"Holy Son, how did you find out?"
Sensing the Tower Spirit's faint lock on her, Moxi sighed and gave up resisting.
Annan ruled out Ellia first. He had seen surprise in her eyes; she evidently hadn't expected Moxi to be a spy.
"You were too steadfast. You didn't seem like a Dark Elf."
Annan kept his answer vague. He couldn't exactly say he had suspected her because she lacked Faith Power.
"That's all?"
Annan Reeves didn't seem like a suspicious human. Or had all that sincerity and innocence been a Disguise?
"Wasn't it enough?"
"Yes... it was enough," Moxi murmured.
With the World Tree at stake, no amount of caution was excessive.
After learning of the World Tree, she herself had been unable to keep a level head.
Moxi wasn't ready to give up. She spoke faster. "Annan, I've heard about your dispute with the Flower Court. Your alliance fell through, but things haven't reached the point of no return."
"That's right... To the Flower Court, it was merely a matter of rejecting some minor lord's ravings."
Moxi missed the sarcasm in Annan's words, or perhaps she didn't care. "Annan, if you hand over the World Tree, you'll surely regain the Flower Court's friendship. Even an alliance wouldn't be..."
"Enough."
Annan cut Moxi off without a trace of anger, only a hint of mockery. "Look at you. Even when you ask someone for help, you sound like you're saying, 'Kneel down. I need a favor.' No wonder you haven't made a single ally in tens of thousands of years."
"You know, if the Elven Royal Court had shown the slightest desire for an alliance—or even a little remorse—I wouldn't have secretly tended a second World Tree."
These were Elves. Their beauty made it easy to forget that they had ruled