Revenge
"Your Majesty, the child has arrived. This is the child of a brave soldier who, unfortunately, lost his life. I am sure the same courageous blood flows through him. He has a noble soul, so, according to traditions, the child will be left in your care to raise. We hope your virtue will carve the warrior's descendant into an excellent man, providing elves with a splendid descendant."
It was elven tradition to have the Queen adopt the child of a soldier who valiantly sacrificed his life on the battlefield because the Queen wasn't allowed to marry… Of course, Lucilia could marry, except she wanted to adopt a child due to a certain reason…
The child in the priest's arms looked around with puzzlement. The child lost his parents before he had grown up, but he was still unaware. In the future, however, his late parents would be brought up over and over, reminding him to never embarrass his deceased parents. Further, he would know that the Queen selflessly raised him. Despite that, not everybody cared about how the loss of his parents impacted him.
The way Lucilia took the boy proved she wasn't too familiar with holding children. Applauses to respect the warrior's bravery and the Queen reverberated from below.
The boy wondered why the girl was holding him. Lucilia's eyes were slightly fuzzy. Perhaps her fondness for children developed as a result of having taken so many lives on the battlefield. She really wanted to have the right to hold a child the way she current did. However, she wanted to hold her own child more.
Lucia wanted to have Lin Dongqing by her side while she held her child. Holding a child wasn't the happiest feeling; the happiest feeling was holding her child while he held her. She did her very best to forget the fake love he had for her. Alas, she recalled all of it vividly when she held the child.
"Your Majesty, please give the child a name. A name is very important for an elf. We h-"
"Travor," blurted Lucilia, before the priest could finish.
The priest was dumbstruck. As he said, names were important to elves. In their culture, owls weren't a suitable for a child's name as the animal was too dark and couldn't express the virtue of elves.
Lucilia stressed, "The child's name shall be Travor. I like the name. It's the name of the most brilliant and brave man I've ever met. I want this to become an elf who is equally remarkable, which is why he shall be called Travor!"
"Th-then, Travor it is! Let us give our blessings to this child. This child lost his biological parents. Nevertheless, he has received the love of all elves. Henceforward, this child is the child of the elven race. From this day onwards, we shall all care for him. Let us pray to our forest and our goddess for him in hopes that he can become an outstanding elf who lives up to his parents' greatness!"
The elves lowered their heads and silently prayed for the elf. The priest didn't know what exactly happened, in the sense that he didn't understand the value of the name, but some knew. Those directly around Lucilia all knew what the name Travor represented. He was Lucilia's first love, and the man she still loved deeply to this day. Alas, he abandoned Lucilia. Had it not been for Lucilia's love for him, the elves would kill him even if he ran to the end of the world.
Lucilia loved Lin Dongqing, yet he would never look at her again or even respond to a letter. It was too unfair for Lucilia to shoulder the torment and pain of their love by herself.
"Lucilia loves you, which is why she won't kill you; however, you put our Queen through a whirlpool of misery. Don't think we elves will let you off scot-free," was a pledged that every elf who was privy to what happened swore.
If Lucilia was a mere ordinary elf, things would be simple. She, nonetheless, was now the Elven Queen. Therefore, hurting her was the equivalent of showing contempt for elves' dignity. Were elves people who could just be led by the nose without any repercussions? In what light would humans perceive elves if the incident was just ignored? Humans should've begun to fear the elves' forest, not feel that they were people who could be fooled.
"Lucilia loves you, but other elves don't. You can be wayward with her, but not with us. Ever. Humans pay the price. Not every human must pay, but he must pay. Lucilia might not approve, but we can just not tell her," was the universal thought process floating around among those informed.
The elves already had an idea, one that they didn't plan to share with Lucilia. The revenge plan had already begun. The elves had their own agenda. Rather, they had an agenda long ago; they just didn't act on it. How could they bear to watch Lucilia writhing in agony? It wasn't just about loyalty but also sympathy.
***
Arms folded, Edward confronted the workers' representative in the north and pontificated, "I hired you to create value, not for you to come to me to ask for special treatment. You're afraid of elves? Why are you afraid of them? You scared to die? If you don't invest your life into the mine, you'll still be wasting alcohol. Also, what would they achieve if they kidnapped you? How much money do you have for them? They'd lose money kidnapping you. What are you afraid of? I won't accept your requests. If you don't want to work, go home. There's a line of people waiting to take your places!"
The moment the representative went to speak, Edward spun around. There was no discussion with him. He rejected all of their requests. If they were kidnapped, he wouldn't spare a penny to help them. Actually, helping them wouldn't even be on his agenda.
What could they do? They couldn't quit the job. Otherwise, everyone could work as miners in a world where all sorts of mines had popped up. They'd lose their jobs. Their only choice was to work on the mountains. It was either an accident in the mines or the elves' malice.