Chapter 386: The Elders will not like it.

“By the time this suppression is lowered and the suspicion begins to grow—

I will turn their attention to an entirely different topic and I will continue doing that until they become used to our ’eyes’ and we become too important of an existence for them to suspect or go against.”

Lavinia revealed with a simple, gentle smile on her face, and Kael just looked at her smile and…

“Sometimes, your words scare me.”

He spoke with a light chuckle. Lavinia’s purple eyes shined when she heard those words and—

“Oh? Do they now?”

Her smile widened, then once again, she grabbed Kael’s hand with both her hands and placed her head on his shoulder again,

“Then you should be very, very careful with how you act~

Especially around the fairer gender…”

She spoke, saying the last few words in a voice so low that Kael barely heard them.

“What was that?”

He questioned as he tilted his head a little and Lavinia—

“Nothing.”

She just smiled and then—

“What about the Ants? Have they finally spread around the Velmourns?”

The Princess suddenly questioned, changing the topic.

“Mhm.”

Kael nodded.

Imperia had already begun moving the Ants when they first saw the Drakthar Ships. Only a few Ants were left to keep an eye on other tribes. They would only report if there was a large-scale movement there. As for the rest of the Ants—they were positioned to follow and keep an eye on the Velmourns.

According to Imperia’s division, one Whisperveil Ant was now fixed on one Velmourn, tracking every single one of their activities, and the moment they did anything remotely suspicious, the report was given to Imperia, who further shared it with Kael. If they deemed it important, more Ants would then start keeping an eye on that particular man.

Of course, this arrangement took a while. Getting the Ants in position to lock onto around 10,000 people was a time-consuming process, but with Imperia at its center passing all the instructions, everything happened efficiently.

Imperia even used half of the Hallowtracer Ants to scout for the enemy tribes and coordinate with Whisperveil to investigate the Velmourns in case the Whisperveils missed something.

It was a perfect system.

The eyes that cannot be fooled.

“What worries me more is the week-long deadline.

What if the traitor does not do anything in a week?”

Kael muttered.

“That won’t happen.”

Lavinia lightly shook her head.

“Too many things have happened for the traitor to not take an action. The arrival of Drakthar Ships, the attack of the Stonefangs—this was probably one of the most ’eventful’ days for the Velmourns. There is no way the traitor would not report all this to his master.”

The Princess was confident.

“But wouldn’t everyone else think the same? Normally, if one wishes to catch the traitor, this would be an ideal moment. The traitor knows it as well. Wouldn’t he be more careful? And what if the traitor is one of the Elders in the Council? We already told them what we were going to do; there is no way they would out themselves now.”

Kael countered.

“The traitor isn’t one of them.”

Lavinia shook her head.

“And what makes you say that?”

Kael questioned, and a strange look appeared on Lavinia’s face—

“I do not know… I just… do not think it is very likely.”

It was an oddly naïve answer, something that one wouldn’t expect from Lavinia. The Princess, however, wasn’t done—

“Truthfully, according to me, the presence of a traitor does not make any sense either. The Velmourns aren’t the people who would betray their own in such a manner.”

“There are all sorts of people everywhere, Lavinia.

If anything, the Velmourns are more prone to such cases because of how harsh the conditions here are.”

Kael explained. The Princess, however, shook her head again.

“I am not saying there cannot be a traitor amongst Velmourn, but… the Velmourns have such a strong feeling of hatred towards Drakthar that none of them would betray their own for Drakthar’s sake, not when Drakthar cannot directly get in contact with them because of the economic isolation.

Yes, the merchants that come here are under Drakthar’s influence, so communication channels can be established through them, but the Velmourns track the merchant movements. Even these merchants cannot make too many transactions with the traitor, else he will be exposed.

The amount of ’incentive’ the Velmourn traitor would get for the risk he is taking is too high for it to make any sense.

This is no different than suicide.

This form of dedication does not come from one’s hatred against his nation but from… his love.”

“His love…?”

Kael frowned.

“Yes, only people extremely loyal to Drakthar would act as spies without clear incentives.”

“So you are saying that the traitor is doing this because of his love for Drakthar, and instead of a Velmourn traitor, he is a Drakthar spy?”

“That is the only way his actions would make sense.”

Lavinia nodded lightly.

“But how did a Drakthar spy infiltrate the Velmourns…?”

Kael couldn’t understand.

“This is what confuses me as well.

The only time the Drakthar spy could actually infiltrate would be when the Velmourns were banished to the Ashen Heights twelve hundred years ago. Other than that, the Velmourns have always kept a strict eye on every outside being they ever accepted.”

“What if… the spy we are looking for… comes from a family of spies?”

Kael said what he thought.

“Are you suggesting that the Drakthar spy that infiltrated the Velmourns twelve hundred years ago created a family here and his descendants became spies as well?”

Kael nodded at those words, but Lavinia frowned…

“A long time has passed, Kael. Twelve hundred years—that is twelve generations, considering every single generation lasted for a hundred years.

Most people do not even know what the Velmourns or the Dragonborns of that time looked like. Yes, we call them our ancestors, but other than that and what was written in our books, we know nothing about them.

A sense of loyalty so strong that it lasts twelve hundred years…

It… it does not make sense.

There might be descendants of that spy amongst the current Velmourns, but… these people now have survived the harsh environment of the Ashen Heights together with the rest of the Velmourns.

They can be called true Velmourns now.

I find it hard to believe that they are spies just like their ancestors were.”

The Princess then turned silent for a moment, as if thinking of something.

Then—

“According to me, whoever the traitor is isn’t loyal to the Drakthars, but to one of the other tribes. The tribes must have promised him immediate benefits for betraying his people. As for the tribe, that tribe must be loyal to Drakthar, sending every piece of information they gained through the traitor to them.

And of course, this information is later confirmed by the merchants Drakthar sends occasionally.”

“If we go by that logic, then there should be no traitor loyal to any other tribe either. After all, every single tribe here in Ashen Heights faces the same problem—shortage of resources. No tribe should have enough resources to bribe the traitor unless they get them from…”

Kael’s expression changed and Lavinia nodded.

“Drakthar must be behind them.”

“…”

Kael turned silent. Lavinia then shook her head as well—

“Again, I say that, but I still find it hard to believe that the Velmourns have a traitor amongst them. The people here are… too united for me to comfortably suspect something.

Not that my beliefs change anything.

What I think does not matter.

There is a traitor here—

And we need to catch him as quickly as possible.”

The Princess then looked into Kael’s eyes and—

“As for us being able to catch the traitor within a week or not, I have strong reasons to believe that the traitor would act within a week. And in the worst-case scenario where the traitor is indeed one of the Iron Council members and does not act in a week—

We will simply give in.

The critique from the council will be harsh, but…”

Lavinia then glanced at the soldiers who were defending her and Kael, constantly calling Kael Dragon God with absolute reverence.

“The Elders are not in a position to be too harsh on their saviors.”

“…”

Kael glanced at the soldiers as well. With his one gaze, all the soldiers who believed in him bowed instantly, leaving everything they were doing—some even knelt directly and started chanting. Tears of joy could be seen on their faces, as if life ahead would be simpler since the Dragon God was keeping an eye on them.

Yes, the soldiers were turning into fanatics. Honestly, Kael found it quite… discomforting, but for now, he stayed silent.

He turned back towards Lavinia, and the Princess just smiled—

“And obviously, we will still be keeping an eye out for the traitor. The Elders have no way of knowing whether we stopped or not, and once the traitor does act and we do find the traitor, we will arrest him.”

“The Elders will not like it.”

Kael muttered. He could already see how they would react.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Lavinia, however, shook her head.

“That time, revealing the existence of the traitor will be much more important than going against the Elders.

They will not have the time to not like it.”

The Princess chuckled, and Kael…

He just stared at the woman leaning onto him and couldn’t help but feel more and more intimidated by her.

And the worst part?

He was liking every second of it.

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