"Are you born that way? Or were you changed that way by some curse?"
"I don't know. When I found out, I was like this. You don't have to know the story to be like it."
"Where were you born?"
"I don't know."
"This--"
Vron, frustrated at the loss of ground, leans forward. He signals with his eyes to the knights who stand guard over the prisoners behind him.
"If they will not answer honestly, let them answer. We will not hesitate to whip our prisoners like the weak knights of Paro."
"When Guin appeared in the Forest of Ludes, he had lost all memory of what he had done before."
Linda, who had been nodding off, looked up and shouted in disgust.
"How can you answer something you don't know. ..."
With green eyes, Amneris slowly looked Linda up and down, as if he was annoyed at her rudeness, wondering why the child was meddling in such matters.
Linda's words became smaller and smaller in her mouth. She shrank back with a heavy heart, but in her mind she was burning with an unhappy defiance against this beautiful, arrogant older girl.
"Is it true that you've lost your memory?"
Satisfied that he has gotten Linda off his back, Amneris turns to Guin again. Guin nods gravely.
"I've tried to remember various things myself, but I can't."
"There are many ways to find out what you don't know, even if you don't know it."
Amneris said, turning to look at the mage who was hovering like a ghost behind him.
"Gayus!"
"is."
"Use the Ouija ball and the Ouija board to read this man's fortune."
"Yes, sir."
"How about Guin: ..."
What are you going to do? But, (skinny little girl!) Amneris's cold glance made her feel as if she had been shouted at, and she sank back into silence. Linda must have been at least four years younger than Amneris. Linda felt infinitely miserable, and at the same time, a vicious fire of hatred for the gorgeous and handsome avenging princess burned in her heart.
"No matter how hard you try to hide it, it will show up now. If you're thinking of hiding at all, don't do it."
Amneris warned him. Guin doesn't move his head.
"Then for the time being, let's just say that until Gayus is able to divine your identity, you are unrecognizable and have lost all memory of what you've done so far - but if that's the case, why are you taking the side of Paro's orphaned son who escaped?"
Guin does not answer. Amneris nudged him again. Guin is still silent.
"Say, if you're just a random guy with no real connection to Paro, why are you working for him? Or are you related to Paro? Answer me!"
Amneris hissed. Suddenly a twinge of fierce annoyance appeared on her white face, and the duchess rose abruptly from her comfortable chair, stamping the floor violently with her white and silver booted feet.
"Why are you serving Paro's orphans?"
"Let me answer to His Highness, Amneris!"
The voices of Amneris and the captain intermingled.
Guin turned his leopard head slightly to the side. But then he suddenly did something unexpected. He began to laugh as if he were making fun of him.
"What the fuck is wrong with you!"
Amneris was furious. Her little feet kicked the floor.
"You are mad, Lady of Mongol."
Guin's answer made her even more agitated.
"What--why!"
"Beautiful lady of Mongol, it is noble of you to dress yourself in armor like that in the body of a gentle woman, and to boast that you are a general of the Right Prefecture and a captain of the White Knight, but don't you think it is a bit painful to do so even in front of true warriors, let alone against the cowardly knights of Gora?"
Remus opens his mouth.
Linda suddenly shook her silvery head and looked up. Her eyes began to sparkle.
"This, this--"
Amneris choked on his breath.
"You monster, how dare you disrespect Her Highness!"
Vron and Lint, enraged, try to jump out from both sides with their hands on the hilts of their great swords.
But at the last moment, Amneris' hand reached out and stopped them.
They were all struck again by the strength of the princess's spirit. It was only for a moment that Amneris' voice trailed off in fury. Immediately, she regained herself with perfect self-control, and even smiled bitterly at her pale face.
"I see you have a secret that must anger and distract me, Guin."
She pointed out in a calm voice .
"Very well, the matter will be settled slowly in the dungeons of Alvon Castle, even on the torture table. Now let me ask you something. I saw you from the cliffs of Arvon... going down the Kes in a raft. There weren't three of you then-- what happened to the other two? One wore black armor that could have been that of Staphorus, and the other, oddly enough, looked like a Semite from Nosferus."
"I don't know."
Guin said matter-of-factly. Amneris was almost irritated again, but he held his ground.
"Gayus... are you there yet?"
"Right now."
Answering the gloom, the mage stepped forward.
"The Ouija ball depressed this man."
"The result."
"Come on, it's--"
"What do you think? Don't be shy, just say the word."
"That's ...."
For some reason, Gayus's hideous, sunken face seemed to be fading into a deep bewilderment and anxiety. He raised a scabby hand and placed it on the divining ball, then ducked it as if it had been burned.
"I placed the divining sphere on the divining board, said a prayer in runic script to reflect the phase of the righteous, and looked at it..."
"..."
"The only thing in the water was a giant Leopard."
"Leopard--"
Amneris raised an eyebrow.
"What, that's . What's that supposed to mean? Don't be vague, like you always are, and don't say anything that I don't understand.
"I'm afraid a Leopard is only a Leopard."
Gayus replied with some trepidation.
"The soul of this man is in the form of a huge Leopard. The rest is strangely blank - rather than losing their memories, they were not given them in the first place,..., and the memories of their race are stored in the unconscious layer and are passed on. In the event that you're a newborn baby, you will certainly have a lot more than what this man has right now depicted in the water table. In addition, if this sphere of contemplation can see through any mask, the true face will not be depicted even if it is seen through this sphere,...."
"..."
"This is the first time I've ever done anything so unfathomable."
"You idiot!"
Amneris shouted as he spat. He raises a thin eyebrow and waves his hand to make the mage back away.
"Good."
Annoyingly,
"All right, let's say that this guy is a Leopard that's been released into Gora - or Nakahara itself - in the shape of a man. Even if that is the case, what does it matter? Could it be that the Middle Field is the seat of human knowledge and civilization, or could it be that this is nothing more than the foul magic of Nosferus?
Very well, if the demon doll who claims to be Nosferus wants to make fun of us, we have a way. Vron!"
"is."
"Lint!"
"Here."
"Order all troops to return. We'll leave as soon as the platoon that went to search for the others returns. Send horses to Alvon and send men to meet them. And these men...
Amneris suddenly looked at the three prisoners who had angered her, with a hint of some disgusting, almost brutal pleasure on his cool face. A gentle, cold mockery crept up on her lips.
"There is no need to give them horses. Tie him around the waist and hands with a leather thong and tie the end of the thong to the last horse of my platoon and pull him along. If he is a true leopard, he should be treated as such."
"is ..."
Lint hesitated, glancing down at Paro's twin, its slender, immature limbs.
Sooner than that, the squeaky Guin came forward.
"I don't mind, but give the children of Paro a horse. One horse for each of them. They're tired. And they're the only bloodline of the Holy King Aldross now. It would not disgrace Gora to extend that courtesy."
"Your Highness: ..."
Lint looks at Amneris appealingly. Amneris's face stiffens.
"No use! You're going to make the Lady of Mongol give the same order twice."
"Ka--okay, sir."
"My Lady! Then at least give the children some water and food--they're about to collapse."
Guin raised her voice.
But then Guin felt a cold little hand on his arm and turned. His yellow eyes slowly narrowed.
"Linda, prophetess and little queen of Paro, I say to you. I don't need your intercession."
Linda said.
The people were suddenly struck by something and stared at the frail girl who was being held there like a slave.
Linda no longer felt any guilt for the glorious princess before her. Her back was straight, despite her extreme fatigue, and her head was held up proudly as she stared straight ahead at Amneris.
Anger - and the unyielding pride of royalty, the outpouring pride of nobility - had fed the innate and terrifying fire in the veins of the little queen of Paro, only fourteen years old. Linda's lips were clenched and her eyes were shining like stars.
His cheeks were bright with the color of blood, and even a noble smile, untainted by the humiliation he had suffered, came to his clenched lips.
Yes! I am Linda the Oracle, Princess of Paro, the only princess of the Holy King Aldross III, and the Jewel of the Crystal Palace. Mongol, by blood, is but a pretender, a descendant of the old and proud Paro royal family. Hold on, Princess Linda, hold your head high-- you are the rightful symbol of Paro!
Linda's sullenness, humiliation, and even the humiliation of a loser were gone. All that was left was an unquenchable fire of dignity and a dreadful dread that no one could douse. Though she hadn't even realized it, Linda had become a different person from the miserable, muddy child who had first staggered into the tent after being shoved from behind. Skinny and pale as the moon if Amneris were the dazzling sun, even her immature appearance shone with a silver and white charm that drew the eye, and people, even Guin, watched her with rapt attention.
Amneris was sensitive to the change in their relationship. Her green eyes grew steely and colder than ice, her lips tightened, and the fury of a fierce queen flared in the air. It was a rage that was a mixture of distrust, frustration, and the will to overwhelm her insolent opponent who dared to oppose her as queen.
Amneris stared at the Princess of Paro. But Linda, no longer shying away, met her eyes and turned her back. There was the head of her father and mother, the bitter enemy who had driven her and her brother from their kingdom, the eternal enemy with whom they could not share the heavens.
The green eyes, full of fierce anger, and the violet eyes, glittering with dreadful rage, clashed with each other, and they met head on, and sparks flew furiously. It was the first glance that Linda, the Little Queen of Paro, and Amneris, Princess of Mongol and Captain of the White Knights, exchanged as their greatest enemies. And it was not only the enmity of the proud goddesses of Paro and of Mongol, the murdered and the murderer of their fathers, the captive and the captors, but also - though they themselves did not realize it - the incompatibility of their different beauties. But they themselves did not realize it, but there was a mixture of jealousy and enmity between women, each with a different beauty.
Amneris stared at the captive princess with disgust. Linda tried to look away, furious that she could kill a man with her eyes. Amneris's shapely mouth twisted.
"Your Highness. The Red Knight Platoon has just returned."
At that moment of heightened tension, the curtain at the entrance to the tent suddenly lifted, and a red knight wearing a platoon leader's ornament appeared to report.
"I'm sorry, sir. The fugitive is nowhere to be found."
"Alright!"
Amneris would not hear the end. She fell to her knees violently, shook off her rich hair, and cried out in a high tone.
"Touch your departure!"
The knights, mages, and samurai stood up behind him in panic. Amneris arrogantly ignored his captors and almost walked out, but stopped short in front of Linda. She willfully and completely ignores Guin, as if she must hide even from herself the depth and intensity of her interest in him. She looks down at Linda coolly, her rich golden hair rippling in a showy manner.
She was about a head taller than Linda. Her limbs were wrapped in ornate armor, and her skin, the skin of a girl of eighteen about to reach perfection, was glowing with a rosy, milk-colored luster from within, and there was a fearless confidence in her demeanor and in her mood, as if she were more than aware of her beauty and power and what it might inspire in her opponent. He has a fearless confidence in his attitude and in his atmosphere.
Linda's head snapped up nervously, but even though she wasn't exactly small, she was no match for Amneris' height. Linda's violet eyes blazed with anger.
"Tiny, tiny little girl!"
Amneris lashed out with a sharp tongue.
Walk away without looking and leave the tent. The knights follow.
Linda bit her lip so hard that it bled, and did not notice Remus peering at her anxiously. She was determined to hate Amneris, Princess of Mongol, for the rest of her life.