Chapter 432 - 428: Awake
Ryder was surprised to see that Miku still had close to seventy percent trust and loyalty in him, but he knew that he still needed to take a few good decisions to make sure her trust didn't fall any further.
"Where is Rale? I want to see Miyali to know the reason she decided to attack our people and what actually happened. If she is to be blamed, she will be executed," Ryder said softly. "I promise that. I won't be partial while distributing justice."
He rubbed the head of Miku softly before he walked towards the door.
Miku smiled gently as she ran after Ryder.
"Your Majesty, Master Rale was just here. He came to check on you, but after not finding you here, he went to train the Royal Army members," Miku answered.
Ryder heard her words as his feet stopped. He suddenly thought of something as he gazed back at Miku.
"Tell me something. The Royal Army and Rale's squad should have been in the Royal Palace. How come they let Miyali run wild without finding out or stopping her?" He asked.
"Oh, that's because Master Rale had sent them outside the Palace for a training mission. He just called them back after he returned," Miku answered Ryder.
"Oh. He probably didn't want others to know that I wasn't here. It should have been a secret from everyone. It's still strange, though," Ryder wondered as he left the hall. He shook his head as he concluded. "Maybe I am overthinking."
"So he is in the Training Arena?" He asked Miku.
"Yeah. That's where he should be, I believe." Miku answered.
"Alright."
Ryder walked through the long hallway that looked so desolate without any maids or local guards.
A look of contemplation was on his face as a sigh escaped his lips. So much had happened while he was inside.
"Select more maids to serve in the Palace. I'm giving you permission. As for the death of the ones that occurred here, I have a plan on how to handle that," Ryder said to Miku.
"What plan?" Miku inquired.
"It's true that we can't tell others about what actually happened. We can't even blame it on the Death Domain falsely since that would be the cause of a War, and we would lose the trust of our people who will say that even the Royal Palace isn't safe. We can't let that happen. So the truth shall be hidden eternally," Ryder answered
"How? We can hide this for a few months if we don't hire new maids, but the families of the old maids will still start inquiring after a month or so if they don't meet them. And if we hire new maids, this secret will be even more short-lived," Miku wondered as she frowned.
"That's why I have a plan. Call all High Dukes here for a meeting today. I need to talk to them about something," Ryder said as he happened to walk past a window.
He couldn't help but take a good look at the outside view.
'Sigh, I don't like lying, but I guess I have no option but to do it again. I am sorry, my illusionary master, Salem,' he thought.
He resumed walking and soon reached the Training Arena.
Opening the door, he stepped inside, where he was greeted with the sigh of men facing each other in what seemed like a mock battle that was just for practice. Rale was standing on the other end, observing them.
"Rale," Ryder called out.
His voice was loud enough to attract the attention of everyone in the hall.
"Your Majesty!"
All Royal Army members gazed at Ryder and immediately dropped down to one knee as they greeted Ryder.
Rale also greeted Ryder as he ran closer to him.
"I'll be borrowing Rale for a little while. You guys continue your training," he said to the others before he shifted his focus to Rale.
"Come with me." He said.
Rale nodded his head as he started walking after Ryder silently, understanding what it might be about.
"Take me to the cell where you're keeping her," he commanded Rale after they stepped out of the arena.
"Yes," Rale nodded his head as he took the lead and started walking ahead of others.
Ryder and Miku followed Rale in slow steps. None of them seemed to be in an excessive hurry. They were only walking slightly faster than their normal speed.
They soon reached the cell that was underground.
The cell was a dark place with no light source. Only when Rale stepped inside did the roof started shining in the cell, filling it with light.
Ryder could see Miku sitting on the ground. Both her hands were tied to a chain that was embedded in the walls. The chains were long enough to allow him to stand or sit, but she couldn't even step a few meters away from the walls.
She seemed to be sitting silently on the floor. Even her eyes were closed as if she was unconscious. She couldn't lie on the ground as the chains were not allowing her to lie down.
She seemed to be sitting with her back facing the walls.
"Did she recover?" Ryder asked as he gazed at Rale.
"I checked her last night. She was still in her uncontrolled form. She does seem a lot better now. Maybe she has recovered," he continued.
'Maybe," Ryder muttered. He gazed at Miyali and called out, "Miyali, wake up."
He didn't approach her since he didn't wish to die. He could revive after dying, but each death held a risk of attracting the attention of the Lord of Time to him. Even when it was in the game since his powers of time travel worked even in this world. He had no control over that.
If he could, he would have preferred dying in game since the only thing he might suffer was being logged out of the game for a day and losing one level. That was much better than having used his ability of time reversal by death.
It was an excellent ability to have as a backup in the real world. Still, in divinity, it was more of a disadvantage since it was a passive ability which he rarely had any control over. It was risky for him already. He didn't wish to take any more risk than what was necessary.
He was allowed by Janus to travel back in time three times safely without creating enough disturbance in time to attract the Lord of Time.
He had already done that twice. Now he only had one left, which he wanted to leave for emergency situations.
He had decided that he wouldn't use Time Transfer by death even if half the world were destroyed by the Uprising next time. He had saved people once, and that was enough. He wasn't going to do it again since he didn't have any free chances.
"Wake up, Miyali!" He shouted, trying to wake up Miyali.
"Is she unconscious?" He asked Rale after she wasn't up despite his yelling.
"She shouldn't be unconscious. Last time I saw her up. She wasn't hurt after that either," Rale answered. He started walking towards the girl. "Let me check."
Rale and walked closer to the girl.
"Wake up," he called out as he placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Uhmm?"
Miyali slowly opened her eyes as she was woken up by Rale.
He looked around and found where she was. She could also feel that her hands were tied to chains.
Soon, memories of what she had done flooded her head. She could see herself attacking and killing unsuspecting people inside the Palace.
Tears filled her eyes as she realized what she had done.
Ryder noticed the guilt on her face. She was sure that the girl seemed to be awake from her slumber. She was also out of her blood-crazed state.
"Rale, you can come back. She seems to be fine now," he told Rale to return.
Rale walked back to Ryder's side.
"Miyali, stop crying. What happened can't be changed. But what you can do is help us understand what actually happened. Why did you enter your blood-crazed state? You shouldn't have been able to enter if you didn't intend to as long as you were having proper blood intake. Tell me what actually happened," Ryder said to Miyali as he saw her constant tears.
"What happened when I wasn't here?" He asked.
"You weren't here?" Miyali asked, confused. She clearly remembered Miku telling her that he was sleeping.
"Yeah. I had to leave a few weeks ago. I told Miku to keep it a secret from others. If I remember, everything was fine until then. What happened after that? Did you intentionally not drink blood and forced yourself to go berserk? Or did you actually list yourself to your vampiric urges despite not needing to?" Ryder asked Miyali.
Miyali finally understood that Ryder wasn't actually ignoring her. She had thought that he didn't wish to meet her even after she told Miku to inform him that she needed him.