"What happened on the night of the bloodbath?"
As Agalea asked with a serious expression, Viona felt a chill down her spine and was shocked.
How did the Queen get light of this? She wondered while trying not to show the surprise on her face or through body language.
Viona stayed calm and collecting herself, she answered, "I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, but I do not know."
Lying to the Queen was an offence punishable by death. Viona was well-versed with it but still said that as she knew she wasn't lying.
Though she wasn't lying, she wasn't telling the truth either.
Agalea, looking at Viona, could tell something was off. However, she didn't take any action as Lith was in charge and was waiting for his command.
Lith didn't notice Viona's shocked expression but he did feel something was fishy. He gestured to Agalea to question her further and instructed her what to do next.
Agalea leaned forward after getting the commands and said, "Tell me what you know."
Viona sighed internally. 'It really isn't easy to get away from the Queen's grasp.' She thought to herself as Agalea hit the bull's eye.
What Viona had said about not knowing was true, if the context was about her being present at the scene and being asked to tell about it.
She wasn't at that place and hadn't seen anything that happened there with her own eyes.
With this context, it was easy for her to answer Agalea that yes, she didn't know anything.
But now Agalea hit her weak spot and asked her to spill whatever she knew.
This time there was no escape for Viona and she cursed herself for trying to act smart in front of the Queen.
Viona looked at Agalea and smiled awkwardly. She then answered, "Your Majesty, whatever I say may not be true as I was not at the scene."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtShe tried to cover up her previous statement and wanted to appear proper and someone with no ulterior motives with her answer.
"Speak." Agalea simply said one word, not entertaining Viona much.
Lith, who was standing behind her calmly, was surprised to see this interaction.
'Are the Emperor Ranks not afraid of their Supreme?' He wondered.
Things were so contrasting when it came to the Elven Society as compared to the Vampire one.
Back at home, nobody, not even the highest Dukes, would dare to look their Queen in the eye without permission. While this lady here, she dared to conspire against her Queen and also was talking as if they were both equals.
Viona did speak formally, but there wasn't a single trace of respect within her voice.
It made Lith wonder just how much did the nobles underestimate their Queen?
Looking at this and then remembering the discussion his aunts had when they met at the banquet, Lith could now understand what his aunt Lucifer was trying to convey.
She was right, these people wouldn't truly understand without being oppressed by Agalea. The amount of disrespect from them was making him feel nauseated.
He could only wonder how his aunt Agalea was handling it so well.
Lith made a mental note to talk to her about it later.
In any case, Lucifer's suggestion was right, but it wasn't something Agalea wanted to use. Lith was thus here to provide an alternative and solve the situation with a more radical approach.
Being here for a month, the biggest problem Lith had noticed about the Elven Society was that the upper nobles were too haughty.
They thought too highly of themselves and also were with the mindset that they were above all and everyone should respect them.
This was the very reason why the lesser nobles were pissed at them and in the parliament, they would make full use of the laws and reject all proposals from the upper nobles.
This rejection would in turn make the upper nobles angry as they couldn't believe how these mere lesser nobles dared to reject their proposals and not accept it with open arms.
It was a vicious cycle and also the main reason for instability in the Elven Society.
The haughtiness that Lith thought the nobles had, it was confirmed today from the interaction Agalea had with Viona.
Viona, having been told to speak, answered Agalea whatever she knew.
Night of the Bloodbath, an event that happened 75 years ago was something that happened under the nose of the common public and nobles.
It was right in front of everyone, but nobody saw it, other than a few that were involved.
In that event, a good population of both higher and lesser nobles had somehow died at the Rosera lake present at 10,000 km above ground.
Rosera lake was one of the biggest ones found in the Elven Kingdom and the location at which it was at wasn't anything extraordinary.
10,000 km from the base wasn't a lot of height and commoners could easily come and go from here.
Rosera lake, due to being very big, had a lot of villages around it where the commoner elves lived.
75 years ago, during the day many nobles and common people had arrived here. Nobody thought anything about it as it was a common occurrence.
But in the shadows, something was brewing which the people didn't have any hint of.
Night descended and the villagers around the Rosera lake went to sleep.
Some commoners that were touring around the lake and the nobles as well camped and stayed up all night, eating, drinking, and having a good time.
But the next morning when the villagers woke up and went to do their usual jobs, they saw a bizarre scene.
Some parts of the Rosera lake were dyed red and around the banks, there were bones and ashes.
The villagers got scared and fleed from the scene.
The commoners and nobles that were camping and awake, they all went missing and weren't found till this day.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHowever, them going missing wasn't talked about. There wasn't even any news and nobody even raised a complaint that people went missing.
When an investigation took place, the investigating officers didn't find anything. The bones and ashes that the villagers had said they saw were also not present at the scene.
The blood in the lake, it wasn't there as well.
The investigative committee thus closed this case when no evidence was found and concluded that the villagers may probably be hallucinating.
The hallucination reasoning also came up due to a herb found near the Rosera lake that had hallucinogenic properties.
The term 'Night of the Bloodbath' was something only the villagers around the Rosera lake said.
This event was something nobody knew much about and not talked about often.
Viona, while saying all of it, couldn't help but ask the Queen how she came to know of such a small event and why even bother with it?
Agalea, when questioned, as per Lith's commands, told Viona that if she questioned something to the Queen again, she wouldn't be able to speak even a single word.
Viona felt a chill down her spine with such an answer and shut up. She only spoke when asked to.
A few more rounds of questioning later, Viona was asked to leave.
When she was gone, Lith sat down on her seat and tapped on the table to get some tea.
The tea appeared on the table and there was also a bowl of food for the puppy.
Lith woke the puppy up and put him down under his seat and gave him the bowl.
He then took a sip of tea and said, "Hmm... Judging from the way she spoke, it indeed seems like something unimportant."
Agalea smiled hearing that. "...and?"
Lith shook his head. "And nothing. We both know it isn't unimportant but an event of great importance."
He then knitted his brows and said, "She put so much emphasis on making it appear unimportant... Does she think we are little children or something?"
Agalea didn't comment on it and took the teacup and had a sip of tea, looking at Lith do his analysis.
Lith continued, "But then again... She shouldn't be this dumb to not know that we wouldn't catch her doing that. So..."
Lith stared at the tea in the cup. "...what even was her motive for putting such emphasis on it being unimportant?"