Xavier combed Valery's hair as she prepares to leave the city for the neighboring one. He still had no idea what she wanted there but he knew it was for the good of all. She looked very magnificent like she always does. She held his hand and looked at him through the mirror and he smiled at her.
'Promise me that you will look after the palace while I'm away,' she said.
'I will keep it safe for you. Just go and finish your mission and come back to me,' he said and she smiled this time.
'I will.'
After a while, he watched as Valery boarded her carriage and got ready to leave. She opened the carriage window and she smiled at him before the carriage left.
'I didn't know that the Saintess looked that young,' the innkeeper said.
He smiled at the old man whom he had known for ages.
'A lot of things about her can shock you, trust me,' he said.
'You are a lucky man to fins such a strong headed lady. She is something that most people aren't. I really respect and admire her,' he told him.
'Thank you for that. I will make sure to send the wedding invitation to you,' Xavier promised.
'I will be much honored to attend such an event.'
'I will take my leave and make sure whatever happened last night remains here,' Xavier said and the old man nodded.
Xavier ride his horse back to the mountain where he spent his day looking over the wedding robes and having a nice talk with Daren. He had a feeling that just like him Daren will soon became a permanent resident of the mountain.
It was a long journey but they finally arrived. They checked into another inn and had a meal before they began their search again.
She smiled as she saw children playing and laughing together. They were lucky to have such a childhood. She herself never got to experience such an upbringing. She grew up being taught how to be the mistress of the Lotus palace. She had no friends at all. The people around her were servants only. She grew up such a lonely life and she hoped no one else would have it like her.
As she was walking she noticed a girl child sitting alone. She didn't seem to have any friends at all. She wondered why the others were not playing with her. So she walked towards the child who stood up immediately and dusted herself.
'What's your name child?' she asked her.
'I don't have one,' she replied back.
'Where are your parents?'
'I ever had any. Why are you asking me all that?' the little girl asked fiercely and she smiled.
'I just want to get to know you. How about we go to that stall and buy you something to eat?'
Valery saw a glitter of happiness on the child's face. Valery took the child to a stall where she bought her food. She watched as the child ate hungrily as if she hadn't eaten in days.
The woman who gave them food shook her head and said, 'that poor child doesn't have a family. It's good to see someone caring for her.'
So that was the case. If she were to take her then no one would ever look for her. She watched as she finished the plates put in front of her and she finally got full.
'Do you want to have a walk with me?' she asked the child.
'But I'm dirty. I'm afraid that I will embarrass you,' she sounded very considerate.
'No one can ever say that to me. Come,' Valery said as she stood up.
The child follows her as they walked towards the magistrate manor. When she arrived they refused to let her in before Nora took out her badge. The guards apologized and let them in. when they got inside the magistrate was already waiting for them.
'I'm very sorry for such a poor reception,' he said as he bowed to her.
'It's okay. I'm here to notify you that this child will be mine starting from today. I will be leaving with her today just in case someone looks for her,' she told the old man.
'She is just a child from the streets. I don't think anyone will be looking for her. Why don't you find someone else to adopt?' he asked her and she walked towards the old man.
He staggered back and she stopped.
'Never question me ever again if you still love your head on your neck. What I want is none of your concern,' she said and turned around.
'Let's go,' Nora said to the child.
They left the magistrate's manor and returned to the inn where she made the child to take a very long bath. Nora scrubbed the child until she was clean and presentable. She bought some noble clothes for the child and let her wore them. She smiled as she looked at the child. She no looked like a child she picked from the street. With time her skin and appearance will totally change.
'Thank you but can I ask you who you are?' the child finally asked the important question she should have asked long time ago.
'I will be your mother starting from today. I will love and take care of you like my own. You have many responsibilities ahead of you and I hope that you won't let me down,' she told the child who looked very confused after everything she had just told her.
'You are really adopting me?' she asked her eyes filled tears.
'Yes, don't you like it?'
'I love it. Thank you. I never thought that I will have a family one day,' she said hugging her.
Valery felt a rush of joy all over her. She had missed seeing the look of happiness on a child's face. She wished that she could bore her own children but she couldn't. Unlike her mother, she was destined to adopt other children like her own. Sometimes she wondered what wrong she did to deserve all this in her life.
Valery looked at Nora who was wiping the tears on her cheeks. She smiled at her and knew that it was really a joyous event for all of them.
The kid finally let go and Nora took her.
'That lady is called Aunt Nora. She shall look after you after we get back to my home. She will teach you everything you need, for you to become strong like she is. No one in the future will ignore you. They will bow down to you and ask for your help. You in return shall not mock them but help them. Do you understand me?'
'Yes I do mother,' the kid replied.
'Bu first I should name you,' Valery said and saw the kid's face brighten up. She pondered for a while the name she would like the child to have and suddenly she got one.
'I will name you Qara, do you like it?' she asked her.
'Yes, I do love it. Thank you mother,' Qara said and made her first bow.
Valery looked at Nora and smiled. The child was quick witted and she loved that about her.
'Nora, take her to the market and buy her clothes to wear. When we return back to the mountain, tell the tailor department to make more clothes for her,' Valery instructed Nora.
'I will do so,' Nora said and turned to look at Qara.
Nora extended her hand towards Qara and she took it. She watched as the two left the room. She knew they would be very close. She won't be able to shower Qara with motherly love but she knew that so many people will show her that and let her have a childhood that would be better than the one she and when she grew up.
She was going to teach Qara to become a strong woman, a woman who didn't have to rely on anyone but herself. She was going to give orders in the future and have people obey her. She just hoped she won't betray her like the way others had and were doing at the moment.
Valery left the room too and found Nora and Qara gone. She used the time to take a walk by herself. Something she had not done in years. Taking a walk in a city alone without guards and maids was fun, but she knew that her secret guards had been shadowing her all the time. They didn't let her down; if it was someone else she wouldn't be able to see that she was being tailed.
She was walking seeing families having a great time together when she felt that she was being followed but this time it wasn't her secret guards. Someone else was following her and this was getting interesting. Her secret guards were meant to protect her and they knew the consequences of acting without her order. She didn't like fighting in the city with so many eyes on her. So no matter what her guards wouldn't show themselves out unless she wanted them to.
To avoid any unnecessary bloodshed, she extended her walk towards the nearby forest. She could feel that there was no one there and it would be the best place to talk things out with whoever was following her. She stopped in the middle and looked around. She closed her eyes and listened very attentively. She could hear them jumping over tress, sheathing their swords as they come to where she was standing. She opened her eyes and took out her enamel fan. She was surrounded by ten men in black. They had their faces covered and she wondered who was so eager to see her dead a few days before her wedding. She fanned herself and gave a signal to the secret guards shadowing her. They weren't many but just eight. They stood behind her and she walked straight towards the assassins that had been sent to her.
'I can see that you are here for me but did that person told you who I was before you followed me here?' she asked them.
'Yes we know who you are and if you are as great as they say you are, fight us alone,' one of them said implying that the guards shouldn't interfere.
'It's quite fair. Let's handle it the way you want then. If you don't kill me in ten moves then it will be your funeral,' Valery said and closed her fan.
It had been too long since she had a normal sparring and it was like that now. They all came after her and all she had to do was defend and no attack. Her guards stood watching as she defended herself from her enemies.
She could tell that Xavier's mother was so impatient that now she just had to send assassins but somehow it didn't feel like the method she would use. Someone else was behind the attack.
She stopped the moment the tenth move was done and still she didn't have a scratch on her body. She looked at them and smiled.
'I gave you a chance but you failed and yet you call yourselves the best. I'm very disappointed in you,' she said as she opened her fan and blew everything away with one swing.
The assassins fell towards the trees. They hit the trees so hard that when they fell down they were all groaning but they managed to stand up. She wasn't going to play anymore tricks again. She moved at a lighting speed and slashed all their throats except one.
She had her fan on his throat and she could tell that he was very scared now that al his colleagues were lying dead on the ground.
'I will forgive you if you tell me who sent you,' she said looking at him.
'I don't know who sent us but we were paid using this,' he said taking out a rare jadeite pendant one of her guards took the pendant and looked at it.
'This belongs to the royal family,' he said.
This guard used to work in the palace so he knew better.
She looked at the assassin and asked.
'Do you know who gave you this pendant?' she asked.
'I can sketch his face, if you want,' he said.
'I will give you that chance and since you cooperated I will give you a chance. Until I find the person who wanted me dead, I will keep you as my prisoner. Don't even think of escaping or killing yourself. If you do anything of that I will look for every relative of yours and have all of them killed. I doubt you would want something like that to happen,' she threatened the man.
'I won't do that,' he promised.
'Take him back and let him draw the sketch,' she instructed her secret guards.
The guards took the man away and she looked at the dead bodies lying on the ground. She was going to leave them that way as a warning to whoever sent them that she knew and she was coming for him or her. She wasn't going to keep protecting the person who wanted her dead like this.
She returned back to the inn as if everything was normal. When she arrived Nora and Qara were already back and had shopped a lot of clothes for Qara. The little girl was very happy and she was glad that she was feeling that way. Since she was out and the assassins found her it only meant one thing. There was a spy in her mountain and it was time to clean up again.
The next day they all got ready to leave for the mountain. Valery took Nora by the side to talk to her without Qara knowing.
'You will return to the mountain with Qara. Guard her with your life,' she said.
'What about you? Where are you going?' Nora asked.
'I have a few things I need to take care of. I will be behind you, don't worry,' Valery said.
'I can't leave you alone.'
'You promised to follow my every command. And my command now is for you to return with Qara safely back to the mountain. Don't worry about me, nothing will ever harm me,' she told Nora and that was a lie.
'If you say so then I will return first with Qara.'
'When you arrive there, shut the mountain. No one should enter or leave. Whoever tires to leave or send out a letter confine them to the prison, understand?'
'Yes I do. Do we have spies again in the palace?'
'I'm afraid that we do so let's catch them. Don't tell Xavier or Daren.'
'I won't do that. Please take care of yourself,' Nora sounded very worried.
Valery took off her bracelet and gave it to Nora. That was her favorite bracelet, something her mother left for her.
'I will come back and retrieve it from you. Now can you stop being worried?'
'Now, I will put my mind at ease,' she said and hugged her.
Valery hugged Nora back. They went to where Qara was. She hugged her one last time and bided farewell as they left the city for the mountain.
She returned back to her room and closed the door. She had instructed the innkeeper to not be disturbed. She was going to do something she thought she would never do again. She sat on her bed, closed her eyes and concentrated. She called upon the darkest energy of the golden lotus to guide her. It was dangerous to use it but she had no choice and time for other measures. She meditated on the words until the darkness surrounded her. She could see some light in the darkness. The golden lotus was guiding her and she followed. She knew where she wanted to go and so she followed the light. When she opened her eyes she was standing in the middle of the hall staring at the man who had caused her so much grief these past few days.
'Guards!' he called out.
Valery smiled at the way the man was reacting. She took out her fan and began to fan herself. The guards actually came and surrounded her with their weapons. She didn't have so much time to play hide and seek, so she shoved them away and walked toward the man who wanted her dead.
'I let you sit there, pretend to rule the nation, looked after your child, took care of your family problems and yet you try all methods to just kill me. I'm very disappointed by you, Your Majesty,' she said as she stood right in front of him.
'How dare you come here announced and accused me of such things?' he said shaking.
'I'm not a fool, I know you so well. You don't like me and I don't either. You can try to kill me even though you will never succeed but endangering Xavier is something I can never tolerate.'
'He is my son and I can do whatever I want with him,' the emperor said and she grabbed him by the collar.
'You can do that to those children that you have here. The second he fell into my hands he went under my protection. Any harm on him is like waging another war against me. I haven't fought a war after our last encounter, so don't make me start one. I came to tell you to stop trying to kill me. You can never kill me. If I want you dead you will be gone and no one can do anything about it. Don't disappoint your son by doing this,' she said and let him go.
Because of Xavier she wanted to just scare him away and go, which is why she was descending the steps so that she might visit the other person who wanted her dead but the emperor had guts to throw a dagger at her. The dagger actually stabbed her. She groaned with so much pain as she felt it penetrate her. She saw as blood dripped form where she had been stabbed. The dagger wouldn't kill her but harm her like it did. She turned around and looked at the man who had just done this horrible act.
She wanted to forgive him but she wouldn't anymore. She threw a needle at him and watched him fell back to his chair.
She walked back towards him and stopped.
'I would have let you live but I'm afraid I can't. For harming your own son, your nation and me, I will make you pay. That needle in you will cause internal damage to your lungs. You will suffer severe pain that you will wish you were dead but don't worry you will die and after I get married to your son. What you love you will lose them, I will make sure of that,' she told the emperor and began to leave the hall.
With the dagger still stuck in her she walked from the Dragon palace to the Royal Noble Consort's palace. She met a lot of guards on the way and knocked them out. She entered the palace and the guards tried to stop her and she killed these ones.
The Imperial Noble Consort came out and looked at her. She knew what she had done and yet she was looking at her with those innocent eyes. She was going to show the consort how she returns the favor of those that betrays her.