Filed To Story: Queen of the Battlefield Her Return to Glory Novel Online Free
A healer didn’t just treat the body-they also healed the heart.
She had never spoken her thoughts aloud, but somehow Sebastian had seen through them. He didn’t view her desire to achieve great things as a challenge to male authority. To him, it seemed almost natural, as though he believed in equality. That was something she had always strived for.
She was touched, realizing that the path she wanted to take was not one every man would oppose. The acceptance she had longed for, something that had only just begun to take root in her mind, felt like a healing balm. It sank deeply into her heart, offering relief she hadn’t known she needed.
Sophie escorted Sebastian back to Arcane Sanctum.
After a long silence in the carriage, Sebastian finally spoke, “Westhaven will be better if it changes.”
Sophie understood what he meant, though she couldn’t help but feel that Lisandra’s path would be incredibly difficult. She silently wished her well in her heart. If Lisandra were to become queen, at least the issues with Starhaven could be settled through peaceful negotiations.
It would be a blessing for both kingdoms.
The negotiations continued in the afternoon.
By the time Rafael received the message, he was already on his way to the Diplomatic Affairs Department. Afterward, he would go to the palace to get Salvador’s approval for their compensation plan for Westhaven, and then head straight to the negotiation venue. On the Westhaven side, Leroy and Amos were both absent. It was Lisandra who, along with the remaining few, handled the negotiations.
The first and second terms were no longer up for discussion.
The Westhaven party still insisted on bringing up Dominic, but Starhaven had decided to return Icarus to them instead. With this exchange, both sides were satisfied with the arrangement.
Westhaven proposed providing
3,000,000 bushels of grain, with
Lisandra insisting on that number. However, Rafael’s counter-proposal was to provide only 800,000
bushels, not all at once but over.” o years. Considering the recent disaster in Westhaven, the first year would see 400,000 bushels delivered, with the remaining to be given in the autumn of the following year.
They remained at a standstill for a time, but eventually made a concession on both sides, agreeing to a total of 1,000,000 bushels. 600,000 bushels would be given in the first year, and the remaining 400,000 bushels would be delivered according to the original agreement, in the autumn of the following year. Both parties gave their consent.
Then came the border line dispute. The agreement between Freya and Liam was to be torn up, and the original border demarcation was to be disregarded. The area left unclear would be left undisturbed by both sides for the time being. In a year or two, a peaceful negotiation would determine the final borders.
As for Freya, Westhaven insisted on taking her back to their kingdom, and there was no room for negotiation on this point. Starhaven didn’t press further.
Regarding the two spies Winona had found, Rafael had them sign confessions detailing the extermination of the Devin family. Each side received a copy of the confession, and Westhaven acknowledged the matter.
With all these terms settled peacefully, Rafael stood, along with everyone who had participated in the negotiations, to apologize for the deaths of the civilians at Freya’s hands, as well as for the fallen young general. Lisandra watched them rise and bow towards the Westhaven envoys. She turned her face away, a tear slipping down her cheek.
The Westhaven envoys had insisted on one thing-that it not be revealed how the late crown prince, Arthur, had been captured, tortured, and forced to take his own life. It was too cruel a truth for the people of Westhaven to ever know. Instead, the story that would be told was that he had died suddenly from an illness. Once Lisandra returned home, she would “clear up” this matter.
The late crown prince of Westhaven would never be portrayed as having been captured by a woman, humiliated, and harmed. In Lisandra’s mind, this was an unalterable fact.
Bringing Arthur up at the negotiating table was only worthwhile if it resulted in grain or the border line agreement-anything else was meaningless. Moreover, the only reason Starhaven had agreed to the 1,000,000 bushels was because of Arthur.
The newly drafted treaty resolved all the issues between the two kingdoms, apart from the border lines. The massacre of the villagers, the extermination of the Devin family, and even the treatment of the fallen young general would no longer be brought to the negotiating table.
Once the treaty was signed, it was sent to the palace for Salvador’s review. After reading it, the king had no objections and stamped it with his royal seal.
Lisandra had plans of her own for when she returned home, so she could not afford to back down on the border issue. If she did, all that she had worked for would be in jeopardy, and the support of the people would slip from her grasp.
This outcome was favorable for both kingdoms.
The day after the treaty was signed, the Westhaven envoys entered the palace to bid their farewells. Salvador had intended to host a farewell banquet for them, but Lisandra’s determination to return home immediately left him with no choice but to agree to her wishes. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice had already placed Freya in a prison cart and sent her to Concord Lodge.
When she saw that there was no sign of Dominic, panic surged through her.
“Why is it just me? Where is Dominic? Doesn’t he need to take responsibility too?” she shouted loudly.
Lonnie quickly gagged her mouth and passed her over to Leroy.
It was the first time the Westhaven envoys had seen Freya since entering the capital. The anger in their eyes was so fierce it seemed like it could burn her to the ground.
Freya struggled in the prison cart, trying to spot Blake amidst the crowd, but there was no sign of him. Outside the hall, a long procession stretched before her, with the Capital Guard sending the group off. Even Sophie and Rafael were present, but Blake was nowhere to be found.
She couldn’t call out or struggle to free herself, nor could she even lift her head. The cart was uncomfortable to sit in, and standing was impossible. It reminded her of when she had trapped Arthur in an iron cage and taunted him with arrows.
Back then, she had felt a twisted sense of satisfaction. But now, fear gripped her because she knew this was just the beginning.
Sophie had specifically brought Lulu along today. Standing a short distance away from the prison cart, the two of them could clearly see the fear and panic reflected in Freya’s eyes.
Lulu wanted nothing more than to drag her back to Northwatch Estate and tear her apart, but she knew that Freya now belonged to Westhaven, and she could not take matters into her own hands for vengeance.
The tears in her eyes felt as though they were made of her own family’s blood, burning her eyes and scorching her heart.
“My lady, may I go up and slap her?” Lulu asked quietly. “I’m not strong, I won’t hurt her. Could you plead with Grand Princess Lisandra for me?”
Sophie knew that if she didn’t allow her to slap Freya, Lulu would never find peace with herself.
She nodded slightly. “I’ll speak with Her Highness.”
After talking to Sophie, Lisandra lifted the curtain and glanced at Lulu, sighing softly.
“Go ahead,” she said.
The cold, impersonal words “slaughtering an entire family” and “massacre of villagers” had been written on the treaty papers, but it was only the survivors who truly understood that those words represented wounds that would never heal.
Sophie took Lulu’s hand and led her forward. Panicking, Freya looked at them as though the prison cart had become her shield. She instinctively shrank back as the Ministry of Justice officials unlocked the cart. She was chained, so even with the cart open, she couldn’t escape.
Her eyes burning with fury, Lulu raised her hand and slapped Freya hard across the face.
“You killed so many people. You’re worse than an animal!”
She was quite strong. That slap sent Freya’s head snapping to the side, hitting the iron bars of the prison cart.
Freya was gagged, so she could only breathe heavily through her nose, her eyes filled with fear and anger. Her words were muffled as she tried to scream, as if trying to curse Lulu for daring to strike her.
Sophie watched as Freya writhed like a caged beast. She didn’t feel any satisfaction or the thrill of revenge-just a deep sadness, knowing that killing that woman wouldn’t bring her loved ones back.
Freya scraped the iron chain against the doth binding her mouth, finally shifting it down to her chin. Then, she took a deep breath and roared Joudly, “Sophie Devin you’re biased and corrupt! Where is Dominic? He’s the one behind it all… Mmph!”
Sophie calmly reached over and moved the cloth back into place, then had her tied up more tightly to prevent her from shouting along the way.