Chapter 96 - 92: Prince Saving The Princess
"We have never entered the Ancestral Temple with someone that's not from the Royal Bloodline, so I can't say how it would turn out. You should be careful," Princess Amelia told Ryder.
She didn't want any mishap to happen. She knew that if anything happened to Ryder or his team, he would think that it was because they betrayed him. Because of that misunderstanding, it was quite possible that they would kill her sister or her. She didn't want it to happen and warned Ryder.
"It's fine. Just open the door," Ryder told Amelia.
Amelia pulled out a hairpin from her hair and stabbed it in her thumb, making it bleed a little.
The metallic door had something like a Hexagonal Formation. She placed her bleeding thumb on the center of the formation.
The formation started shining as it came in contact with Amelia's blood. The metallic door opened, revealing the darkness inside.
"Let's enter," Amelia said as she removed her thumb from the formation and entered the Ancestral Temple. Princess Olivia, Ryder, and the others also entered after her.
As they entered, the door closed behind them.
The long hallways that were previously shrouded in darkness turned bright as if it was bathing in the direct sunlight. No one could see where the light was coming from, but everything was clearly visible now.
As Ryder and the others entered the Ancestral Temple, there was one guard outside that was suspicious. It was the Guard of the Royal Palace.
The guard had seen the Princesses walking towards the Ancestral Temple. Although he found it strange, he didn't stop that as it was not under his authority.
He was worried that if he stopped them, and he turned out to be the one in the wrong, he'll be punished for doubting the Princess. But the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to stop them, but he didn't. His feelings kept getting stronger and stronger until he couldn't bear doing nothing.
If he were wrong, he would be punished, but if he was right and he did nothing, he would become one of the biggest criminals in the history of dark elves.
He walked to the Chief Guard and expressed his suspicions to him.
The Royal Elves were quite naive when it came to people of their own species. They always doubted people of other species, but they rarely doubted Dark Elves, but after the Chief Guard heard the point of view of that guard, he also started getting suspicious.
"Let me go check," The Chief Guard said as he started walking towards the Ancestral Temple.
He met the guards of the Ancestral Temple and talked to them about it.
"I agree that the Princesses walked there with the Border Guards, but that's no reason to doubt them. It's not like they are humans, right? They are the Princesses who can never betray us. Also, it's not like they will enter the Ancestral Temple with those guards. They will just leave them outside and enter alone," The Chief Guard of the Ancestral Temple said.
"Did you check if they entered alone or not?" The Chief Guard of the Royal Palace inquired.
"You're so doubtful, Rex. Alright. Come with me. I will prove it to you. You can see it with your own eyes how wrong you are," The Chief Guard of the Ancestral Temple laughed out loud as he said.
He started walking towards the Ancestral Temple with the other guards, but as soon as he got there, his eyes opened wide as he saw no one standing outside.
"T-they all entered? How can someone that's not from the Royal Bloodline enter?" The Chief Guard of the Ancestral Temple let out a shocked noise.
"There's something really wrong going on here. We must inform, His Majesty," The Chief Guard of the Royal Palace said.
"You guys keep an eye on this place; I'll go inform, His Majesty," The Chief Guard of the Ancestral Temple told the other guards before he left with the Chief Guard of the Royal Palace.
****
Inside the Ancestral Temple, Ryder and the others have only taken around ten steps when an arrow shot out of the wall. Its target seemed to be Princess Amelia that was walking in the front.
"Look Out!" Ryder called out as he jumped forth as he wrapped his arms around Amelia, and landed on the ground with her. His single gesture had managed to save Amelia. Ryder freed her and stood up.
"Amelia! Are you alright?" Olivia ran to her as she helped her stand up.
"Ah, yeah. I'm fine," Amelia said, though she still looked shocked as she saw the sharp arrow stick on the other wall.
If Ryder hadn't helped her, the arrow would have penetrated her skull.
"T-thank you for saving my life," She thanked Ryder as she bowed down.
"It's alright," Ryder replied, acting cool.
What he didn't know was that even if he hadn't saved her, Rale would have caught the arrow and would not let it hit her, but Rale didn't catch it as he saw that Ryder already saved her.
"There was nothing like this when we entered previously," Olivia said softly as she gazed towards the arrow.
"Looks like the Ancestral Temple knows that we brought outsiders here. It should be the safety mechanism that's activated," She added.
"You told us to be careful, but I guess you should be the one being careful. Don't walk on the front. Stick closer to us so that we could keep you safe," Ryder told Amelia.
"Right," Princess Amelia nodded her head with an embarrassed look on her face. It was indeed the truth that she had told them to be careful, and she herself wasn't careful, which she found quite embarrassing.
"Let's continue then," Ryder said before they resumed their journey.
Princess Amelia didn't know, but the reputation of Ryder had really improved in her mind. Even though he was here to steal, she felt as if he was a really nice person in reality.
They began moving further inside.