The Romantic Trials Of A Transmigrated Empress-Chapter 312: Veylin’s surrender.

Sigrid paid a visit to the the prison after she escaped from the classroom. There, Cosmos was siting for her outside of a small prison cell which was lit so brightly as if stars had been collected and pasted to the ceiling.

He was not drinking alcohol this time but licking an orange and berry flavored lollipop, the newest candy released by Thorin candy store. It was a special variety because the berries came for the mage estate and the oranges were from Sigrid’s last harvest on The Vale.

"How is it, is he still refusing to take me as his mistress?" She asked calmly.

Sigrid peeked at the man in the cell, he looked nothing like the proud mage he had once been. He had lost weight because he rejected all food and drink, his eyes were red rimmed like he lacked sleep. The dark circles around his eyes were so wide, wider than any Sigrid had ever seen before.

His hair and beard had grown and he stunk, having refused to bathe out in the open where cameras and others could see him.

"Well, you look worse than I remember Veylin. Are those blisters on your skin? Don’t tell me that you are allergic to the sun." She brought her face closer to the magic bars, taunting the mage with her tone and eyes. "Erythis, your goddess seems to be deaf to your prayers. The church your group tried to start in Medoris was uprooted.

I don’t know how your identities were discovered but your faces are plastered all over Medoris as wanted criminals. A very good information source had told me that the church has put out a kill order for you and the mages in your group.

Do you truly want to stay loyal to them? They have abandoned you."

Veylin retained his silence. The harder he was to break, the more that Sigrid wanted him. Loyalty like his was what she required most in those that served her.

"We don’t have time for this." Cosmos told her.

Sigrid held her hand out and lifted him through the air using magic. She pulled him close to the bars and breathed in his face. A purple smoke came from her mouth and it went up Veylin’s nose.

It filled the void inside of Veylin, returning to him the magic that he had lost. Like a fire, it charged through his blood and veins, reminding the man of what was missing in his life.

"Would you rather be an ordinary prisoner with no magic or a great man that serves an empress. I don’t have strict rules, all I expect from you is loyalty and to do the occasional task. The rest of your time is yours to do with as you please. I can even help you increase your magic, you can become a great mage whose name will be written in history books. Surely, that beats being an unknown shadow whose entire life is owned by a church that is using you as an assassin. They gave you nothing, I am giving you everything." She tempted him with her voice like a witch inviting a child to a candy coated house in the middle of nowhere.

Veylin remained quiet and then he started feeling his magic leaving him again. It was not the magic alone but something else--the essence of his soul.

His eyes widened and he scurried back to the wall, looking for a shadow to hide in but there was none. This power that Sigrid had, it was power that only the goddess Erythis had. Did it mean that she was a goddess as well?

One that could walk among mortals unlike Erythis who could only communicate through a statue? Did it mean that she was more powerful than Erythis? He believed that if that was the case, then she could have wiped him out of existence with a single breath instead of giving him time to make up his mind.

For the first time, he tasted true fear.

He fell to his knees and bowed his head in surrender. For a higher power, he was willing to give up everything.

Sigrid smiled. He had passed the test with flying colors. He would submit to no human master but he could submit to a god. She had learned a lot about Erythis from the other mages and that is how she was able to do what she had just done.

Veylin would be loyal to her--at least until a more powerful existence surpassed her. Even then, who knew. Perhaps he would choose death rather than submission.

Sigrid removed the magic bars and entered the cell, making Veylin take the oath of loyalty on her staff. He did so willingly. When it was finished, she handed him off to Alistair for a ten minute bath and clean up.

Sigrid and Cosmos left the prison, heading to the office of the lord mage. In there, Mauve, Elarin, Christie, Brolin, the Lord mage, John, Elowin, Duke Thorin, Lady Iryne and Nathaniel were waiting. Mauve was already pacing up and down, showing her impatience.

She was the first however to run up to Sigrid and look around curiously. "The shadow mage has still refused to surrender."

Sigrid simply smiled.

"O-oh-oohhhh!" Mauve shouted, her voiced laced with wonder. "If you are smiling then I take it that you got what you wanted."

Sigrid nodded.

"I cannot believe that you did not force him to submit earlier." John said through a yawn. "Obviously you had the power to do so."

"Why did you give him a choice?" The lord mage asked curiously.

Sigrid looked at them and she stretched her hands first, rolling them backwards. "There is a difference between loyalty and submission. I want his loyalty and as you all know that is something which can only be given freely. Submission on her other hand, to me it means being forced. Just because someone submits does not mean that they are devoted."

Duke Thorin agreed. "You can die for someone you are loyal to because you believe in them. But dying for someone that forced you to submit is rare. This person is like your prison and if you desire freedom, then you will always long for the prison to be destroyed. When that prison is attacked, you can even stand in the corner and watch it fall, perhaps even lend a hand to those destroying it."

"I wanted his loyalty and submission." Sigrid shared.

"Wait." Mauve shouted and gasped. "Don’t tell me that you plan to give him the Eclipsion sword!!"

There were two more gasps in the room but similar frowns or wide eyes.

"I don’t agree, he is not truly one of us until we know his secrets." Mauve said.

"He is one of the people that put the king in his current condition. Sigrid, if the crown prince finds out about this I am afraid that it will be the start of another cold war," Christie said with obvious disapproval.

"He knows." Sigrid said.

There was a round of silence as shock settled in the group. But before they could raise questions or discuss the matter at length, Alistair brought Veylin.

Their team which was to face off against Lord Benwick vanished in a void created by Veylin and re-appeared in Sheepfield.