Chapter 351: Curious
Elves—whether forest elves, dark elves, snow elves, blood elves, or high elves.
All of them were deeply spiritual beings.
Some worshipped the moon, others the forest itself. There were those who revered the night, those who knelt before the storm, and still others who devoted their faith to the sun.
Yet beyond all these cults that divided them, there was one that united them all.
The worship of the Tree of Life.
For an elf, a Tree of Life was like a prophetess of their deities, a messenger sent by the Goddess of Life, Beauty, and Death—a divine gift meant to be eternally worshipped.
The foundation of every elven faith rested upon the Tree of Life.
Even in the Eternal Forest, where no Tree of Life existed and the elves lived isolated from the rest of the world, they still worshipped it with fervor.
In Greenleaf, the city Faelith ruled, many priests were dedicated to the Tree of Life, and countless statues had been erected in its honor. Every year, they performed a grand ritual in its reverence.
Faelith, a child who had been raised to worship the Tree of Life, could not contain her shock upon seeing what was unmistakably a Tree of Life firmly planted right there before her.
Her heart pounded wildly within her chest, and for a moment her legs nearly gave way beneath her.
"C-Countess?" One of Faelith’s guards called out hesitantly—a young, talented elf clad in silver armor, his face filled with concern at his mistress’s unexpected reaction.
"I’m fine." Faelith closed her eyes, panting heavily, her chest rising and falling in an irregular rhythm.
"Continue." She turned back to her carriage, slowly lowering herself onto the polished wooden seat.
Her eyes held a complex storm, and her face wore an expression impossible to decipher.
As she settled in, her red-painted lips curved slowly, while her carefully made-up face took on an intense, almost anxious expression.
"Ethan Goldenveil..." She repeated silently, her eyes drifting shut. "I’m terribly curious to know what kind of man you are."
When Lord Fallenwinter had asked her to serve as their representative at the meeting with Ethan, she hadn’t been very interested at first.
She wanted to know more about this human lord, yes, but she wasn’t willing to travel such a great distance just for that.
It was easier to simply stay in her own home, dealing with her own problems.
If Ethan wanted to march on her, fine—she’d fight to the death.
But if he controlled a Tree of Life, then he must have the support of a high elf. And if he had the support of a high elf...
Faelith sighed heavily, shaking her head.
That would be a disaster.
Soon, her thoughts scattered as the carriage’s speed slowly decreased.
"State your identity and purpose!" An officer of the Goldenveil army, guarding the west gate, demanded in a firm voice.
He raised a hand to halt the carriage, which was drawn by a powerful space ox, its hooves thudding heavily against the stone-paved ground.
One of the guards escorting Faelith stepped forward, dismounting from his horse.
He was an elf who had clearly seen a great deal in his lifetime—no less than six hundred years old—with a tall, powerful build and a face marked by scars.
"We are escorting Lady Faelith Greenleaf, Countess of Greenleaf, who has been invited by Lord Ethan Goldenveil, Count of Goldenveil, for a ceremony and diplomatic talks."
The elf, who stood at the peak of the third stage, withdrew a small letter from within his gleaming armor.
He extended it toward the young officer, who accepted the document with care.
After opening it and confirming Ethan’s seal, the officer stepped aside without hesitation.
Turning toward the carriage as it passed, he bowed respectfully. "It is a pleasure to have you in Goldenveil, Countess Faelith."
"The pleasure is mine..." A sweet, melodious voice echoed from within the carriage.
Faelith sensed with absolute precision the very moment they crossed within the walls of Goldenveil.
Outside, the density of mana and aura had already been absurd by any standard, but inside, she felt that density increase tenfold, enveloping her like an invisible cloak.
She carried some old wounds, never fully healed, remnants of battles fought in the distant past.
The moment she breathed in that dense air of mana and life energy from Goldenveil, she felt those wounds disappear one by one, dissolving like mist beneath the morning sun.
’So this is what it’s like to be under the influence of a Tree of Life...’ She took a deep breath, an involuntary smile blooming on her lips.
She had heard countless stories about how divine they were, about how no elf truly lived until they had felt the warm embrace of one.
"I wonder if he’d let me live here..." Faelith whispered softly, then shook her head, almost ashamed of the thought itself.
What on earth was she thinking?
She had come here with a clear goal in mind!
She wasn’t on vacation. She was a diplomatic envoy, dealing with a young man who might very well be the greatest enemy she would ever face in her entire life.
"My lady, we are approaching the intermediate zone of the city’s three zones," a guard reported from outside the carriage, his voice muffled by the wooden walls.
Faelith nodded, lowering her gaze to admire her own generous cleavage—her large, full breasts pressed impatiently against the tight fabric of her dress, pushed upward and squeezed together by the constricting bodice that could barely contain them.
Two soft mounds of milky-white flesh spilled above the deep neckline.
She gave a delicate tap to the side of her right breast. The plump orb wobbled in response, its soft weight rippling in a slow, heavy jiggle before settling back against its twin, the pale flesh quivering above the tight bodice.
She was not a lustful woman—quite the opposite; she was renowned for her chastity—but she knew full well that to deal with someone like Ethan, she would need to reveal a little more than what would be considered proper.
With a sensual smile curving her crimson lips, she commanded, "Stop the carriage. I’ll walk from here on out."