Chapter 80

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Chapter 80: The Queen’s Inheritance (XIX)

It was late at night.

After disposing of the four Holy Flame Virgins’ bodies, the three moved to a place to stay.

Along the way, Aya couldn’t look directly at Qi Leren, and walked silently with her head down. At this time, Qi Leren was very embarrassed. He didn’t know how to strike up a conversation with girls in a friendly way, and finally had to move forward in silence.

The little Queen took the two people to a secluded courtyard, and Qi Leren went to wash and clean up the demon blood, while Aya sat quietly by the terrace, looking at the sky outside the window, and lost in lengthy meditation.

Although she had only been a Holy Flame Virgin for a short time, she had once thought that she would never see this colourful world again after donning the blindfold. She hadn’t expected to take off the blindfold so soon.

The sharp pain around her eyes had stopped. She stroked the raised ring of lines around the corners of her eyes, and her eyes were wet again.

“Why take off the blindfold for me?” From behind her came the voice of the little Queen.

Aya stood up in fear and looked at her. In the faint light, the little Queen stared at her, and her deep eyes were full of inquiry.

“I swore to be loyal to you… You gave me a comfortable life. I, I want to repay you. I can’t let them hurt you,” Aya warbled.

“But you fear me and even hate me,” said the little Queen.

Aya was silent for a long time and whispered with her head down: “I dare not deceive you, I am really afraid of you… Of those rumors about you.”

The secret of the Dragon Ant Queen’s bloodthirsty cruelty circulated the whole Sea of Tranquility Desert. Most of the sacrifices sent to the Queen in the Underground Ant City by various tribes had become honey ants providing blood, and a few lucky ones had been appointed as Virgins to serve the Flame, but no matter which one, they couldn’t return to their hometowns to reunite with their families for the rest of their lives.

“You frighten me, and amaze me, I… I appreciate you. If you hadn’t personally chosen me as a Flame Virgin, I would only have become a honey ant and would die quickly…” Aya murmured.

“So you appreciate the kindness given to you by a murderer?” the little Queen asked coldly.

Aya was silent, taciturn, and finally whispered: “I don’t know… but without you, I’m afraid I would have died in the jaws of a demon. You sheltered me, and you sheltered our people living in the Sea of Tranquility Desert.”

The Dragon Ant Queen’s mouth gently hooked, and the smile was full of ridicule and faint sadness: “Do you know where these demons came from?”

Aya waited for a while, looked at her, and shook her head. No one had ever answered this question, neither demons nor humans. People in the Underground Ant City were troubled by the demon tide once a month, but they don’t know where these demons came from.

“Then I’ll tell you: they come from my heart,” said the little Queen.

Aya just stood on the terrace as if she couldn’t understand her words.

“You also know what the Dragon Ant Queen is like. Every Dragon Ant Queen’s body is torn, and she has to bear unimaginable pain all her life. The pain of losing her lower half also tears her soul, making her a devil full of resentment. In the twenty years’ suffering, each one has been distorted, and countless negative emotions have wormed into their souls, eventually forming demons that run around the mausoleum. As long as the Queen is alive, the demons in the mausoleum will proliferate until she dies and closes her tomb. However, this blockade can’t stop the emergence of new demons, so there will be a monthly demon tide. This group of demons came to the Underground Ant City through the sealed walls and slaughtered humans and demons. Now do you know why the Dragon Ant Queen can’t stop demons from entering the Underground Ant City’s field? It’s because this group of monsters were born in this field!”

The little Queen looked Aya in the eye and said, “Look, everything you have suffered now is completely caused by me. Do you hate me?”

Aya stroked the ring around her eyes, and her tears fell silently.

She nodded her head.

The little Queen smiled faintly: “I knew… One day, the Flame in the rift will go out. Let it sink quietly into the ground.”

“Then… what will happen to the people who live here?” Aya asked.

“I don’t know,” the little Queen said. “There will always be someone to take over all this. Look at these Virgins, aren’t they here for this? The Lord of Power has long been eyeing the Underground Ant City. When it becomes incorporated into Utopia, everything will be over. No one will bear all the pain of the Dragon Ant Queen, and there will be no demon tides. You will live in a carefree Utopia…”

Looking at the mocking smile on the little Queen’s face, Aya shook her head and trilled: “I don’t believe it, how can there be such ease and happiness in this world that doesn’t cost anything I don’t believe it!”

This surprised the little Queen. She once again carefully examined this ordinary human girl. She always surprised her again and again: “You keep surprising me. I thought you would believe this as easily as they do.”

“I don’t believe it, Your Majesty. I don’t believe it. I believe you more than an illusory Utopia,” Aya cried and said.

The little Queen smiled: “Would you like to become the Dragon Ant Queen?”

“I never thought…” Aya almost replied, almost in horror.

She couldn’t even think about it.

“Let me ask another question. If one day you become the Dragon Ant Queen, what kind of world would you wish to create?” asked the little Queen.

Aya was lost in thought, unable to give an answer for a long time.

Once again, she remembered the traveler in the vast desert. He had once asked such a question.

“I want to… I want an equal and peaceful world. I was born in the Valentine tribe, so the colour of my skin has always been discriminated against by people in the surrounding tribes. I don’t know why they did this. Just because we moved here? But aren’t we all human beings? If you let me create a world, I hope it is an equal world, where demons do not harm humans, humans do not harm demons, and everyone can understand each other; men or women, with or without faith, as long as they are willing to work hard for the Underground Ant City, everyone should be equal and everyone should be happy. But such happiness should not be something given for nothing, it should not be like Utopia.” Aya said intermittently. Her upbringing made her unable to say intricate words, but such simple yearning made her ideal more pure.

After listening, the little Queen whispered, “You are a great person.”

Aya smiled shyly and asked timidly, “I want to ask something.”

“Speak.”

“Your Majesty, why do you raise the honey ants? Is it because you must rely on blood to maintain your life?” Aya asked anxiously.

“A girl’s blood can sustain her life, but it is not necessary. Only when you get to that position, you will naturally want to ask for more. Since you have the right to it, it is difficult for you to restrain your desires and rely on morality to maintain your persistence, because morality is just a fragile white paper in front of power,” said the little Queen.

Aya couldn’t understand complicated things, but she still understood this, so she breathed a sigh of relief: “I won’t have to drink the solution.”

“Yes, but in this way, you may not even live for twenty years.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Aya laughed, and her beautiful eyes were bent into two crescent moons. “It doesn’t matter.”

Hearing her answer, the little Queen understood her choice: “It seems that you are ready to be a Queen.”

Aya looked out of the window at the fog in the direction they had come. At that time, the man with a gentle voice had walked in front of her. She had stared at his back all the way, and a familiar vision sprouted quietly in her mind. She stroked the ring pattern around the corner of her eye, showing a smile without knowing it.

“I want to give it a try,” she said.

“Well, come with me after dawn, and I’ll show you the Holy Flame,” said the little Queen.

“The Flame? But mortal eyes will be stabbed blind when they see the Flame…” Aya said timidly.

“If you don’t even have the courage to look directly at the Flame, how can you protect your people?” asked the little Queen.

Aya bowed her head in shame.

“It’s late, go to sleep early.” The little Queen nodded and walked towards Qi Leren standing behind a column, giving him a smile that was not a smile.

Qi Leren was baffled.

He had come here after washing off the demon blood, and heard the conversation between Aya and the little Queen. He had to say that Aya’s words had touched him greatly.

Such a great dream was hidden in the heart of this poor tribal girl.

“Zhou Ning?” Aya felt something. Looking back, she noticed Qi Leren standing behind the column from a distance. The distance was too far, and the light was too dark to see his face clearly, so she could only see his figure, which made her breath stop.

Suddenly, she felt the blood flush on her face, and she was glad that the light was dim here and that her skin colour was dark, so it should be invisible to Qi Leren. She rubbed her face and looked at the scenery outside the terrace, afraid to look at the man again.

The heart beat faster, and the girl’s longing sprouted silently in this quiet night.

She felt her throat dry so that she could not speak, distraught and beyond words, but her ears listened intently to the voice of the man who came forward.

“Why are you standing here?” Qi Leren asked.

“I… to look at… look at the scenery,” Aya said.

Qi Leren smiled, walked to Aya’s side, and looked at the scenery outside with her, even though it was an impenetrable fog.

“Have you… um… read the Canon?” Aya asked timidly.

“I have, what about it?” Qi Leren was surprised. He didn’t expect Aya to ask this question.

“Could you teach me to read? I don’t know many words in the Canon.” Aya opened her bag, took out the Canon from it, and held it in her hands.

She still couldn’t look up at Qi Leren’s face, for fear of seeing rejection.

Qi Leren tilted his face and looked at Aya’s open Canon. Every word in this ancient tome had a timeless feeling.

“I didn’t expect you to have this,” Qi Leren said with emotion.

Aya lowered her head and whispered, “It was given to me by someone.”

Qi Leren lit a lantern, sat down in the chair next to him, raised his head, and asked Aya, “From where do you want to learn?”

Aya’s heart beat like thunder, and her head seemed to weigh thousands of pounds, which made her afraid to look up.

She opened her mouth and closed it again. She wanted to look up, but she didn’t dare to. It wasn’t until he asked for the second time that she hastily raised her face in panic.

With the soft light of the lantern, she saw his face clearly for the first time.

The young and handsome face, with her figure reflected in his brown eyes, was as gentle as a dream that couldn’t be woken from.

But at this moment, Aya suddenly forgot to breathe.

“Qi… Leren.” Aya murmured, tears suddenly fell from her eyes. “Your name is not Zhou Ning, your name is Qi Leren, right?”

Qi Leren’s shocked eyes gave her the answer.

The wind on the vast desert had swept away the portrait pressed in the Canon. At that time, she had chased as far as she could to find the story that the traveler never told and the longing that he dared not tell, but she couldn’t find the lost portrait in the end, and she could only fall to the ground and cry bitterly—just like now.

Now, the man in the portrait was sitting in front of her eyes, and she knew that this person would never belong to her.

Once again, something sharp stabbed her heart, so sharp and painful that her tears could not stop flowing downwards.

At this moment, she didn’t hate anyone, she just hated herself. Why did she always love strangers so easily, when these strangers already had others in their hearts, and she didn’t even dare to show her affection?

She could only let the tears fall down, and let out a girl’s sadness for an ephemeral love that no one knew of.

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Editor’s Notes: Happy Halloween! 🎃

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