Tyrant's Obsession With The Heiress-Chapter 60: A Rise Of Conflict Among The Beasts

A/N: Hi! Dumpling here; thank you for reading and supporting me! I would appreciate it if you could also comment and leave your thoughts on certain parts! It would help me as the author to know if you are enjoying the story or if there is anything you don't like. Please comment if you can!

*****

There was nothing to question.

No further instructions were needed.

The three knights joined Orpheus in on his task; as bizarre as the situation was, they did so without another word.

However, Lyall had wondered why he hadn't seen his liege drag Lady Karina back to her chambers.

He'd been certain that Orpheus would have no doubt seized the lady before she even took a step past the solar room.

So why was Orpheus here in the bailey tearing apart his grotesque masterpiece?

And where exactly was Lady Karina if his liege didn't capture her?

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

It was then that Lyall had realised the error of his decisions.

The fact that Lady Karina was never returned to her chambers could only have led to one conclusion.

The lady had actually managed to escape.

Lyall paused briefly just as his hand landed on the fourth pole he was preparing to dismount a knight from.

It was the first time he'd ever made a miscalculation in his judgement.

And to inform Orpheus now that the lady was miraculously missing and the error in his judgement would only warrant more wrath from the man.

But was it not for the best? If the lady was truly gone, as many had wished for her to be, it would eliminate the one obstacle that bewitched their liege's mind.

It would be a simple matter to blame the current patrollers on shift for the lady's escape; that way, Orpheus would have no way of knowing that it was his trustworthy second-in-command who allowed her to slip from his hands.

"Are your hands frozen by the cold, lad?" Siegmund cackled just as he sent a pole flying across the bailey. "You have a strange look in your eyes." His expression became deadly serious afterwards, glaring Lyall down like a predator as he dusted his hands together.

"Lost in thought," Lyall answered vaguely, bringing down the knight from the pole before he hurled it right next to the pole Siegmund just tossed. "It has been a long night."

Siegmund eyed him warily.

"Aye, a long night for all of us," the older knight said, walking over to Lyall and towering over him. "You've done something, haven't you, lad?" Siegmund's mouth curled into a knowing smirk, his voice dark.

"I have done many things in my life; of which do you speak?" Lyall asked casually, turning around and gazing directly into the older knight's eyes without a hint of anything to show. "Perhaps old age has caught up to you; is that why you have stopped for meaningless chatter?"

"You've got a mouth on you, lad." Siegmund set his hands on his hips, roaring out his laughter as his shoulders shook. "Whatever it is, you better fix it."

With that being said, Siegmund returned to his share of the work, leaving Lyall alone to consider his next moves.

On the other hand, Lady Karina was pretty much drawing a blank with her decision to move the beasts to a safer location.

"Your concern is shared amongst us, my lady," Ignius, the solar drake and lord of summer, spoke, releasing a huff of smoke from his nostrils. "However, this sanctuary is a world of its own and I don't believe there is another space that could possibly accommodate all the beasts."

Onyx trotted forward, stamping one of his hooves on the ground.

"That is why I advocate for us to drive those demons on the surface from whence they came," Onyx interjected, growing impatient. "Is this to be our fate? To hide in a realm unknown in fear of being discovered?"

"Onyx, I believe we had already discussed this earlier," Lady Karina murmured to him, gently tugging at his mane for him to stand down. "You are speaking irrationally again."

Amberis, the griffin of autumn, shifted on her nest seat and folded her wings inwards.

"There is some validity to your stance, Onyx," Amberis commented, nodding. "It is true that this realm has protected us for aeons, but what will become of the outside world if we remain here?"

The headache Lady Karina sensed earlier had already settled in.

While she knew that many of the beasts had grown weary of confinement, even if the realm they lived in was a paradise, it was no better than a prison.

She, of all, understood what it meant to be confined and experiencing it for only two weeks was so torturous; she couldn't imagine what it must have been like for the beasts who endured it for centuries.

This time, it was Naeryn who stepped forward, the trinkets on her antlers jingling.

"Amberis," Naeryn said somewhat sternly. "You and Onyx are quite young. What you have known of the cruelty of beasts were but stories passed down to you. You have never experienced what life was like to be enslaved by humans."

Naeryn then shifted her attention to Aurelios, the leviathan of spring who had been eerily quiet with only half his head visible on the surface of the water.

"Do I speak truth or foolishness, Aurelios?" She questioned him and the leviathan beast lifted his head fully out of the canal, water dripping in rivulets down his iridescent scales.

"Those who have never known chaos will always go seeking it," Aurelios answered, his crimson eyes holding some form of darkness and sorrow as the colour intensified. "Like a child's curiosity when they hear of something but have never seen it."

Aurelios shifted his position, gliding through the canal around the solid platform until he reached the water space beside Ignius.

"It would be foolish to expose ourselves to the outside world and rebirth the chaos the White Phoenix fought to suppress," he added, his gaze moving onto Onyx. "You might believe your intentions are noble, but what is fuelling you is a yearning for revenge. A revenge that is not yours to have."

Onyx gritted his teeth, unfond of the leviathan beast's direct jab.

Perhaps that was true.

Perhaps it was revenge he sought on behalf of his beast brethren who endured slavery and cruelty that he didn't.

"Is it so wrong to desire revenge? To fight for the beasts who endured those dark times?" Onyx stepped forward, lifting his head to look at Aurelios. "You are one of those who suffered that darkness; why do you not seek vengeance?"

Lady Karina brushed her hand over Onyx's back, trying to soothe the black horse before his anger got the better of him.

"My vengeance was fulfilled when the White Phoenix fought for our peace. She granted us salvation and protection against the humans; there is no reason to reopen the seals of what she had finished," Aurelios countered.

"So you are content with life here? Content with remaining idle in paradise while our custodians face hardships above?" Amberis came down from her seat, walking across the platform to stand beside Onyx, who was smaller in comparison to her.

A rise of conflict and opposing opinions was the last dilemma Lady Karina would have wanted at the moment.

She did not want them to bicker and become divided.

"What is your stance on the matter, my lady?" Ignius turned to Lady Karina. "Ultimately, the decision is yours."