After hearing these words, everyone stared wide-eyed, their faces full of disbelief, "What? My brother was taken away by Anrokuzan?"
"And my dad too…"
The noisy voices coming from the opposite side made Sara feel at a loss.
"Let's go. Go take a look at the celebration Anrokuzan prepared for you."
Rengoku led the group back along the path they had come from, walking slowly.
Sara, however, looked distracted. Her gaze drifted about aimlessly.
As if her thoughts had already flown far away, she followed the group in a daze at the very end.
The others exchanged glances with one another. After hesitating for a moment, they all quickened their pace and followed.
When they stepped out through that door, the sight outside instantly left everyone stunned.
In the center of the incomparably spacious plaza, a grand parade was underway.
Brilliant, colorful lights reflected off one another, adorning the entire square so beautifully it looked like a dream.
One elaborately crafted float after another moved slowly through the crowd, each loaded with exquisite decorations and lifelike figures, dazzling to the eye.
All around, countless "citizens" had gathered. Their enthusiasm ran high, cheers rising and falling one after another, resounding into the sky.
Rengoku stopped, raised his hand and pointed at the cheering crowd, then turned to Sara and said, "Just now you still refused to believe what I said. Now go take a look for yourself and see what these so-called 'citizens' really are."
Hearing this, Sara's body trembled slightly, but she soon took a deep breath.
As if she had made up her mind, she gathered all her courage and walked toward the constantly cheering crowd.
As she drew closer and closer, Sara finally saw the truth before her eyes.
It turned out that these seemingly lively, jubilant "citizens" were all exquisitely made, incredibly realistic puppets!
At first, when she saw just a single one, Sara was only a little surprised.
But now, seeing that there was not a single living person in the entire plaza, that everything was nothing but puppets, Sara felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She stood there frozen, her face filled with disbelief, murmuring unconsciously, "How… how could this be… Is all of this really fake?"
"That's right."
"Because of Mother's sudden death, this parade was specially arranged to encourage the grieving me and the people."
"So it's all fake."
The child Sale beside her chimed in, "Everyone's been spreading rumors in private that Princess Sara, you're nothing more than a puppet princess who's controlled by others."
At these words, Sara's face instantly turned as white as paper. Her body swayed, and she nearly couldn't stay standing.
Seeing things were going badly, Muku hurriedly reached out and covered Sale's reckless mouth, scolding him in a low voice, "Idiot! Shut up! Is that something you can just say out loud?"
"I'm very sorry, Your Majesty, but what Sale said isn't without reason."
"One morning, his family was suddenly taken away."
"They said it was on Princess Sara's orders."
Sara widened her eyes and cried out in disbelief, "Nonsense! How could I possibly give such an order?"
The child named Sale muttered suspiciously at the side, "Really? But… but my dad and my brother really were taken away!"
At that moment, Rengoku let out a scornful cold laugh beside them, "Heh! Heh! That's right. This so-called queen is nothing more than a puppet being manipulated."
"And on top of that, not very bright either. Someone dares to impersonate her name and run wild in the Kingdom of Roran, doing whatever they please, and she knows nothing about it."
Hearing this mocking sarcasm, Sara didn't immediately speak up to refute him like before.
Instead, it was as if she had instantly lost her soul, becoming utterly despondent.
She stood there blankly, her eyes hollow, murmuring something under her breath.
On the other side, Rengoku paid no attention to Sara's reaction at all. He casually grabbed a puppet and injected his chakra into it.
In an instant, several threads condensed from chakra shot out from the puppet's body.
Like lightning, they rapidly converged toward the various cables crisscrossing above everyone's heads.
"Look, chakra threads are extending out into those pipelines."
Sara raised her head, her gaze fixed on those lines intertwining in the air.
She actually knew about this. In a low, slightly dejected voice, she replied, "What flows there is the Dragon Vein's power, used to provide the entire city with tremendous energy."
However, just as Sara finished speaking, a deafening salute suddenly rang out from the plaza not far ahead.
The sudden boom instantly drew everyone's attention, including Sara, who had been in a daze.
They all turned to look, only to see that atop a high platform, two puppet guards slowly emerged, escorting a puppet princess who looked exactly like Sara.
Sara's eyes went wide, her mouth slightly open in disbelief. Her voice trembled as she said, "Th… then what exactly is that?"
Rengoku shrugged indifferently and replied casually, "What else could it be? That guy Anrokuzan is just trying to turn you into one of his puppets too."
"In my opinion, he's probably doing this on purpose to provoke you, to lure you into coming to find him on your own, and then take the chance to capture you in one go."
At this point, Rengoku paused, then added coldly, "After all, your mother has already been killed by him. Next, it'll probably be your turn."
Hearing this, Sara was struck like lightning. Her body jolted violently, and she immediately screamed hysterically, "Nonsense! It's all lies! Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"
Tears instantly blurred her vision as she questioned in terror and despair, "How could Mother have been killed by Anrokuzan? This can't be real!"
Before her words even fell, Sara's legs gave out, and she collapsed weakly to her knees on the cold ground.
Large teardrops rolled uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes, falling into the dust below.
At this moment, she seemed to have lost her soul. Her eyes were empty, and her mouth kept murmuring, "Back then, it was clearly Anrokuzan who proposed to Mother that the Dragon Vein be used for the people."
"And Mother could freely control the Dragon Vein's power, along with the advanced technology Anrokuzan possessed."
"That's how our Roran was able to rapidly grow and flourish, becoming a prosperous city with over a thousand towers."
"But… but before Mother's grand ambition was fulfilled, she left me like this…"
"Ever since Mother passed away, Anrokuzan has been the only one left by my side. There's no one else I can rely on anymore."
"Why… why did all of this turn out to be a carefully designed deception…"
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