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 âbottom line of prideâ was basically the same as nothing. A few days after the negotiations reached a deadlock, the opinion of this being âa condition that cannot be accepted no matter whatâ changed. Because the Royas army was once again reorganizing itself.
As the Royasâ side had declared, if Interkam couldnât accept this condition, then there was no longer any need for peace talks.
âThis is just signing an agreement, there wouldnât necessarily be any danger. Isnât it selfish that the Princess didnât agree? Isnât she the Saintress of Salvation? Why couldnât she agree to something this small?â
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 aristocratsâ 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 didnât want Nala to agree.
Because that would prove that Nala was nothing more than that, and her âSaintress of Salvationâ title was nothing but a name. It would mean that she wasnât so benevolent herself, making their behaviours appear not quite as selfish and miserly, how great would that be?
Compared to the others, Seth the Firstâs 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 âbottom line of nobilityâ and agreed that Nala should go and sign the treaty.
As for the ordinary people, although Nalaâs prestige was high among the civilians, they couldnât change the decisions of the nobles. Not to mention that most of them also supported Nala going to sign the treaty, they werenât even feeling ashamed about it. After all, her so-called title of âSaintress of Salvationâ 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, Royasâ 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.
âEveryone, the Black Abyss is approaching, we have no timeâ Luen declared coldly with the scepter in his hand âThe light of God should be shining on more people, not limited within Interkam, our time is running outâ
The controversy within the Church of Divine Grace was gradually suppressed by Luen. He couldnât 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.
âWhat I do, I do for the sake of the world!â
...
Nala didnât 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.
âNala, donât goâ Isabella held Nalaâs hand and begged, âDonât learn from your fatherâ
It was now the same situation as with Jacob back then, surrounded by the villagers, swayed by the notion of a âgreater goodâ and forced to enter a path of death.
âBut this is the right thing to doâ Nala softly said with unprecedented tenderness: âI canât sit back and watch the war break out again. If I donât do this, Iâm sure I would regret itâ
âMother, I am also hesitating, but havenât you taught me before? When I am faced with difficult choices, I should choose what I think is the right thing to doâ Nala continued: âAnd right now, I need to choose the right thing to doâ
Isabellaâs 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 Nalaâs decision, she found out that she couldnât stop her anymore.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Ever since she pushed Nala to take up the position of âSaintress of Salvationâ, 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 âSaintressâ of something or other shouldnât have existed in the first place. These people had obviously forgotten that Nala was hailed as the âSaintress of Salvationâ 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 Nalaâs 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 Graceâs missionary group, a team of knights, and the Saintress of Salvation, Nala.
âYour Excellency Nala, please allow us to come with youâ 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.
âAlkors, I remember that you have been awarded the peerage to become a Viscount, didnât you say that you were discussing marriage with an Earlâs daughter? There is no need for you to follow me this timeâ Nala said with a smile.
âThose things donât matter nowâ Alkors stood up, drew his knightâs 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: âWe are knights, and we are not afraid to die!â