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Chapter 17
“Elvira, I don’t care if you’re dead or alive–I just want you back. I’ll do whatever you ask, anything at all, just please come back to me, alright?”
“If you want freedom, I can take you out of the palace as often as you like. If you want status, the moment you return, you’ll be my only queen. If you want my love, I’ll make you my only priority in everything. And if you hate me for what I did in the past, you can punish me however you see fit.”
“I truly know I was wrong. As for Isabeau, she’s already paid a thousand times over. Please… come back to me…”
He pressed his forehead against the ice–cold coffin, his voice hoarse and choked with sobs.
For the first time, the proud and lofty king bowed his head.
But Elvira couldn’t see it at all.
No one knew how much time passed before Alistair finally calmed down.
He walked out like a soulless husk. Watching the servants hurry past him, he felt nothing but unbearable loneliness.
His heart was hollow and aching in waves.
He moved his lips and barely managed to squeeze out a raspy voice, “Reinvestigate everything that happened before Elvira’s death. Leave no detail out- report every single thing to me.”
“Prepare another summoning ritual tomorrow. If once isn’t enough, then do it twice, three times–as many times as it takes. We’re not stopping until we find Elvira.”
Everyone had witnessed his madness over the past days. When persuasion no longer worked, they could only follow his orders and dig deeper.
For a time, unease swept the entire palace. Anyone with information had to spill everything they knew.
Alistair flipped through petitions, his frustration mounting.
The wound on his chest had never healed. The skin split open again and again, festering into a mass of decayed flesh.
But he seemed numb to the pain. His brow didn’t even twitch.
In just half a month, he had clearly grown thinner.
Drawing blood from the heart every day wasn’t something just anyone could endure.
No matter how potent the tonics were, they couldn’t counter the illness brewing from the grief in his heart.
After finishing the reports, he painstakingly went over Elvira’s records from the past five years.
Several nights passed before he finally found a few subtle clues buried in the noise.
A year ago, Elvira had sustained only a minor injury, yet she used up a great deal of medicinal supplies.
Some maids even remembered that she had gotten up in the middle of the night to clean the courtyard–or perhaps she had buried something.
After that night, the flowers in the courtyard bloomed with unnatural brilliance.
And in the two weeks leading up to the fire, Elvira had sold off her jewelry and given gold coins to Silas.
If she had been planning to burn herself, why wait until that day?
She had plenty of chances before then–and that day wasn’t special in any way.
She sold her jewelry in advance, yet not all the money went to Silas. Why would someone preparing to die need so much wealth? She must have planned to escape.
“Someone must have helped her–and not just anyone, but someone highly skilled and powerful. Otherwise, how could they have slipped past all the palace guards and shadow assassins?”
“Very few people could accomplish that. If Elvira truly wanted to disappear, she would have to leave Asteria. Evading so many checkpoints and escape unscathed, her ally must have had extraordinary means to disguise her.”
“Find someone capable of investigating this. Anyone known for disguise and martial prowess would have left traces. Look for anyone with a reputation in these areas.”
Alistair turned to the shadow assassins hidden in the corner and spoke with calm authority.
After several days of relentless searching, he finally identified the most likely person who could have helped Elvira escape.
Chapter 17
