Chapter 2: Tribute II

Chapter 2: Tribute II

Raimere Celeste’s POV

Incessant buzzing and incomprehensible words drifted past my ears. The sound of faint footsteps and the rustling of fabrics superimposed and drummed against my senses.

Darkness clouded my vision and a heavy force seems to be pushing down on the lids of my eyes.

I tried opening my eyes, but a wave of fatigue flowed all over my limbs as my waning spirit tried to fight off the impending sleepy spell that keeps on hovering above me.

A touch of cold fabric softly slid on my cheeks, the chill brought a sense of clarity in my mind, and I laboriously lifted my heavy lids, fractal lights penetrated the darkness and a blurry canvas smudged with various colors greeted my cloudy pupils.

It took a few minutes for my vision to gain clarity, and the first thing that caught my eye was the three servants in my small inconspicuous room that nobody in the clan ever visits.

One of the three was the one that was wiping my face with a wet fabric. I remember her always serving next to my father, and she was his old servant that took care of him when he was young.

The other two were the servants-in-waiting for my elder sister. They were her trusted servants and would always accompany her in bullying me.

What are they all doing here?

No, something is wrong.

I’m forgetting something important.

I shut my eyes the moment a prickling pain travelled from the back of my head to the front.

A hazy memory surfaced and unfolded in my mind.

The scene of my escape against the horrendous Void hound and the arrival of my family that I thought was worried for my safety.

The cruel words and seemingly normal conversation of my own father and elder sister about getting rid of me, of sending me away as a tribute to the Rogue Kingdom made my body tremble from head to toe.

My movements caught the attention of the old servant, and her hands stopped their wiping motions as I felt her old devious eyes landed on my face.

Her wrinkled fingers left my arm and traced the sides of my cheeks. The rough touch intensifying the unconscious shaking of my body. Beads of cold sweat formed and trickled down the sides of my neck, the sensation of it trickling down sent further shivers down my spine.

“Young miss, it seems that you have awaken.”

The old servant’s rugged void like the sound of two rotten woods being rubbed together made me flinch.

My eyelids fluttered open and met her eyes.

Her eyes looked at me with warmth, they seem to hold wisdom and kindness, but I could only see the indifference swimming in their depths.

My insides felt tied up in a knot as those old eyes stared for so long that I’ve been holding my breath for.

A fresh breath of air entered my lungs the moment those eyes left mine. I hurriedly gasped for air, but the constriction of my throat resulted in harsh coughs forcing me to lay sideways.

“Young miss, I will inform the young clan head that you are fine and awake.”

The old servant did not even glance back my way as she unhurriedly put down the fabric in her hand atop the cabinet on my bedside. My peripheral vision followed her movements, her hands signaled something to the other two servants before the creaking sound of the door opening and closing reached my ears the moment her figure left my sight.

After calming down the small bouts of coughs coming from my throat, I pushed down on the bed to support my body to sit down, when the two servants approached me with a pair of white and black elegant dress on their arms.

Both dress were plain in design, but I can clearly see the crest of the Celeste clan embroidered on the right sleeve and the crest of the Rogue Kingdom, which is a ruby-eyed ebony wolf howling at the heavens on the left sleeve.

“Young miss, the young clan head ordered for you to adorn one of the two dresses before heading to the assembly hall of the clan.” The taller servant motioned at the dressed as they both stared at me, waiting for me to pick.

I really wanted to laugh at this moment.

I never thought that the first time that I will own a pretty dress made from exquisite fabrics would be the time when my father finally severed our blood link by deciding to throw me away as a tribute to save his favorite daughter’s troublemaking hide.

I have always hoped that someday my father will show me the same fatherly love and warmth he has for my older siblings, but I see now that those were just ridiculous dreams that will never see the light of day.

My eyes strayed on nothing as I pointed to the dress closest to me.

‘A tribute…my life is really just one mess becoming one bigger mess.’

I let the two servants do their job of clothing me like a doll on a string.

I only realized that I picked the white dress when they pushed me in front of the mirror to braid my long and curly auburn hair in the ceremonial braid fitted for a tribute woman.

I stared straight at my reflection, and the golden pupils that was the only thing left by my birth mother looked back at me with a dull lifeless gaze.

The servants did not dawdle, and they hurriedly dragged me to the clan’s assembly hall after finishing my preparations by letting me put on pristine white boots with the same embroidery as the dress.

Inside the assembly hall, my father, elder sister, grandfather and the elders of the clan were all present.

My grandfather, the patriarch of the Celeste clan sat atop the central platform of the hall, his callous gaze fell upon me for a second before glancing away, as if looking at me will dirty his eyes.

“Now that the half-breed is here, my dear Celine can lead the tribute team to the kingdom. The journey will take three days on carriage with normal hounds, but I specifically ordered the hunting team to capture four wind hounds to shorten the travels.”

My father, Christopher Celester lovingly tapped the head of my elder sister.

“I know that you are worrying about enraging the Valerius further. Surely, they would be pleased if you arrived with the tribute a day or two earlier than planned.”

Celine’s eyes reddened with tears as she gave father a touched look. If I do not know of her treacherous personality, then I would have believed that gentle lady look that she always has on her face.

“Thank you father, I know that you will always be the best for me.”

“Hm…I will always be your support, but dear you should lay low in Rogue Capital and remember not to create too much trouble that will make my son-in-law Terrion lose his fondness of you. Remember that you are just one of his three royal concubines, and your focus should be on giving birth to the first great-grandson for the Cavalier King.”

“Yes, father, I understand.” Celine nodded with a firm look in her eyes. Those vicious eyes are now glinting with a crafty light. She must be thinking of ways to let Terrion Cavalier, the first grandson of the Cavalier King to get her pregnant.

Celine has been married for a year, and there were two other royal concubines beside her that has been married two and three years ago to Terrion Cavalier, but there has been no news of an heir since then.

A deeper sense of dread consumed me at realizing that I will be going to the same place as Celine.

The Rogue capital, the core power territory of the entire Rogue Kingdom, and home to the three king families that governs the kingdom along with the Rogue council.

‘Valerius…the Valerius King family.’

They are said to be the strongest king family of the three, and that must be the reason why a Cavalier royal concubine like Celine would need to give heavy gifts for an apology to whatever dumb thing that she did. As her scapegoat, my fate once I land in the hands of the Valerius would probably be no different from death.

But why do I need to be the scapegoat?

Even if it is only half, I still have the blood of the Celeste clan flowing through my veins.

How could they just throw me to wherever it is convenient to them?

These questions are the questions that I could never ask them to their face.

I know that I will only be plunged into a darker abyss once I hear their answers.

My family took their time to say their goodbyes with Celine, but their eyes never once strayed to my direction.

There seems to be a mouth of darkness wriggling beneath my feet, intending to swallow every bit of light that was barely keeping me alive.

I only came back to my senses at the sound of the wheels of the carriage rolling down the rugged forested path.

Two-meter-tall white wind hounds pulled four carriages, wherein three are for the 6^th moon yearly tributes, and one is Celine’s carriage.

We are accompanied by twelve men from clan’s best hunting team, as well as Celine’s two servants and two guards.

I was pushed inside the second carriage that was already filled with crates wafting with the scent of the treasured healing fruit of the emerald forest, and only a small space was left for me to sit where stretching my legs and arms deem it impossible.

My eyes looked through the covered windows of the carriage.

Only strips of light managed to pass through, and I don’t know how much time has passed, but the light turned to darkness, and darkness turned to light with shadows from passing sceneries intermingled in the silence ringing in my ears.

The wobbling of the carriage coming to a stop snapped me back to reality.

“Ouch.”

I reached out my hands to softly massage my eyelids. Burning pain slithered through my eyes like tongues of flames.

Tears flowed down the edges of my eyes the moment I closed them.

“We have arrived at Rogue Capital!” A shout from the assigned leader of the accompanying hunting team members made me open my bloodshot eyes.

I gritted my teeth and used the crates as support to stand next to the window.

My trembling hands pushed away the curtain, and the blinding morning light made me squint, but I struggled to keep them open to take on the grand sight outside this carriage.

Towering ivory walls reaching up to fifty meters, seemingly reaching for the horizons, and a luxurious blackwood double-door gate embossed with a ruby-eyed ebony wolf howling to the heavens highlighted by golden lines, as if the giant black wolf with blood-red eyes is ready to leap out of the gate and massacre its enemies.

The entrance to the core power territory of the Rogue kingdom exudes a terrifying momentum of bloodshed and carnage.

It perfectly fits the image of the Rogue werewolf race that I have learned and heard from stories about their sudden emergence, and how they only took three years to conquer the entire Elden continent.

It has been one hundred years since then, and the Rogue kingdom only continues to grow bigger and stronger that the various races of the Elden continent could only bow down and accept their tyranny.

Our Celeste werewolf race, a descendant of one of the six first werewolves created by the moon god, was also one such race that could only hide in our territory in the emerald forest to follow the wills of the Rogue kingdom, whether it is about following their decrees and sending up tributes.

“Argh.”

I tumbled down and collided solidly with the crates. The carriages suddenly started moving to enter through the now opened gates of the Rogue capital.

Everything happened so fast.

One second, I was inside the carriage of tributes, then the next I was pulled out by Celine and presented before a gorgeous lady wearing a light blue dress embroidered with lilies. Her smooth black hair cascades down her shoulders and is embellished with sparkling lustrous pearls. Her black pupils glistened like black gemstones embedded in the deepest glacial plateaus.

It was widely known that the beauty of the Valerius line are their black hair and black pupils that seemingly has the ability to suck the souls of anyone who stares into them.

“Your Highness, Lyra Valerius, I am Celine Celeste, the third royal concubine of Prince Terrion Cavalier.”

Celine smiled restrainedly with a respectful look in her eyes. She really looks the part of a noble and gentle lady.

“I offended Princess Leah tremendously in the last Sanguis ball, and I am extremely apologetic, which is why I will be offering a marriage tribute as a form of compensation.”

“This is my half-sister. She might be a half-breed, but she is a blessed werewolf that was born with a unique lunar gift. I immediately thought of her the moment that I heard your highness was looking for a marriage tribute.”

Celine signaled her two servants that dragged my dazed figure in front of the wife of the only child and heir of the current king of the Valerius family.

But my mind wasn’t on the scrutinizing look of the other party, because it kept echoing the words that Celine uttered.

‘Marriage tribute…marriage tribute.’

‘Am I not a servant tribute?’

‘Marriage tribute…to whom?’