Filed To Story: Queen of the Battlefield Her Return to Glory Novel Online Free
At this, Violet scoffed. “Tell him? Does he deserve such an honor? Why bother sending Dylan?”
“When some people are in a foul mood, they don’t care about anything. It’s better to tell him now so he doesn’t come asking later,” Jacob replied.
Some people were best kept at a distance, and Blake was clearly not in a state of mind that could be considered normal.
Violet thought about it and agreed with the decision. It was better to avoid Blake coming to the estate again. It would be one thing if he were simply to interrupt Rafael, but it was far worse if he persisted in clinging to Sophie.
The news had even reached Helen, who made a special trip to Orchid Hall.
She gently pulled Sophie out of Rafael’s arms and into her own, holding Sophie tightly. Using her limited words, she offered what little comfort she could.
“Evil has its own reward. Her time is up-she’s on the road to the underworld, while you’re on the path to a long life of joy and happiness. From here on out, your life will be free from sorrow.”
After speaking, Helen pressed Sophie firmly against her chest and let out a heavy sigh. For a mother-in-law to care so deeply, it was rare indeed.
Rafael watched and couldn’t help but think his mom was being ridiculous. Wouldn’t it be better to just let Sophie cry her heart out? Now, thanks to her, Sophie couldn’t even shed a tear. Sophie really couldn’t cry anymore. In fact, she found the whole situation almost laughable. Forget about crying-she could barely catch her breath.
When Sophie stopped crying, Helen thought her comforting had worked. She sat down, held Sophie’s hand, and launched into one of her long-winded speeches about life’s lessons.
The words were the same advice
Victoria often gave-don’t dwell on the past, keep looking ahead, those lost would never come back, but they watch over them from above, and the ones living must live joyfully so that the dead could rest in peace.
Regardless, Sophie eventually managed to stop the tears. However, her eyes were red-rimmed. Helen sighed, feeling a pang of pity for her.
“From now on, treat me like your mom,” Helen said softly. “I’ll love you as if you were my own daughter. As for Kiera well, she’s heartless.
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Always running about, and once she married, she hardly ever visited me. I can count the number of times she’s come back on one hand
Sophie felt a twinge of gratitude and said softly, “Thank you, Mother.”
Rafael shook his head, a little dismayed. If they were going to say such touching things, why drag Kiera into it? It made it sound as though Sophie was being treated like a daughter simply because Kiera had neglected Helen.
“By the way,” Helen added, “you’ve yet to open all the gifts your third aunt brought for you. I know you don’t want to face your seventh uncle’s sacrifice, but inside those gifts are his feelings for you. You should at least look through them.”
The gifts remained untouched in the storage room, and Sophie hadn’t even bothered to glance at them.
After dinner, she took a lamp and went inside alone.
Rafael offered to stay with her, but she refused, insisting she wanted to open the gifts by herself. Even Violet’s attempt to join her was turned away at the door.
Though Rafael was uneasy, he moved a stool just outside and sat, keeping vigil from the hallway.
Dylan had returned with news. When Blake learned of Freya’s death, he had thrown himself against a wall in a violent fit. His wound bled heavily.
Dylan was still in shock. He had seen it with his own eyes-Blake had slammed into the wall with such force. Dylan felt as though Blake was trying to end his life right then and there.
Luckily, in his rage, Blake had stumbled, which lessened the blow. Otherwise, there was no doubt he would’ve died on impact.
Confused, Dylan asked Jacob, “Why would he do that? If he wanted to die for Freya, why didn’t he just go with her when she was taken? That would’ve shown his feelings for her. Why wait until now, after Freya has been executed, to throw himself into death?” Jacob thought for a moment, equally perplexed by Blake’s actions. “Did they manage to save him?”
“I don’t know. When I left, they were carrying him inside. His wife was screaming in a panic, and the whole estate was in chaos. Oh, and his younger sister came charging at me. She almost scratched me up-I was lucky to get away.” Dylan’s voice still held a trace of fear as he recounted the incident. That woman had been ferocious. She looked like a wild animal, mouth open wide as though she wanted to devour him whole.
Jacob patted him on the shoulder. “With that family, you can’t make sense of things. Best to keep your distance and avoid getting involved.”
Dylan, still rattled, nodded. “I’m glad I went to tell him myself. If he had come looking for answers at the estate and then slammed into the wall, I would have been in trouble. My mouth wouldn’t have been able to get me out of that mess.” Jacob nodded in agreement. “Right. Go rest now. Don’t dwell on it.”
Dylan reluctantly agreed, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling. He had to talk to Violet and Travis about what had happened. He had never seen anything like it before. Blake had never seemed particularly devoted to Freya, but he now seemed to be putting on a show of deep affection. It didn’t make sense.
It was hard to tell if Blake’s behavior was genuine or just a performance. It didn’t make sense-who was he trying to fool?af the king ever found out, Blake would be reprimanded. The entire court would only look down on him, and even his wife would be nothing but heartbroken and disappointed.
Jacob moved a chair over to the storeroom door to speak to Rafael about it.
Neither Jacob nor Rafael could understand Blake’s actions. Perhaps they both felt it wasn’t important enough to dwell on, so they didn’t push the matter further.
Inside the storeroom, Sophie finally opened the chest her seventh uncle, Wade, had sent. She stood in front of it for a long while before moving the lamp aside and unlocking the chest. The gift from Wade was rather unique.
It was a row of syringes. When she twisted the cap off one, inside was a thin steel needle-short, about the length of half a finger, as delicate as a seamstress’s needle.
Curious, she counted the syringes. There were thirty in total, each containing fifty needles.
She wondered what this could mean. Why would he send her needles? Did Wade want her to focus on embroidery from now on?
As she picked up one of the needles and examined it under the lamp, she realized it wasn’t an embroidery needle at all. It had no hole for thread-one end was sharp, while the other end was flat.
Just as she was starting to wonder, she noticed a small carved cherry wood box in the left corner of the chest. The box wasn’t very big, about the size of a jewelry box.
She opened it, and inside was a bracelet. The bracelet was made of pure gold, with two gemstones set in it—a ruby and a sapphire.
It wasn’t particularly refined-if anything, it was a bit crude. The clasp was visibly damaged, and she could make out a tiny crack along the seam. The crack wasn’t glaringly obvious, but if one looked closely, it was clear enough.
She also noticed the sapphire seemed to move. Curious, she pressed on it and heard a soft click as the gem shifted, revealing a small hole underneath. She pressed the ruby, and it slid to the side,
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uncovering a small opening about the size of her pinky finger.
Sophie was unsure of the bracelet’s purpose, so she set it aside for now and opened the chest her third uncle had sent. When she saw what was inside, she couldn’t help but laugh-inside the box were numerous small willow-leaf knives.
How small were they?
They were about the length of a pinky finger, but as thin as paper. Sophie casually grabbed a handful and threw them, and the flying daggers sank deep into the wall.
Of course, the daggers themselves didn’t have that kind of power. But because of their willow-leaf shape and thinness, they became extremely powerful when propelled with inner force.
Sophie wasn’t surprised. After all, she could throw leaves or flowers with nearly the same precision and power. Of course, the damage wouldn’t compare to a throwing knife, which was far more effective-deadly, even.
She thought back to a visit from her third and seventh uncles when they had come to Meadow Ridge. At the time, Adrian had been experimenting with concealed weapons. She had just started training and had complained to her uncles. She said if only there were a hidden weapon that was both easy to use and lethally effective, it would be perfect.
Suddenly, a memory struck her. Her expression changed, and she quickly grabbed the bracelet. She poured a few more needles from the syringe, placed them into the small opening of the ruby, and closed it. She pressed down on the sapphire, and with two sharp hisses, the steel needles shot out with incredible force. Both needles embedded themselves into the wooden beam above her.