Maruti was the one who benefited the most from all this chaos. She was the only person who had connections with both sides. To the revolutionary group, she was the Blessed of Goddess Seraphine, the Saintess of this era.
Not only that, but she was literally the face model of the revolution; a lot of people had joined the revolutionary army and started protests just because of her.
At the same time, she was the younger daughter of Mourya. In a sense, this made her the second Princess of the "Vanara Occupied Anastasia Kingdom." For her, it was a win-win situation from both sides. No matter which side got the benefit, she would get her own share from both of them.
But that wasn't all. Even right now, Maruti was inside the vast treasure room in the basement of the royal palace. She flapped her hands and legs, laughing joyfully as she swam through the piles of gold coins, jewelry, diamonds, and other treasures.
The whole chamber looked like a huge dungeon filled to the brim with riches. The amount of treasure was so great that anyone would be willing to kill their entire family just to get a fraction of it.
"Oh my god! How much is this? One million? Two million? Maybe even more, and that's not even half of what the whole treasure is!" Maruti shouted in amazement, throwing gold coins into the air. Her voice echoed loudly in the vast chamber.
Esdeath stood nearby, staring at her with disappointed eyes. "If you are finally done, then let's take what we came here for!" she said, her voice cool and firm.
Before everything had happened, Esdeath had instructed Maruti to make a deal with the revolutionaries to get a certain part of the kingdom's treasure.
To make the distribution fair, they had to split the area in advance. Whatever was inside their chosen area would be theirs. If something valuable was in your section, it was good luck. If not, you just had to cope with what you got.
The distribution was not 50-50, Revolutionary naturally got the larger share, Compare to that maruti chose a fraction of it.
How much valuable things can that certain part have? That's why vesilisa and other agreed without much thought.
But this was Esdeath we are talking about. She already knew exactly where the most valuable item in the treasure room rested, and she had made Maruti choose that specific area without anyone else realizing it.
***
"You are no fun!" Maruti rolled her eyes and climbed down from the pile of gold.
They walked deeper inside. There were not only gold bars but also antiques, many resources used for refinement, and specifically, so many essence stones scattered around like trash. Of course, these were of low rank, but for ordinary people, they were considered one of the greatest treasures imaginable.
Soon, they arrived at their destination. There were several tunnels that led to different locked chambers. Esdeath took the lead, going into the second tunnel on the right.
"Yo! I can feel the presence of two or three Rank A essence stones from the tunnel beside us," Maruti said, sighing in deep regret. "Sigh... it's in the revolutionary's share! Are you sure this is right? Maybe we chose the wrong one!" she asked, worry creeping into her voice.
Esdeath only smirked confidently. "How come you can sense the presence of Rank A essence stones, yet you cannot sense what is inside this one?" she said, finally stopping in her tracks.
"Oh right, that is weird, isn't it?" Maruti added, stopping right behind her.
In front of them was a huge iron lock, completely sealed shut. Not only that, but there were so many emerald needles buried in a circle around the lock. They didn't feel like they were making any kind of barrier to stop people from entering; they were definitely there for something else.
"What are you staring at?" Esdeath asked impatiently. "Two rights, seven lefts, and then one right. That's the password. Now open it!" she ordered, treating Maruti like she was just a hard labor worker.
"Tch... Fine," Maruti agreed with a pout, feeling a bit annoyed but listening nonetheless.
Maruti cracked her knuckles, showing a wide grin that displayed her teeth. She stared at the massive lock in front of her.
At just one glance, anyone could tell that even though the handle was right there, not just anyone could move it. Maybe even a strong bodybuilder would end up sweating without making it move even a single inch. But Maruti's determination did not waver one bit.
She gripped the handle firmly, ready to twist it like she was steering a ship in the middle of a wild, stormy tide. She pushed her strength into the handle and tried to turn it.
CRUNCH!
The handle suddenly snapped with a loud noise. She had actually uprooted the whole handle, breaking it immediately.
The huge amount of pressure she had used caused her to lose her balance. She stumbled a step back, waving her arms wildly, but somehow managed to stay on her feet.
She slowly looked back at Esdeath with a guilty expression on her face. She was already expecting what would happen next.
"I-it broke! Haha... it must have been pretty old," she said with a dry, nervous laugh, trying to hide her embarrassment.
Esdeath slapped her own forehead in disappointment. "Damn it. You can't even do a simple thing? It is my fault for trusting you with such tasks!" she said, her voice full of annoyance.
"Aghhhh! Forget it!" Maruti yelled out in frustration. She couldn't listen to Esdeath's taunts anymore. She immediately bent down, placing her hands at the bottom of the heavy locker door. She put all her strength into it, gritting her teeth.
The next moment, she ripped the entire locker door right off its roots! She threw it backward without any issue.
Esdeath immediately sidestepped and dodged the flying metal lock without a problem, her face remaining calm.
"Woohoo! Look at my muscles! Look at my abs!" Maruti shouted, flexing her arms proudly, feeling strong.
But the very next second, a huge wave of dense, light pink aura leaked out from inside the locker room. It was like a massive tsunami rushing directly at Maruti, threatening to drown her.
But before it could hit her, it stopped immediately, as if blocked by an invisible shield.
The emerald needles that were buried in the ground outside trembled slightly but didn't break or move. Maruti immediately understood that these needles were actually stopping this vast aura from leaking out to the rest of the world. If not for these ordinary-looking needles, the aura could have filled at least half the entire kingdom.
"A Divine rank essence stone?" Maruti muttered in shock. It wasn't very hard to figure out; the powerful aura alone made it obvious.
Esdeath didn't say a word. She just walked past Maruti and entered the room calmly. Maruti followed closely behind her, curious to see what was inside.
Inside, there was nothing else. It was just a normal small room with clean white tiles. In the middle of the room was a single pedestal. On top of it, a single object was casually placed. It was shaped like a very small house, with an outer layer shaped like a heart. It also had a thread coming from the inside, making it clear that it was actually a locket.
"A locket essence stone?" Maruti asked, tilting her head.
"No. It is Familial Love essence stone," Esdeath said softly. She reached out and grabbed the locket gently.
"Here. Wear it," Esdeath said, handing it over to Maruti.
"Me?" Maruti looked at Esdeath with wide eyes. She couldn't believe it. Esdeath was usually such a greedy and selfish person when it came to these situations.
Would she really hand over a Divine essence stone this easily?
"Whatever!" Maruti didn't want to wait or ask questions. She took the chance and snatched the locket from Esdeath's palm.
She put it on immediately.
But the next second, her expression changed completely. Her face turned pale, and she looked sick.
She quickly took it off and shoved it back into Esdeath's hand, as if it burned her skin.
"Ugh! What is this sensation? I feel like I'm going to vomit!" Maruti gasped, clutching her stomach, Taking out her tounge.
"Hmmm... Kind of expected it," Esdeath said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin. "Familial love is also a form of responsibility. And responsibility is the weakness of freedom. That is why you aren't compatible with it!"
"Just because I have a heart of freedom? It is pretty useless to me, though," Maruti sighed with a bit of disappointment. She shook her head and asked, "Forget it. What is the use of this essence stone?"
"To use it, we must have the same mana pool as Lortell or Kailith, which we certainly don't have. And secondly, even if we had it, I don't know!" Esdeath replied with a straight face.
"You don't know? Why are we even taking it then?" Maruti said, completely confused.
"It is way better to have a Divine rank essence stone than to not have one," Esdeath added logically.
"That is also true. So, where are we going to hide it? I don't think it is like an ordinary essence stone that can be consumed inside the body!" Maruti said, sounding a bit bored.
Just by seeing the way it looked, shaped like a locket, it was pretty obvious that one had to wear it on their body to use it. It was very similar to those special expenditure-type essence stones.
Esdeath casually put it in her leg pocket and said, "Doesn't really matter. Just make sure that Kailith doesn't get her hands on it!"
"Huh? Why is that?" Maruti questioned, feeling curious.
Esdeath looked her right in the eyes. "Although I don't know its specific uses, anyone knows what the most basic thing it would do!"
Maruti heard what Esdeath said and pondered for a few seconds. "Familial love?" she asked.
"Yep!" Esdeath nodded and turned back to leave the room.
Although Esdeath didn't know for what specific purposes she could use this Familial Love essence stone, the name suggested one basic thing. It could be used to trap people into familial love.
If by any chance Kailith got it, she, with her extreme affinity with the charm element and huge mana pool, would surely trap Maruti into familial love. She could make Maruti think that Kailith is her wife or husband.
Even if that didn't work, she could use it the other way around.
For example, making Maruti think Kailith is her sister and giving Maruti a huge sister complex. Or, if Kailith turned out to have even weirder fetishes, she could make Maruti think she is her mother and give Maruti a huge mother complex as well. There were just so many ways to exploit it.
Maruti followed Esdeath from behind and added, "Can't my freedom essence stone resist this forced love?" she asked, feeling a bit worried.
"I don't think so. Although you are using it passively since it doesn't use mana to function, compared to Kailith, who will use her mana to activate the full power of a Divine rank essence stone, you won't stand a chance!" Esdeath answered honestly.
She looked at those emerald needles buried forming the circle and started taking them out one by one.
Maruti's expression was slightly tense. "Then it is a huge thing. Xing Liang said that if I believe that I am no longer free anymore, the Freedom essence stone in my heart will vanish."
But then Esdeath shook her head. "I don't think so. It will give you a false sense of freedom, making you think you love her on your own accord!" she answered. Finally, she took out all those needles and put them in the same pocket where she had put the Familial Love essence stone.
The moment she put them in, the huge amount of aura leaking out from her pocket stopped flowing out and vanished.
"Well, who cares? It is not like she is ever gonna find out about it!" Maruti exhaled and chuckled lightly, trying to brush off the worry.
"Yes, I am just warning you because she stalks you almost every day!" Esdeath said, her voice dead serious.
"Whatever, whatever. Let's go back!" Maruti immediately dismissed Esdeath's words. She paced forward, walking past her.
But the moment she walked past Esdeath, Esdeath grabbed her hand, stopping her.
"What?" Maruti asked in puzzlement.
"We still have other things to take!" Esdeath said, pointing at the other side of the cave.
"But that is not our part!" Maruti said in a low voice, trying to reason.
"Who cares?" Esdeath replied with a sly grin.