“Jade-sama, let’s go to a different room. There’s glass all over, and it’s dangerous to let someone pregnant sit on the floor.”
“Right. Can you stand?” Jade asked, holding out his hand to the woman.
She immediately took it and leaned on his arm. “Please! Please save Master Arman!”
Both Ruri and Jade were shocked by the woman holding on tight to Jade’s hand with desperation in her eyes. However, Jade’s expression turned serious immediately. He was able to guess that something was afoot in the Nation of the Beast King from their guests’ conditions.
“First, let’s switch locations,” he said.
“I’m fine here. It’s a race against time!” the woman insisted.
“Okay. Tell me what happened.”
“Of course. My name is Padparadscha. Although it has not been officially announced, I will be Master Arman’s proper queen.”
Ruri’s and Jade’s eyes went wide.
“Huh?! That means the child you’re carrying...”
“It’s Master Arman’s child.”
Ruri was about to ask when that had happened, but restrained herself. Now was not the time.
Padparadscha continued. “It was all so sudden. Do you know of a nation called Furgal? It neighbors the Nation of the Beast King.”
“Yes,” Jade replied, nodding.
“Then you know that they don’t have good relations with the Nation of the Beast King. They suddenly crossed the border and invaded us.”
“Couldn’t the Nation of the Beast King troops destroy them before they got the chance?”
“Everyone thought so. But the vanguard were Beloveds.”
Ruri and Jade looked at each other, thinking the same thing—these invaders were likely the transmigrators that Beryl mentioned in his letter.
“When up against a Beloved, no matter how strong one’s mana is, it is ultimately pointless. Our troops were almost all wiped out, and their troops marched straight for the royal capital. Given the dire circumstances, Lady Beloved said that only she could stand up to another Beloved and joined in the battle.”
“I’m surprised Arman allowed that. Well...if they were up against a Beloved, then I suppose he had no choice but to rely on Celestine.” Jade accepted the fact with a furrowed brow. “However, if Celestine was attacked by spirits, does that mean she was facing a Beloved of higher rank?”
“That is correct. There were actually a male and female Beloved on the Furgal’s side. The woman was lower in rank, but the man was higher. The spirits around Lady Beloved turned against her, and without any way to fight back, the royal capital fell in the blink of an eye,” Padparadscha said with anguish on her face. “Once a spirit turns against you, you can no longer employ their power. If they used magic on us, we would have to fight with a handicap. Also, the enemy army is protected by the spirits due to having two Beloveds... How could we possibly win?”
If the spirits turned against someone, defeat was certain, even if they were a dragonkin. No matter how strong Arman was, he’d stood no chance.
“What happened to Arman?” Jade asked.
Padparadscha bursted into tears, covering her face with both hands. “Just before the Furgal troops besieged the palace, he stayed behind to buy enough time for me and Lady Beloved to escape.”
“Is that so...” Jade trailed off, his face twisted. Ruri’s face also stiffened as the worst possible scenario came to mind.
Padparadscha tearfully continued. “With a few guards capable of flight, we headed to the Nation of the Dragon King. We figured that since supreme-level spirits accompany the Beloved here, they would surely help us. However, we were immediately pursued. The army was one thing, but the Beloveds from Furgal were after my unborn child, who will become successor to the Beast King, and they sicced their spirits on us.”
“They’re awfully thorough. Not even I knew about Arman having a pregnant wife,” Jade replied.
The newcomers had likely had the spirits gathering information before the invasion, much as Ruri had asked Kotaro to do. She hadn’t heard back from Kotaro yet, possibly because he was still compiling the information. Besides, she had only asked him to investigate the transmigrators and the Beloved, not to find out if Furgal was using their Beloved to wage a war on the Nation of the Beast King.
While the possibility of Furgal misusing a Beloved was on the table, no one had actually thought that they would go through with it. The Nation of the Beast King was an ally of the Nations of the Spirit King and Dragon King, both of which hosted Beloveds and supreme-level spirits. Even if Furgal overthrew the Nation of the Beast King, they would be making an enemy out of the two other great nations.
No one had expected Furgal to do something so stupid. No one had thought them to be that foolish. If they had known this would happen, they should have been a little more careful. However, there was no point crying over spilled milk.
“You said you ran off with some guards, but where are they?” Jade asked, seeing that Celestine and Padparadscha had come alone.
“They stayed behind, one by one, to try to stop the spirits so that Lady Beloved and I could escape. In the end, we were left with no one, so Lady Celestine put me on her back and flew all the way here while protecting me from the spirits’ attacks, even though it would normally be me shielding her from harm...”
Had Celestine prioritized Padparadscha and Arman’s child over her own well-being? It was abundantly clear how desperate Celestine had been just from the extent of her wounds.
“I beg of you! Please save Master Arman and the people of our nation!” Padparadscha bowed to Jade and Ruri while holding her swollen stomach, desperate because she knew that there was nothing she could do but rely on them.
They fully understood her feelings, but they had no idea if Arman was still alive or not. Ruri turned to Kotaro, who stood there, motionless, eyes fixed on something outside.
She hesitated to address him at first, but then called his name anyway. “Kotaro, do you know what is going on at the Nation of the Beast King’s palace?”
“Hmm, I hesitate to tell you, Ruri...” he said reluctantly.
“That phrasing makes me even more worried. Is it a particularly bad situation there?” she asked, searching for the precise information she wanted.
“Not only has the capital already fallen, but the palace has as well. The Beast King and his troops have all been captured by the enemy and imprisoned. To be honest, the Beast King could be killed at any moment. Looks like he’s being tortured as well.”
“Oh no!” Padparadscha screamed upon hearing Kotaro’s report, the strength leaving her body and causing her to tilt over.
Jade caught her before she fell to the glass-covered floor, preventing her from being injured, but the news wasn’t something a pregnant woman prone to emotion should hear.
“Take her to a guest room. And get her a doctor.”
“Sire!”
Jade entrusted Padparadscha to a nearby soldier and ordered another to assemble the royal retainers in his office. Then Ruri followed him as he headed there himself.