SHK CH 92 (Patreon)
Content
(A/N: Camelia in Arabian clothes will be a special chapter for the end of the volume. Gotta accelerate.)
---
After a rather exciting play with Camelia and a hot bath to wipe out all the stains on their bodies, Camelia indicated Sol to follow her toward the basement.
On their way, they stayed in relative silence.
This was something Camelia really appreciated with Sol.
Even though she loved Sol from the bottom of her heart and had some submissive and masochistic tendencies, this was only on the bed.
Outside of it, she was still the supreme daughter and the second-highest ranked human in the kingdom.
One of her greatest fears had been that Sol would disregard this identity of her and treat her as a slave outside of the bed. Worse, perhaps he would even lose all respect toward her and see her as a slut or something of the like. After all, no matter how mature he was, Sol was still a 15-year-old boy. Even though he was now an adult, he still lacked some experience.
Thankfully, her worries had been for naught. Sol always separated their sexual life and the important matter.
'Well, being treated as a slave by him would also have its charm.'
She idly wondered if she should convince him to try it for one day or two. Imaginating it made her lower half tremble. She was sure that she would become completely wet if this continued.
Filled with désillusion of Sol maltreating her, she brought him to the basement where the ritual she had been preparing for a few days was nearly complete.
Sol recognized this room easily. After all, this was here that Camelia did the ritual that nearly cost her life.
He shot a suspicious look at Camelia, "I swear that if it's another weird ritual that puts your life in danger, I will never talk to you again."
Camelia sweated inwardly because she felt the seriousness in his words. Clearly, he still hadn't really forgiven her last stunt.
Giving a strained smile, she reassured him, "Do not worry. This ritual is a little taxing but it does not put my life in danger."
"Okay, so now explain the situation."
Camelia sighed as she closed her eyes, she was thinking about everything she could say without incurring divine Wrath.
"Sol, you see, this world is filled with secrets. Some of them, even I and the other supreme daughter aren't privy to. For example, why are the souls of all kings so different from normal."
Sol's heart missed a beat.
"What do you mean?"
Giving him a motherly smile, Camelia continued, "Sol, you should already know that I can see souls. All souls have differences. Differences in shapes, in power, etc. But you see, all the souls I saw for as long as I could see were colorless. Well, all of them… expect three."
Looking at the silent Sol, she continued, "I guess I don't need to say who I am talking about. Your grandfather's soul was a decaying grey, your father was a calming blue, and your… your soul is simply the most beautiful I have ever seen. It's a deep golden color, shining like a blazing sun."
As she spoke about his soul, her face became flushed and her breath hurried.
"The moment I saw your soul, I fell in love with it at first sight."
For her, Sol's appearance wasn't even that important, nor was his age. She had lived half of her life in darkness because she was born blind. It was only after her awakening that she became able to see.
Of course, she wouldn't give herself to a man just because his soul was 'handsome'. It would be a rather shallow relationship.
Sol was rather lost at the moment. He had come asking for answers, forgetting that of them all, he was the one holding the greatest secret.
If he had to be honest, he had considered many times giving his identity as a reincarnator, but every time, he couldn't help but hesitate.
What if they stopped loving him after that?
What if they began to look at him in disgust?
Of course, he knew that he had nothing to be ashamed of.
He didn't take over the body of Sol Luxuria.
He was reincarnated and born as Sol Luxuria.
Still, fear and logic rarely went in pairs.
Camelia felt her heart break at the ashen expression of Sol, walking toward him, she hugged tightly,
"You do not have to say anything. Everyone has some deep secrets they do not wish to share. I am in no hurry to know your secret. Let's take our time, okay?"
Back then, she had already discussed with Blaze about the suspicious points about Mars. His weird soul aside, his weird knowledge that seemed to be shared by all previous kings or queens had also been something to note.
But like her now, Blaze hadn't really cared about what kind of secrets Mars could have been hiding. So why would she care about Sol's secrets?
All she needed to know was that she loved him and he loved her back. He had already proven that he was ready to give up everything for her. This was more than enough.
Sol could only let out a bitter laugh at her words of comfort. Lately, it has been him giving advice or placating people, seems like it was his turn now.
Still, her soft embrace really did calm him,
"I am alright now."
After assuring that he was really alright.
"Well, coming back to what I was saying, " She coughed a little,
"This world is filled with many secrets. Some of them I am not privy to, and some of them can only be known after you officially become a king or a supreme daughter. Trying to share those secrets without permission would result in excruciating pain as if someone or something was grasping your heart. If despite the pain we still try to share it, then you will find that the world itself has stopped, making you completely unable to share anything."
From her shiver, it was clear that she was speaking from personal experience.
"Writing is impossible, giving signs is impossible. The only one you can speak to about those secrets is another blessed of the same rank."
Camelia could only grit her teeth at those infuriating goddesses.
"I understand, but this wasn't what I was asking about."
"I know."
She sighed before continuing,
"In our initial plan, one of my goals in acting as if I lost my power was to find the possible traitors and take control of them. My second one was giving enough justification to Lilith so that she could eradicate dissidents of nobles.”
Sol nodded, as a royalty, even though they had the might, they couldn't just eliminate an entire noble family without enough reason. Otherwise, the other nobles would revolt in fear of being the next one on the list.
This was even more for Lilith since she was technically not the real queen of Lustburg.
Camelia smiled bitterly once again, "Well at least this was supposed to be the plan. Everything changed when Arachne met Lilith a few days ago and informed her about the deal she received."(AN: For those who forgot, this meeting was mentioned in Daily life of a maid)
She remembered how much she cursed when she heard about this wrench in their plans. It also forced them to bring forth another plan that they had prepared for many years.
"Sol, do you know about the Crimson lady?"
Sol's eyes changed, the Crimson lady, more known as the Mother of Chaos, she was the direct antithesis of the mother goddess of order.
"So those terrorists are the cause?"
Camelia expression was rather relaxed despite the grim news she shared,
"Indeed, the wings of freedom, those heretics, are the ones who tried to bring Arachne on their side. They should have already infiltrated deep in the kingdom. So we decided to use our initial purge as a bait. " She scoffed at the name.
The wings of freedom were a secret organization that preached the freedom of humans from the goddesses.
For them, a true goddess shouldn't play favorites by installing blessings or the like but should allow true and absolute freedom of choice and action.
If she had to be honest, their goal in itself wasn't bad. She knew that the goddesses weren't perfect and she thought that everyone was free to believe in what they wished.
But what she refused to accept were the means they used to attain their goals.
Corruption, manipulation, acts of terrorism. The mother goddess of chaos could be worshipped by any race and each of the main members knew they weren't just slightly weaker than the blessed.
"So, what is failsafe?"
Sol understood that the situation was far more dangerous than he initially thought.
Wiping out a noble family only required enough justification. But, if those terrorists had no regard for casualties and the damages to the surrounding. If they fought them in Lustburg, most likely than not, the entire capital might be razed to the ground.
But then,
"Something is weird, why did they never attack the capital before? Why would they attack now?"
Camelia began to laugh, "Sol, you see, the supreme daughter isn't just there to play cute. We are the last bastion of protection for our respective kingdom. Each of us can use a large-scale ritual and with the help of the nuns, erect a shield that can protect the whole capital from any external or internal threats."
This skill was called <<Holy territory>> and could stop anyone from entering the capital while weakening all enemies that were already inside.
This was one of the reasons why despite all those wars, the seven kingdoms still existed. The more powerful the supreme daughter was, the larger the holy territory.
Sol's eyes widened as understanding finally dawned upon him.
For the world, Camelia had lost her power. Not only that, there was no holy daughter to succeed her.
This means that in the minds of their enemies, the capital had lost its greatest protection and it was the most ideal time to strike.
Sol could only marvel at how insidious Camelia was.
At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder,
'If the holy territory is the trump card of the supreme daughter, what about the king?"
Thinking about this, the existence of a holy sword came to his mind.
'Mars's sword should still be with Lilith, right?'
(AN: The holy sword had been mentioned in CH 17. Anyway, as you can see this chapter is a very important milestone. Many information were given, and many of the previous hints were answered. I hope you liked this chapter.)