Chapter 173

"What do you want to know about the Bounty Festival?" Alpha asked with a curious smile.

Delphine met his gaze. "The chant you created… does it still work if the first princess is a halfling?"

Alpha's brows lifted slightly at the question, though his tone remained thoughtful.

"It should," he answered. "As long as the first princess carries the blood of the original First Princess, the chant would work just fine."

"Even if she can't detect or use mana?" Delphine asked.

That made Alpha pause. His brow furrowed.

"The chant doesn't rely on mana," he explained carefully. "Its trigger is blood. Not magic, not willpower, just blood. So it would work even if the princess couldn't use mana at all. But… I'm not sure why you're asking that." He tilted his head slightly. "There is no being with human blood that cannot detect or use mana. Even a little."

Renee cleared his throat. "Our Empress is the first princess of Vaelundis," he said. "But… she can't sense mana. At all. Because she's a halfling."

A flicker of surprise crossed Alpha's face, but it was fleeting.

"I think," he said slowly, "you may have been misinformed about halflings."

Delphine and the knights looked up, attentive.

"Halflings," Alpha began, "don't just detect mana, they can see it. That's what makes them more powerful than full-blooded humans. They see the very currents of mana in the air. They instinctively know where it flows thickest. And that gives them the ability to cast faster, stronger, more precise spells. That's why halflings are often feared, and hidden."

"We didn't know she was a halfling until Queen Azura of the Narf told her. She said the Empress has a high water affinity because she's a Narf halfling. But she can't access her power because she never went through the Bloodletting Ceremony." Delphine said.

Alpha's lips curved slightly, but not in mockery, more like a teacher correcting an earnest student. 

"The Bloodletting Ceremony doesn't grant power. It isn't a key to awakening. It's a choice. A dangerous one."

He leaned forward, the atmosphere subtly sharpening.

"A halfling carries two bloods in their body. Human. And demi-human. For the first eighteen summers of their life, the demi-human blood sleeps. Dormant. Waiting. But on their eighteenth summer… it wakes up."

He paused to let them absorb the weight of what he was saying.

"When that happens, the two bloods begin to fight. They clash for control. And no one, not even us, can predict the outcome."

The knights remained frozen, listening, wide-eyed.

"That's why the Bloodletting Ceremony exists," Alpha continued. "It is not to awaken the demi-human side, but to choose. The halfling decides which blood to keep… and which one to kill."

Delphine's throat tightened.

Alpha went on. "If they don't perform the ritual… they're gambling. Some remain human in appearance but their ability becomes fully demi-human. Others keep their human power, but their body shifts to demi-human form. And in the worst cases…"

He grew quiet.

"…they lose both. No powers. No transformation. Just… nothing. An empty vessel."

Delphine shivered.

"So most halflings choose the ceremony," Alpha said simply. "It's safer. Cleaner. They kill the other side, and let the other blood reign."

He leaned back again. 

Delphine frowned, mind racing. "But Queen Azura insisted that because the Empress didn't perform the ritual, that's why she can't use or detect mana…" 

Alpha leaned back in his chair, thoughtful now.

A long pause followed, and then…

"There might be an explanation for that," he said finally. "Though I don't believe Queen Azura intended to mislead you."

He rested his elbows on the chair's arms, folding his hands.

"Have you ever experienced a day when you didn't know what to do with yourself? When your mind went blank, and all you could do was… daydream? Just to pass the time, hoping that maybe tomorrow, you'd feel the will to move again?"

He looked at them now, serious.

"Remember, Narfs were frozen for a thousand years. If you were one of them, stuck in that state, unable to move, unable to act, what do you think would happen?"

His voice lowered.

"Your mind would create stories. Simulations. Possibilities. Things you wish had happened. Visions of how things should be. Imagine doing that for a millennium. That's what Azura went through, and the rest of the narf population."

Delphine's eyes widened slightly, her breath catching.

"She may have blurred the line between truth and make-believe," Alpha said gently. "Maybe, what she told your Empress felt real to her, because she had dreamed it for so long."

He let the silence sit.

"But again… Bloodletting is not a ceremony to awaken a halfling's powers. It's to choose. To kill one bloodline, so the other may dominate. The reason your Empress cannot detect mana may simply be the result of not choosing. The bloodlines fought… and that was the outcome."

"And Vaelundis has likely forgotten all this," he added, "especially after a thousand years without contact with the Narfs. The ritual, the knowledge of halflings, it's probably vanished from human record."

Delphine looked down, her voice soft. "The Empress was never able to detect mana. Not even as a child."

Alpha's expression shifted.

"She couldn't detect mana before her eighteenth summer?" he asked sharply.

Delphine nodded. "Yes. That's the reason our Empress was treated so cruelly. Because she couldn't use or feel mana, she was shamed. She grew up… overweight. Quiet. Mocked by nobles from all six kingdoms."

Her voice cracked slightly with guilt, because she too had once judged. Not with words, but with the same silence that allowed cruelty to thrive.

Alpha frowned, the lines between his brows deepening.

"How old is your Empress now?" he asked.

"Twenty-three," Delphine replied.

That made Alpha pause even longer. He leaned forward slowly, studying her.

"That… complicates things," he muttered. "I can think of one possibility, but her current age makes it harder to explain."

Delphine and the others all leaned in unconsciously, desperate for even a half-answer.

"You've seen my blood, right?" Alpha asked. 

They nodded. They hadn't forgotten the glint of it as Luna stabbed him repeatedly like it was a mild inconvenience.

"It's Celestial Blood. The same kind that runs through Solmara and the other Celestials. If she performed the Bounty Festival ritual before her eighteenth summer…"

He paused.

"…it's possible that her first participation in the ritual prematurely triggered her demi-human blood when she touched the inscription containing Neko's blood."

Delphine's breath caught.

Alpha went on, slower now.

"That early activation could've caused her two bloodlines to begin their battle before the natural awakening at eighteen. And without a Bloodletting Ceremony, the result may have been what you see now, her retaining a human body, losing the ability to detect mana… but awakening her narf ability."

"But she doesn't have any ability," Robin said, frowning.

Alpha shook his head.

"No. That's not possible," Alpha said firmly, his voice calm. "You told me Queen Azura sensed your Empress's water affinity. That alone proves her Narf ability is active. If she had truly lost the influence of both bloodlines… no one, not even the Narf Queen herself, would have sensed anything. Not a trace of elemental affinity."

He looked at Delphine and the knights intently, his gaze heavy with certainty.

"It's possible your Empress doesn't possess a grand or aggressive type of power, but at the very least…" he continued, "she would have retained the Narf's innate abilities."

Cecilion leaned forward, brows drawn. "And what would that be?"

Alpha's eyes gleamed.

"Narfs, by nature, are telepathic," he explained. "They can hear the thoughts of any living being. They can speak mind to mind, even with creatures that cannot speak aloud. If you are near a Narf and you aren't guarding your thoughts… rest assured, they've heard them."

"And water," Alpha added, "is their sanctuary. Other elements can harm them even air, but water never will. It nourishes them. Protects them. Strengthens them."

He leaned forward slightly, tone dropping.

"So I say this with confidence, if Queen Azura felt your Empress's water affinity, then your Empress chose to hide her ability."

Silence fell like a blade.

"She may have learned something," Alpha said, "something dangerous. Something that could put her life at risk. And so, she made a choice, to live quietly. To hide. To take the lesser evil."

Delphine's heart pounded in her chest.

That's why…

That was why the Empress had allowed the world to laugh. Why she'd taken the ridicule, the judgment, the cruel whispers, all without fighting back.

Because she chose to.

Because she was protecting something.

Delphine remembered what the Empress once said to Duke Aurelian and the other High Ranking nobles during the Monster Hunt journey, that the world mocked her because she let it.

Because she had allowed them to believe she was powerless.

And now… it all made sense.

Alpha wasn't done.

"There's more," he said quietly. "As the creator of the ritual, I built a condition into the chant. It's meant to be exclusive."

He looked at them, gaze heavy with old knowledge.

"Only one princess can perform the ritual at any given time. The moment another princess succeeds in doing it, the moment power transfers, the previous princess loses access. She forgets the chant. She can no longer read the words, no matter how hard she stares at them."

"And twenty years ago, I felt the transfer of power," Alpha said calmly. "So it's very possible that even as an infant, your Empress sensed something, a threat to her life. That's likely why she hid her ability."

His voice dropped an octave.

"And yet, even while concealing it, she continued to fulfill her duties as the First Princess. In secret."

"I felt the activation of the chant. Yearly. Without fail. Ever since I created it. And then... it stopped, more than two years ago." 

"I would assume that was the time the Princess of Vaelundis ascended the throne and became the Empress of Aquilonis."

A beat of silence passed.

"Even without her mana, if the people of Vaelundis knew she was the one needed for the Bounty Festival, they would have protected her. Loved her. Kept her safe." He paused, a faint edge entering his tone. "And yet, she hid that truth. From her own people." 

"Only your Empress can answer the real reason why she chose silence. Why she allowed herself to be mocked. Ridiculed. Branded as useless by the world." His voice softened, not in pity, but something darker. "But the truth remains, your Empress was never useless. She just made the world believe she was." 

"And based on the loyalty you show her, I can only assume, she has already shown you what she's truly capable of."