"I am the Queen of Roran. There is absolutely no way I can lose!"
Sara forced herself to rally.
She surmised that the casualties among Rōran's people might not have been as severe as she imagined. They could not possibly all have died.
After all.
She still remembered the two times Xuandou had used time-rewinding Ninjutsu on the battlefield.
Back then, Rōran's people had been controlled by Mukade and turned into mindless Human Puppets. With everyone exercising restraint in dealing with them, the casualties had not been severe.
After her consciousness sank into darkness.
When she woke, Mukade had already been dealt with, and Shiwa and the others had already left Rōran.
Rōran had even begun reconstruction.
All of this.
Xuandou and the others must have used some forbidden Ninjutsu with an effect similar to hypnosis to deal with Mukade, accidentally hurting her in the process.
With that thought, Sara turned to Xuandou:
"The wager isn't over yet. Where are my people now?"
"What, the esteemed Queen of Roran can't find her own people in her own territory?"
Xuandou stared at Sara, an amused smile on his lips.
"Esteemed Lord Xuandou! Please tell me where Rōran's people are!"
"As the Queen of Roran, I have a duty to protect them."
Sara's lips parted. She clenched her fists hard, suppressing her anger as she spoke each word.
"Protect them? Take a look at what you've protected."
Xuandou scoffed and extended his right index finger, sweeping it around their surroundings:
"Your throne? Your people? Or the Dragon Vein...?"
"Rōran was razed to the ground. We of Xuanyin were the ones who rescued it from Mukade."
"None of that had anything to do with you."
"What is there that you can protect?"
At his words, Sara was momentarily speechless.
She wanted to argue,