the civil war began, the halo of prosperity had long since faded from this thousand-year-old city, leaving behind only unspoken wounds.
The people living here did not understand why the empire was fighting. Most of them had never even heard the name Maldos. Missionaries handed out flyers in the streets every day, and everyone was required to attend compulsory services each week, where they preached Her Majesty the Queen's justice and so-called history.
But all of that was too distant.
They did not understand why they had to be dragged into this vortex for an intangible goal. The sages were wrong? How could that be?
The descendants of the King of Flames built their pride upon the side of justice. How could they inherit the Dark Empire of the past?
What right did they have?
They did