Cloud Thinking

Kenleka is home to a large number of immigrants from the Southern Continent, and the local customs are gradually moving closer to those of the Southern Continent. Helia has been following Ansel around these days to experience the local customs and culture, which can be regarded as advance preparation for the subsequent trip to the Southern Continent.

"I asked them to write down everything they knew."

Ansel handed Helia a stack of sealed letters, which contained the information obtained from the interrogation of the five pagans.

"Don't worry, besides them, you are the only one who knows what's going on."

He guessed that the information these pagans held was related to the secret of Helia's life experience, so he very considerately preserved their hands and ensured that they could write.

He did not let the group dictate the information orally, but instead recorded it in written form, and he personally supervised it to ensure that no one else knew the secret.

Even Ansel himself didn't read it, because he knew that if Helia wanted to say it, she would tell him in person.

Helia was a little surprised by Ansel's thoughtfulness. After opening the envelope, she took a quick look and found that it was pretty much the same as she knew.

It’s just that as participants back then, they knew more details, which was more or less helpful in restoring the truth.

What Helia had been wondering about before, how Camelin occupied her sister Meilin's body, was also explained here -

It was the work of Cardinal Tarod on Wednesday.

Although he had been planning everything at the Duru Orphanage since Helia was not yet born, he would occasionally take on some private jobs to supplement the family income, and Camelin was one of those private jobs he took on.

How to say it, Helia felt like laughing for some reason when she saw this.

The pagan and the archbishop of the cult, two guys who almost changed her life, actually had a connection with each other by accident...?

Is this fate in some sense?

Fortunately, the two groups did not reach a consensus on persecuting her, otherwise it would not be so easy for her to survive from these psychopaths.

As for the fact that Cameline later changed into Merlin's body and got together with Helia again, it was just Cameline's own idea.

Just as she saw in the other party's memory fragments, in order to take revenge, he came to her with the power of the Hoffman family and the pagans.

But I didn't expect that I would fall into Helia's hands.

Revenge, and loneliness again.

The stone castle she saw in the memory fragments was actually the residence of the Fitros family. It seemed that after they were wiped out, the survivors really returned to the original place and continued to live there.

And the silver-haired old man was the old man who had been trying to negotiate with her before.

However, time was not kind to him. It not only destroyed his body, but also eroded his will.

He was not a believer favored by the Lord. For a long time, he had been living in extreme madness and deep guilt. He was already close to the brink of insanity.

From the beginning to the end, he was just an insignificant chess piece in the hands of the god he believed in, a fairly handy tool but never a living person.

It's pitiful, sad, but also hateful.

After reading it, Helia sighed, summoned flames to burn the paper, and blew gently to blow away the ashes in her hands.

"Send them on their way." She said without any sadness or joy.

"Yeah." Ansel noticed that Helia was a little depressed, so he responded without saying anything else. He just stood quietly by her side.

"Ansel, do you think I'm cruel and heartless?" Helia asked suddenly.

Ansel thought for a moment and replied, "I never care whether the blood on my hands is innocent or not. I only care whether it is valuable to me."

"So they all call me the bloody lord and the tyrant, saying that I am cold-blooded, cruel and merciless."

"In my opinion, what you are doing now is just an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This is revenge, not killing for no reason. How can it be considered cruel and ruthless?"

Yes, what Helia is doing now is nothing compared to what Ansel has done.

As long as she is not that extreme, she seems to be able to accept herself as she is.

It’s like taking an exam. As long as you are not the last, you can comfort yourself in your heart that you are still doing well. After all, there are people who are worse than you.

Helia was comforted, and asked again: "Won't you have nightmares at night? Aren't you afraid that they will turn into ghosts to avenge you?"

Ansel saw the innocence and kindness beneath Helia's disguise. He was a little surprised, but not disgusted. Instead, he found these contradictory points in Helia very cute.

He raised an eyebrow and replied half-jokingly: "What's there to be afraid of? If I really deserve to die, I will die naturally when the time comes."

He spread his hands, snorted and laughed, and continued: "But I am living a good life now, I have enough food to eat and warm clothes to wear, I sleep well every night, and I don't have any dreams."

"Look at it more positively. Don't always think about how many people died because of you, or died in your hands. Look at those who live because of you. They are more worthy of your concern and worry."

Ansel is indeed a tyrant, cruel and brutal.

But under his leadership, people in many places escaped from the war-torn environment and chaotic life, and lived a stable life with enough food and warm clothing.

He suppressed the rest of the violence with greater violence and used violence to establish order. This was his failure and also his achievement.

The same is true for Claude.

He massacred the royal family, killed his own relatives with his own hands, and then turned his butcher knife to the nobles and all the restless factors that were not conducive to the empire.

His rule was based on bloody violence.

Helia felt much better and stopped dwelling on it. She took a long walk in the city with Ansel.

When the residents of Kenleka saw Ansel, most of them were in awe, a few were so frightened that they quickly hid away, but there were also a few who looked at him with gratitude, respect, or admiration.

Some brave ones would even offer the things they sold at their stalls and invite Ansel to taste them.

A young boy trotted over to Ansel, holding a bunch of crystal clear and plump grapes, and presented them to him enthusiastically.

Seeing Helia beside him, he was really curious, so he boldly said this.

"Master Chief, may I ask if this young lady is our future chief's wife?"

Helia caught a glimpse of Ansel's secretly happy smile, then cast her gaze on the curious face of the young man and smiled helplessly.

She bent down and pointed at her eyes and hair. "Did you see my eye and hair color? Didn't you recognize who I am?"

The boy raised his hand and rubbed his nose, shyly avoiding gazes, but was uncontrollably attracted by the face that could be compared to that of a goddess of beauty.

A faint blush appeared on his wheat-colored skin, his cheeks were hot, and he felt like his head was about to steam.

"Should I know you?"

Helia was a little surprised. Ian Hill didn't recognize her before, that was just pretending.

But the young boy in front of him really didn’t seem to know him. But how could someone be so uninformed that he didn’t even know what the imperial princess looked like?

"Yeah! Xiaoka." Ansel cleared his throat, pointed to Helia beside him, and introduced: "This is Her Royal Highness the Princess of the Empire. Don't be rude."

The boy named Xiaoka's eyes suddenly widened, and he was about to kneel down and kowtow to Helia in fear, but was stopped by Helia.

"Yes... I'm sorry... I didn't know... I didn't know you were Her Royal Highness the Princess... Please forgive me..." Xiao Ka was so scared that he stuttered.

But Helia found it a little strange. He was not afraid of Ansel, the notorious tyrant, and dared to take the initiative to show goodwill to him, but why was he afraid of a princess whom he didn't even know?

But Xiao Ka was so afraid of her that she was afraid she wouldn't be able to get anything out of him.

So she cast a puzzled look at Ansel, hoping that he would find a chance to ask the child.

Ansel took the boy from Helia, squatted down to look him in the eye, and said unexpectedly patiently: "Xiao Ka, do you remember the story of the dragon-slaying hero I told you before?"

"Her Highness Princess Helia is the famous dragon-slaying hero throughout the empire~"

"He single-handedly killed the Flame Dragon and stopped the invasion of the Warcraft army. He is truly a Dragon Knight and Dragon Slayer Hero~"

The young man, who had been shrinking in fear, suddenly raised his head and looked at Helia, his eyes shining, unable to hide his surprise.

Helia smiled, feeling a little embarrassed for some reason, "Why are you still telling the children my story?"

After she finished speaking, she realized something was a little strange. Why did they feel like an old married couple?

"It's something that everyone in the empire knows. Even if I don't tell them, they will listen to others." Ansel was obviously delighted by Helia's words. "The children really like your story."

Xiao Ka was curious but also a little scared, which was very conflicting, but curiosity prevailed in the end.

"Your Highness... have you really fought against the legendary dragon?"

The boy tilted his head and looked at her longingly. There seemed to be stars in his light brown eyes. Helia really couldn't refuse.

"Well, that fire dragon is really, really big. It can destroy half of the town with one claw. It's really scary." Helia even stretched out her hand to describe the size of the fire dragon.

"Its scales are very hard, and ordinary swords and knives cannot hurt it at all. Its wings are also very large, and a slight flap of its wings can create a hurricane."

"Its claws are even sharper. If you get hit by it, all the bones in your body will be broken, or even torn into pieces on the spot!"

Seeing that the boy's face turned pale with fear, Helia put away her playful intentions and stopped trying to scare him.

"But no matter how powerful it was, didn't it still fall into my hands in the end?"

"I first climbed onto the fire dragon's head and blinded its eyes with a knife, then tied its body with chains so that it could no longer fly."

"Finally, I found the Flame Dragon's reverse scale, cut it open from that spot, and dug out the dragon's heart..."

"Woooaaaaaaaaaaah!" Before Helia could finish her sentence, the young man was so scared that he screamed and turned around and ran away.

Helia:?

Isn’t it said that this kid likes to listen to stories about slaying dragons? She was an eyewitness and her account was much more detailed than the rumors. Why did he cry after listening to it?

Ansel tried to hold back his laughter, but staring at Helia's puzzled face, he finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Hahahahahaha! Aya! You really can't tell a story!"

Helia glared at him unhappily. Seeing him laughing so wildly, she couldn't help but stepped on him hard, causing him to sit on the ground in pain.

"Ouch, ouch! It hurts! Aya, it hurts!" He hugged his feet with a look of pain, and his laughter was replaced by wailing, but it was still noisy.

"You deserve it." Helia said so, but she still lent a hand to pull the man up.

She still remembered the incident in which she accidentally slapped someone and made him faint.

The effect of the dragon heart was so good that she went from being like Lin Daiyu who fell ill due to the wind to being like Lu Zhishen who uprooted a weeping willow tree. She was really not used to it, going from one extreme to another.

Ansel used the excuse of a sore foot to lean on Helia, forcing Helia to half-carry him as they walked.

The two of them walked to the restaurant recommended by Ansel and sat down. Ansel must have asked in advance, so the restaurant specially prepared an elegant room for them to dine.

While waiting for the food to be served, Helia recalled the conversation with Xiaoka. It seemed strange to her, so she asked:

"It's not that I'm narcissistic, but I feel that my external features are so obvious that even soldiers from other countries can recognize me. Why didn't that boy recognize me?"

Ansel sighed and said seriously: "Aya, the southern continent is more backward, desolate and closed than you think."

"To this day, in the southern continent, many people still don't have enough food to eat and live like savages."

"There are many tribes that barely live a self-sufficient life and are very hostile to outsiders, locking themselves up in their own small plots of land."

"People who can't even get enough to eat, who don't have enough food to eat, how can they have the time to pay attention to these news?"

"For them, no matter who it is, whether it's the emperor of the empire, a noble lord, a general or a marshal, as long as he can give them enough food, that person is their king and their god."

"Although Kenleka is located in the northern continent, it is where the southern and northern continents meet. Eighty percent of the residents living here are from the southern continent."

"The Empire doesn't care about their lives, so naturally they won't agree with the Empire's rule. It can even be said that the people of the Southern Continent generally have resentment towards the Empire."

"Claude left this mess to Tasile. Generation after generation of Tasile people have turned this place into a safe place. Even if they recognize me as their king, I can still take on the responsibility."

Ansel picked up the water cup beside him and drank a sip of water to moisten his throat, then continued:

"Xiao Ka sneaked here from the southern continent. His parents were killed by the soldiers stationed on the Suomifi Bridge. The young boy was able to escape under the protection of his parents. He wandered here and was discovered by my men."

"Compared to hatred, Xiao Ka was more afraid. His parents died in front of him, and he was still young at that time. The word "empire" almost became a shadow in his heart."

"That's why he was so scared when he heard that you were the princess of the empire. He was afraid that if you were unhappy, you would kill him like you killed his parents."