Smiling to himself contentedly, Daneel continued absorbing the energy while keeping an eye on everything happening above ground.

…..

The moment that the explosion had shaken the entire clearing, Eldara knew that something was horribly wrong.

In her calculations, she had excluded one possibility: that the trinket could be activated right now to prove irrevocably that it was, in fact, the trigger.

Now, with the people of Eldinor recovering from the shock, she knew that circ.u.mstances were dire.

She had just denied everything, only to be smacked in the face in the next second.

Looking at her daughter who was presently smiling wide with joy seeing the reunions taking place in the crowd, Eldara frowned as she was definitely not someone capable of such deep scheming.

There was surely someone else directing everything from behind, and Eldara had already fallen prey to their machinations.

Shaking her head, she tried to think about what to do next.

Yet, looking into the eyes of all those turning towards her, she could not help but have her mind go blank.

Disgust. Betrayal. Scorn. Anger.

So far, Eldara had spent her life being adored by the people whom she loved to rule. Power was her entire life, and because she was an elf, the presence of that power was decided by the people.

Even now, she could make up claims to try and absolve herself from everything. Yet, from experience, she knew that her impression in the eyes of the people of Eldinor had already fallen below that bottom line from where there was no coming back.

Faces which had once shone with adoration were now twisted with fury and rage.

Drowning in the sea of hopelessness and hate, Eldara felt herself… crack.

Her entire life flas.h.i.+ng through her eyes, she started to maniacally laugh to herself while gazing listlessly into the air.

She simply couldn't take it. No matter how clever or mature or experienced she was, the feeling of having the most important thing in her life stripped away was too painful to bear. In fact, if she hadn't done similar things to other contestants and seen similar reactions from the people, she might have tried to convince herself that there was still some way to get out of this mess.

Alas, all was already. At this moment, her emotions twisted into hate.

Hate towards those responsible. And a desire to make them pay.

"FOOLS! SHE IS CLEARLY WORKING WITH SOMEONE ELSE! There is no way that the child I brought up is capable of doing these things! What did you give, idiot daughter of mine? Did you give away your life? Did you swear to put Eldinor at an enemy nation's feet? WHAT DID YOU GIVE?!"

With the last scream, Eldara lunged towards her daughter with an expression of wanting to tear her to pieces.

The sudden outburst stunned those watching. Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that the respected Elf who had governed Eldinor for decades would devolve into such an uncouth state. Her screams had a raw angst in them which even made a few weak spectators cower with fear.

Eldra, who had just been smiling triumphantly due to the apparent success of the plan, felt a visceral fear awake inside her hearing the scream of her mother. After all, this was the woman who had terrorized her entire life.

Only, this fear was accompanied by the horror that the oath she made might have been found out. High treason was a crime which stood toe-to-toe with slavery, and she knew that if any information about her dealings with Lanthanor came out, the same hate which the people had for her mother would be directed at her too.

Thus, the terror that appeared on her face was quite clearly that of one who had been caught in the act.

Underground, Daneel had just stood up with urgency seeing what was happening on the stage.

Although the mental breakdown of the former Queen was within his expectations, he had never imagined that the arrows that Eldara shot in the dark would hit the bullseye.

Still, they were just wild ramblings which could have been dismissed immediately if not for Eldra's reaction.

Thankfully, she had managed to change her expression in a split second. Still, Daneel noticed that the announcer and Katerina had both managed to catch a glimpse of that guilt.

Sighing, the King of Lanthanor sat back down. There was nothing that could be done.

In a split second, the aged elf disappeared and reappeared in front of the former Queen before using the edge of his hand to chop at her neck.

At the moment before it connected, it seemed to be glowing with a faint light that signified that he had cast some sort of spell to dampen the blow.

Without a sound, Eldara collapsed onto the ground, unconscious at the exact second that the elf's hand touched her body.

Meanwhile, Daneel had risen up again seeing the aged Elf's actions.

Asking the system, he realized that he indeed hadn't been mistaken.

The Elf was actually a Warrior level Mage!

Both from the speed with which he cast his spells and the ease with which he managed to incapacitate an Exalted Human level Elf, this was quite evident.

As the situation finally got under control, Daneel relaxed and took a deep breath.

It was time to move on to the next phase of the plan.