Chapter 186: The Turmoil in the Elven Forest!
The sound of her ethereal bowstring twanged as the arrow tore through the air. Its tip pointed straight towards her sister's forehead. The speed was many times faster than before, and her sister's expression became shocked as she tried to evade.
However, the arrow was much too fast, and as if fate itself was against her, the arrow passed through the shield and pierced her chest, sending her body flying back into the wall with a thud.
"Guha!?"
Immediately, the arrow exploded with a powerful force, causing the barrier to shatter and sending the two elven knights lying towards the wall, creating a crater in the stone.
Ar'Ciela smiled slightly, her hand reaching back and touching Ryuji's face as she whispered.
"I will protect your precious things, and as my price, cherish me. Fufu, it's a good deal, right? A hot elven princess is willing to be yours, and all you need to do is treat me well."
"Heh, of course, you are a little troublesome, but I can put up with you." Ryuji joked as he felt the serious meaning in Alicia's statement. He then watched the elves struggling to recover. "What will you do to her?"
"She is my sister. So, I will be a bit lenient. I will send her back to the capital to tell them that I have found a partner, and they must leave us alone. If they continue to bother us, then I will not hold back. The others... Well, as long as they don't insult you, they can leave with her.
I don't care anymore. It's clear the traitor back then and now was my sister all along..."
"Heh, then let me handle the other two, and you can focus on Orina. I will not steal your fun."
"As you wish, my dear husband."
Ryuji's eyebrows twitched when she said the word, and Ar'Ciela giggled mischievously.
"I will not lose to the others, so you must treat me well, or you will see how troublesome I can be."
"Tch, I already feel it."
"You liar?! Look at that smile, trying to deny how much you love me, yet you clearly wanted me from the moment we met! Do you think me and Sheila couldn't feel your erection the moment we hugged you?"
The two shared a gentle laugh, and Ryuji was the one who leaned down, giving her a gentle peck on her lips. The sound of their kiss echoed before he turned to the elven princess and her guards. "You heard Alicia's choices, so will you abide or die?"
"Ryuji... call me Ciela.... It's my real name."
"I see, Ciela... it's a pretty name; it suits you."
"You think so?"
"Yup."
"Fufu, it makes me happy to hear that. Now then, lets hear my sister's choice and then help her leave the stage. I will talk with her and learn how far her betrayal went and find out her motivations."
"Alright, just make sure to keep her alive. She's still your family, and I don't think you will want to kill her. Leave the dirty things to me."
"Hey~ Ryuji, my lips are a little dirty, will you lick them clean?"
"Hmmm? They look clean to me..."
"Fufu~ the lips between my hips, you fool; I saw you are doing that for Erika... and I've wanted to experience that feeling for so long~."
Ryuji couldn't help but chuckle. "You are going to be a lot of trouble, aren't you?"
"I will try my best not to cause too many problems, but I want to experience many things, and as your future wife, I will not allow others to gain an advantage over me."
"Alright, I will satisfy you; just make sure not to get sick of me, alright?"
"I cannot imagine anyone who could get sick of you, Ryuji, and I mean it, your personality, the way you treat us; you have such a strange and twisted nature, yet you are so honest and charming. It's no wonder they are all willing to die for you."
"Heh, thank you, Ciela. You also have a place in my heart, and I will never betray your feelings or trust."
The two of them continued flirting while dealing with the elves sent by her sister. In reality, Ciela admitted to wanting to slit their throats but told Ryuji that it would be dangerous if the factions behind her sister started to act without someone limiting their power.
The elven princess was the only one who could rein in her sister's ambitions, and as the former heir, her authority was second to none, so Ciela tried to control and restrain her sister's influence.
***
Ryuji left things for Ciela and headed into the bazaar to gather some food for dinner. So now, in the dark basement of her apartment, she looked at her sister chained to the wall and stark naked, exposing her vulgar body.
"Do you really think I will surrender to you, Ciela? I will have the throne no matter what tactics I use!"
"Is it that important? Just because it is our birthright?"
"Of course, it's not just a mere title. Our birthright allows us to claim the holy tree and become the next priestess, granting us a direct connection to the sacred tree. It's something I've dreamt of since being a young girl!"
"To fight between ourselves, blood-related sisters and hurt and kill each other. Is that your idea of worth, Orina?"
"Of course! Do you know how powerful a position that is? We could even grant wishes to those with enough merits, and we would have the full authority to command the entire forest! Even that disgusting monster couldn't force us to do anything!"
Ciela became nervous and irritated when she thought of that monster... The one that she knew Ryuji would face in the future and how it could kill him made her terrified.
"No matter the price, I will not let you have the throne! I will protect him and ensure that he becomes the king of this world and brings forth a new era where a mindless tyrant no longer rules us! Or the gods that try to bend our lives to their whims and pleasure!" Ciela's words made Orina look stunned.
"My soft-spoken and weak sister.... is gone; it would seem I underestimated you and your lover..."
"That man... is not my lover. He will become my husband, my king and his name is Ryuji. He may not have married me yet, but we have already exchanged vows. A vow that cannot be broken even by a god!"
"A vow? What kind of vow?"
"A vow of death and life! As long as we exist, we will protect and care for the other, and the moment we both die, we will be reborn together once again, no matter where or when!"
This was something that Ciela got Serena to organise; of course, she didn't just ask for herself but the other women... Should they die, none of them would be reborn until all of them died, and then all of them would be reborn together within a year of each other and destined to rejoin each other no matter how long or hard it might seem to achieve.
"I will not tell you the details, but the very laws of the world bind us. No one will ever be able to separate us, and now that I have a piece of him, it means that my soul is bound to him. Can you see it, this thick red thread that connects to the calamity star? After I became his lover, his fate became mine, too!"
While Ciela spoke, Orina's face changed several times until it ended, and her eyes looked envious. "I am sure it will work for you to have such a beautiful thing waiting for you, my little sister... Our mother is sick and won't last long because our eldest sister's mother seeks to take the throne for our eldest sister. So, my only choice was to do her bidding or watch our mother suffer."
"If that is true, why not go to father? I know he would do anything to protect you."
"You know what will happen if I do that? The other factions will immediately suspect our father's involvement and target him and his mother. They will say he cannot manage his women, and recently, Father has been strange; he even accepted the demons in his bed!"
"Is that true? I recall the faction of our eldest sister has the support of our grandmother?"
"Yes, and let's not forget those knights. All of them serve our grandmother... Not to mention, the people I can trust are low... Those knights aren't to protect me but to report my mistakes and anything I might do that they can exploit..." Thanks to the magic that imitated Ryuji's charm and illusion to cause her sister Orina to enter a state of both hypnosis and a state where she cannot lie.
Ciela learned more than she used to care about back in her homeland.
'With this, does my dark skin matter? I must leave this kingdom and visit home... After the tournament, Ryuji asked me to leave with him. Maybe I will take his hand.'
"So, sister... How long has this been going on?"
"Your mother's health took a turn for the worst two months ago, and she is on her deathbed. Father is so grief-stricken and cannot concentrate on the affairs of the court. Delegations from the dwarf kingdom and beast kingdom came almost the day after as if waiting for this moment..."
"Orina, why did you really come here? Though you acted so violently, I know that's not your actual goal..."
The naked princess looked at Ciela and sighed, looking down at her body. "It's my fault that you are being married off... because I rejected the proposal of the human kingdom to continue our peace, so I used all my power and now. You are the one engaged to that bastard!"
Ciela slapped her sister's face, causing her cheek to swell as she looked down with tears.
"I did this to protect you... Our eldest sister has already begun planning your murder, and with this plot, you are nothing but a puppet that will be discarded the moment you marry; this is the only chance to stop the biggest sister from killing you all!"
"Did you not think that I would not notice this? I am not a fool, Orina, and even if I were, I would not be alone."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Why do you think I came here? It was to avoid that stupid struggle. However, now it affects my husband and so I cannot ignore it anymore."
"Husband... you are already married? What will you do when your mother finds out... He isn't even human but a demon!" Orina seemed to speak out of concern. However, Ciela just lifted her shirt to reveal the marking placed upon her abdomen by Ryuji.