No matter how well you hide a rotten body, someone is bound to smell it at the end of the day. Secrets are bound to be unveiled one day no matter how late it might have been. Hence, a good secret takes a long time to be unveiled. However, keeping a secret as carefully as possible sometimes makes it even easier to uncover.
In a matter of hiding oneself, the safest place is under one's enemy's nose. It is so dangerous that one's enemy would expect one to hide there. This is what Shanifa had done; no one could locate her for more than a year and a half. Although she had been found now, she didn't have any thought to change her method.
As she traversed through the bustling street of the capital of Cresundia, no one paid her any attention. She didn't bother hiding and moving discreetly. She had taken off her cloak and dressed like a normal civilian. She looked so ordinary that no one suspected her even though she was moving quite hurriedly.
She grasped the pendant around her neck and inserted her Mana into it. Immediately, she could locate where Lunea and the others were. The pendant was a Relic inspired by the Rank Necklace. It was created under Layland's order as his means to locate his subordinates. Simultaneously, it also helped his subordinates locate each other.
You may think it was quite an unnecessary invention because they had Mana to locate each other, but it was for that reason this Relic was invented. To locate someone using Mana, you had to spread your Mana which also allowed unwanted individuals to locate you. Using the Relic, this problem was nonexistent. Although, unfortunately, it was the only thing it could do. You couldn't communicate using it.
"Why are they acting so discreetly? They are just attracting more attention toward themselves by hiding in an alley like that," Shanifa muttered to herself as she located Lunea and her entourage a few blocks ahead.
She channelled her Mana to her feet and kicked the ground, bringing her to the said alley in the blink of an eye. Many people were surprised but no one thought anything of it. Magic was not something extraordinary in the kingdom of Cresundia. It had the biggest demographic of people who could use Magic. Though, some people still turned their heads in curiosity.
Upon reaching the alley where Lunea and her entourage were, Shanifa found herself conflicted. Unlike what she had thought, they weren't being suspicious. Lunea and her entourage were just indulging themselves in the street food sold in the alley. They dressed like any ordinary civilians. There was nothing worthy of note from them, except from Lunea's face.
Who was Lunea? The Cresundia's supposed kidnapped Princess. No one in Cresundia didn't know her face. Naturally, Shanifa's method, hiding under the enemy's nose, was not for her because they could smell her.
With a light sigh, Shanifa massaged her throbbing forehead. She slowly approached Lunea and her entourage, announcing her presence by emitting her Mana slightly. Lunea turned around, smiled at her and waved at her. The entourage didn't do more than nod at her.
Quickly moving to the bewildered vendor whose eyes were planted on the happily munching Lunea, Shanifa extended her hand. Her hand exuded faint light and the vendor was immediately dazed. She had cast a memory erasing Spell. She couldn't select which memory she wanted to erase, so the vendor would forget everything that happened to him for the past hour.
"You are not aware of your status, are you?" Shanifa stated exasperatedly.
"I am going to show my face to these people anyway. Why should I bother hiding it?" Lunea responded with a casual shrug.
"I have lost my control over the King. That means his actions from now on will be heavily influenced by the Temple. The Temple has seen your face more than once. They will not hesitate to order your father to kill you which I am sure he will comply. Being sneaky is necessary."
"Relax. It is not my first time having my father wanting to kill me."
Lunea didn't mean to deliver a jab at Shanifa but she still felt the wind knocked out of her. Before becoming allies, she was diligently hunting for Lunea using Lunea's father after all.
"Kuhum. Then, I shall leave this place to you. My role has ended, so you can fulfil your duty now."
"You can leave it to me." Lunea smiled. "I might not look like it but people find it hard to refuse my request. I will wreck this Kingdom from the inside."
Don't you feel anything that the place you grew up in will be seized by someone else? That question was caught in Shanifa's throat. She recalled how Lunea viewed Layland. Lunea didn't strike her as a na?ve girl willing to do anything Layland told her regardless of how sketchy it was, but Lunea's trust in Layland was abnormal.
Though, she couldn't fault Lunea for that. Antares was in a better state than it had been for the last century ever since Layland managed it. Its astronomical change even made the people ignore the fact that they were being the world's enemy. As such, it wasn't stupid of Lunea to think that Cresundia would be in better hands.
"Very well. I wish you success in your mission," Shanifa said with a nod. Turning her head to Lunea's entourage, she continued, "Be careful of the people assigned by the Temple. One of them is better than me at mind control."
"I don't like to brag but even Lady Valeria admits my skills," responded one of the entourage.
"You just bragged about it, Gabriela," the person beside her retorted.
"I was just stating a fact, Abigail."
Out of the four people being Lunea's entourage, Shanifa only knew two of them: Abigail and Gabriela. They were close to Layland and also happened to be the strongest out of the group. She couldn't exactly fathom how strong they were but believed that they could take care of one or two capable Heroes by themselves. In other words, they were enough to keep Lunea safe.
"Then, I will be going."
"Bye-bye!" Lunea cheerily waved.
Before everyone's eyes, Shanifa's whole existence blurred and scattered like a mirage. Her presence disappeared faster than they could register it. It was as if she had never been there before. Shanifa had shown yet another one of her hidden cards and no one but the two people accompanying Abigail and Gabriela as part of the entourage was surprised.
Silence filled the alley for a few seconds before Lunea's smile crumbled, leaving her expressionless. Her eyes glinted coldly; something that many hardly imagined to see.
"Let us sow discord, shall we?"
Thus, the return of the betrayed Princess seeking justice became a hot topic in the inner circle of the Kingdom.
…
pαndα`noν?1--сoМ BOOM!
On the other side of the world, in a Sub-Dimension so profound that one might consider it another world, like any other day, a blinding sphere of light decorated the sky, followed by a soul-shaking explosion. The sky trembled meanwhile the mountains below crumbled due to the sheer force the explosion generated.
When the light died down, two floating figures could be seen in the sky. One of them was a Dragon that was as big as a mid-sized hill that dwarfed the humanoid figure who was barely a tenth of its size. These two were no other than Layland and Ddraig. It was their seventh day of fighting without a single second of rest.
"How long has it been since our first encounter?" Ddraig's thunderous voice reverberated through the sky.
"37 days," Layland answered simply in his heavy, slightly distorted voice that induced fear and fascination.
"Your growth is ridiculous."
"So I am told by many people."
Ddraig inspected the gash that ran down his abdomen without looking at it. It wasn't fatal per se. He had received a far more horrendous injury from Layland, but it was his first time not being able to heal his injury. His blood kept pouring out of the wound and it hurt him to the point it was bothering him.
"I am impressed, so I am going to let you off today. I know you are tired, so rest and face me in your peak condition the next time we meet!"
Without waiting for any response from Layland, the red Dragon flapped his wings and flew away. Layland watched the scene silently through the holes in his mask. The mask hid his smile of amusement but you could still tell how he thought of the situation from his gesture. When he had enough, he folded his wings and let his body fall.
Boom!
Given that he landed on the ground below where he had fought Ddraig, the ground was not covered in snow. Therefore, nothing was cushioning his fall. He didn't stop his fall and let his feet take the brunt of the impact. The ground cratered as if a meteor had fallen but Layland seemed unaffected.
"Did you have fun?"
Layland heard a feminine voice as he let go of his Draconic Demon form. Turning his head in the direction the voice came from, he could see a tall beautiful woman dressed entirely in white walking toward him. The said woman smiled beautifully at Layland, but he didn't return the same amicable feeling. Despite so, the woman kept smiling.
"It's been a month and you still treat me coldly. No matter how strong I am, my heart will break too, you know?"
"I am just being professional, Albion. If you were not so obsessed with my gene, I am sure we would be good friends."
There was a reason why Layland found fighting Ddraig for days fun. He could vent his irritation of not being able to close his eyes without fearing being violated by Albion on Ddraig.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l