Chapter 21: The calm after the storm.

The battle ceased. The smell of blood and death was noticeable in the air. Helena looked at the pile of corpses, her eyes brimming with tears, and thought about all the sacrifices made in that battle.

Gray approached and told the people that the queen had been killed. Since there was no line of succession, he would assume the throne until things calmed down. The remaining people agreed to the decision.

Mary: "Helena, let's go to the orphanage; the mistress should be waiting for us there."

Helena sadly nodded.

Mary holds Helena's hand and says: "I know what you're thinking... Isz must be alright, let's go Helena, Kana sacrificed himself for all of us, don't waste that."

Helena: "You're right, let's go, maybe Nina needs help with the wounded."

Anna sees her subordinates and hugs them both, worried and relieved, she asks for help with the bodies.

Irineia arrives soon after and says she was protecting the doctors from the capital and performs a spell that invigorates the tired ones, and they go to the hospital.

Alphonse arrives from his trip and asks: "What happened? Why so many piles of corpses? Where are the scouts?"

Irineia: "They're probably all dead."

Helena gets angry and says: "Don't talk nonsense, Irineia, they must be busy."

Irineia: "Of all the combatants, the scouts are the strongest; there were three voices in the city. What kind of enemy would the scouts be facing to take so long?"

Helena swallows hard and makes a frightened face; she remembers that Isz may have died before the battle in the city took place.

Alphonse: "Was that explosion Kana?"

Mary: -Yes... I should have helped him.

Baron: -Come on everyone, help me take the wounded to the infirmary, those who are seriously injured go straight to the hospital.

Anna was helping to gather the wounded and she looks at Irineia standing there and says: -Why are you standing there Irineia? Help me carry the wounded.

Irineia: -They're already condemned, look at the marks of the voices on their necks.

Anna looks and notices that the wounded had a different mark that she had never seen before.

Irineia: -No need to play the good girl Anna, you avenged your daughter and your companions, wasn't that what you wanted?

Anna approaches and slaps Irineia in the face.

Anna: -Shut your mouth, what do you know about me?

Irineia clenches her fists, but returns to her calm expression and says: -I know you're just another piece in this game, but your fate is already decided. It's a shame you won't go to the same place as the butcher.

Irineia walks past Anna and taps her arm, leaving the place and going to talk to Gray.

Baron, seeing that no children were killed, comforts and distracts them while trying to explain what happened to Norbit and the others.

Anna becomes stressed by what Irineia said and begins to hallucinate about the butcher. Helena arrives and asks if she's alright, and Anna replies that she is.

In Anna's hallucination, the butcher is sitting in a chair looking at a field of white flowers, but he reprimands Anna and says: "When are you going to tell the girl the truth?"

Anna falls to her knees and puts her hand to her head. Nina helps Anna recover and takes her to the infirmary.

Irineia watches from afar and gives a small smile. That day the weather turned bad, and a reddish sky took over the place; rain fell over the entire kingdom.