Chapter Sixty-Seven: I Lost the Seasoning Packet

Half an hour earlier.

Linley opened his eyes inside the cage. “Where am I?”

He found himself imprisoned in a small room, with Eve sitting beside him, her face downcast. “We’re in a room outside the palace. The new king doesn’t intend to bring us into the palace itself. He wants to lure the queen out—by using us. But why did you fall asleep just now?”

After the new king had captured them, he’d tried to coax Linley into calling for the queen’s help, speaking at length about her. Yet Linley was clearly uninterested; after listening for only a short while, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

“How could you possibly sleep so soundly?” Eve said coldly, her mood obviously sour.

“That wasn’t sleep. I was restoring my true energy!” Linley replied. During the battle with Ire, he’d expended too much magic and needed to recover as quickly as possible.

Eve’s eyes brightened. “You’ve recovered your energy? Does that mean we can escape?”

Linley tried to use the Great Teleportation, but nothing happened.

“It’s no use. This cage is like a black hole; as soon as my energy leaves my body, it’s absorbed.” He shook his head. “Even the Great Teleportation doesn’t work.”

Eve’s face fell. She had already tried; even the air within the cage seemed to drain magical power.

“The appetite of the Twin Moon Wheel is impressive,” Linley grumbled, sitting down. “It devours any kind of power.”

“It can even consume souls,” Eve said with a cold laugh. “So, what do we do now?”

“We wait. He can’t keep us in this cage forever.”

Linley reasoned that Bard keeping him locked up didn’t truly threaten the queen; after all, it wasn’t real harm. The queen would not worry about his safety. Once she seized the Twin Moon Wheel, the cage would naturally become hers.

So Bard would have to resort to other means to torment him.

“The moment he lets us out of the cage, I can escape,” Linley said. As long as he was free for even a split second, he could use the Great Teleportation. “Just remember to hold on to my hand.”

Eve nodded, reassured. She knew Linley’s abilities were uncanny; outside the cage, nothing could restrain him.

Meanwhile, outside, Bard was growing impatient.

“That cursed woman refuses to come out.” He’d spread word within the palace that Linley was in his grasp, but obviously the queen wasn’t concerned—she was determined to keep the battlefield within the palace walls.

“Your Majesty, I have an idea.”

Bard’s personal guard suddenly spoke up. “With chaos raging outside, why not prepare two pyres and tie them to the stakes? First, it would threaten the queen with fire, and second, it would reveal the forest elves’ plot to the commoners—your prestige would soar.”

“A fine idea!” Bard nodded. It was perfect: he could threaten the queen, win back the people’s favor, and teach these two a lesson—all at once.

“Prepare the pyres immediately!” he ordered.

The guards hurried to make the arrangements, while Bard returned to the room with the cage.

“Chain them up.”

He threw another guard into the cage, who quickly bound Linley and Eve with anti-magic shackles—neither resisted much.

Linley shot Eve a furtive glance, and she nodded, quietly grasping his hand.

Once they were chained, Bard opened the cage and had them brought out. The moment they stepped outside, Linley activated his teleportation spell.

“Great Teleportation!”

He vanished in an instant—though only he disappeared. As he did, the anti-magic shackles and a small bundle dropped to the ground.

Eve stared wide-eyed at the bundle. Bard, enraged, kicked the guard hard, sending him flying. “Didn’t you say these shackles were foolproof?”

“Your Majesty, these are the finest anti-magic shackles available. Even a demigod would struggle to escape. I don’t know how he…” The guard scrambled to apologize. Bard already had intelligence from Gran City; these were no ordinary anti-magic shackles, but rare chains that suppressed all types of power—yet they failed against Linley.

Still, they weren’t entirely useless—Eve remained, and the shackles had weakened Linley’s strength.

“Now only you are left!” Bard glared viciously at Eve, then ordered, “Take her outside and bind her to the pyre—I’ll deal with her myself and see if that prince dares come to her rescue.”

Eve’s face turned pale, anxiety filling her heart.

Out in the square before the palace, the three leopards heard Bard’s furious roar. The night elves’ victim was not “him,” but “her”—Eve.

On the pyre, Eve was tied to the stake.

“Night elves! Here is your Zero, your rebel!” Bard seized her wrist and raised it high; her veins were slashed open by his dagger, blood spurting freely and soaking Eve’s garment. “Look at her! See how she bleeds, how frail her body is! She’s a forest elf. She and her master have deceived you all! They created chaos on purpose, but they are not your kin!”

“Burn her! Burn her!”

The night elves, seeing this, were enraged. They could not tolerate being deceived—especially by forest elves.

Bard was elated; the situation was once again under his control. “Cry for help, little girl. Call your master back.”

“He won’t return.”

Eve’s face was ashen. As her blood drained away, her body grew weak, yet a cold smile still played at her lips. “You can’t control this situation. He and I are not the same.”

The young astrologer knew it well—Linley was different from her. His body’s recovery was extraordinary, no different from a true night elf. Night elves and forest elves looked alike; as long as Linley refused to admit his real identity, no one could prove he was not a night elf.

Even if Linley’s true face was exposed, he could still claim to be a night elf. Few knew what the young prince of the forest elves truly looked like—not night elves, and not even most forest elves.

“He’s crafted this elaborate stage. How could you possibly ruin it?” Eve said with a cold, low laugh. “Struggle all you want. Even if he returns, these night elves will believe only him, not you. You’re all just pieces in his game.”

Including herself—Eve felt a pang of sorrow, but she understood Linley well enough.

The young prince treated life like a grand game, but he was earnest about it. He would never break his own rules. Even after three years as the sleeping prince, he still played by them. The uproar among the night elves was too great; for Linley, this was a game he had crafted with his own hands, and it had only just begun. He would not break it for her sake.

Eve closed her eyes. Perhaps she was merely a sacrifice, but if the game continued, no matter the night elves’ choices, they would lose in the end. The forest elves would achieve an unprecedented victory, sparing countless lives—Eve decided to accept her fate.

“You seem to know your master well…” Bard sneered, though his tone was tinged with mockery. “But he’s not as rational as you think.”

Eve’s eyes flew open. Not far away, Linley hovered in midair, wings spread wide.

“I seem to have dropped something.”

Bard burst into laughter at his words, but Linley’s next remark caught him off guard.

“Have any of you seen my seasoning packet?”

“I dropped my seasoning packet.”