Chapter 5: Angelina and Yule Castle
ANGELINA was departing for Yule today. Yuen had left ahead of her to set up camp around the lake where the castle had been submerged.
Following the meeting, Angelina and Kyril explained the situation to Hisame. Angelina had told Hisame the entire truth, as she hadn’t wanted to lie to her friend. Not only had Hisame understood everything, but he’d volunteered to help. He’d even lied to Anda about it being a reconnaissance mission.
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ANGELINA, Ryuho, and Hisame flew towards Yule in a basket carried by the Golden Dragon. The piercing wind roared past them, shaking the basket. As usual, Angelina looked like a Dharma doll in her heavy, cold-resistant outfit. Ryuho held Angelina against his belly to keep her warm, and her lapis lazuli charm hung from her waist.
Though Hisame wore cold-resistant clothes as well, the upper air was frigid. His teeth chattered as he tried to endure the dangerously low temperature. Frost had begun clinging to his eyelashes, and his mind was growing hazy. Even so, Hisame squeezed his amulet in his hand, which formed a matching set with Angelina’s.
Seeing that, Ryuho clucked his tongue. “Enough with the dramatics!” he shouted, pulling Hisame against his belly as well.
“Ryuho?!” Hisame cried out, his eyes widening.
“Don’t make a big deal out of this! You’re weak, and if anything happens to you, Anda will invade, right? And what would be the point of you coming with us if you dropped dead before we even crossed the lake?”
Hisame smiled stiffly. Ryuho’s still warm even at a time like this, he thought. Unlike him, I’m shaking like a leaf in this wind. Could I be any more weak or pathetic?
“Thank you,” Hisame mumbled.
Ryuho didn’t answer, pretending not to have heard.
Angelina began stroking Ryuho’s neck. As a purr rumbled in his throat, he pulled Angelina and Hisame even closer. The two human children narrowed their eyes blissfully while listening to the happy, gentle timbre of Ryuho’s voice.
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“That’s Yule Castle,” the Golden Dragon said.
The children poked their heads out of the basket. A large lake surrounded by a coniferous forest spread out beneath them. Furthermore, a chalk tower shaped like a hexagonal prism protruded from the water. A bell hung inside the tower, and a cross similar to Angelina’s dagger rose from the top. Overall, the structure resembled a gravestone. The rest of the castle was submerged in crystal clear water, and the remains of Yule could be seen at the bottom of the lake. Schools of large, monstrous fish swam above the ruins. The remains of a town that bore traces of its former liveliness slept at the bottom of the lake as if time had stopped.
“My goodness…” Hisame mumbled, at a loss for any other words.
Despite its wonder and beauty, this sight was—above all else—cruel.
“The Yulan capital was once a small basin,” the Golden Dragon explained. “According to Yulan legend, a tianshi drained the water from a lake to create the country.”
“And the previous Emperor of Jinlong refilled the basin with water?” Hisame ventured.
The dragon nodded. “You know your history.”
Angelina couldn’t help but shudder. “Did everyone drown?”
“The previous emperor refilled the basin with water after suppressing Yule,” the Golden Dragon replied. “Many people fled during the chaos of war. Though the previous emperor offered to spare the Yulan queen’s life if she surrendered the castle, she resisted until the end. Eventually, she sacrificed herself to place a magical seal upon the castle. That caused Jinlong to grow desperate. What could the castle contain that was worth dying for to protect? The previous emperor was certain that the Yulan Secret Arts resided within its walls.”
The Golden Dragon circled the air above the lake while carrying the children.
“No matter how many times the previous emperor tried to invade the castle, he always failed,” the dragon continued. “He couldn’t flatten the castle either. In the end, he submerged it underwater so that no one could approach it. He feared other nations stealing the Yulan Secret Arts, after all.”
Finally, the Golden Dragon approached the tower protruding from the lake. As he did so, sparks burst from his beard as if something invisible had repelled him.
“Mishter Dragon!” Angelina cried.
“Do you understand now?” he asked. “Not even I can touch the castle.”
Angelina’s skin erupted in goosebumps. What kind of sorcery could reject even the Golden Dragon? Powerful rage and resentment must have been required to activate such strong magic. The coniferous forest surrounding the lake rustled noisily, seeming to hurl accusations at Angelina’s group. The cold wind blowing from the lake shore swept past the tower, crying out in a dreadful voice. Shivering, Angelina rubbed her arms. After seeing the appalling results of the previous emperor’s actions, she could understand why people resented her family. What did the Yulan people think of her mother, who’d married into the Xin Lei family and bore two of their children?
“The Yulan people couldn’t forgive me for being the Imperial Princess of Jinlong,” Angelina said. “That’s why the troupe leader wanted to use magic to prevent me from ever being born…”
“Lina,” Ryuho said before licking her on the cheek. When she lifted her head, he continued, “You’re just you, Lina. Before being the Royal Princess of Yule or the Imperial Princess of Jinlong, you’re just you!”
“I think so too,” Hisame agreed, squeezing Angelina’s hand encouragingly.
“Thanks!” Angelina replied.
Relief washed over the Golden Dragon as he watched this exchange. “Angelina won’t err with you two by her side,” he said.
He set the basket down on the lake shore, where Jinlongian knights had set up camp under Yuen’s command. “All right, let’s go!” Ryuho shouted. As he placed Angelina on his back and hopped out of the basket, Hisame scrambled after them.
When Yuen noticed Angelina, he knelt before her on one knee. “We’ve been waiting for your arrival, Princess Angelina.”
Angelina bowed her head. “I’m trusting you and all the knights to watch our backs as we cross the lake, Mishter Yuen.”
All the knights broke into dopey smiles while regarding the princess. A moment later, twigs snapping echoed from the forest, and a group of bedraggled people emerged from the trees. They wore the same clothes as the traveling Yulan performers. Without delay, Yuen and his knights surrounded the newcomers. In response, the people raised their hands and fell to their knees to show their lack of hostility.
An old woman with eyes similar to Marfa spoke up first. “We mean you no harm. We merely seek an audience with the new Royal Princess of Yule.”
Despite her resemblance to Marfa, she was as emaciated as a withered branch.
“Royal Princess Angelina!” other elderly people behind the woman cried out in unison. When they looked up at Angelina with fevered eyes, she had no idea how to respond. She didn’t even know how they recognized her.
“The person standing before you is Angelina Xin Lei,” Yuen responded with a scowl. “The Imperial Princess of Jinlong.”
“In other words, she is Empress Phaenna’s posthumous child,” one member of the group replied.
“Without any doubt, she is a royal princess of the Yuan line,” another added.
The people continued repeating, “Royal princess, royal princess.”
Angelina shrank back from their fervor. She’d never been to Yule until now, and she didn’t recognize herself as the royal princess. Moreover, a traveling Yulan performer had been the one to cast that strange magic on her. She couldn’t trust them so easily, regardless of their claims to mean no harm.
As Angelina regarded them timidly, the old woman launched into an explanation. “We are Yulan citizens. Not many of us can live here, as there are few fields and so little land to live on. Those with enough strength to survive on their own fled to other countries. Those of us who couldn’t flee live in hiding within this forest. Every single one of us is old and feeble.”
Upon closer inspection, elderly and unarmed people comprised the entire group. Based on their shabby clothes and emaciated bodies, they didn’t look capable of fighting.
“We’ve been waiting for you for so, so long…” the old woman said in a heartrending voice, her eyes pleading.
“Why?” Angelina asked.
“The castle bell that celebrates the birth of a princess suddenly rang out during spring. Afterward, we began hearing the song of a tianshi from the castle. At that moment, we knew a Yulan princess was still alive somewhere. When we heard news from Yulan citizens scattered across the lands, we became aware of your existence, Princess Angelina.”
The Yulan people stared at Angelina raptly.
“A little while later, a casket fell from the sky,” the old woman continued. “Inside, we found a golden-haired man holding sheet music. That man relayed the tianshi’s oracle to us. He instructed us to visit Jinlong and regale Princess Angelina with shadow puppetry depicting Yule’s founding myth. By doing so, she would come to see herself as the Yulan princess and return to this land to restore our country!”