Coincidence
Lucia folded her arms. She grumbled, "That's enough now, right? Brother, we've done even this, yet his heart rate never sped up, which goes to show he's not lying. I told you he came here because he truly loves me. We've already begun planning our future. You're the only one still suspecting him. I'm not going to go along with any more of your nonsense. I need to choose a place to build our home and get married. You've confirmed his feelings now, right? He's fine. You can do whatever you want with Queen Sisi, but I don't want to see you trying anything on my husband again."
Cornered in a dilemma, Lucia's brother smiled helplessly: "Sorry, sorry, Lucia. Maybe Brother was too uptight. You must understand, though, Brother loves you, Lucia. You're brother's only sister. It's only natural for me to not feel easy about trusting a stranger with you. There won't be a second elf who treats you the way I do. That's why it's normal for me to be worried."
Lucia crankily glared at her brother. She slapped his hand away and exclaimed, "Brother, you're overprotective!! I'm an elf who could defeat even the Demon King. How could I be tricked so easily?! I'm going to go and choose a location to build our home now. Oh, one more thing, Brother, I want to take half of the banshees and prisoners of war to help with building the house."
Lucia's brother nodded right away: "That's fine. That's fine. You can have Sisi, too. Humanity has already abandoned the bitch; she no longer has any value. Do as you please with her. Making her a servant isn't a bad idea."
"All right, then. My husband is a human, after all. She humiliated him in front of everyone in the past. I'm going to have her serve my man as his servant so that Travor can let off some steam. I doubt Travor is happy with what he saw. That was disgusting, Brother. Why did you have to choose such a revolting method?!!"
"Weren't you ecstatic about it, too?!"
Lucia folded her arms and responded as if her reason was perfectly justified: "But wetting herself in front of my husband is just far too repulsive!"
The brother and sister were satisfied with my response. My response proved that I didn't care about Queen Sisi as my first response was disgust, not her condition. Furthermore, my cold attitude rendered it impossible for the elves to pinpoint anything strange. After confirming for himself, Lucia's brother also affirmed that I wasn't suspicious.
Lucia could finally enjoy her married life. She also planned to set down her bow and pass it onto her child. She began to mind her body and got rid of most of her battle robes at that point. Next was buying normal female elven clothing for herself. Henceforward, she would learn to cook and how to take care of her family. In the future, she would earnestly fulfil the role of a praiseworthy wife. Not the elves' hero.
Humanity had been defeated so badly that they didn't have a next step. Therefore, the elves finally won themselves a period of prestige, dignity and freedom. Once the forest was repaired, the elves could return to their free and glorious lives.
I took a deep breath and dipped my head into the freezing lake water. The cold water flushed against my face and penetrated through, clearing my mind considerably. I shut my eyes and withstood the intense cold. The water that was cold enough to make me shiver wasn't enough to put quell all of the rage and hatred within me. I tightly gripped a handful of soft soil next to the lake, deeply etching my handprint in the soil.
I had nothing I could do nor did I want to say anything. I was furious. Queen Sisi did make a mistake; she shouldn't have attacked the elves, but she didn't deserve being humiliated in front of me. She was humiliated because of me. They deliberately humiliated her to provoke me. I had to suppress my fury despite them humiliating her right before my eyes. If I wanted to rescue Queen Sisi, I had to keep a level head to use.
Knowing that Queen Sisi was still alive was enough. She would have to bear with the torment. On the bright side, she was alive. In other words, I didn't put myself through everything for naught. Had I gotten married with Lucia, only to find out that Queen Sisi was dead, I'd have gotten the short end of the stick. I didn't know where they kept Queen Sisi detained. I only had a general direction, but I didn't dare to ask any further questions.
I pulled my head out of the water and wiped my face. Lucia gave me time to go and pick up Leah tomorrow, but I was unlikely going to bring Leah over. I alone needed to stay here. If Leah joined me, I'd have only given them another hostage, subsequently only making it more difficult to escape.
I stood up and took in a deep breath to calm down and regather my mind. I, presumably, had a window the elves would trust me, and I had freedom. That was an opportunity to locate Queen Sisi's location.
As far as I knew, Queen Sisi was held captive somewhere in the direction I was heading. Howbeit, I didn't have an exact location. I scanned around. The elves' small houses didn't house any banshees or prisoners. There was only one or two that had them. It did cost money to feed them, after all. Ordinary elves would hand them to Lucia and similar noble families in exchange for money. Otherwise, they'd just kill them. That shrunk my search parameter plenty. I just needed to locate a relatively big building.
I went along the path I had in mind for a long time to catch sight of an elven building half-way up the mountain opposite the lake. The building wasn't eye-catching. Having said that, it had the same ambience Lucia's house did. I, consequently, suspected it to be the property of a noble elven family. Of course, Queen Sisi might not be in there at all. If she wasn't, I had no clue where she was.
There was a small wooden bridge at the front of the property. I could use it to cross over. However, when I reached the bridge, I saw someone carrying a wooden bucket over toward me. By my estimations, she was out to fetch water. I didn't mind her at first, but when she saw me, she suddenly hollered, "Sir Lin. How come you are here?! Are you here for me?! What an honour it is, then. I-I shall go back and tidy myself up right now. Would you like to come in? I am sure our lord would be very happy to see Madam Lucilia's fiancé."
"Ascillia? You live here?"
Ascillia nodded as though it was a given: "Yes. My mother and I live here. Would you like to come in and see?"
"Sure."
It was quite a coincidence, I was wondering what excuse I could use to enter, and one just fell into my lap. Cognisant of what I was about to carry out, I silently said to myself, "Ascillia, I'm sincerely sorry. Last time, I used your father. This time, I'm using you."