Chapter 258 – Problems With Her Power (1) Translator: Atlas / Editor: Regan Ishakan glanced out the window, squinting his eyes as if he were calculating the exact time, and then looked back at Leah. “It doesn’t matter to me if you’re late, but it might be a problem for the Princess.” He said it in a joking tone, but there was an underlying seriousness. Leah stroked his hair just as she had the baby wolf’s fur in her dream, and he smiled. “Why do you kill the Toma?” Leah asked softly, lifting her eyebrows. “For getting in my way,” he said simply. “Would you spare the lives of innocent Tomaris?” “As many as you want.” Leah reflected for a moment. “I have something to do,” she said quietly. *** The usually noisy palace of the Queen Mother had been quiet. The habits of its mistress had changed. She did not invite any men, nor did she have Tomaris in and out acting as servants. In all the silent, seemingly empty palace, there were only gloomy ladies-in-waiting wandering the halls. “......” Cerdina gasped. Her whole body was drenched with blood, and the smoke billowing from her body only disappeared for a moment. She gazed ahead with eyes filled with madness, surrounded by black animals on the floor. Dragging a ram to the center of her magic pattern, she cut off the head of the sixty-sixth sacrifice, pouring its blood onto the floor. She had painted the pattern with her own blood, and it absorbed every drop of blood from the sacrifice, but remained unchanged. She couldn’t get the smoke wafting from her body to disappear completely. Cursing, Cerdina threw her dagger to the floor, chewing on her bloody fingernails. After she had eaten the hearts of several Tomaris, Cerdina had remained locked in her palace, struggling with a problem she could not solve. Her power grew ever greater, but she had no control over it at all. Like a glass filled to the brim with water, every ripple made it overflow. The wild, uncontrollable power made her feel as if she were losing her mind, as if she had crossed some line beyond her limits. Just as she was reaching for another offering, Blain appeared. “Mother.” Her son rarely took the initiative to visit her. Cerdina’s eyes widened. “Blain...my son, my King!” Dragging the hem of her blood-soaked robe out of the way, she approached, but unlike his excited mother, Blain was cold and emotionless. “I have brought you a gift,” he said, dragging a bound man toward her. The man was trying to scream around the gag in his mouth, shaking his head frantically. The corners of Cerdina’s mouth lifted. “A Tomaris.” She could hear the man’s heart pounding. Blain kicked the man toward her coldly, pushing the man inside the boundaries of the pattern of magic. “Aren’t you supposed to get stronger?” Blain knew that she was suffering because she had lost control of her powers, and so he had brought her this new offering. Not another corpse, but a living man that shared her blood. Picking up the dagger from the floor, he placed it into her hand and smiled as her slender hand gripped it firmly. “I have always been proud. So I hope my mother will be proud of me as well.” Cerdina’s answering smile was devious. She didn’t know what had made Blain begin behaving this way. He was even trying to control her. But though she wasn’t accustomed to it, she was glad of this change. She was the one who had nurtured this monster. “Of course, it’s all because of you...my son, Blain...” She caught his face between her gory hands, smearing his white skin with the blood. “You will never betray your mother,” she whispered. Blain did not answer. He only smiled. “Your Majesty. Queen Mother.” The head lady-in-waiting appeared, opening the door a crack. “You have received a request for a visit.” “I thought I said I wouldn’t meet with anyone!” Cerdina shouted, glowering. “It’s just that...” The woman pressed on anxiously. “The request was made by the Princess.”