No one knew about the Potimosino Village before the 17th day of 5th month, on the 801st year. Even the local nobles didn't.
On Church's year 801, the 17th day of 5th month, a heavy blow struck the Potimosino Village situated on the northwest border of Slovenia Kingdom. This resulted in more than 90,000 soldiers of Slovenian principal force being forced into the hilly areas around the village which were less than 10 kilometers squares wide.
In fact, the Slovenian Army within the border had already received news that the entire Titan invading troops were on the move beforehand. However, the decision of the court came too late. When the king finally decided to command his guarding army to fight the enemies, four columns of Titan Southern Army Group had already entered 39 kilometers into their national border. Yet, this was still not the greatest obstacle that the Slovenian Army Commander in Chief, Marshal Fernandy, had to face. This old Marshal worried the most about the indifference showed by that huge cavalry troop on the border of Narcissus county which appeared as if they did not intend to participate in this invasion.
The 90,000 Slovenian soldiers who were trapped near the village had no choice but to continue guarding it tenaciously as they waited for reinforcements because Titan did not give them a chance to break through. Several large-scale fights on the 17th had ended with heavy losses on the side of the Slovenian. In the next few days, the Southern Army Group only further perfected its encirclement and strengthened their defense in the valley of the hills as well as other key defensive points along the national highway in the south of the village.
When the news of the invading enemies spread through Saravenir, the capital of Slovenia, the entirety of the Tirana Dynasty fell into devastation. The emergency negotiators dispatched to the Titan Empire were stabbed to death on the road by the enemy's military intelligence secret agent whereas West Percy's unrivaled seagoing vessels kept their patrols on the sea. This showed that O'Neil Andrew Morisette did not leave any retreat route for the Tirana Royal Family. The Titan Prince was forcing a national leader to fight him to death.
However, Tirana XI His Majesty, the King of Slovenia, did not intend to infuriate the leader of the God-chosen warrior. He wrote to Figg Tibotty Andrew and the latter responded quickly. In the letter, Figg expressed support for Slovenia status as a legally sovereign monarchy. He also said that the actions taken by the Titan Imperial Guards were only a unilateral provocation by the Titan Empire against the freedom of religion policy in Slovenia.
Was he trying to say that... the Lighthouse Strategy had absolutely nothing to do with the Narcissus Knights?
Marshal Fernandy waved his fist at the childish king, "Your Majesty! Only ghosts will believe that this has nothing to do with the Narcissus! Don't forget that O'Neil Andrew Morisette was the leader of the Narcissus Knights, the spokesperson of Andrew. Even if he is not in the same boat as Marshal Figg, the Narcissus Knight still has to obey his order. Besides... the main reason why that massive cavalry army group has stayed still is due to the fact that we haven't deployed the kingdom imperial army yet!"
"Why do we have to deploy the kingdom imperial army?" the panic-stricken, confused, emaciated King of Slovenia looked questionably at his soldiers with swollen eyes, "The kingdom imperial army is my last capital. If we mobilize them to fight against Andrew, then... who will defend the capital, Saravenir?"
"More like who is going to defend you, hog!" Marshal Fernandy cursed in his heart. If he did not promise the late king to protect this timid and incompetent man in front of him, perhaps he would have stabbed a sword into Tirana XI His Majesty like those religious fanatics.
"Your Majesty! As you said earlier, we cannot mobilize the imperial army!" The old Marshal spoke in a cold and definite tone.
Tirana XI immediately looked relieved at the response, but this made the commander of the kingdom army despise him even more. The old Marshal cleared his throat. He was going to tell the king the reason behind him disagreeing was not for flattery, but for another fatal reason.
"Your Majesty! Once we have sent out the imperial army to assist the enemies under the encirclement, then the Narcissus cavalry army group will come in halfway through to sweep off our last troops!"
"To besiege and strike the relief force?" the king frowned. It was surprising that he even thought of this.
Marshal Fernandy nodded again. Although this trick was an old one, it was still practical.
If no aid was sent to the kingdom primary force under encirclement, then the time for the Kingdom of Slovenia to subside entirely would be held back by at least half a month; if the kingdom's imperial army was deployed to fight a deadly battle, the time for their fall would then be brought forward. Although this was not a dilemma, the concern was that neither results would be easy for the kingdom to accept. As a soldier, Marshal Fernandy did not even dare to look into the king's eyes.
The king's eyes told him that the Tirana Royal Family wanted to continue being a dictator away from the world's political vortex, but the Titans would never give up. Titan's national strength, military power along with the capability and boldness of the Narcissus Knights determined this point. It seems that Slovenia had no alternative but to accept the fate of being destroyed.
Regardless of how pessimistically the commander of imperial army looked at the war, the chaos in capital Saravenir intensified. The debate between both pro-war and pro-peace factions was becoming white-hot. In order to prove their own points, the nobles from both factions even started to raise their fists in front of the king. Tirana XI's weakness and mediocrity once again took place. He dared not allow himself to be overly fearful of the Titans, but he also dared not aggravate the nobles that were pro-war. As usual, he placed his hopes in his secretary of state currently situated in Titan. He hoped that treaty of national betrayal and humiliation would allow him to live a few years of peaceful life. However, in reality, he had long been looking forward to shedding this status as a king.
The people fleeing from the disaster filled the streets of Saravenir. Countless families Countless rushed to the nearest pier or the mountains and forests. Moving among them were nobles of prominent status and the secret agents of Titan Military Intelligence. High-sounding lies came out the formers' mouth as they defended their national betrayal with excuses; while the latter spread rumors and created false information to further confuse the citizens. They announced the Narcissus Knights has already entered the battlefield, and later claimed that the Titan Imperial Guards have defeated the enemy. The commoners were unable to tell the authenticity of the news, so to be safe they could only scramble to escape like marmots that encountered lynxes.
Some of them died on the road, some joined the gangs they met along the way, some were attracted by religious groups, and some fell into the unfriendly territory of the foreigners. In Church's Harvest Year, the time between the 5th and 6th month was the darkest period in the history of Slovenia. Even after this period of chaos, the local people only gained independence after about three centuries.
As the initiator of the Lighthouse Strategy, His Imperial Highness O'Neil Andrew Morisette was held up in Vielonna. He has a pending matter to be resolved, but he had completely no idea what to do.
Sasha E sensed that something wasn't right. The war was about to break out on the front lines, and her husband, who presided over it, all was sitting home in a daze. If necessary, Sasha wanted to console Oscar, but she did not even know what happened to her husband. How could she try talking about it?
The young and beautiful mistress of the Andrew House asked someone to bring Miss Trinity back from campus. Trinity was the happy pill of the Serevan Palace, she must have a way. Yet, even after Trinity had told him all the jokes in the world, Oscar still remained indifferent. It was as if he had lost all the nerves around his mouth.
Sasha, who was left with no choice, spread her hands at her husband, "Tell me! What else do you want me to do?"
The despondent prince of Titan pulled his lover into his embrace. He ran his fingers through his sister's hair and buried his whole face in it. Sasha immediately softened; she kissed her brother's forehead and encouraged him in soft whispers.
Oscar decided to keep his spirits up, as he did not want the people around to be in despair because of him. The Andrew mistress planned an outing for the afternoon of the same day. Vielonna town was famous for its numerous attractions, but a beautiful landscape like the 18 Bridges District was still a rare sight to be seen.
The 18 Bridges District in the southern city was produced after the flood of the year 652. The flood submerged this low area, and hence people dug tunnels to irrigate the water to Don River and soon enough eighteen bridges of different styles were established above the irrigation ditches. Not only these bridges were extremely sturdy, they were also the masterpieces of architectural art in Westland.
Oscar and Sasha traveled lightly as the Andrew mistress claimed that she was already tired of being accompanied by a large retinue. Oscar, who could not take her pestering any longer, had no choice but ordered Janin Sherman to dismiss the troops and traveled only with Paul, Black Devil, and Sandy who had just recovered from his severe injuries.
The landscape of the ancient city and the bustling life of ordinary people could no longer pique the interest of the Titan prince, but the easily-impressed Andrew mistress was excited by the rare excursion. She stared at the old ladies underneath the roof like an ignorant girl and hid behind his husband's arms when some daring men came up to flirt with her.
Although the Prince and his company dressed up like usual commoners, the texture of Sasha's outfit still attracted the attention of people. Even though Black Devil and Sandy's face were rather intimidating, the local riff-raff surrounded them as they turned into a dark alley and began waving short knives in front of them.
Oscar, whose mind was distracted, told Paul to throw a small bag of silver coins at the local rogues. The thugs who lived on the streets knew what they were worth and normally would not provoke the nobles. They should have dispersed after bragging about and uttered some threatening words, but the guy with a scar on his chest touched Sasha's exquisite faces with his dirty hands. Even before Oscar could process his anger, Devil Sandy, who could no longer suppress his rage, has already broken the other man's arm.
The miserable cries made the other rogues gather again. Oscar who could not be bothered about the nonsense just carefully wiped his wife's face with his handkerchief, as if something unusually filthy had stained her face.
With Paul stood in front and Shaw behind their back, Sandy used himself as a shield to protect his masters. The thugs spat out foul words and were about to rush forward to attack. Just then, a door on the dark alley was being opened, and a hunchbacked old woman stumbled out from behind.
"What's wrong this time?" the old woman squinted. Sasha only saw the other person's white eyes, but not her pupils.
Oscar pulled his wife closer as he examined this nosy old woman. The old woman looked at the homeless men on the left with her terrifying eyes. She licked her lips and spoke haltingly in a vague tone as she cursed at them.
"Do you want to leave deadlier bodies in front of my house?"
The local bullies and riff-raff seemed to be afraid of the old woman. After a moment of silence, they helped the wounded man into the alleyway. The blind old woman murmured something inaudible and turned to the queried Prince of Titan, "Come in for some tea? It's free!"
Oscar shook his head initially, but Sasha shook his arm as a gentle plead, and with that, the Imperial Prince quickly nodded. His wife then smiled in delight.
The old woman's residence was simple and humble. Oscar noticed that there was no window in the small room. The lower-class citizens set up a bed in such a shantytown, and sprawled on the bed lazily were the old woman's family. At first glance, one would have thought that there were as many as a dozen people. Oscar's attention swept by these lifeless faces. He saw the pain, greed, pressure of survival, and the young girl with a swollen belly...
"My God... is she any more than twelve years old?" Sasha also noticed a young pregnant girl. She and her husband whispered into each other's ears but the parents in the room turned when she drew the curtains.
The old woman glared at them with her empty, white eyes, "Noble young lady, don't expect a whore to give birth to golden eggs. We can only pray that the child will not be like its father."
Oscar and his wife retrieved their gaze from the young girl, and they followed the old woman into the room behind the curtain.
As soon as he entered the door, Oscar saw a massive valance and a square table covered in thick wool. In the center of the wool blanket laid a huge crystal ball. The Prince of Titan looked at the old woman in confusion. Based on the economic standards of this household, they should not have means to obtain such a gigantic rare, natural crystal ball.
The old woman sat at the square table and stretched out her hand toward the other side. Without having a reason, Oscar found himself following the old lady's instruction. Sasha accompanied her husband and inspected everything in front of her eyes.
"What are we doing?" Oscar's could not take his sight away from the crystal ball. He felt something unknown inside it that was deeply intriguing.
The old woman's eyes blinked a couple of times, and her dry and thin hands hovered around the crystal ball. Soon enough, the insides of the crystal ball began swirling up a whirlwind of eye-catching colors.
Oscar whispered to his wife, "I thought she just asked us to have a cup of tea."
"Shh..." Sasha made a silent gesture. The leader of Andrew House shrugged indifferently. He was uncertain why were they engaging in this incomprehensible thing, he really did not want to waste time here.
"Madam! Are you a psychic or fortune teller?"
His Highness the Prince did not receive an answer. The old woman focused on the color change in the crystal ball and occasionally scanned her eyes on the roof full of cobweb. Oscar finally got impatient after waiting a long while. He pulled Sasha up from the seat, and whispered to his wife, "I thought that the previous fights among the religious enemies had cleaned all these heresies!"
"Blood! Loads of blood..." the old woman suddenly screamed, and Oscar turned around in confusion. Yet, after a long wait, he was not getting any further comments. Prince of Titan shrugged nonchalantly and threw a golden Ti on the table.
"Madam! Tell us what else do you see?"
The old woman suddenly muttered a series of strange spells. The way Oscar heard it, this series of confusing words sounded like "abracadabra," but whatever it was, it was really stupid for him to be wasting his precious time here with a mad old lady! Oscar was so devastated that he had to tell off his wife who kept insisting.
"Ola Sasha, I think we should leave now!"
The old woman suddenly stretched out her arms and rays of blinding lights shone from within the crystal ball. Instinctively Oscar closed his eyes and extended his palms to block the light. When he opened his eyes again, what appeared in front was instead a spherical mirror image.
A gorgeous palace, gold-inlaid silver ivory bed, a young and beautiful mother has just given birth. In the arms of the maid was the newborn, and the room was full of people with delightful smiles on their face. Oscar tried to distinguish carefully, but he could not make out the face of the woman in labor until a man took the child away.
"William..." The Prince of Titan cried. He wanted to stop it, but he was blocked by a palace door and he found no way to cross. The anxious Oscar had to turn around to question the mother of the child. He knew that woman in bed was his Elizabeth. At this time, the spherical mirror suddenly flashed!
The magnificent palace disappeared and what replaced was a humble bedroom. The door to the bedroom was opened ajar, and a nun walked in with a cloth-wrapped package in her arms. She gently lifted the valance draped over the wooden bed and showed the crying little in her arms to the woman on the bed.
Oscar learned from his mistake, and he squinted to focus his sight… Finally, the woman's face appeared! However, this woman was not the adopted daughter of Prince of Titan, but Her Majesty the Queen of the Deiss Kingdom. Oscar was astonished, as he was not sure if the woman who was breastfeeding the child was Opareal Roulexberg. When the Prince of Titan was about to enter the picture, the scene suddenly became a chaos! Screaming, shouting, women crying, men mourning! Various intense sound fields repeatedly hit Oscar's eardrum, while unpredictable pictures flashed rapidly in front of his eyes. The Prince tried his best to figure out the scenes with his limited sense of perception and realized each frame was flooded with fresh, bright blood.
Finally, the fast-moving spherical mirror froze! Oscar panted and puffed, and he carefully examined the scene played in front of his eyes. This scene was unusually familiar to him. Golden bed curtains, white carpets, pictures painted on the ceilings, and glazed, tiled window sills. What was this all about! This was Sasha's bedroom in the Serevan Palace!
Oscar suddenly found himself now able to move, therefore he crept into the large bed, and then gently lifted the drape...
The overly frightened young Prince suddenly opened his eyes. He calmed down his mind, and then looked around him in panic. Sasha glanced back from the dressing table, "Oh... You're awake! Can you help me? My hair is stuck on the wooden comb!"
"Where am I?"
Sasha rolled her eyes in disdain, "Oscar, my dear! It was you who dragged me into the bedroom at noon. I don't have the habit of napping!" the young Andrew mistress suddenly glared at her husband shyly, "But... well, I'll let you off the hook this time!"
Oscar propped up himself and realized he was naked. Lingered on his body was the fragrance of his wife.
Sasha E went to the bedside and draped a thin cloth over her husband. Then, she sat down with her back facing him, "Help me out! It hurts so much!"
Oscar extended his arm mechanically, and carefully pulled out the wooden comb. The comb naturally carried a few blonde hairs of his wife. Sasha moaned in pain softly and she turned to hit her husband's arm. Oscar smiled, but he thought of the picture appeared in his dream... woman, child! Sasha's lower limbs were full of blood, as she stared at him with empty eyes.
Oscar pulled his wife into his arms tightly. Sasha looked at him strangely as the man vowed to her.
"I will not let anyone hurt you! No! Absolutely not!"
Sasha nodded, although still puzzled, and she smiled at the hickeys left on her husband's body, "Go wash that off! Go!"
Oscar left the bed, but instead of heading for the bathroom he went straight to the door.
The officer from Military Intelligence, who had waited outside the room for a long time, came forward immediately. Without any expression, Oscar shook his finger at Janin Sherman.
"Ola... I've had enough! Go and get that old man Glenn Alpré!"
No one knew about the Potimosino Village before the 17th day of 5th month, on the 801st year. Even the local nobles didn't.
On Church's year 801, the 17th day of 5th month, a heavy blow struck the Potimosino Village situated on the northwest border of Slovenia Kingdom. This resulted in more than 90,000 soldiers of Slovenian principal force being forced into the hilly areas around the village which were less than 10 kilometers squares wide.
In fact, the Slovenian Army within the border had already received news that the entire Titan invading troops were on the move beforehand. However, the decision of the court came too late. When the king finally decided to command his guarding army to fight the enemies, four columns of Titan Southern Army Group had already entered 39 kilometers into their national border. Yet, this was still not the greatest obstacle that the Slovenian Army Commander in Chief, Marshal Fernandy, had to face. This old Marshal worried the most about the indifference showed by that huge cavalry troop on the border of Narcissus county which appeared as if they did not intend to participate in this invasion.
The 90,000 Slovenian soldiers who were trapped near the village had no choice but to continue guarding it tenaciously as they waited for reinforcements because Titan did not give them a chance to break through. Several large-scale fights on the 17th had ended with heavy losses on the side of the Slovenian. In the next few days, the Southern Army Group only further perfected its encirclement and strengthened their defense in the valley of the hills as well as other key defensive points along the national highway in the south of the village.
When the news of the invading enemies spread through Saravenir, the capital of Slovenia, the entirety of the Tirana Dynasty fell into devastation. The emergency negotiators dispatched to the Titan Empire were stabbed to death on the road by the enemy's military intelligence secret agent whereas West Percy's unrivaled seagoing vessels kept their patrols on the sea. This showed that O'Neil Andrew Morisette did not leave any retreat route for the Tirana Royal Family. The Titan Prince was forcing a national leader to fight him to death.
However, Tirana XI His Majesty, the King of Slovenia, did not intend to infuriate the leader of the God-chosen warrior. He wrote to Figg Tibotty Andrew and the latter responded quickly. In the letter, Figg expressed support for Slovenia status as a legally sovereign monarchy. He also said that the actions taken by the Titan Imperial Guards were only a unilateral provocation by the Titan Empire against the freedom of religion policy in Slovenia.
Was he trying to say that... the Lighthouse Strategy had absolutely nothing to do with the Narcissus Knights?
Marshal Fernandy waved his fist at the childish king, "Your Majesty! Only ghosts will believe that this has nothing to do with the Narcissus! Don't forget that O'Neil Andrew Morisette was the leader of the Narcissus Knights, the spokesperson of Andrew. Even if he is not in the same boat as Marshal Figg, the Narcissus Knight still has to obey his order. Besides... the main reason why that massive cavalry army group has stayed still is due to the fact that we haven't deployed the kingdom imperial army yet!"
"Why do we have to deploy the kingdom imperial army?" the panic-stricken, confused, emaciated King of Slovenia looked questionably at his soldiers with swollen eyes, "The kingdom imperial army is my last capital. If we mobilize them to fight against Andrew, then... who will defend the capital, Saravenir?"
"More like who is going to defend you, hog!" Marshal Fernandy cursed in his heart. If he did not promise the late king to protect this timid and incompetent man in front of him, perhaps he would have stabbed a sword into Tirana XI His Majesty like those religious fanatics.
"Your Majesty! As you said earlier, we cannot mobilize the imperial army!" The old Marshal spoke in a cold and definite tone.
Tirana XI immediately looked relieved at the response, but this made the commander of the kingdom army despise him even more. The old Marshal cleared his throat. He was going to tell the king the reason behind him disagreeing was not for flattery, but for another fatal reason.
"Your Majesty! Once we have sent out the imperial army to assist the enemies under the encirclement, then the Narcissus cavalry army group will come in halfway through to sweep off our last troops!"
"To besiege and strike the relief force?" the king frowned. It was surprising that he even thought of this.
Marshal Fernandy nodded again. Although this trick was an old one, it was still practical.
If no aid was sent to the kingdom primary force under encirclement, then the time for the Kingdom of Slovenia to subside entirely would be held back by at least half a month; if the kingdom's imperial army was deployed to fight a deadly battle, the time for their fall would then be brought forward. Although this was not a dilemma, the concern was that neither results would be easy for the kingdom to accept. As a soldier, Marshal Fernandy did not even dare to look into the king's eyes.
The king's eyes told him that the Tirana Royal Family wanted to continue being a dictator away from the world's political vortex, but the Titans would never give up. Titan's national strength, military power along with the capability and boldness of the Narcissus Knights determined this point. It seems that Slovenia had no alternative but to accept the fate of being destroyed.
Regardless of how pessimistically the commander of imperial army looked at the war, the chaos in capital Saravenir intensified. The debate between both pro-war and pro-peace factions was becoming white-hot. In order to prove their own points, the nobles from both factions even started to raise their fists in front of the king. Tirana XI's weakness and mediocrity once again took place. He dared not allow himself to be overly fearful of the Titans, but he also dared not aggravate the nobles that were pro-war. As usual, he placed his hopes in his secretary of state currently situated in Titan. He hoped that treaty of national betrayal and humiliation would allow him to live a few years of peaceful life. However, in reality, he had long been looking forward to shedding this status as a king.
The people fleeing from the disaster filled the streets of Saravenir. Countless families Countless rushed to the nearest pier or the mountains and forests. Moving among them were nobles of prominent status and the secret agents of Titan Military Intelligence. High-sounding lies came out the formers' mouth as they defended their national betrayal with excuses; while the latter spread rumors and created false information to further confuse the citizens. They announced the Narcissus Knights has already entered the battlefield, and later claimed that the Titan Imperial Guards have defeated the enemy. The commoners were unable to tell the authenticity of the news, so to be safe they could only scramble to escape like marmots that encountered lynxes.
Some of them died on the road, some joined the gangs they met along the way, some were attracted by religious groups, and some fell into the unfriendly territory of the foreigners. In Church's Harvest Year, the time between the 5th and 6th month was the darkest period in the history of Slovenia. Even after this period of chaos, the local people only gained independence after about three centuries.
As the initiator of the Lighthouse Strategy, His Imperial Highness O'Neil Andrew Morisette was held up in Vielonna. He has a pending matter to be resolved, but he had completely no idea what to do.
Sasha E sensed that something wasn't right. The war was about to break out on the front lines, and her husband, who presided over it, all was sitting home in a daze. If necessary, Sasha wanted to console Oscar, but she did not even know what happened to her husband. How could she try talking about it?
The young and beautiful mistress of the Andrew House asked someone to bring Miss Trinity back from campus. Trinity was the happy pill of the Serevan Palace, she must have a way. Yet, even after Trinity had told him all the jokes in the world, Oscar still remained indifferent. It was as if he had lost all the nerves around his mouth.
Sasha, who was left with no choice, spread her hands at her husband, "Tell me! What else do you want me to do?"
The despondent prince of Titan pulled his lover into his embrace. He ran his fingers through his sister's hair and buried his whole face in it. Sasha immediately softened; she kissed her brother's forehead and encouraged him in soft whispers.
Oscar decided to keep his spirits up, as he did not want the people around to be in despair because of him. The Andrew mistress planned an outing for the afternoon of the same day. Vielonna town was famous for its numerous attractions, but a beautiful landscape like the 18 Bridges District was still a rare sight to be seen.
The 18 Bridges District in the southern city was produced after the flood of the year 652. The flood submerged this low area, and hence people dug tunnels to irrigate the water to Don River and soon enough eighteen bridges of different styles were established above the irrigation ditches. Not only these bridges were extremely sturdy, they were also the masterpieces of architectural art in Westland.
Oscar and Sasha traveled lightly as the Andrew mistress claimed that she was already tired of being accompanied by a large retinue. Oscar, who could not take her pestering any longer, had no choice but ordered Janin Sherman to dismiss the troops and traveled only with Paul, Black Devil, and Sandy who had just recovered from his severe injuries.
The landscape of the ancient city and the bustling life of ordinary people could no longer pique the interest of the Titan prince, but the easily-impressed Andrew mistress was excited by the rare excursion. She stared at the old ladies underneath the roof like an ignorant girl and hid behind his husband's arms when some daring men came up to flirt with her.
Although the Prince and his company dressed up like usual commoners, the texture of Sasha's outfit still attracted the attention of people. Even though Black Devil and Sandy's face were rather intimidating, the local riff-raff surrounded them as they turned into a dark alley and began waving short knives in front of them.
Oscar, whose mind was distracted, told Paul to throw a small bag of silver coins at the local rogues. The thugs who lived on the streets knew what they were worth and normally would not provoke the nobles. They should have dispersed after bragging about and uttered some threatening words, but the guy with a scar on his chest touched Sasha's exquisite faces with his dirty hands. Even before Oscar could process his anger, Devil Sandy, who could no longer suppress his rage, has already broken the other man's arm.
The miserable cries made the other rogues gather again. Oscar who could not be bothered about the nonsense just carefully wiped his wife's face with his handkerchief, as if something unusually filthy had stained her face.
With Paul stood in front and Shaw behind their back, Sandy used himself as a shield to protect his masters. The thugs spat out foul words and were about to rush forward to attack. Just then, a door on the dark alley was being opened, and a hunchbacked old woman stumbled out from behind.
"What's wrong this time?" the old woman squinted. Sasha only saw the other person's white eyes, but not her pupils.
Oscar pulled his wife closer as he examined this nosy old woman. The old woman looked at the homeless men on the left with her terrifying eyes. She licked her lips and spoke haltingly in a vague tone as she cursed at them.
"Do you want to leave deadlier bodies in front of my house?"
The local bullies and riff-raff seemed to be afraid of the old woman. After a moment of silence, they helped the wounded man into the alleyway. The blind old woman murmured something inaudible and turned to the queried Prince of Titan, "Come in for some tea? It's free!"
Oscar shook his head initially, but Sasha shook his arm as a gentle plead, and with that, the Imperial Prince quickly nodded. His wife then smiled in delight.
The old woman's residence was simple and humble. Oscar noticed that there was no window in the small room. The lower-class citizens set up a bed in such a shantytown, and sprawled on the bed lazily were the old woman's family. At first glance, one would have thought that there were as many as a dozen people. Oscar's attention swept by these lifeless faces. He saw the pain, greed, pressure of survival, and the young girl with a swollen belly...
"My God... is she any more than twelve years old?" Sasha also noticed a young pregnant girl. She and her husband whispered into each other's ears but the parents in the room turned when she drew the curtains.
The old woman glared at them with her empty, white eyes, "Noble young lady, don't expect a whore to give birth to golden eggs. We can only pray that the child will not be like its father."
Oscar and his wife retrieved their gaze from the young girl, and they followed the old woman into the room behind the curtain.
As soon as he entered the door, Oscar saw a massive valance and a square table covered in thick wool. In the center of the wool blanket laid a huge crystal ball. The Prince of Titan looked at the old woman in confusion. Based on the economic standards of this household, they should not have means to obtain such a gigantic rare, natural crystal ball.
The old woman sat at the square table and stretched out her hand toward the other side. Without having a reason, Oscar found himself following the old lady's instruction. Sasha accompanied her husband and inspected everything in front of her eyes.
"What are we doing?" Oscar's could not take his sight away from the crystal ball. He felt something unknown inside it that was deeply intriguing.
The old woman's eyes blinked a couple of times, and her dry and thin hands hovered around the crystal ball. Soon enough, the insides of the crystal ball began swirling up a whirlwind of eye-catching colors.
Oscar whispered to his wife, "I thought she just asked us to have a cup of tea."
"Shh..." Sasha made a silent gesture. The leader of Andrew House shrugged indifferently. He was uncertain why were they engaging in this incomprehensible thing, he really did not want to waste time here.
"Madam! Are you a psychic or fortune teller?"
His Highness the Prince did not receive an answer. The old woman focused on the color change in the crystal ball and occasionally scanned her eyes on the roof full of cobweb. Oscar finally got impatient after waiting a long while. He pulled Sasha up from the seat, and whispered to his wife, "I thought that the previous fights among the religious enemies had cleaned all these heresies!"
"Blood! Loads of blood..." the old woman suddenly screamed, and Oscar turned around in confusion. Yet, after a long wait, he was not getting any further comments. Prince of Titan shrugged nonchalantly and threw a golden Ti on the table.
"Madam! Tell us what else do you see?"
The old woman suddenly muttered a series of strange spells. The way Oscar heard it, this series of confusing words sounded like "abracadabra," but whatever it was, it was really stupid for him to be wasting his precious time here with a mad old lady! Oscar was so devastated that he had to tell off his wife who kept insisting.
"Ola Sasha, I think we should leave now!"
The old woman suddenly stretched out her arms and rays of blinding lights shone from within the crystal ball. Instinctively Oscar closed his eyes and extended his palms to block the light. When he opened his eyes again, what appeared in front was instead a spherical mirror image.
A gorgeous palace, gold-inlaid silver ivory bed, a young and beautiful mother has just given birth. In the arms of the maid was the newborn, and the room was full of people with delightful smiles on their face. Oscar tried to distinguish carefully, but he could not make out the face of the woman in labor until a man took the child away.
"William..." The Prince of Titan cried. He wanted to stop it, but he was blocked by a palace door and he found no way to cross. The anxious Oscar had to turn around to question the mother of the child. He knew that woman in bed was his Elizabeth. At this time, the spherical mirror suddenly flashed!
The magnificent palace disappeared and what replaced was a humble bedroom. The door to the bedroom was opened ajar, and a nun walked in with a cloth-wrapped package in her arms. She gently lifted the valance draped over the wooden bed and showed the crying little in her arms to the woman on the bed.
Oscar learned from his mistake, and he squinted to focus his sight… Finally, the woman's face appeared! However, this woman was not the adopted daughter of Prince of Titan, but Her Majesty the Queen of the Deiss Kingdom. Oscar was astonished, as he was not sure if the woman who was breastfeeding the child was Opareal Roulexberg. When the Prince of Titan was about to enter the picture, the scene suddenly became a chaos! Screaming, shouting, women crying, men mourning! Various intense sound fields repeatedly hit Oscar's eardrum, while unpredictable pictures flashed rapidly in front of his eyes. The Prince tried his best to figure out the scenes with his limited sense of perception and realized each frame was flooded with fresh, bright blood.
Finally, the fast-moving spherical mirror froze! Oscar panted and puffed, and he carefully examined the scene played in front of his eyes. This scene was unusually familiar to him. Golden bed curtains, white carpets, pictures painted on the ceilings, and glazed, tiled window sills. What was this all about! This was Sasha's bedroom in the Serevan Palace!
Oscar suddenly found himself now able to move, therefore he crept into the large bed, and then gently lifted the drape...
The overly frightened young Prince suddenly opened his eyes. He calmed down his mind, and then looked around him in panic. Sasha glanced back from the dressing table, "Oh... You're awake! Can you help me? My hair is stuck on the wooden comb!"
"Where am I?"
Sasha rolled her eyes in disdain, "Oscar, my dear! It was you who dragged me into the bedroom at noon. I don't have the habit of napping!" the young Andrew mistress suddenly glared at her husband shyly, "But... well, I'll let you off the hook this time!"
Oscar propped up himself and realized he was naked. Lingered on his body was the fragrance of his wife.
Sasha E went to the bedside and draped a thin cloth over her husband. Then, she sat down with her back facing him, "Help me out! It hurts so much!"
Oscar extended his arm mechanically, and carefully pulled out the wooden comb. The comb naturally carried a few blonde hairs of his wife. Sasha moaned in pain softly and she turned to hit her husband's arm. Oscar smiled, but he thought of the picture appeared in his dream... woman, child! Sasha's lower limbs were full of blood, as she stared at him with empty eyes.
Oscar pulled his wife into his arms tightly. Sasha looked at him strangely as the man vowed to her.
"I will not let anyone hurt you! No! Absolutely not!"
Sasha nodded, although still puzzled, and she smiled at the hickeys left on her husband's body, "Go wash that off! Go!"
Oscar left the bed, but instead of heading for the bathroom he went straight to the door.
The officer from Military Intelligence, who had waited outside the room for a long time, came forward immediately. Without any expression, Oscar shook his finger at Janin Sherman.
"Ola... I've had enough! Go and get that old man Glenn Alpré!"
