What appeared in front of me was my cousin's thin, dark but muscular figure, more than twenty black braids tied behind her head by gold hoops, and the Astri war mark on the left side of her neck.
But these things were covered with blood, which was her sister's blood that had just been stained on her hands.
Neferata's little eagle was lying weakly in her arms, about to die from a wound on her waist that injured almost all of her internal organs.
She bit her lips tightly and did not stop tasting the blood until her lips became sore and the precious blood belonging to the ancestor of vampires flowed at the wound.
This is a gift that can bring eternal life. As long as her sister drinks a drop of blood, she will not die.
Neferata turned her sister's face around and pressed her against it until they could only see each other's eyes.
"Kiss me, little eaglet, and you will live forever."
Different from what she remembered, Khalida did not refuse this time. The touch and taste were just like when she was still a princess within the palace walls.
However, everything in front of her is an illusion. Neferata knows that she only knew her sister when she was young. What she feels now is the same, but it is just another dream.
Shattering those illusions, Neferata woke up from the bed suffering from the pain in her head. The little maid was panicking and planning to come over to serve her.
"Thirsty."
The maid didn't hear Neferata's words clearly, and felt a sense of weightlessness.
She grabbed the young maid into her arms, and Neferata licked her neck, showing her fangs, but in the end she did not bite.
Once she started sucking blood, she couldn't control her urge to suck blood.
Such a young child can still survive after losing so much blood. It is best not to kill casually in front of Alkadiza.
After a long wait, the red drink was served. After drinking it, the never-ending thirst for blood was slightly stopped.
Standing up, Neferata noticed that there was cold seafood hotpot on the table far away. Neferata looked at it with disgust and asked the maid to throw it away.
The vampire can no longer taste any delicacies. If the taste hadn't reminded her of the past a hundred years ago, she wouldn't have touched it, let alone if it had been left overnight.
The previous maids should have dealt with this thing long ago, but considering the age of these maids now, Neferata has no intention of severely punishing them. At least she has to wait for her to grow up for a few more years before she can increase her strength.
Under the service of the maid, she put on the gorgeous silk dress covered with gems, put on the golden mask and crown, and Neferata began to welcome a new day.
Today’s work is still heavy.
Unlike funerals a hundred years ago, it took several months for messengers to travel to various countries, and it took several months or even half a year for missions from various countries to arrive.
But this time it's different. With the help of the lizard people and the magic tool called the Waystone from Wosolun, the messenger will be directly transported to the seven most powerful nations in Nehekhara under the influence of the Shadow Bridge. p>
The royal delegation over there will also be teleported directly from Wosuoran to the city of Lahmia after it is ready.
There is less than a week left for her to prepare.
In order to prepare for the funeral and coronation in such a short period of time, she had already approved the funds for ten tons of gold before going to bed yesterday.
Although it is already half of the total annual aid to various countries, in addition to displaying Lahmia's financial resources in front of various countries, she can just use the name of preparations to carry out large-scale purchases and rebuild trade confidence.
Offsetting the losses avoided, in a sense, the money spent this time may have been earned.
The trivial matters have been taken care of by the business groups affiliated with various nobles below. What she has to do today is something she doesn't want to do.
According to Alkadiza's request, they had to go and meet the gangsters on the Golden Plains first.
Logically speaking, those barbaric tribesmen were not qualified to meet the kings of Nehekhara. Neferata had a headache when she thought that this kind of thing made Lamiya inferior to the other kings.<
/p>
Fortunately, those gangsters were more sensible and only sent one representative over.
A young woman, said to be the so-called bride of Hasa, the chosen one of God.
It's really ridiculous. Who doesn't know that the covenant has long been destroyed by Nagash, and the glory of the gods is long gone? Otherwise, would the cities of the priests still need the assistance of three tons of gold from Lamia every year?
Sitting on the throne with the granddaughter of who knows how many generations lying in the coffin, two cat-like vertical pupils looked at the woman who was slowly walking towards the throne behind the golden mask.
Her face was delicate enough to serve as a maid in the palace. Looking at those golden eyes that were completely different from ordinary people, like lions, Neferata commented in her heart.
The black robe on her body is made of fine fine linen, and the complicated decoration is made of silver thread. The headscarf on her head is also black silk imported from the East.
The gangsters in the desert can actually supply this kind of clothing. It seems that they are not as poor as imagined.
Neferata raised the decorative spike on her chin and asked haughtily.
"Daughter of the Desert, what is your name?"
The pair of golden eyes didn't mean to avoid Neferata's gaze, as if they were seeing farther through Neferata, the girl replied in an ethereal voice.
"Sulema."
Before Neferata could ask the next question, this young girl spoke up first.
"Your fate was not supposed to be like this, Neferata, the fate given to you by the gods was not like this. You were supposed to lose Arkadiza, lose Lamia, something messed it up."
At first, Neferata didn't realize what the Desert Daughter was saying. After a few seconds, the face behind the golden mask began to distort uncontrollably.
"That's enough! Do you want your gang to disappear forever on the golden plains!"
The black vertical pupils with murderous intent are opposite to the golden pupils, and the latter has no fear in them.
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"If you can't do it, the tribes tested by Hasa will drown you in the yellow sand."
The desert girl said coldly, without any emotion in her voice.
Neferata's body turned into an afterimage, several gems shattered under the violent movements, and the broken pearls kept beating on the ground. The range of her movements could make any living thing feel her anger. p>
The floor beneath her feet was filled with the vibrations of the tide of sea water hitting the rocks. Neferata approached the Desert Daughter, raised her hand and turned into the claws of the vampire's true form, intending to turn this golden lion-eyed woman into a ball of rubble.
Meat.
"Stop, Neferata!"
Alkadiza's voice made her stunned, and she did not wave her claws immediately. When she reacted and wanted to continue, the prince's strong arms strengthened by the elixir of life had already caught her.
"What happened?"
Before Neferata could explain, the desert daughter with lion-like golden eyes looked at the dark-skinned prince, from his short black hair to his dark eyes, to his thick cheekbones and strong nose.
, square chin, strong muscles.
She seemed to be fascinated by the prince and looked at him for a long time before saying.
"Akadiza, your fate should not be like this. You should have married a girl who has passed the test of Hasa decades later, not this vampire."
These words made Alkadiza feel inexplicable.
"Hasa? Destiny? The covenant has been destroyed. What are you talking about?"
There was some inexplicable rejection in the prince's heart, even though his intuition made him inexplicably think that what the other party said was shock.
But if everything is destined by fate, then who is he? A toy of the gods?
The desert daughter's golden eyes never left her dark eyes, she said calmly.
"The covenant is only made between the gods and you Nehekhara people."
This actually interested Alkadiza. He helped Neferata back to the throne, comforted her a little with his hands, and then walked to the Daughter of the Desert.
"In other words, Hasa is still protecting you?"
There was hope in the prince's eyes. If he could establish contact with the gods in ways other than covenants, the future development of the Magic Academy would be smoother.
However, the Desert Girl's answer is bound to disappoint him.
"Each tribe will only be tested by Hasa to make them stronger. The God of the Wasteland will not give them any blessings."
"And the daughter of the desert is the bride of Hasa."
Does the implication mean that only the bride can get some magical abilities?
Shaking his head, Alkadiza turned to Neferata and said.
"Keep her in the palace. She may be useful later. Before that, I think I need to consult the Skink Priest."
"They previously proposed an idea, saying that after the giant spiritual network is restored, it may be able to help us renew our covenant with the gods."
But I don’t know what those words were that offended the daughter of the desert over there. Inexplicably, she got angry and yelled at Alkadiza.
"This shouldn't be your fate!"
Before Alkadiza said anything, Neferata turned into a shadow again, appeared in front of the Desert Daughter, and grabbed her chin.
"Destiny? Destiny! Show me what destiny your god and your husband have shown you."
As soon as she finished speaking, the Desert Daughter's golden eyes widened.
Neferata lifted up the black silk scarf that covered her face and leaned forward. Under the strength of the ancestor of vampires that far exceeded that of mortals, Sulema could only let out a whimper.
Not long after their eyes met, the desert girl's eyes gradually lost their luster, which was a sign that the ability was taking effect.
Neferata released her chin and wiped the wet marks on her face.
"Okay, now tell me, what is the destiny given to you by your god?"
The ancestor of the vampire put his finger on the desert daughter's chin and kept making circles, asking.
Soon, a comment that made her blood pressure rise leaked out of this woman's mouth.
"Alkadiza should have died fighting the usurper and killing the usurper. The sons of the Old Ones in the south should not have helped you."
"What?"
Alkadiza frowned.
The Old One? The architect of the great plan? Alkadiza had never thought that he would hear this word from the mouth of the Golden Plains people isolated from the jungles of the south.
However, he immediately noticed another sentence.
"In other words, I can kill Nagash?"
The Desert Daughter paused, as if trying to remember something, and then spoke after a while.
"That is your original destiny. As long as you cross the strait in front of you and reach the other side of the sea, you can kill him. But as long as you cross this strait, you will die."
"Now your fate has become difficult for me to see clearly."
"The destiny and the will of God make me feel that the usurper is different from the one in destiny. He is stronger now than he was in destiny."
Alkadiza frowned and held her chin, which had some stubble.
"That's really not good news."
According to their original predictions, Nagash must be much more powerful than he was hundreds of years ago.
If Nagash is stronger now than he was in the so-called destiny, the threat level of the usurper will be even higher, and perhaps the power of the entire Nehekhara can no longer deal with the Necromancer.
Grabbing Neferata's hand, Alkadiza said.
"It seems that we will have to speed up the construction of the giant spiritual vein network in the future. This spell structure is quite beneficial to spellcasters."
The black vertical pupils looked at the prince's eyes without blinking.
"Of course, Lahmian gold is used for these things."
Smiling and caressing her face, Arkadiza asked the maid to lead Neferata back to the palace to go to bed - sleeping day and night is the physiological schedule of a vampire.
He himself went outside the palace walls to meet the Skink Priest and his attendants.
Nearly ten hours later, the sky had gradually dimmed. Neferata, who woke up from bed again, saw her cousin who disappeared at an unknown time last night in the main hall.
Two pale figures flashed past, and Usuoran took the warlord in charge of the Lahmian army, General Ankat, and stepped into the palace with weapons.
Seeing their unconventional attire, Neferata frowned, then felt relieved.
Going to the palace with swords and shoes is no threat to her at all. She can knead a steel sword into dough with one hand.
When her cousin came closer, she realized that Wu Suoran's expression looked quite strange, as if a disaster was imminent.
"Other countries are plotting something."
Usuoran's words made Neferata roll her eyes and reply.
"What day are they not plotting something?"
Her cousin seemed not to notice, almost maintaining the worried expression and said.
"We all know that except for us and Astri, the national strength of the other six countries in Nehekhara has been quite weak."
"Although they can still survive with our assistance, they still owe us a huge debt."
"The princes and princesses who stayed in Laemia as hostages can get luxurious residences and other pleasures from us."
"But they still hate us. The dual economic and cultural disadvantages have created a hatred in their country that is difficult to eradicate."
"My informant told me that some of them are quite dissatisfied, especially Numas and Zandiri."
Neferata held her head, drank a cup of the believer's offering that was just served, and shrugged.
"But they didn't dare to take action, otherwise they would have taken action in the past hundreds of years."
These are not new things. In the past, these countries have always been dissatisfied, but who of them can leave Lamia's annual aid of three tons of gold?
She still remembers how the ruler of Kuata hundreds of years ago was almost stopped by her gate guards as a beggar.
"Yes, at least until they don't have a righteous name that allows them to trust each other."
Ankart said suddenly, which made Usoran and Neferata turn their attention to him.
"If you have anything to say, I think you might as well say it directly?"
The ancestor of the vampire said that she always felt that there was something hidden in Ankart's words.
General Ancart, who got the hint, roared angrily.
"You agree with Alkadiza's plan to reveal our vampire identities. Have you ever thought that this will give this righteous reputation to them?"
Neferata, on the other hand, spread her hands indifferently.
"Being hostile to Nagash is the true righteousness in this land."
She doesn't think there will be any consequences in the end. Just like Alkadiza said, vampires will be disliked because this technology is related to Nagash, and those who use this technology are regarded as Nagash's lackeys.<
/p>
As long as they show their hostile attitude towards Nagash, they will soon have the possibility of being accepted by Nehekhara.
General Ancart obviously did not agree with this.
"Nagash is far away in the horizon, Lahmia is right before our eyes, especially the gold of Lahmia, right before our eyes."
"In short, I have recalled Abrash, and the champion warrior is about to return to Lahmia."