Translator: La0o9 Editor: La0o9
The negotiation soon reached a deadlock. The Kingdom of Royas has chosen to compromise in a lot of aspects, but the person who signed the contract had to be Nala.
Even without thinking, anyone could tell that there was some sort of scheme hidden here. Nala was the Saintress of Salvation of Interkam, as well as its Princess. If nothing went wrong, she would become the next sovereign of Interkam.
This request was rejected immediately after it was made. Many noble knights in the country were followers of Nala. Although they had chosen to abandon Nala when they regained command of the army, it was also because of this abandonment that they felt ashamed and vowed to upkeep their chivalry as well as the bottom line of pride for nobility.
However, it turned out that this ‘bottom line of pride” was basically the same as nothing. A few days after the negotiations reached a deadlock, the opinion of this being ‘a condition that cannot be accepted no matter what’ changed. Because the Royas army was once again reorganizing itself.
As the Royas’ side had declared, if Interkam couldn’t accept this condition, then there was no longer any need for peace talks.
“This is just signing an agreement, there wouldn’t necessarily be any danger. Isn’t it selfish that the Princess didn’t agree? Isn’t she the Saintress of Salvation? Why couldn’t she agree to something this small?”
At some point, this kind of argument started to make sense for the nobles, and people began to support the Princess accepting this condition to end their negotiations. Interkam at this point was unable to handle another war, the long battle so far had caused the nobles to feel a bit crippled and unwilling to bear any more losses.
And just as history had shown, if there was a first betrayal, there would be a second. Since Nala did not blame or spurn them the first time they did it, she would also not do it the second time. After all, she was the benevolent Saintress of Salvation!
The nobles continued to manipulate the public opinion to force Nala into making a decision. According to them, Nala was just a fortunate village girl, anyone else would have been able to succeed if they were in her shoes, they used every means they had to slander Nala.
These aristocrats’ behaviours grew increasingly contradictory by the day. On one hand, they hoped that Nala would agree to be the representative to sign the treaty so that their interests and benefits could be assured; but on the other hand, they also didn’t want Nala to agree.
Because that would prove that Nala was nothing more than that, and her ‘Saintress of Salvation’ title was nothing but a name. It would mean that she wasn’t so benevolent herself, making their behaviours appear not quite as selfish and miserly, how great would that be?
Compared to the others, Seth the First’s behaviour was a lot more consistent, he wished for nothing but for Nala to walk to her death, that way the throne would only be his.
The majority of the nobles, for the sake of their benefits, finally broke down that tiny last bit of pride they called the ‘bottom line of nobility’ and agreed that Nala should go and sign the treaty.
As for the ordinary people, although Nala’s prestige was high among the civilians, they couldn’t change the decisions of the nobles. Not to mention that most of them also supported Nala going to sign the treaty, they weren’t even feeling ashamed about it. After all, her so-called title of ‘Saintress of Salvation’ was because she should be dedicating herself to bring them salvation, should she not?
In Interkam, only the Church of Divine Grace had yet to make a public statement, while they were practically bombarding each other with words during the debates. Most of the upper echelon disagreed with sending Nala, because it was them who supported Nala to her current position. As soon as Nala became the Queen, they would be able to reap the generous rewards of their efforts, so why should they make Nala take such a huge risk now?
While those who agreed with sending Nala believed that this would be the best chance for them to spread their faith into Royas. If war broke out again, Royas’ domestic rejection of the Church would only increase, and it would become significantly harder for them to spread into Royas than at any other time.
“Everyone, the Black Abyss is approaching, we have no time” Luen declared coldly with the scepter in his hand “The light of God should be shining on more people, not limited within Interkam, our time is running out”
The controversy within the Church of Divine Grace was gradually suppressed by Luen. He couldn’t help but recall the scene of a few years ago. At that time, it was his persuasion that made Nala come forward, and now, it would also be him that might be sending her to her death.
“What I do, I do for the sake of the world!”
…
Nala didn’t pay any attention to the negotiations of the past few days, nor did she bother with the words of gossip around her. She simply stayed home and accompanied her mother, Isabella. The woman was currently only a bit older than 40, but she already appeared to be 50-60 years old.
The hard life in her early years had left her with various afflictions. Especially when Nala was born, she had no time to rest after giving birth and had to work continuously to feed both herself and Nala.
“Nala, don’t go” Isabella held Nala’s hand and begged, “Don’t learn from your father”
It was now the same situation as with Jacob back then, surrounded by the villagers, swayed by the notion of a ‘greater good’ and forced to enter a path of death.
“But this is the right thing to do” Nala softly said with unprecedented tenderness: “I can’t sit back and watch the war break out again. If I don’t do this, I’m sure I would regret it”
“Mother, I am also hesitating, but haven’t you taught me before? When I am faced with difficult choices, I should choose what I think is the right thing to do” Nala continued: “And right now, I need to choose the right thing to do”
Isabella’s eyes were unprecedentedly sorrowful. All those years ago, her husband had lost his life to make the right choice. She could only support his decision back then, and right now, when she wanted to stop Nala’s decision, she found out that she couldn’t stop her anymore.
Ever since she pushed Nala to take up the position of ‘Saintress of Salvation’, she had been unable to stop it.
Looking at Nala leaving the manor, looking at the crowd of cheering people, Isabella suddenly felt that the ‘Saintress’ of something or other shouldn’t have existed in the first place. These people had obviously forgotten that Nala was hailed as the ‘Saintress of Salvation’ because of her actions and not the other way around! She had no obligations to do anything for the sake of that name! Those people, they did not deserve salvation!
…
But it was already too late, with Nala’s agreement to go, the negotiations were quickly completed. The only thing left to do now was for the representatives of both countries to meet and sign the peace treaty at the border.
Those who would attend this signing included the Church of Divine Grace’s missionary group, a team of knights, and the Saintress of Salvation, Nala.
“Your Excellency Nala, please allow us to come with you” a team of knights rushed over and knelt on one knee in front of Nala, the leader of this group was the heir of the [School of Steel], Alkors Louis.
“Alkors, I remember that you have been awarded the peerage to become a Viscount, didn’t you say that you were discussing marriage with an Earl’s daughter? There is no need for you to follow me this time” Nala said with a smile.
“Those things don’t matter now” Alkors stood up, drew his knight’s sword, and held it up with both hands in front of his face, allowing the mirror-like blade to reflect his face and resolution. Behind him, the other knights also did the same, raised their swords in front of their faces and declared in unison: “We are knights, and we are not afraid to die!”
