"Hmm... I like that reply. It feels more like something you would say!" Maruti praised with a grin. "But how? They must have put a barrier or something else to protect their share of the path!" she then added, her curiosity piqued.
"Just come with me!" Esdeath said. She grabbed Maruti's hand and ran towards the solid cave wall. It looked like she was determined to crash right into it.
Before Maruti could even say anything, the moment Esdeath's body touched the cave wall, it sank right inside, as if the wall were made of water. The next second, her whole body went through, and with her, Maruti also went through, passing through the solid wall and arriving on the other side.
"Whoa! Is it because of your space path affinity?" Maruti questioned, her eyes wide with amazement.
"Yep!" Esdeath replied simply, a small, proud smile on her face.
"Damn, why do only I have all the useless things? Whether it's my element, essence stones, or even my constellation!" Maruti sighed to herself, a feeling of unfairness washing over her.
But she soon gave up, knowing there was no point in mourning over it. Instead, she looked around at their new surroundings.
The other side wasn't much different from the room they were in before. It was the same kind of white room. On tables, there were a few Rank A Essence stones, and next to them were their refinement recipes, kept safe inside glass cases.
They could also feel that the entrance had additional layers of barriers outside. But despite this, there was a certain small gap that let the aura of these Rank A essence stones leak outside.
At first glance, it felt like someone had made a mistake in stopping the aura from leaking out. But when Maruti thought about it more closely, she understood that it was made on purpose.
"Was the gap in the barrier made on purpose? To stop others from finding out that there is a Divine rank essence stone hidden in the very next cave?" Maruti asked, putting the pieces together.
And of course, she was right on the mark. If anyone somehow tried a heist here and made it this far, they would get tempted by the aura of the Rank A essence stones and forget about checking the other caves.
Most people don't even know that something like a 'Divine Rank Essence Stone' exists. They would feel that this was the greatest treasure here and nothing else. It was a very clever way to stop anyone from stealing the truly valuable divine rank essence stone.
"Yes, I think it was done by King Augustus, or maybe a generation before that. But who cares? Let's just do what we came here for!" Esdeath answered, lowering her gaze to look at the Rank A essence stones.
"We won't take everything. Just one or two that will be compatible with us, so that it won't cause any suspicion!" Esdeath said, being practical.
Maruti nodded back and walked forward, looking at the essence stones. Every single one had a different shape and color, with a presence alone that made them seem incredibly powerful. There were recipes too, but they weren't that important for Esdeath right now.
"I wish there was an essence stone here that could turn me into a male," Maruti sighed to herself, half joking, half serious.
There were a total of six Rank A essence stones. But again, four of them were from the nature path, useful only for people with an affinity to nature.
To be honest, it made perfect sense. The Thorne royal family's all generations had people with the nature element. It was only obvious that they would try to build a foundation related to the nature path.
"Hmm... maybe Vesilisa will become the S rank Awakened of Republic Empire!" Esdeath said slowly, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
Vesilisa had an affinity with both nature and wood. These essence stones would surely suit her. She would have a high chance of becoming an S rank in the next few months or years, depending on her hard work and talent.
Maruti couldn't just take these essence stones for Ravenna, It would definitely cause suspicion.
She turned to look at the other two essence stones. One of them was a golden essence stone, shaped like an egg with a small, floating sphere at its middle.
"Is that a light path essence stone?" Maruti said, feeling a spark of happiness. Maybe this one was for her.
"No, it's a light path essence stone, Lightning Charge!" Esdeath immediately answered, crushing her mood in an instant.
The next one was a silver-colored essence stone shaped like a small dragon claw. It looked sharp and powerful.
Esdeath looked at it closely. "It's the transformation path Essence stone, Ultimate Dragon," Esdeath said. "Maybe Arthur used this essence stone to transform into a silver dragon."
"Should we give it to Kailith?" Maruti asked.
But then Esdeath immediately snatched it. "No need, it'll be great for Selene!" she said, taking it without a second thought.
Maruti didn't say anything. She just looked at those essence stones one more time and kicked the air in frustration.
"Again, nothing good for me! Is my luck only for getting mentally unstable girls?" Maruti shouted, her voice filled with pure frustration.
"Why are you whining? I didn't get anything useful too. Maybe we need to go on a small tour to the demon realm!" Esdeath said, trying to be practical.
"Demon realm?" Maruti repeated, her anger quickly turning into excitement.
"Yes. We will soon need to go to hell and fight a lord of hell, maybe two. So we must be prepared. The demon realm has many resources. Let's see if we can get something useful on our hands!" Esdeath answered calmly, as if she were talking about going to the market.
"Yay! Finally, big fights! I can't wait!" Maruti was way more happy about having a life-and-death fight with a lord of hell or unknown enemies in the demon realm than she was about finding essence stones. The thrill of the fight was what she truly craved.
Soon, Esdeath used her space path affinity again to walk right through the cave wall to go back. Initially, they had thought to take at least two Rank A essence stones, but seeing there was literally nothing useful for them, they only took the one 'Ultimate Dragon' essence stone and left.
There were other caves which had Rank B essence stones and other materials and resources, but they weren't worth their time or the risk of getting caught.
****
At the very same time, a public event was happening in one of the city's execution areas.
Who was being executed?
It was some of the remaining relatives and concubines of the Thorne family.
In truth, there was no real need for a public execution. The main Thorne family was already dead, except for Ravenna.
But the real reason for this was to show off power and convince the remaining people who still supported the old king. It was one of the new leaders' ways of announcing their new order to everyone. Of course, they were also doing something else at the same time as the execution.
On the stage, Duncton and Vesilisa stood at the very back, with several other guards positioned in front of them. Some of those guards were holding the people who were about to be executed.
In front of the stage, a huge crowd had gathered to watch. The whole streets and roads were completely packed with people, and some had even climbed onto the roofs of houses to get a better view.
And lastly, Ravenna was also there.
"The promised Rank A essence stone from the treasury and a monthly payment of five thousand gold coins will be delivered to you, just as we promised," Vesilisa said to Ravenna, her voice formal.
"I'm not doing it just for money or essence stones," Ravenna replied, her voice completely calm and empty.
Unlike before, she was wearing a very plain, simple pink dress. She had no jewelry, no makeup. She looked like she was from a lower-middle class family.
It was truly unbefitting of her status as a princess—or what used to be her status. She was no longer a princess now.
"Let's go," Duncton said, extending his hand to her.
Ravenna took his hand and followed slowly behind him as he led her to the very front of the stage.
The moment the crowd saw her, many people's faces twisted in disgust and pure anger.
"Fuck you, whore!" one person screamed from the crowd.
"Traitor... Traitor... Traitor..." the crowd began to chant, their voices growing louder and louder.
"Burn this bitch! A whore is more trustworthy than her!" another man shouted.
"Strip her naked and let her walk around!" a different voice yelled.
"Yes! Walk of shame! Walk of shame!" many others joined in, their voices filled with hate.
They shouted, cursed, and said every vulgar word they could think of, throwing their hatred at her like stones.
Actually, after everything that had happened, Ravenna's reputation was completely in ruins. She was the one who had gone against her own family and played a huge part in their downfall.
This era was very similar to medieval Europe, and society's morals were just as backward.
So what if her father was wrong?
According to most people, you were still supposed to choose your blood-related family, even if they were wrong. Or, at the very least, you should have stayed neutral and not betrayed them.
Whether people supported the revolutionaries or the previous king, the vast majority of them did not like Ravenna at all.
They thought that if she could betray her own family, she could betray anyone. There were so many vulgar and disgusting theories about why Ravenna had gone against her own father, whispers that spread like poison.
But ignoring everyone's hateful words, Ravenna let go of duncton's hand and walked with steady steps until she reached the very front of the stage. She looked out at the sea of angry faces.
"I, Ravenna Thorne, as the remaining heir of the Thorne family, am announcing that I am not worthy or experienced enough to run this kingdom at all," she said in a low voice that barely carried over the noise of the crowd.
"That is why the four leaders of the revolutionary group will take over this land to preserve justice and equality, at least until one definitive leader gets chosen!" she added, her voice hollow.
Actually, there was no real point to her words. The kingdom was already split in two and had already become the Empire of the Republic. This was just another public relations stunt from the revolutionaries, a way to make it the headline of the news and convince more people to accept the new reality.
Thud!
A rock came flying through the air and hit Ravenna directly in the forehead.
A single drop of blood trickled down from the small cut. Yet despite this, no guards came to protect her or to point out who had thrown the stone.
Ravenna slowly raised her hand and touched the place where it had hit her. When she pulled her fingers back, she saw the thin, bright red smear of blood on them.
Thud!... Thud!... Thud!
Several more stones and rotten tomatoes were thrown at her one after another, splattering against her dress and skin. But Ravenna didn't move. She simply raised her head and looked out at the whole crowd.
"Everyone is looking at me with angry, shameful, disgusted, and vulgar looks..." she muttered to herself, her voice a soft whisper. "They want to beat me up and rip apart every bit of my dignity!"
But then, a small yet ecstatic grin appeared on her face. Her cheeks burned a bright pink, and her whole body started to sweat.
She started rubbing her thighs together, unable to stand still as a strange heat built up inside her.
"Ahhh~ yes... Use more vulgar words. Throw some more stones. It feels so good!" she said in a desperate, sultry voice that sent a chill through the silent crowd.
"It feels so good, it's just too good... I might die from pleasure~!" she added, her body trembling slightly.
The whole crowd went completely silent. People stopped throwing stones and stared at Ravenna with shocked and confused faces.
"Has she finally gone insane?"
"She's completely out of her mind!"
But then Vesilisa immediately rushed forward, grabbed Ravenna's arm forcefully, and pulled her back from the front of the stage.
Without wasting any more time, the guards resumed the execution and beheaded the remaining members of the Thorne family one by one.