Page 111 of The White King's Favorite

“My mother was sold to the prostitution district and worked until a patron helped her buy her freedom,” said Tessandra. “She was already a free woman when she and my aunt reunited. After a while, she actually married one of the Empress’ other half-brothers, my dad and Cessi’s paternal uncle. Cessi and I are actually cousins from both sides. Since then, they have both been looking for other people from the original Rain Tribe, and they’ve only found a handful of their descendants so far...”

“That’s heart-warming to know,” smiled Hephael. “...I wish my mother had been alive to hear that some of her relatives survived.”

“C-can we ask her name?”

“Hendira… My mom’s name was Hendira. She did mention a village chief a couple of times... but that’s all I know, I’m sorry.”

“It’s already p-plenty,” Cessilia said with a smile. “We will t-tell our mothers more of their p-people survived.”

“Did you ever go to the village?”

Cessilia and Tessandra exchanged a shocked look.

“...It’s still there?” muttered Tessandra.

“Well, there isn’t much left,” sighed Hephael, “but... the location is to the south of this continent. I was shocked at how it is exactly on the border between the two countries, to be honest. I went there a couple of times to pay my respects... There isn’t much to see, though, so do not expect anything if you go. Grave robbers stole whatever the soldiers hadn’t already taken...”

“We will g-go,” said Cessilia, not even thinking twice.

They hadn’t even thought about the possibility of ever seeing the remains of the Rain Tribe’s village. That place had always been an enigma to them, the remnant of a memory their mothers shared with them. To think they’d be able to go was a bit unreal.

“I believe Ishira shared with you a... present.”

“Th-thank you for th-that.” Cessilia nodded.

“I’m afraid we don’t have much more to offer, honestly. The knowledge we have is mostly what the Rain Tribe gave my mother, and what she gave us. Although we have done our best to increase that knowledge, you will have probably seen as much from your mothers.”

“It d-doesn’t matter. Th-this is p-proof that their p-people survived even on th-this side of the b-border...”

“It’s not like we were expecting much, truthfully,” added Tessa. “Our mothers were pretty... realistic even when they began searching for their people. It’s good to know at least a few more survived. …But, do you know more about who was really the first to attack?”

Hephael sighed.

“...My father’s words got to you, didn’t they? To be honest, I never got a straight answer either. They all said everything happened so fast, and some soldiers were fighting on top of everything... Their descriptions of their armor weren’t described the same way twice, and given that they were taken into foreign lands when they’d never taken a step outside of their village...”

Cessilia and Tessandra nodded, but both girls were left to their own thoughts. Hephael was right; it did bother them a bit. When Ishira kindly invited them to start dining, the young Family Leader helped himself too.

“To tell you the truth, I think your mothers were luckier being in the Dragon Empire. No offense, but... the Eastern Kingdom wasn’t exactly a great place for my mother and her peers to start a new life. They went from near genocide to a country struck by several civil wars.”

“Yeah,” scoffed Tessa, “we had the pleasure of meeting His Majesty...”

He briefly glanced his cousin’s way, exchanging an enigmatic look with her. Cessilia caught sight of that.

“D-do you have... a d-different opinion on the K-King?”

“...I’m not fond of that man, to say the least.”

“B-but...”

“I know his return put an end to the war, and he has been doing lots to improve life in the Capital. Truth be told, the White King is barely holding the clans in a relative state of peace. This isn’t going to last long, sadly. We have known many civil wars to tell this much. The clans just don’t get along, and one is going to overthrow the others sooner or later unless we get a more capable ruler.”

“The K-King seems to b-be doing what he c-can,” said Cessilia, a bit upset.

“...And although I am also not fond of the guy,” added Tessandra, “it looks to me like the clans aren’t making much of an effort to get along either.”

Her accusing eyes were on Ishira, still holding to heart the fact that Naptunie wasn’t invited. Cessilia pulled her cousin’s sleeve a bit, but Tessandra ignored her.

“Since we’ve come here,” she continued, “all we’ve seen are catty women fighting to become Queen, people trying to murder us inside the Capital, and someone was even killed inside the castle! None of that was the King’s doing, from what we know.”

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