Free Web NovelChapter 278: Chapter 278: The Queen is dead
And then there was Fang Yan.
He was her shadow. He was the sword to her shield. He was tall, silent, and fiercely protective. Sometimes, when the campfire burned low and the silhouettes of the ruins looked like the wings of a griffin, Ruoxi would find herself staring at Fang Yan’s profile.
He is so steady, she would think, her mind drifting back to Xing Li Wei. He stands just like him.
But the memories of her husband were starting to feel like a dream. Had there really been a shy griffin boy who followed her? Had she really felt the warmth of his golden feathers? Or was that just a story she told herself to survive the cold?
One night, as they looked out over a newly purified valley, Fang Yan stepped closer. He did not touch her, but his presence was a heavy, warm weight.
"The people are talking, My Lady," he said quietly. "They say the Queen has finally found her King."
Ruoxi did not turn. Her rabbit ears twitched with a bittersweet sorrow. "And what do you say, Fang Yan?"
"I say that as long as I am allowed to stand beside you, the world can say what it wishes," he replied, his voice full of a hidden, aching depth. fгeewebnovёl.com
To the outside world, they were lovers. The powerful Phoenix and the Queen, rebuilding civilization together.
Ruoxi never corrected the rumors. She never made a move toward him, and he never crossed the line of her grief, but she let the world believe the lie. It was easier than explaining that her heart was buried somewhere in a polluted zone that had never given up its dead.
And most importantly, her guilty heart was using them so the world would never find her husband and her son.
She looked at Fang Feng sleeping nearby and then at the silent, loyal Fang Yan.
"Li Wei," she whispered into the wind, so low even the Phoenix could not hear. "Are you even real anymore?"
She was no longer alone, yet as she looked at the two brothers who had become her world, the hole in her soul remained, a shape exactly the size of a golden griffin that had not come home.
The conquest was no longer a struggle; it was an inevitability.
With Ruoxi’s purification light and Fang Yan’s scorching phoenix flames, there was no darkness they could not burn away. City by city, the ruins of the old world fell, replaced by white stone walls and gardens that actually bloomed.
As they marched, the "Inseparable Trio" became a legend. Ruoxi, the Queen of Light; Fang Yan, her General of Eternal Fire; and little Fang Feng, the Prince of the Sky. They were a family forged in the ashes, and under their rule, the scattered tribes of orcs finally became a nation.
On the day the last Polluted Zone was cleared, the sky did something it had not done in centuries. The thick, grey clouds parted completely, revealing a deep, endless blue.
Ruoxi stood atop the highest peak of the newly reclaimed central lands. Behind her stood thousands of orcs. Beside her, Fang Yan stood like a pillar, and Fang Feng, now a tall youth, held the banner of their one nation.
"The darkness is gone," Ruoxi announced, her voice carrying across the valley through the silent air. "From this day forward, we are no longer survivors. We are citizens."
She looked out over the sparkling rivers and the green forests returning to the earth.
"This empire shall be called Xing-An."
The name was a secret ache. "Xing" for the husband who never returned, and "An" for the peace she had finally won. It was a tribute to him, so when he returned, he would know where to find her.
Years passed, and the Empire of Xing-An became a paradise. There was not a speck of pollution left within its borders. Children grew up without knowing the smell of pollution or the sound of a beast’s growl.
Ruoxi sat on her throne of white jade, her expression calm but distant.
Fang Yan approached her, his footsteps echoing in the grand hall. He was older now, more regal, his loyalty having matured into a devotion that everyone in the palace recognized as love. He stopped at the foot of the throne, looking up at the woman who had saved him.
"The southern borders are secure, Ruoxi," he said softly, using her name, a privilege only he and his brother possessed. "The people are happy. You have fulfilled your promise. The world is safe for... for everyone."
Ruoxi looked at him, and for a moment, the mask of the Queen slipped. She saw the way Fang Yan looked at her, his eyes full of a lifetime of unspoken promises. He had stayed by her side for decades, never asking for more than she could give, content to be the shadow to her light.
"You have done so much for me, Fang Yan," she murmured.
"I have done it for us," he replied.
She reached out, her fingers grazing the air between them. In that moment, the memory of the "Lost Puppy" griffin felt like a faint, beautiful painting from a previous life. Fang Yan was here. Fang Yan was real.
Outside, the bells of the capital rang, celebrating another year of peace. The world was perfect. It was exactly what she had wanted for her son and her people.
But as Ruoxi looked at the beautiful, sun drenched empire she had built, a tiny, treacherous thought crossed her mind:
In a world this bright, how could a golden griffin still be lost?
She turned her gaze back to Fang Yan and forced a small, regal smile. She had an empire to lead, and a heart to keep buried under the white stone of her palace.
The empire of Xing-An was at its peak. The air was sweet, the water was crystal clear, and the people lived in a peace that felt eternal. But in a world where the monsters had been wiped out, a new kind of darkness had begun to rot from within, the darkness of human greed.
One morning, the palace did not wake up to the sound of bells. It woke up to the sounds of mourning...the queen had died.
