The blood drained from Angelina’s face. Were all my attempts to change the past this time around meaningless?
Without thinking, Marfa prostrated herself before Feilong. “With all due respect, I must ask you a question, Your Majesty! What in the world do you mean by this? Did Princess Angelina’s grandmother–the Queen of Yule–not use that dagger to commit suicide? By giving the princess that blade, are you implying…?”
Marfa trailed off there. She didn’t want Angelina to hear her next words. She couldn’t let the princess know what this dagger implied–that she should take her own life.
Kyril looked at Feilong with an expression of incredulity. “Father, why would you give Grandmother’s instrument of suicide as a present…?”
Ryuho and the old knight glowered at Feilong as well. At the same time, Angelina hugged herself and trembled. The Golden Dragon wrapped himself around her and cast Feilong a withering glare.
Feilong jolted in surprise. He hadn’t considered the meaning behind the gift too deeply.
“No, you misunderstand!” he shouted. “That’s not what I meant! Hear me out. This blade… It’s called the Dagger of Mercy. Phaenna entrusted it to me, and according to her, it’s proof that one is Queen of Yule!”
Marfa gasped. “Indeed, I have heard of a dagger passed down through generations of Yulan queens. To think this is the same blade…”
“Phaenna left me with this one request,” Feilong said. “If she gave birth to a daughter, and that girl didn’t pass the Naming Trial on her fifth birthday, she wanted to give her the Dagger of Mercy. This blade would prove her to be Queen of Yule, even if she didn’t become an heir to the Jinlongian throne.”
Angelina looked up at Feilong. “Mudder said that…?”
“That’s right. Even so, Angelina has already received the last name Xin Lei. She’s not the Queen of Yule but the Imperial Princess of Jinlong. So I’ve been wondering what to do with this dagger.” Feilong caressed the blade lovingly. “But last year, Kyril officially became the crown prince. Since Angelina won’t inherit the throne, I couldn’t think of a better opportunity to give her this memento.”
“A memento of Mudder’s…” Angelina mumbled.
“Exactly. You don’t have anything from your mother, do you? In any case, she left this dagger to you. It might be an inauspicious object with a dark history, but Phaenna still treasured it as proof she was Queen of Yule.”
After hearing Feilong’s explanation, Marfa bowed her head. “I apologize for acting above my station,” she said, her forehead scraping the floor.
“…No,” Feilong answered with a weak laugh. “My past easily invites misunderstandings.”
I was the one who threatened to kill Lina if I ever saw her, Feilong thought. And now, I gave her a dagger once used for suicide. Who could blame them for misunderstanding?
“This is certainly an inauspicious object,” Feilong continued. “It probably wasn’t suitable to give as a gift.” Smiling sadly, he began rewrapping the dagger.
“No,” Angelina said, placing her hand atop his. “I want it.”
Feilong raised his head.
“If this dagger was important to Mudder, I want to cherish it too,” she explained.
“It doesn’t frighten you?”
Angelina shook her head lightly. “If Grandmudder took her life with this dagger, then it knows her last moments. I think that’s why Mudder cherished it so much. This knife proves that Yule existed, even if the country and queen disappeared. It’s proof that Mudder existed too. It was probably very important to her.”
Tears spilled from Marfa’s eyes. A line of queens had once reigned over the ruined nation of Yule. Despite excelling at magic, their nation had avoided conflict. As a result, various surrounding countries had targeted them. In the end, the previous Emperor of Jinlong had destroyed Yule. As a last resort, Angelina’s grandmother slew herself with the Dagger of Mercy, giving up her life to place a magical seal upon the castle.
After losing their country, the people of Yule became nomads. The young Princess Phaenna fled from the defeated nation with the Dagger of Mercy. Ultimately, Jinlong captured her, and she lived as a hostage thereafter. As a nationless princess, she’d lacked any support. Thus, her life inside the Canopy had been one of misfortune. This single dagger had been the only royal treasure left to her.
Sometime later, she met Feilong, who’d suffered similar persecution. Love had blossomed between them, and in a surprising turn of events, she became the Empress of Jinlong.
“Proof that she existed,” Marfa mumbled in a nasal tone.
“According to Phaenna, Lina is half made from me,” Feilong said. “In that case, Lina is half made from Phaenna as well.”
Angelina’s eyes widened in surprise. “I’m half made from Mudder…?”
“That’s right. And so is Kyril.”
Kyril looked at his father with surprise as well.
“And so, I must provide both of you with happiness,” Feilong said. “The happiness that Phaenna would have experienced in life.” He continued in a whisper, “I should have realized that much, much sooner…”
As Feilong sank into regret, Angelina squeezed his hand. “Fodder,” she called out to him. Alas, she had no idea what else to say. During her repeating loops, she’d suffered countless times due to her father’s disinterest. Though she couldn’t forgive him completely, she didn’t want to see him in this much anguish.
After letting go of Angelina’s hand, Feilong began rewrapping the dagger. Once finished, he handed it to her again. “Lina,” he said. “No, Angelina—you who bear the name of a Yulan tianshi. Take this dagger, for it proves you are Princess of Yule.”
Angelina took the dagger and unfolded the cloth. The knife was small, the blade was thin, and it was sheathed in a silver scabbard. Clearly, it had been made with a woman carrying it in mind. Rather than a sword, it looked like a long cross.
✦ ✦ ✦
Three almond-shaped stones were embedded into the pommel. They formed a radial pattern reminiscent of a flower. It was the same shape as the Tianshi’s Protective Seal on Angelina’s palm. The stones were red rubies the color of a dove’s blood. Finally, the sheathe had been decorated with a winglike ornamentation.
In her previous lives, it had terrified Angelina. “This is proof that His Majesty has rejected you,” Mion had told her. Even worse, it had been the reason for Marfa’s execution. “Your mere existence is a sin,” the knife had seemed to accuse her. Even so, she couldn’t throw it away, as she’d never received anything else from her father. When she’d fled the castle, she’d brought this knife with her and nothing else.
Yet now that she understood the circumstances, Angelina wanted to cherish the dagger. Slowly and lovingly, she unsheathed it. Since the dagger was made to stab rather than cut, its edges weren’t sharp. The knife was closer to an awl than a dagger, sporting a sharp, triangular point. Moreover, the metal shone without a speck of rust. It had likely been handled with great care.
Father must have cherished this as a memento of Mother’s as well, Angelina thought. Why did he give me such a precious object in my first life?
Apparently, Mion had misrepresented Feilong’s true feelings during Angelina’s first life. How had he felt about his daughter back then? There was no way of knowing now.
Still, Father cherishes me in this life, Angelina thought.
The silver blade reflected her azure eyes. At that moment, the red stones on the pommel sparkled with light. Marfa gasped; the radiance seemed to be acknowledging Angelina as the dagger’s master.
“You were here all along,” a disembodied voice said.
Angelina whipped her head around the room. Where had the unfamiliar voice come from? It seemed to have originated from the dagger, but how could a blade speak?
“What’s wrong, Lina?” Ryuho asked.
“I feel like I heard something…” she answered.
Ryuho strained his ears and observed their surroundings. Kyril and the Golden Dragon furrowed their brows, going on the alert.
“Nope, don’t hear anything,” Ryuho said.
“I see,” Angelina replied. “It must have been my imagination. I wouldn’t be able to hear a sound inaudible to you!”
As a Flame Tiger, Ryuho’s five senses were sharper than a normal human’s. His ears would have picked up on anything out of the ordinary.
After sheathing the dagger, Angelina rewrapped it in the cloth, bowed her head to Feilong, and said, “Thank you, Fodder.”
As Feilong nodded silently, the Golden Dragon slithered away from the chair. He rubbed his belly against the top of the blade. At once, golden light enveloped the Dagger of Mercy.
“I’m placing my protection upon the blade,” he explained. “This way, it won’t hurt Angelina.”
His words filled Angelina with relief, and she squeezed her mother’s memento in her arms.