RLAAQ - Chapter 3 <She is Like a Witch>

Refuse Love as a Queen

In that instant, the Queen quickly disappeared behind the protection of the shield and armor.

Heinrich's expressions changed in the firelight, regret and vague relief alternated. Finally, he put down the gun.

People from other families finally arrived.

"What happened?"

"Dalton rebelled, and the Queen fled."

Heinrich replied succinctly.

Curses and abusive words erupted in the crowd, and a cloud of unhappiness and tension hung over everyone's faces. Things are slipping out of control.

***

"It's a pity I couldn't witness it with my own eyes."

Dalton said happily when he escorted her into the Day Palace.

"Their expression must be wonderful."

"They will try their best to restore the situation, Sir."

Adele reminded him.

"So, I need you to work hard again."

Dalton gentlemanly opened the door for the Queen.

"You don't mind writing a document right away, Your Majesty?"

What Dalton asked the Queen to draft was the appointment.

Letter of the Marshal of the Empire.

In the letter of appointment, Dalton was granted the power to 'form and hire troops on his own in times of crisis to protect the safety of the Queen and the Roland Empire.' This power enables Dalton's mercenaries to participate in the war for justifiable reasons and will not make him bear the infamy of 'traitor.'

"My head maid is safe and sound, isn't she?"

Adele wrote fluently while looking up at Dalton.

Dalton pressed one hand on the table and leaned over to watch the Queen write. Her skin was so white that it gleamed under the candle, and a chain studded with pearls accentuated the slenderness of her wrist bones. But the words written by the quill pen she holds are not as soft as ordinary ladies used, the elegant italic characters are sharp.

"Yes, you will see her soon."

Dalton promised.

Only then did Adele sign her name, and then affix the seal symbolizing her and the Empire.

"Then, I need to rest."

Adele issued the eviction order.

"I wish you a sweet dream."

Dalton retreaded gracefully and closed the door for the Queen.

As expected, Adele heard the sound of the door being locked from the outside. In a small matter, Dalton did not break his word.

A few days later, the Queen saw her headmaid. Seeing her hostess again, Kelly knelt down in front of the Queen, kissed her hand again and again, and could hardly speak.

Adele stretched out her hand to pull her up.

"Kelly, why are you more emaciated than me, the hapless imprisoned man?"

Kelly's eyes were red, and she was full of grief and anger. Adele is the most tolerant and just monarch she has ever seen in her life, in this era of ruthless Kings, Adele tried her best to gradually put a precarious empire on the right track. But what does she get in return?

Gossip attacks, vicious murders, despicable betrayals...

Just because she is a woman!

Seeing the red-rimmed eyes of the maid who always reminded her of etiquette with a straight face, Adele kissed her on the cheek.

"Good things and bad things always come hand in hand, Kelly. Don't be sad. What's going on out there?"

"In less than the Queen's time, she still tried her best to find information for the Queen."

"The mercenaries can only land from one port. The rebels have blocked most of the ports, and they are also gathering troops. But don't worry. Sir Dalton's military command ability is very outstanding, we can last until the mercenaries arrive."

"That's not what I'm worried about."

Adele shook her head.

She opened the dressing table, took out a simple map, and spread it out. Who would have thought that a Queen would carry a map instead of jewels?

"Our neighbors are all wolves. The Empire is facing each other with swords in their hearts, and they are probably jumping for joy. When Dalton's mercenaries and noble's knights are both defeated, they should show their fangs and tear Roland into pieces."

Her pale fingertips slid on the map, pointing out several countries that were about to move for Kelly to see.

In her memory, after her death, these countries took advantage of Roland's battle for the throne to invade massively. At that time, the nobles cheated each other, and the Old Gods and New Gods were slaughtered bloody. Thirty years of chaos arose from this, and the empire was in turmoil. This world is like hell.

"The turmoil cannot lead to further wars."

Adele straightened up.

"We must make peace with the rebels."

"You want to forgive a group of thugs who tried to murder you?"

Kelly was shocked and jumped up on the ground.

"They failed to kill me before, and then they couldn't kill me again."

Adele's tone becomes severe.

"However, without the people, I will have nothing."

In June 1557, a sudden drought caused turmoil.

Adele is busy dealing with drought. Other countries took the opportunity to preach that 'women governing violates God's will and brings disaster,' which gave the United Church of the Nobles the opportunity to launch a coup. In this coup, she would have been deprived of everything.

"But...but..."

Kelly couldn't find a reason to object to the Queen, and finally, she could only say.

"If Dalton finds out, he will kill you!"

Everyone knows the cruelty of that man.

"Natural disasters, man-made disasters, how long can our people endure the ravages of war?"

Adele's voice softened.

"It is Dalton, not the Empire, who will never die with the noble."

The light of the chandelier fell on her determined face. Kelly knelt down slowly and put her hands on her knees. Those Kinds, those enemies, they all compared Adele to Salome who killed the prophet, saying that her appearance is sin and desire. But in Kelly's view, if Maria really exists in the world, there is no other choice but her master.

"Who do you want to contact? Give me a letter, and even if my head is cut off, I will hand it over to that person."

"Heinrich."

The Queen mentioned the name. The tone was eerily calm.

"There will be someone who will deliver the letter for me, but it will never be you."

Before Kelly wanted to speak again, the Queen put her finger on her lips.

"Don't make me lose my last credible person, Kelly."

***

The Day Palace is built towering into the sky, and the lush gardens and orchards make it look like a fairy tale. Apart from the towers with their gilded weather vanes, the Palace of Days also has an exquisite royal chapel half hidden among the lush roses. Dalton didn't intend to break face with the Queen, so Adele, who was under house arrest, barely had some 'freedom.'

The Queen kneels in the confessional. She changed into a long black dress, and the praying figure was so thin that it seemed to be cut-out paper.

The Archbishop sitting behind the small window was expressionless.

He could be said to be the youngest Archbishop in the entire Roland Empire. Before graduating from the seminary, the professors predicted that he would go further on the spiritual path than anyone else. Despite this, it is difficult for people to get close to him. 

Although he is handsome, he is too serious. Under the eagle-winged brow bones are steel-blue eyes, the line of the lips is always drawn straight, and the eyes are so sharp that they can cut into people's hearts and see through all obscurities.

He is more like a judge than a savior.

This is why Dalton doesn't mind the Queen's religious routine. The Bishop of the Royal Church of the Day Palace is a devout Old God.

The Old Gods and the Queen are at odds.

"I repent my sins to God. I am the daughter of two Kings, the King of Roland, and I am responsible for the fate of this country. All the misfortunes and sufferings it has encountered are my fault."

A woman's voice echoes in the quiet confessional room, because of the special echo structure of the room, it becomes vaguely ethereal.

The Archbishop sat impassively, saying nothing.

People confess to the priest in order to get forgiveness from the priest and thus gain salvation. Yet Adele Roland will never get forgiveness from him, she's a damned woman, she's a Protestant, and she's openly proclaimed that ' all faiths are the same, just in different ways'. 

"Ask God for forgiveness."

This is heresy, the unforgivable sin.

"Every Rolandian in exile, every Rolandian who dies of hunger and war... I shouldn't bear their suffering..."

Adele's voice gradually dropped.

When the Archbishop was about to read scriptures silently to ignore her, the Queen's voice suddenly disappeared completely, followed by a low muffled sound.

He subconsciously looked up through the window. The Queen fainted on the cold stone surface, her chest barely rising and falling.

With just one glance, he immediately stood up.

Those who can become Archbishop in the empire must have a certain political sense in addition to piety. The Archbishop almost instantly thought of what kind of disaster would be brought to him, to the Old Gods Sect, and to the current situation if something happened to the Queen here. Heresy to hell!

With a livid face, he quickly walked out of the secret room and came to the Queen.

The black skirt made the Queen's face paler, her forehead was cold, and her breathing was so low that the Archbishop could barely feel it. Is Dalton so stupid that he abused his trump card? Although, if given the chance, the Archbishop would be happy to personally send the Heretic Queen to the stake, but not now.

The Queen didn't bring her maid, and the doctor in the castle couldn't call for a while. The Archbishop had to untie the Queen's blouse with his own hands so that she could breathe air as easily as possible. Just when he lowered his head to find the smelling salts from the inside of his robe, Adele, who was supposed to faint, suddenly opened her eyes.

She raised her hand, wrapped her arms around the Archbishop's neck, and exerted a sudden force.

Before the Archbishop could understand what was going on, he was pulled and fell to the ground, and the person who was unconscious turned over on top of him.

A net of softness and fragrance envelops him, and silk hair falls to his face.

"What are you going to do, Heresy?"

His voice was as cold and hard as stone. His pupils are imprinted with the Virgin Mary and the witch Lilith.

Adele propped up half of her body and let her dress slip off. Her upper body is almost exposed, and the light falling from the only small hole in the dome envelopes her, covering her face, shoulders, and chest from the tips of her hair. Her curves are cast in shadow and golden brilliance. Here, everyone who witnessed this scene should prostrate themselves on the ground, from this sacred, promiscuous, brilliant, and eternal beauty.

At this moment, even an ascetic monk with a heart of stone should bow down under her feet.

Adele pressed her palm on the pious Archbishop's chest, and the faster heartbeat under the monk's cloak let her know that she had won the initial battle.

Dalton let her run freely in the castle because he thought she was unarmed.

But she has made herself the sharpest and deadliest knife, and her beauty will slice open the breast of her enemies and slit their throats.

"I want you to save me. Not for me, but for Roland, and for all brothers and sisters who shouldn't kill each other."

Her voice echoed in the quiet room, as if God sent a will, whispering like a demon.

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