Chapter 122: Betrayal
"He is supposed to be dead. Yet he is alive and wants me to die?"
The question was not for Rhys. It was not even for Austin, who was gasping and spitting blood at her feet. It was a question for the ghosts of her past, for the lies that had defined her entire life.
Austin was taken aback, his eyes betraying a tinge of panic. "What... what are you talking about, Your Highness? The Crimson Sun... they forced me! They promised me wealth!"
He was lying. The lie was so obvious, so desperate. It wasn’t the lie of a man trying to save his own life; it was the lie of a man trying to protect a secret far more important than himself.
The pieces started to click together in her mind with a sickening finality. Austin wasn’t just a traitor.
He was a messenger. And the message he was protecting was one she could not bear to hear.
"My father. He was supposed to be dead. Drop the act. There is no way you could be alive, and no reason for you to be trying to kill me, unless it is otherwise."
"N-no..." Austin gulped. "I... I survived, my princess," he stammered, blood flecking his lips. "I was a prisoner. They made me do this. They are monsters!"
"How is it possible that only you escaped when you were with my father on the same battlefield, Austin?"
His story was falling apart. The timeline did not make sense.
Rhys, who had been leaning against the charred carriage frame, pushed himself off the wood. He walked over, his expression one of pure boredom.
"He’s a bad liar," Rhys said simply. He looked down at Austin, his pitch-black eyes devoid of any emotion. "You can tell me the truth, or I can take it from you, piece by piece. It makes no difference to me. But one way is much faster."
He reached down, his hand moving towards Austin’s throat. The old steward flinched, a pathetic whimper escaping his lips. He was going to die. And he would die with his secret.
"Wait."
The word came from Emma, but it felt as if it were spoken by someone else. A strange energy, cold and sharp, filled the clearing.
Rhys paused, his hand hovering just above Austin’s neck. He turned to look at her, a flicker of genuine surprise in his dark eyes.
Emma felt it happen. A power she had kept hidden her entire life, a trait so dangerous and draining that she had only used it a handful of times, was now screaming to be released.
She couldn’t let Rhys kill him. Not yet. She needed the truth more than she needed air.
She focused her will and felt a sharp, piercing pain behind her eyes, as if a thousand tiny needles were pushing their way out.
The world in front of her seemed to waver, the edges of her vision tinged with a faint, sickly golden light. She focused all of her mental energy on the broken man on the ground.
A wave of invisible, soul-piercing energy shot from her. It was not a physical attack. It was a violation of the mind.
Rhys, who was standing right next to Austin, stumbled back a step. He looked at Emma, his face a mask of shock.
He had felt it, a power that had brushed past his own soul, cold and invasive. For a split second, his eyes lost their focus, as if he were looking at something far away, processing an impossible amount of information.
Austin did not even have time to scream. The mental force slammed into his consciousness, shattering his will like a hammer striking glass.
His eyes, which had been wide with terror, rolled back in his head, becoming a milky, blank white. His body went limp, all resistance gone. He was no longer a person. He was a puppet, his mind an open book waiting to be read.
"Tell me," Emma commanded, her voice an emotionless whisper that held an absolute authority. "Tell me the truth."
Austin began to speak. His voice was a flat, dead monotone, the words coming out of him without his control.
"Lord Valerius lives," the monotone voice said. "He resides in the southern city of Oakhaven, under the protection of the Crimson Sun family."
The world seemed to spin. Emma felt the ground shift beneath her feet. Her father. Alive. The hero of House Lyra, the man who had supposedly died a glorious death, was alive.
The story that had defined her entire life, the bedrock of her grief and her pride, was a lie.
She clenched her fingers. Then what was the meaning of her fighting alone all these years, just to live?
"The deal was made in the final days of the war," Austin’s empty voice continued. "The Lyra lands, the castle, the trade routes, all were given to the Crimson Sun. In return, Lord Valerius was given a new name, a new life, and a fortune in gold."
She felt a wave of nausea. He had sold them. He had sold his own house, his own people.
"But there was a condition," the voice droned on. "To ensure the deal was permanent, all direct descendants had to be eliminated. His sons were already dead on the battlefield. That left only one."
The unspoken name hung in the air, a final, crushing weight.
Her.
Her own father had put a price on her head. The man who was supposed to protect her had traded her life for a comfortable retirement.
The betrayal was so absolute, so monstrous, that she could barely breathe. The kindness Austin had shown her as a child, the stories, the sweet cakes—it had all been a lie, a long game played by a man loyal only to a coward.
"What was my fate?" she asked, her voice a broken whisper.
"The Crimson Sun family did not wish to kill you," Austin’s voice said.
"A living princess is more valuable than a dead one. You were to be captured. You were to be married to their young master, Leeroy Crimson. The marriage would legitimise their claim to the Lyra lands and unite the two houses under their banner."
She was not just a target. She was a prize. A political tool. A trophy to be displayed in the halls of her enemies.
The last of her strength left her. The golden light faded from her vision. The soul-piercing energy vanished. She stumbled back, the dagger falling from her nerveless fingers and clattering on the stone.
At that moment, the System’s analysis, which Rhys had been silently observing, concluded in his mind.
[Trait Detected: Soul Inquiry]
[Description: A rare and powerful mental-type Trait. Allows the user to project their own will into the mind of another being, bypassing all mental defences.
The user can forcibly extract information, read memories, and in its most advanced form, implant suggestions or completely shatter a target’s will. The use of this Trait puts a significant strain on the user’s own soul.]
Austin collapsed, his eyes returning to normal, filled with a new, deeper terror. He now remembered everything he had just been forced to reveal.
Emma stood there, her world shattered. The father she had mourned was a traitor. The steward she had trusted was his puppet.
Her entire life had been built on a foundation of lies.