Chapter 140: Dragonfly and Butterfly
Seraphina moved forward with such an incredible speed that her entire figure turned almost blurry, her arms tightening as her hands became solid fists and she delivered several relentless punches in the span of a single second, each one filled with the clear intention to land even a single solid hit on her enemy.
However, despite the intensity of her movements and despite that remarkable speed, none of it became enough to allow her fist to reach the woman standing before her. No matter which direction Seraphina chose, no matter how suddenly she shifted her stance, no matter if it was a direct assault or an unexpected attack meant to slip past the defense, Queen always managed to raise her palm at the very last possible moment, blocking the attack with an ease that only made the entire exchange feel strangely one sided.
From an outside view it might have appeared that Seraphina was struggling to break through the defense, but Queen herself kept stepping back and forward with such a calm pace that it felt she was simply walking through a quiet courtyard rather than engaging in a fast and dangerous fight.
Seraphina recognized that style of blocking right away and the realization irritated her more than she wanted to admit.
'She's blocking my attacks the same way Caelum did. No, that is not correct. It is similar to him but different at the same time.'
Indeed, the gap between Queen's blocking style and Caelum's style was far too vast to be ignored, although the reason stood out plainly. Queen moved with a natural smoothness while Caelum had always shown traces of awkwardness, he could barely manage to angle his arm correctly during a block, while in Queen's case she perceived every movement perfectly and blocked anything without facing even a fragment of difficulty.
And there was nothing surprising about that difference because Queen was the one who had given Caelum his power in the first place. Seraphina still had no idea how something like that was even possible and her mind continued to reject the idea that a single person could grant strength to another human being. Training a person required time, effort, mistakes, and growth, while Caelum had become strong within a single day, something no ordinary method could ever explain. Then again, Queen had already proven capable of doing things that defied understanding.
'I have far too many questions regarding her and every single one of them demands an answer from her. However, I'm not here to chase after my own curiosity, I'm here because of that little girl, so I must focus on that first.'
Seraphina delivered a clean straight punch toward Queen's face, her eyes fixed on the movement of Queen's hand, which had been positioned on her side but somehow ended up directly in front of Seraphina's fist as it intercepted her strike with a precision that looked almost playful.
Queen did not release her this time. Instead she tightened her fingers around Seraphina's fist, and right at that moment a beautiful dragonfly descended from the sky and delicately settled upon her finger.
Her voice carried a soft melodic tone when she spoke, "Captain, what are your thoughts on dragonflies?"
Seraphina glanced at the tiny creature, slightly startled by the sudden question, and a faint frown formed on her face, "Why are you asking me such an odd question?"
Queen released the fist and lifted the hand slightly, as though examining the dragonfly with genuine interest, and at the same time she turned on her heel, gracefully slipping past another punch while continuing to walk forward without acknowledging the question at all. "Aren't they pretty?"
Seraphina turned along with her, matching Queen's pace while her eyes examined the midnight-colored dragonfly resting so quietly, "They are pretty, that much I know, but what are you implying this time?"
Queen spun again and stepped forward with her back facing Seraphina, her tone drifting gently, "Nothing specific. It was simply a genuine question I wanted to hear answered with your voice. Having the confirmation eased my heart in a strange way. Aren't these insects rather strange creatures?"
Seraphina shot her a look before vanishing for an instant and reappearing in front of her to deliver another punch, "I don't think so. You're the strange one here."
Queen leaned aside to avoid the fist and lifted her gaze toward the sky as she replied, "Incorrect. We both are."
Seraphina raised an eyebrow, "And how exactly?"
Queen released a quiet sigh, "Because only a small number of people consider dragonflies truly pretty. However, when they are compared to butterflies that small number disappears eventually. Considering butterflies carry a gentleness and never harm anything, they have softer colors, gentle shapes, delicate wings, and designs that people admire without hesitation. Dragonflies are different, they hunt their own kinds, they do not have the traits people love to look at, they are predators that few bother to understand. This is the difference between them."
Seraphina tilted her head slightly, studying the woman in front of her, "I understand that much already, but what are you trying to say with this? Stop circling around it."
Queen stayed silent for several moments, and when she finally spoke her voice carried a slight shift in tone, "Although these two insects are different in nature and appearance, they can still coexist together without ever interfering with one another. However, if you place both of them inside a jar and keep them there without any food for a week or so, what do you think would most likely happen?"
Instead of attacking this time, Seraphina allowed her hands to loosen slightly and let her focus drift toward the several dragonflies that were gliding around her in a gentle circular path.
She watched them for a quiet moment, as if letting their delicate movements guide her thoughts, and only after that brief stillness did she speak in a low voice, "If you forced those two into such a severe situation where neither has any room left to escape and where nothing remains for them to rest upon or feed on, then whatever harmony once existed outside will no longer matter. Time would pass and hunger would begin to settle deeply into their fragile bodies, and that hunger would grow heavier and heavier until it becomes impossible to ignore, and that heaviness would eventually give birth to desperation... a desperation to survive, to stay alive at any cost. Even the gentle butterfly would not be able to escape that change. In the end, one of them would eventually attack the other not out of hatred or spite but out of the simple need to continue breathing, and the outcome would be inevitable."
Queen listened without any interruption, but the slight movements of her lips made it clear that she was unimpressed or perhaps simply withholding judgment.
Seraphina continued, her tone gradually turning colder. "That's in theory of course. However, in reality... the dragonfly would be the one to devour the butterfly without even a moment of hesitation because the nature of a predator urges it to hunt the moment it becomes necessary. The butterfly on the other hand would remain the gentle one, unable to twist its instinct into something foreign, even under the weight of starvation or fear or desperation, since it has never once harmed any living creature."
Queen's lips curved into a slow beautiful smile, the kind that carried satisfaction rather than warmth. "Marvelous... truly marvelous. I expected nothing less from you."
Seraphina did not respond.
Queen lifted her other hand and allowed her thumb to brush softly against the delicate wings on her fingertip. The insect remained still, which was a rare stroke of luck, and the quiet moment between them stretched long enough that even Seraphina felt something strange lingering in the air.
Queen spoke again, her voice stripped of melody and left with cold clarity. "This is why I find dragonflies fascinating. The reason is not that they appear cruel or malicious. I find them captivating because even when the entire world attempts to corner them, they remain faithful to their true nature without deceit. I admire that kind of honesty."
Seraphina absorbed her words with a thoughtful frown. After a short silence she asked in a low voice, "Then what about the butterfly? Its kindness is also its true nature, and it remained faithful to that as well, while the dragonfly was the one that shattered the peace when hunger rose inside it."
Queen tilted her head with a graceful movement. "That is correct. However, you have overlooked one simple truth, Captain. The butterfly loses its life precisely because of that kindness. If it had abandoned its gentleness and reshaped itself through the desperation you described, then turned upon the dragonfly solely to continue surviving, I believe I would have appreciated it quite a bit. Although I cannot condemn that poor creature either when it was never born as a predator but as something meant to be prey. And do not mistake my words. I never claimed to hate butterflies."
Seraphina felt a quiet confusion rising again. Her gaze drifted toward the lake where water lilies opened softly across the surface and dragonflies continued their quiet dance among them. A small sigh escaped her. "What are you trying to tell me exactly? If you do not hate either insect, then why give me such an example?"
Queen looked around the scenery before answering in a tone that carried no warmth. "Because what I despise is not the dragonfly nor the butterfly but the situation itself."
Seraphina stared at her, waiting for the meaning to settle. "You despise… what exactly?"
Queen replied immediately, as if she had been waiting to say it all along. "The needless circumstance that forces two lives, which could have coexisted in harmony, into a pitiful and one sided confrontation. If such a situation never arose, then neither would be pushed into that tragedy and the butterfly would have received the life it deserved."
Seraphina pressed a hand lightly over her face as her thoughts spiraled. 'She is speaking a truth that sounds harsh but reasonable, but I still cannot grasp what she is trying to tell me beneath the surface. None of this aligns with her actions. Maybe I am thinking in the wrong way. Maybe her words are pointing at something else entirely.'
Queen lowered her head slightly. "This is why I intend to destroy the true cause behind such a situation."
Seraphina asked quickly, "And what do you believe that cause to be?"
Queen did not hesitate. "This kingdom. More precisely, every remaining great noble family within it."
Seraphina stared at her, letting the weight of those words settle. 'Destroying the kingdom. Eliminating the great noble families. So this is the reason she has taken everything so far.'
She took a slow breath and forced calm into her voice. "Why would you choose such a path?"
Queen turned toward the lake and walked until she stood at its edge. She waited for a quiet moment before answering, her voice carrying a cold certainty. "Because of the war. The War of Culture."
At that moment, Seraphina's expression shifted in a way she could not stop at first, her jaw tightening as her hands curled into fists beside her hips, but only a heartbeat later she forced that change down and smothered it beneath a long slow sigh that seemed almost theatrical, although she wished it had not been.
'That damned war, huh? Just hearing anything about it only makes me sick… I wished I never have to hear it again. Then again, who am I to complain? Without it, I probably wouldn't even be here.'
After that, Queen did not utter anything in return. She offered neither a surface answer nor the deeper explanation that Seraphina half expected, but the lack of response did not mean the conversation ended at all. In truth, she never needed to explain anything directly since Seraphina had already begun to understand little by little what she was hinting at beneath those calm and carefully measured lines she always spoke with.
In any case, the War of Culture was not some simple clash between two kingdoms that everyone understood in the same way. It had erupted with shocking speed, almost like flames appearing from dry grass without warning, although once it began it refused to fade and instead stretched itself over years. The two kingdoms, Graveion where Seraphina grew up and Lumivane which lay just beyond the border hills, were told that the cause came from petty disputes between the twin border cities that linked them.
At least, that was the story everyone had been fed repeatedly until it became the accepted truth.
However, in reality, that war held roots far deeper than anyone wished to admit, and it was far more horrific than most people were willing to imagine. Seraphina knew much of this due to the stories her parents had whispered throughout her childhood. She did not know everything, not even close, but what little she understood was already enough to make her blood churn. The real cause was wrapped inside the name everyone used so casually.
The war had been born from culture itself.
The two kingdoms followed completely different cultural values and those differences shaped every gesture, every festival, every rule, and eventually every misunderstanding between their people, and those values came from the gods each kingdom worshipped the most. Because of this, when someone insulted another person's culture, the statement was taken as a direct insult toward the gods themselves. No one would calmly accept hearing that their goddess had been insulted, and instead of settling the matter through reason, both sides allowed their anger to grow until an all out war broke loose.
Consequently, Seraphina realized somewhat of what Queen had been referring to by the example. The dragonfly and the butterfly in Queen's earlier example could very well have been symbols for the two kingdoms and the way two different kinds of people who had always managed to coexist were suddenly forced into a corner where coexistence could no longer survive. That comparison did not sit well with her though, since in the war neither side ever won.
In truth, the war was never ended yet. It simply stopped in an unfinished state where everyone tried to continue life around a wound that never healed. As a result, no kingdom became the dragonfly that devoured the butterfly in the end, so the example could not fully reflect the situation.
However, that mismatch could not be said about the underlying cause which Queen seemed determined to destroy. Or rather, those who had shaped the conflict from the very beginning. The great noble families. They had played the greatest role in twisting the war into something unspeakable.
After all, the heart of the conflict originated from Vensoria, a town under the Kingdom of Graveion, Seraphina's homeland which had always been known for its peaceful warfare, disciplined society, and mostly because of its exceptional hunter.
That said, the victim town was Lenior under Lumivane, a place mostly known for its culturally cherished women. They were known throughout both kingdoms for their beauty, soft-spoken nature, gentle temperaments, and forgiving hearts. They were the type of women who would welcome even their enemies if they believed in the possibility of reconciliation.
Because of that reputation, when the war reached a certain stage, very few women from Lenior died in battle. Instead, they were taken. All of them were abducted and had never been returned to their town again. That's where the noble families came in, most of whom were definitely behind this abduction. Their hunger for lust had gone so far that they had done something so insidious. And most likely, at that time, those women must have suffered at the hands of the knights as well.
And what happened afterward, Seraphina never wanted to think about. She had already understood everything she needed to.
Drawing a shallow breath, she turned her attention toward Queen while thinking, 'So, the dragonflies she mentioned must be the Vensoria knights and the butterflies are the women of Lenior. Is Queen an actual citizen of Lenior who lost everything? Someone who survived all that and now seeks revenge on the great noble families? Or is her purpose far deeper than that, something connected to the missing women she might want to reclaim? Which one is it?'
Even after asking herself that, Seraphina could not shake the feeling that her enemy carried far more secrets than she had revealed. Queen was too clever, too composed, and far too calculating to share anything unnecessary. She would only reveal what she allowed others to see, nothing more.
Queen, meanwhile, settled gracefully onto her knees as though lowering herself into calm water, her gown spreading behind her in soft folds. She raised her hand with the slightest motion, and the dragonfly resting on her finger lifted its delicate wings and drifted into the swarm that hovered around her like small living jewels.
After a long moment of silence, she rose again, and when she turned to Seraphina, a cold smile shaped her lips. "I assume you have managed to uncover certain parts of my true intentions. However, I cannot reveal anything beyond that, because sharing more would compromise matters that must remain concealed."
'So I was right. She is hiding far more than she allows me to see. She is keeping entire pieces of her plan sealed away from me.'
Seraphina stepped forward slowly, her expression steady as she asked in a clear voice, "Why are you telling me any of this anyway?"
Queen tilted her head with that familiar quiet certainty. "Because I believe you would be capable of understanding my circumstances more greatly than anyone else ever could be."
She remained silent for a brief moment before finally speaking in a cold and steady voice, "Thus, I demand you to step aside from my goals entirely and allow me to pursue what I intend to accomplish without turning yourself into the very first obstacle I must remove."
Seraphina took a moment to observe her carefully, then raised an eyebrow with a slow and elegant motion, "Ah, so that is the reason you wished to meet with me. But, did you truly expect that I would simply accept such a proposal?"
Queen released a soft sigh, one that carried a strange mixture of regret and resignation, "I never did. I knew from the beginning that you are not the sort of woman who would permit a criminal like me to freely carry out anything I desired. You possess a stubbornness that refuses to bend."
Seraphina tilted her head just slightly, her expression calm yet cold, "If you already knew what my answer would be from the very beginning then why insist on asking me anyway?"
Queen responded without any hesitation, "We are destined to cross paths one way or another, and that meeting would only become far more troublesome if delayed. So I chose to deal with it now rather than later."
Seraphina exhaled slowly, shifted her gaze forward, and spoke in a quieter but firmer tone, "A fair point. In that case, stop wasting any more of our time and return Arienne to us."
Queen exhaled slowly, a weary note hidden in her voice, "I am afraid you cannot have her. She has become my adopted daughter now."
Seraphina's expression froze for a moment, then grew colder, "What? Are you planning to turn her into a monster like the others?"
Queen fell silent, not for a heartbeat but for several long seconds, then allowed the corner of her lips to curl ever so slightly, "How peculiar. You seem to possess far more knowledge about me than I expected. There is no need to worry though, I have no intention of transforming that child into a monster. I would rather never do such a thing to anyone, yet I am forced into it by circumstances I cannot ignore."
'What does that even mean? She places the curse on others intentionally to turn them into monsters, so how can she claim she is being forced to do it? Something is not matching with what she is saying.'
Seraphina's eyes drifted around in a slow sweep of the surroundings until they finally rested on the distant silhouette perched on the rooftop, and a strange realization surfaced inside her mind as she gently touched her chin.
'Why did I never consider this? If she can bestow power on someone and raise their strength from nothing to the level of a capable mage, then why would she choose to create those countless weak monsters? Why not simply form a group of strong followers instead? Unless there are heavy limitations tied to that method. Could her power-bestowal technique and the transformation of humans into monsters be connected as one process somehow?'
Taking a soft breath, Seraphina narrowed her eyes at Queen as another troubling thought took shape within her mind.
'If that is true then anyone who receives her power may eventually transform into a monster as a side effect. That would mean the curse itself is an aftereffect of receiving her power long ago, and those who failed to endure it ended up becoming victims. It would also explain why she has so few true subordinates and relies on so many weak monsters instead. Either way, I can't accept her words at face value because she always hides the truth behind half-statements that are nothing more than lies. If that is the case, then Arienne might also become one of those creatures one day, and I will never allow that outcome.'
Her gaze sharpened as she looked straight ahead, "It seems I have my answers. There is no possible path where we can avoid fighting each other, and I have no intention of avoiding it anyway."
Queen lifted her chin with an elegant gesture and spoke in a calm melodious voice, "Consider the situation rationally, Captain. Do you truly want a confrontation with me here and now? If you insist on it, then understand that the consequences cannot be avoided once this battle begins."
She paused, allowing her words to settle, then continued in a colder tone, "The truth is unpleasant but still a truth. You cannot win against me in the present conditions. Do not misunderstand, I am well aware of your actual strength. However, in this moment you hold no advantage. You are outnumbered by my people. Your only capable comrade has weakened significantly, and the other one is unable to contribute. Yes, you can fight us all alone and I am certain you would put up a terrifying battle, but your comrades will not survive it. I would also lose several of mine, and I no longer have the luxury of losing anyone. I have lost too much already. So I am prepared to let you walk away this time. Will you take that chance?"
Seraphina stood in silence as her hands tightened at her sides, her gaze slowly shifting toward Kael and Arwyn, both of whom were watching her with uncertain and conflicted expressions.
After a long breath she finally sighed, "Fine. I will accept your offer."
Queen disappeared instantly and reappeared before Seraphina at a distance so close it shattered the space between them. "A wise choice."
She hesitated for a brief moment then raised her hand and touched Seraphina's chin with graceful ease. "But before I leave, there is something I wish to tell you."
Seraphina was taken aback by the sudden touch but displayed no clear reaction, instead raising an eyebrow and asking, "What is it?"
Queen's dark lips shimmered softly as they parted while she spoke, "In this story, you are the butterfly and I am the dragonfly. More precisely, I am the…"
She paused, then tilted Seraphina's chin upward and leaned her own head slightly back, which caused the veil to shift just enough to reveal her face.
Seraphina narrowed her eyes, and the sudden angle made the fabric slide aside, exposing Queen's features only to her.
What she saw in that moment caused her entire mind to halt completely, and she forgot how to breathe for a heartbeat.
The face behind the veil was breathtaking, elegant, and strangely familiar as though she had seen it endless times and yet at the same moment completely unfamiliar as if she had never laid eyes on it before. It was an unsettling mixture of recognition and unfamiliarity that twisted inside her chest. As for Queen's eyes, Seraphina could not see even a glimpse of them.
Because instead of eyes, there was a midnight-colored blindfold covering them entirely.
'Is she possibly blind?' Seraphina wondered. 'T-then... how? How is it possible? How can her movements be so fluid?'
Queen let out a soft chuckle. "...Queen of Dragonflies."
In the next instant she vanished, along with the silhouette on the roof and never returned. But even in her disappearance a whisper curled into Seraphina's ears.
"Hence, do not remain a gentle butterfly who clings to its nature and refuses to harm its own kind. Become the dragonfly that never hesitates to hunt. Otherwise, you may find yourself devoured by me. Sometimes, kindness turns into a sin and ruthlessness becomes a virtue. Ultimately, not everyone merits kindness."
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(Chapter Ended)
To be continued...