[ This chapter will contain dark content , only proceed if it does not bother you ]

  Rudra needed to initiate the quest by himself , hence he gave the other three free hand to explore the Elven capital and have fun. Rudra was sure that they would love to see the beautiful cityscape the Elves had made.

  One of the most notable feature of Vanaheim was that plants and nature was everywhere. Creepers and beautiful plants grew on the compound walls of the houses , and vines covered the rooftops.

  Everywhere one would look , they would find greenery and nature. It was a beautiful and pleasing sight to the eye.

  Rudra did indeed visit the temple , the first thing he did after coming to Vanaheim. Although he had no explicit reason to do it. Neither was he a beleiver of the goddess of light to be fair. But he knew there were many eye's on him in Vanaheim. The Elves looked at the human and his party with curiosity , it was not everyday that outsiders were spotted in the city.

  Hence , when Rudra visited the temple and was warmly greeted by the head priest , and even the cardinal himself came to greet him , the Elves understood that a man of great faith and stature had came there.

  Rudra pretended to be an devout worshipper and even shed crocodile tears when he saw the magnificent statue infront of him. The Elves were moved , the human was a genuine beleiver of the goddess.

  Only after spending an hour at the temple , did he take his leave and started to go towards the quest location.

  While walking towards a tavern , his mind could not help but wander at how beneath this seemingly perfect society a mountain of problems was buried. The events that were to transpire in the future would turn this place into a very different society.

  The current Elves had absolutely no tolerance about breeding with any other species , except themselves. Even within elves those who inherited the bloodline of the Goddess of Light herself were called the High Elves. Taller , stronger and more talented than the normal Elves , they did everything in their power to keep their bloodline pure hence only did mating with other high elves.

  The current Elven king , was King Frey , he had two wives and two children . One from each one of them , or soo the world thought.

  Frey married his first wife out of political needs , he needed to suppress the Council of Elders , and to do that he had to compromise and marry the daughter of the head elder.

  He never loved his first wife, ' Pelopne ' , but as a dignified king , he gave her the respect and luxury that a queen should have.

  His second wife was his true love , whom he loved from his younger days , 'Sara', he was ashamed that she would have to live as his second wife and not as the queen , however when she showed no dissatisfaction to this , Freys's heart moved and he treated her with even more love and care than he did before.

  Pelopne grew jealous of Sara and the affection she recieved from the king . And in one of her nights of endless frustration , she consumated with a mere servant who attended to her .

  That servant did not have the high elf bloodline , he was a mere elf. However he did get the Queen pregnant , and hence the first price was born with a normal bloodline without the blessings of the goddess.

  The world did not know of this secret , as the queen had the servant executed when she got pregnant , and had done extensive planning to keep the facade.

  The First prince was named Rumi , and although he had a stark contrast to the appearance of the king ,?No one dared to question the queen and her faithfulness as a wrongful accusation at the queen would lead to being branded as treason. And the perpetrators would be executed immediately.

  Eventually , when the queen explained that the kid looked like her late father , people started to let go of the matter , Frey found it odd , but never really doubted Pelopne , because which high elf would stoop as low as cheating. It was inconceivable in his mind , hence he accepted the explanation.

  6 months after the first prince was born , the first princess was born , to his second wife Sara. She was a true pure blood high elf and was the gem of Frey's heart from the moment that she was born.Her dazzling red eyes made Frey name her Ruby.

  The most doted child in entire Vanaheim , she was always protected and spoiled by everyone. Well , everyone except her mother , who was very strict and made her a disciplined child.

  This contrast in treatments made Ruby an innocent and disciplined child. She was both polite and gracefull , and was a genius in archery and kingdom management . Far outclassing her brother in the department.

  As a child Rumi was always jealous of Ruby and her superior talents , she was doted by everyone and loved , and his treatment was always so-so. However he knew that as the first prince he was bound to inherit the throne someday , so he bided his time.

  When he turned 15 however , was the day her mother told him the secret about his birth. And how her mother had fed him the rich potion of life everyday since birth for him to have a fake aura of a high elf.

  Rumi cried a lot that day , and over the next year his behaviour changed a lot , he became cunning and sly , as he realized that any slip up and he would be done for. He siezed every opportunity to solidify his position and gain connections . He even began bootlicking the king.

  However the biggest change happened in how he viewed his half - sister , knowing that they did not share a blood bond , he started to see her as a potential partner and began pursuing her as a lover.

  Ruby found his advances odd , when he would fondle her accidentally and give her kisses on the cheeks he would take the stance of being her caring big brother , but she was not dumb and understood that what he was doing was not what a brother would do . Disgusted she decided to tell her father.

  But before doing so , she decided to talk to her best friend and advisor about her choice. This was her biggest mistake as that best friend had a huge crush on the first prince and she spilled the beans to him before she could tell her father.

  Enraged Rumi killed Ruby , and fled Vanaheim. Atleast this is what was supposed to happen , now with Rudra here , things may change.

  Where Rudra was headed to right now was the tavern where the princess was to meet with her best friend in secret. Rudra knew about this meeting as in his past life , there was an adventurer present in the tavern that had overheard the two girls talking and posted a post regarding his understanding of the aftermath .

  When the scandal about the first princess's death came out , and the culprit was the first prince an unprecedented calamity faced the king Frey. The grief of loosing his daughter turned him into the mad king. As he imprisoned the queen and tortured her for the location of Rumi. It was in one of these torture sessions that the news about Rumi not being the son of the king was leaked by Pelopne.

  This intensified the king's outrage and Rumi became the most wanted criminal in The Elven kingdom .

  Rudra did not know the exact time of the event where the princess would enter the tavern to talk , he could be waiting here from 1-8 days , as the post did not write about the exact date of the event.

  Hence began his stakeout at the tavern waiting for the princess to show up. In this life he would save her from her evil brother , his reason to do this was two fold , if he saves her then he will gain the favour of her and the king. And second was that this story genuinely made his heart ache for the princess when he heard it the first time around , he had sworn at that time in his past life that if given a chance , he would help a women in need always. Now that the chance was here , he would deliver on his promise .

  /// Today there will be two bonuses , one for powerstones and one for tickets as both targets have been surpassed.

  Shoutout to Josiah_Templeton for the 2000 coin gift!!!! And to AA cedge for the 500 coin gift! , The patronage will definitely keep me motivated through the weekend , thankyou ! ///