Sword of Salvation-Chapter 120: - Queen Marry and Her Entourage

MARIEL and the two women accompanying him spent the night in Nine Gods Tower.

Aside of wanting to confirm whether the two mages would return or not, Mariel also wanted to inspect the top floor of the tower in detail. Coincidentally, he was also interested in seeing the world from an altitude of 2,800 meters.

However, due to clouds obstructing the view, Mariel did not get a satisfying sight.

He could not see the entire Denland Kingdom as Selena had mentioned the other day. On the other hand, he managed to discover information about the tower and its origins. That made the day not too bad.

Based on the engravings he found, the Nine Gods Tower was not as special as its name suggested.

The nine deity statues at the top of the tower were merely tributes to the nine wizards who had helped build the 2,800-meter-high tower. If there was anything special about the tower, it was only its height and the panorama that could be seen from there.

And until morning came, the two mages did not appear.

Mariel then decided to end their activities in the tower. He, Julia, and Sean returned to the village to inform the village chief that the problem had been resolved. The fishermen could go back to the sea without fear; the villagers could also resume their activities without worry.

Mariel, Julia, and Sean were asked to stay until the next day so that the villagers could offer them a proper feast. However, Mariel refused the request and immediately took his leave. Staying longer would expose Julia’s identity. More than that, Mariel also needed to take control of the underworld run by criminals and corrupt nobles.

Unlike when they had left, they did not return by horse-drawn carriage. Mariel’s dimensional portal had transported the three of them directly to the an inn’s room. He had deliberately opened the portal in his room because he wanted to rest before claiming his payment and visiting the criminal bosses.

However, Julia was reluctant to leave—she sat down in a chair and made herself comfortable.

"You can go straight to sleep, Mariel," Julia said, ignoring Mariel’s sharp gaze. "You are not a woman. There is nothing for you to worry about. Neither Sean nor I will do anything inappropriate."

Mariel instinctively looked at Sean, who was leaning against the open window, but the woman only nodded in support of the princess. As expected from a professional mage. No matter how bad their client’s actions might have been, she would still take their side.

Of course, Mariel had no evidence to conclude that Julia had bad intentions toward him. That would also have contradicted the princess’s character. However, Mariel could not ignore the possibility. If his previous assumption—that Julia had wanted to avoid a forced marriage—was true, she might have tried to use him.

Considering Stewart’s words that he would be forced to marry the choice of Norwean Palace Council if Athenia rejected his proposal, it would not have been surprising if the same had applied to Julia. Because of that, Stewart was most likely aware of what Julia was planning as well. If that were true...

"You still haven’t explained your reason for staying," Mariel stated, his eyes refocusing on the princess. "This is just my assumption, but is Stewart coming soon? You two weren’t working together to trap me, were you? Or worse, have you been planning this since we were still in Eolamoza?"

If he had thought about it carefully, the possibility was not too surprising. It might have been for that reason that Sean had teleported him to the rooftop of this inn. Stewart had wanted to bind him to the Kingdom of Denland through marriage with Julia. This had been the final goal of the plan.

"Uh-uh...."

Julia’s reaction automatically confirmed Mariel’s assumption. But it was still unclear whether this was solely to avoid Julia’s forced marriage or to bind Mariel to Denland—or perhaps both. Either way, the essence remained the same.

"...Do you feel guilty?" the young man asked as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"A little," Julia admitted honestly. "But I was the one who proposed this idea," she quickly added. "Before we left for Moskvallha, Norwean Palace Council had made it clear that I have to marry one of the nobles if Moskvallha chose Brother Stewart. I don’t want to marry a man who is two or three times older than me. But that isn’t the main goal."

"What is the main goal?"

"I want you to be part of Denland Kingdom. Brother Stewart agreed. No matter how much Empress Athenia was involved, we knew that you had played the biggest role in Moskvallha’s defeat. Brother Stewart also assumed that you were the one who had defeated the necromancer he had fought. You are an extraordinary individual, Mariel."

Both of Mariel’s assumptions were correct.

"Regarding your initial reason, I have a question," Mariel said after a dozen seconds. "Why did you have to obey Norwean Palace Council? Stewart will become king, and even then, he is the one running the government; he has enough power to make absolute decisions, doesn’t he?"

"For external affairs and the kingdom’s security, Brother Stewart has absolute authority. However, that does not apply within the kingdom’s internal matters. Internally, Norwean Palace Council hold absolute power. They make the rules, and the king or regent only carries out the decisions they made. This system has been implemented nearly two centuries ago to prevent a dictatorial government."

"That’s a difficult situation."

Julia nodded in agreement. "Some have tried to change our system," she explained, "but it ended in civil war. The king’s side decided to withdraw their plans, and he was dethroned and replaced by his son. We will never do the same."

"You could gradually orchestrate the deaths of council members and replace some of them with people truly loyal to the king. You’d only need to guide them into making rules that grant personal freedom to the royal family. I don’t think that would be too difficult." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"You—"

Julia’s words were cut short. A sudden knock on the door caught her attention. Sean immediately rushed to open it. However, before Mariel could see who had arrived, Sean stepped out and closed the door again. In the rather spacious inn room, only Mariel and Julia remained.

"That isn’t Stewart."

Mariel did not possess detection techniques like Celinee, but at close range, he could sense other people’s prana. His control over prana was at a level where he could measure another person’s prana up close. The person Sean had met had a smaller prana than Stewart.

"Seems so," Julia responded. "But back to our discussion, Mariel, we don’t have anyone capable of doing that without being noticed. What you suggested has already happened in a previous era. All council members are heavily guarded—they’re paranoid people. That’s why, if Stewart catches us sleeping together, it would mean I’ve broken palace rules, and my status as a princess would be revoked."

"I haven’t turned sixteen yet. If you fabricate sleeping with me and I reveal my age, your punishment would be much worse. You might end up imprisoned."

"You have no proof."

"That’s true, I have no proof." Mariel nodded, then smirked slightly. "I could just tell the council it was all staged. Do you think they wouldn’t believe me if I said you paid me?"

"...Mariel, this isn’t just about that, you know? Palace rules would demand that you marry me. You should feel lucky. What’s wrong with me that you’d refuse?" With that question, Julia stood up and approached Mariel. "The only advantage C has is strength, but as a woman, I am clearly superior."

"Er... C is cuter and has a more interesting personality?"

The moment Mariel said that, Julia forcefully pushed his shoulders. The shove made Mariel fall backward. Before he could blink, Julia was already straddling him, gripping both his wrists tightly.

"Did you just imply that I’m not cute? That my personality isn’t interesting?"

She asked in a flat tone with a cold gaze. Mariel hadn’t expected Julia to react this way. But this proved that women were indeed hard to understand. Even the kindest and most fragile-looking woman could turn into a fierce lioness in certain situations. Interesting. Very interesting. Mariel wanted to learn more about women.

"...What would you do if I said ’yes’?"

A provocative and challenging question. Mariel wanted to see how the princess would respond. However, the situation was not in his favor. Before Julia could reply, the door opened again, and Sean stepped inside. Mariel and Julia immediately turned their attention to the mage.

"What are you doing, Lady Julia?" Sean asked.

"I wasn’t doing anything, just teaching Mariel a little lesson. But that’s not important. Who was that? Why didn’t that person come in?"

"A messenger from Prince Stewart. He said there’s a change of plans. You no longer need to proceed with the original plan. Queen Marryphimia spoke with Norwean Palace Council two days ago. And yesterday, they created new regulations, one of which states they no longer have the authority to force the royal family."

It wasn’t just Julia who was surprised by Sean’s words. Mariel was too. Marryphimia Pendragon was the new ruler of Great Kingdom of Camelot. She should have been busy with matters in her own kingdom. What was that woman doing in this land? And more importantly, why did the council obey her?

"Explain in detail," Julia ordered as she stopped straddling Mariel and got off the bed. "Tell me everything from the beginning."

And so, Sean recounted all the information she had received.

Mariel listened to Sean’s monologue silently. From what he heard, Marryphimia Pendragon had arrived in Norwea three days ago. She met with Stewart and had dinner with the king and queen. The next day, she met with the Palace Council. And from there, events unfolded just as Sean had explained earlier.

"Mariel, consider yourself lucky today. Next time, no one will protect you from me."

Right after saying that, Julia took Sean and left, leaving Mariel alone to process the words she had just thrown at him.