Chapter 165: Chapter 165

DAHLIA:

I could only blink after hearing Kaist’s words.

My father is coming to meet me tonight. Why was it so soon?

“Then I will be leaving Camdress very soon?”

“Yes... A little later, when everyone is asleep.”

So this was Kaist’s grand plan? He was willing to wage war for me, but he wanted me to escape from here and come safely back to the Capital.

I couldn’t hold my opposing thoughts at bay anymore.

“This is… Isn’t this just plain cowardice, your highness?”

Kaist only peered at me with a plain look in his eyes. “I guess so.”

“Is that it? Is that all you’ve got to say? You are determined to make the people here prepare for battle while you plan for me to escape? Is that even fair?”

“Dahlia, tell me what’s more unfair… I had lost my father during this journey. Everything shifted away from me... The only thing I have left is you! Do you also want me to lose the only thing I have left?”

“Kaist… I am not some valuable possession you can store somewhere… You’re risking people’s lives for me, but I don’t get a say about this. What does that make me or you?”

I knew he was only concerned for me, but this was way too much! He cannot just ship me away when the whole village of Camdress is endangered because of me like this.

“Why don’t we think this through, Kaist?... You don’t have to prepare for an invasion if we just -”

“If we just what? I know about the red ruby. You said it showed you how it bound itself with you when you were just a baby, Dahlia… Do you know what it would mean if you surrender yourself to them?!”

Of course I knew what could happen…

I sat down on the bed in front of Kaist. I must try a different approach to him if I wanted to convince him to let me stay and help around.

“Kaist… I know you don’t want this… You are not the type to put everything and everyone in grave danger… Why don’t we think of a different way around this first?”

“And what way are you suggesting?”

“Let’s send the women and children away with my father. In that way, they’d be safer if war really does break out in here.”

“How about you? Don’t you want to be safe? You have a baby on the way too, so aren’t you worried?”

There was heavy silence between us.

“To be honest, I’m very scared… I don’t know what the outcome of this situation would be like…”

That’s right. I don’t know whether Samalah would still be able to wake up and undid what she had done… I don’t know whether I would be safe anywhere while the red ruby is still inside of me… And I don’t know if Tristan would ever recognize me at all…

I have so many fears, but there was one thing I was sure…

Even if I was scared, I didn’t want anyone to ever get hurt because of me.

“Kaist, if I run away here, the fate of these people who had welcomed me – it shall always haunt me like a ghost. I don’t think I would ever get over the shame and guilt I’d feel if I abandon them…”

It had happened before with Samalah. If I didn’t leave her to fend by herself, she wouldn’t have met that accident.

It was then that I realized how my own father must have felt when he lived all these years knowing that he had wronged Tristan and the whole Shadow Rune Pack…

“I don’t want to live with that guilt, Kaist… Even if my child and I survive this, I don’t know if we could live like decent people… We would always be hunted for our spirit stones, so wouldn’t it be much better for us if we fight our persecutors head on?”

Kaist and I did not speak for the longest time. Just when I thought that he wouldn’t speak at all, he opened his mouth to say something.

“Very well… We will transport the women and children away from here too, but you’re still going away with Duke Hurst…”

“Very well,” I agreed.

I know Kaist wouldn’t let me stay, but at least I did the best that I could…

For now, the most important thing was that the women and children here will be safe away from the possible battle site.

As soon as we finished speaking, Kaist announced our plan that all the women, children, and those in the vulnerable population would be transported to a nearby village with the help of Duke Hurst and his men.

Efiro would not stop crying as his father tried to explain why they need to be separated for now.

“It’s not permanent, Efiro… It would only be for a short while, hmm?”

“No, papa… Are you going to leave me too, like mama did? She said it was only for a short time too, but she never came back,” the boy wailed.

All around me, there were so much tears, grief, and sadness. I heard a myriad of bitter goodbyes to one another as families and loved ones tried to say their farewells.

I can’t take it anymore… I must do something about this!

I thought hard, but I could only think of one solution as I was pressed for time.

Come midnight, my father would be coming. I don’t know what to expect. I don’t even know whether or not Kaist had told him about my switched appearance or the fact that I was pregnant...

What I do know is if he hands me down to my father, papa will never let me go back here where the battle might happen, and I would lose the chance to stop this war from ever happening in the first place…

Thus, I must do the best thing I can think of on my own...

Kaist and the council, as well as the able men from the village, had just finished their meeting. I knocked into the temporary office they used at the village’s town hall.

“Dahlly, aren’t you going to prepare for your departure with the others?”

“Yes… I’ll be going this evening… We won’t see each other for a long time, so won’t you take a walk with me, for old time sake, Prince Kaist?”