The Conquerors Path

’A scheme within a scheme’

I inwardly soaked in the delicate balance that was going on here, my gaze clashing with that of Silva’s. The trembling realization in her eyes showed the fact that, before Eleanara, she had indeed found the link that revealed the pattern. It was something she had suspected years ago but couldn’t bring in front of Eleanara without any proof.

I mean, Eleanara had done a fully in-depth investigation, and she didn’t find anything, while this was only a hunch of Silva’s. She didn’t want to bring it to light just because the implication of this situation would be too much. It would fracture everything, and Silva was too much of a coward to face that life.

So Silva buried it, locked it away, and lived the lie with Eleanara, she too bearing a sin she didn’t want to face.

’A lot of dirty drama here.’

I mused, the side of chaos that I inherited reveling in this information, my whole body trembling around at the desire for chaos all of this would cause. The side being quite the dirty duo, while the side of order seemed to want to find ways they could be useful with the creation of this chaos. The logical side where they could be used to further any ambitions I hold.

Controlling myself, I schooled my expression, my eyes meeting with that of Silva’s, who seemingly closed her eyes to take some deep breaths. And as her eyes closed, the eyes of Eleanara opened up, a certain eerie edge to them as she spoke.

"Silva, tell me you didn’t suspect it."

Eleanara commanded, the story becoming clear. The fact is that Silva does indeed come from a noble family that serves Eleanara’s family. But what is more cunning here is the fact that the meteoric rise the whole family had gone through many years ago wasn’t an immediate one after the death of Eleanara’s friends.

They weren’t that stupid. They bided their time and slowly rose with new innovations and discoveries that changed many views of the dwarven legacy. The whole noble family had a boost in power and status while gaining a lot of fame too.

I mean, it can be normal, right? Unfortunately, it’s not. In all the years since that incident, that noble family is the only one that has gone through such a humongous rise. It was a generational rise that has rarely been seen, and if you connect that to my words, the small cracks that existed will now slowly show themselves.

Eleanara was holding her emotions powerfully, but I could see a breaking point in her eyes. She didn’t want to believe it. She refused to accept it, but hearing the silence of Silva, the atmosphere only got to a dangerous boiling point. The betrayal hidden in that would be so heavy, Eleanara would never be able to handle it.

Silva opened her eyes, her gaze seemingly holding millions of unspoken words as she, stumbling around, muttered one word.

"Miss......"

The vulnerability in those words was all Eleanara needed as the whole room seemingly came alive—a crushing pressure of betrayal, rage, and sadness all coming into one, wanting to finish off this greatest humiliation of Eleanara’s life. But before her hesitation could vanish, I spoke.

"Wait, she doesn’t know anything."

I added, my words making Eleanara look at me, her eyes redder than any blood, her lips bitten so hard that blood was flowing from them. If I focused, I could see her blood vessels around her body popping, while small lines of blood started to leak from the ends of her gaze. Eleanara was at her breaking point, so getting her attention, I started to speak.

"Lady Silva didn’t know. She wasn’t part of anything. In fact, she is a victim just like you."

My words made Eleanara pause, she looking at me with those maddening eyes as I spoke.

"As you suspect, that family was indeed involved in this. They had gotten the information when Silva had boasted when young about her adventure to her mother, which went to her brother, who did the rest of the planning with the family."

My confirmation only hit harder into the heart of Eleanara, for these were people she knew, people she had spent time with, dwarves whom she thought she could trust. And now, the biggest betrayal had fallen upon Eleanara in ways she couldn’t even begin to place together, her mind cluttered and broken in ways she couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

"Miss, I-"

Silva wasn’t able to finish her words before she was thrown out of the room, leaving just me and Eleanara facing each other. I could grasp the deteriorating mental state of Eleanara, who, barely holding back a sense of reason, looked at me with some kind of gratitude as she spoke.

"Thank you for this information. I shall reward you for this, but now I need some rest."

I nodded my head at her words, understanding her situation as I stood up from the seat. Yet instead of walking towards the door, I quickly walked towards Eleanara, who, stunned by my quick movements, couldn’t react before I hugged her sitting form. Due to the height difference of me standing, her head ended up on my stomach, my hand slightly patting her smooth, silky hair. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

"It’s okay....you are not alone, and it was never from the beginning your fault."

I muttered, but I didn’t simply mutter it. When I spoke those words, the innocence of my aura wrapped around her. I also added the gentle energy of life, one that nourishes and makes you feel close to home. It was a subtle blend that I created, which relaxes your mind and makes you feel like you are not alone in the suffering of the world.

A bit like those feelings you get when you watch those feel-good movies which leave you with a certain warmth in your heart after watching. I made it something like that—an emotional stabilizer that would give the peace Eleanara wanted. Normally, just words wouldn’t do, but with magical stuff at your hands, not normal ways become quite normal.

So I held the head of Eleanara. In a certain sense, this would be a very disrespectful action, but for the current Eleanara, this is what she needs. Thus, the moment I did this, she reacted. She wanted to push me away, to stop such a blasphemous act, but the words I spoke paused her, and the atmosphere I gave relaxed her.

My hand flashing with that spell I used on Nathalia, which invokes a sense of nostalgia, flowed through me as I started to pat the back of her head—a soft, warm, gentle pat that seemed to understand all the pain and suffering she was going through. My hand moved through her silky hair, a certain roughness yet warmth in the action.

The nostalgia of warmth and loss filling her head, the certain spark of fulfilled happiness filling her heart, while the words I had in my mind flowed like smooth silk.

"I can’t even begin to know and understand the pain you are going through, but I know one thing: you are not alone in this. I might be just new to you, but I have learned a lot about you from your friends, and it goes to show how much of a great person you are. What happened to you isn’t your fault. It’s the world’s fault for messing with you like this. It’s the greed and suffering of the evil which inflicts such a dirty life. It is not your fault. You do not have to suffer. You do not deserve to suffer....."

Simple words filled with a lot of emotion can go a long way in showing an impressive change. And right now, Eleanara is at the weakest she has ever been, emotions of happiness having lowered her mental stability, to the emotions of betrayal now having destroyed it. All that is left is for me to fully seal the deal with certain paths I can show her.

’But what she will have for me won’t be love. It will be more of an instinctive, maternal need to protect this innocence.’

As I mused on that thought, the rough amount of everything I injected into Eleanara slowly started to take its place. First, it began with the trembling of Eleanara’s body, the tears she tried so hard to hide bursting forth with such power that they completely soaked my shirt. Her hands went forth to grab my shirt, clinging for dear life as her body trembled all around.

The pain, sadness, and depression in her mind kept hitting her in waves, forcing her to take action, forcing her to choose. As she seemingly lost herself to the subtle touches, Eleanara let herself be lost, she let herself feel, as the wailing of a lost woman filled my ears. For the first time in a long time, she was letting out all the emotions she had gone through.

And that was a lot.