Then, Yue Long, the moon-colored dragon, descended into an alley in a small village and returned to the lavaliere. Long Yan looked around and suggested, "Instead of wandering around looking for a place to sleep, we should rest here in this alley."
Maroon hesitated. "Are you sure, Your Highness? It does seem clean and tidy, but will you be comfortable sleeping here?"
Long Yan smiled. "Of course! This is nothing to me. Can't you see how clean it is? Before the Empress adopted me, I lived in conditions far worse than this. When I think about my past, I often wonder how I even survived. If I had to endure that again, I don't know if I could."
Maroon listened intently.
"Now, let's sleep," Long Yan said, lying down on the alley floor.
As Long Yan was about to drift off, Maroon spoke up. "What kind of life did you live before? Ever since I became your personal maid, I've wanted to ask—who were you before this? What was your life like? Where did you come from? But you were always so busy managing the territories, practicing swordsmanship, and performing rituals in the garden that I never got the chance to ask."
Long Yan chuckled. "Oh, really?" She took a deep breath and began her story.
"A century ago, I was a Chinese saintess and the Heiress Apparent of the Red Dwarf Empire, the only difference was my white hair, while my younger brother was only a prince. This lavaliere was created by my ancestor god and chose me to be a saintess. The people of the village were overjoyed to have me, and I used my abilities to heal and bless them. But my good deeds made my brother jealous. He was greedy and desperate to take the throne—so much so that he was willing to kill me, our mother, and our father to achieve his goal."
She paused before continuing.
"Then came the day of war. I was healing the wounded knights on the battlefield, but as I channeled my mana, something went terribly wrong. The golden energy of my healing spell turned black and red—it had become dark mana. Within moments, all two hundred knights I had been treating lay dead. The news spread like wildfire. Their families, enraged, attacked my lands and burned down three of my realms, convinced I had killed the knights on purpose.
Seeing an opportunity, my brother took action. A legal case was built against me, and he pushed for my imprisonment so he could become the next emperor. However, my father, the emperor, declared a battle between us—the victor would inherit the throne.
My brother was a master in swordsmanship, while I had never even held a sword. I had no time to train due to the legal proceedings. On the day of battle, his eyes burned red with fury, and he attacked like a warrior in the midst of war. The villagers cheered for him. I had no weapon, so I ran. But then, I saw something terrifying—black, smoky tendrils swirling behind me.
It was dark mana.