Chapter 67 – Remains of the Roycal Empire

Levisia grew more uneasy as the pieces started clicking together in her mind. As her thoughts stringed into a conclusion, she became dumbfounded—having no idea how well-connected Pel was.

Her eyes swept the room; of course everyone was cautious of her: she was one of the most recognisable people in the empire. And there was she, mingling with people from the Roycal Kingdom like it was nothing.

And then there Hobb, who chased down the thief who stole her necklace. Was he doing purely out of the kindness of his heart, or was there some ulterior motive she didn’t know about. Truth be told, she was clueless. Hobb had looked at her with such sincere eyes.

Everything was confusing, but she took a breath to calm her frayed nerves. There was nothing she could do but refocus her attention back to Pel.

“Now, you lost your necklace?”

The way Pel and Hector interacted with each other sent shivers down Levisia’s spine. They knew each other, and they knew each other well, but only a while ago they pretended to be mere acquaintances. And it began to dawn onto Levisia: Hector’s tense attitude towards Pel, his attempt to speak casual towards Pel. It wouldn’t be easy to act like an old neighbor toward his overlord.

And so, the scene unfolding in front of Levisia’s eyes was no different from a stage play: a drama scenario. No, more like a strange and scary play in front of an audience member who already knows their secrets.

‘How can you all become such experts in disguising yourselves?’ she wondered.

Hector’s behavior toward Pel was becoming natural like a flowing stream; the same was true with the way Pel treated Hector.

“There must have been plenty of people who saw Hobb chasing the thief. One of them should be able to point us in the right direction. After all, I have a debt to repay. I suppose I could give you a hand.”

Levisia nodded, trying to hide her true feelings at bay. She didn’t like this at all, but what other choice did she have?

Like Hector had said, some people saw Hobb chasing the thief. But no one had any idea where exactly they had run off to. Because of that, Levisia was forced to draw a picture of them, trying to remember the face she had seen. When Pel saw her drawing, he mostly kept silent for a while, saying only one thing:

“You’re not so good at drawing.”

He wasn’t wrong. Levisia looked down at the crooked face she drew and lowered her head.

“Should I draw you, too?”

Pel promptly declined, handed the picture to Hector. He pulled a face that was difficult to read.

“This face. I know this face.”

Levisia’s heart skipped a beat. Was he being serious? Or was he only saying that to make her feel better? She had no clue, and only time would tell if her gut instinct, that he knew the person, was correct.

***

Outside, the Fairy Festival was still in full swing. A street vendor, who was selling a wide variety of different flowers, smiled widely at the oncoming crowd. She glanced behind her at the man approaching her, and spoke in Pascian, her native language.

“There you are. You got the goods?”

“Of course I did, Khalil.” The man spoke in the same language as her, ensuring no one would be able to understand their conversation.

“Excellent.”

Khalil, despite still having goods on her table, hummed to herself as she began to clean everything away. When other vendors were busy trying to reel in customers, she was the only one who closed first.

As she packed away the first set of boxes, the man was examining the contents of the box he held in his hand.

“Are you sure these are authentic?”

“Yep. Those are definitely Roycal’s bones. I’m sure of it.” She answered, grinning from ear to ear.

“Well, they seem to be in decent condition, at least. But what bothers me is how they ended up in the hands of the Kraiden princess. Why would someone like her have ruins from the Roycal Empire?”

“I don’t know how she got hold of them, but I assure you that they are authentic.” She replied, stacking her boxes for easy transport.

“I know, but… Well, anyway, there’s no reason for us to care about that anymore.”

After the rebellion, the Pascis kingdom was destroyed. There was nothing of value left, and the people from the kingdom were stigmatised wherever they went. After going through such a crisis, there wasn’t a reason to think from the same perspective as them anymore.

“Khalil, hurry up. We need to get a move on before we get caught.” The man was getting impatient, constantly glancing at the crowds.

“I’m almost done. What about Hikhan?”

“He’s getting us a lift. The bones will be out of our hands soon.”

The circumstances of the burglary they were involved in was irrelevant. Roycal’s bones were worth a lot to the noble, so getting that life was worth it, even if it cost an arm and a leg.

“Good, let’s head back right now.”

Within minutes, Khalil had packed everything away and had vanished. To the casual onlooker, it was as though no one had even been there.