When people spoke of elves, they generally referred to the high elves of the Silvermoon High Court, along with a scattering of wood elves dispersed across various lands. Drow elves were essentially an offshoot of the elven race, yet they were mortal enemies with all other elves.
The rite of passage for a female drow elf usually involved venturing up to the surface, abducting an elf, bringing them back down to the Underdark, and offering them as a blood sacrifice to Lolth the Spider Queen.
Generally speaking, any drow elf capable of presenting an elf as a sacrifice would receive the blessing of Lolth the Spider Queen.
Over time, however, elves grew harder and harder to capture, so the drow turned to sacrificing their own kin instead. Male drow were frequently offered up as sacrifices to Lolth the Spider Queen. Naturally, such acts rarely earned divine favor, serving at best to barely appease Lolth the Spider Queen so she would withhold her wrath.
Over countless years, the drow elves had slaughtered an untold number of elves, forging a blood feud so deep it could never be resolved.
Curiously, though, Lolth the Spider Queen was herself actually a member of the Elven Gods, and one of exceedingly noble standing at that.
Her former husband was none other than Corellon Larethian, the Elven King of Gods.
Corellon Larethian was hailed as the most perfect of all elves. Any mortal fortunate enough to behold his true countenance would fall irresistibly in love with him. His beauty transcended gender and race, carrying a charm countless times more overwhelming than Catherine's.
He was likewise a mighty warrior, a formidable mage, a philosopher, an artist, a musician... In short, virtually every virtue and talent revered by the elven race traced its origin to this sovereign elven deity.
There was even an unverified claim that Corellon Larethian might be the mightiest god beneath Ao himself. Mages, of course, held a different view, contending that the Goddess of Magic was the truly invincible deity under Ao.
Regardless of which assertion was correct, it demonstrated from another angle just how overwhelmingly powerful the Elven King of Gods was. Combined with the vast number of elven deities under his domain, Corellon Larethian stood at the very pinnacle of authority, status, and raw might among the gods.
Because of this, when Anbaixiu had read in books that Lolth the Spider Queen's former husband was the sovereign of the elven pantheon, he had found it utterly incomprehensible.
Who on earth would divorce a husband like that? Just how high were Lolth the Spider Queen's standards?
Later, he discovered that she had turned against her husband in order to seize the Elven King of Gods' divine authority.
The title of wife to the Elven King of Gods was clearly not enough to satisfy Lolth's ambitions. Craving far more, she had rallied numerous evil deities and staged a rebellion.
That divine war had been full of twists and turns, but in the end, it concluded with Lolth the Spider Queen's defeat.
Punished for her treason, Lolth was transformed by the sovereign elven god into a grotesque being, half-human and half-spider. The drow elves who had once been part of the elven host fell alongside her, turning into the subterranean elves they were today, with cruelty, malice, and female supremacy defining their racial culture.
Due to Lolth the Spider Queen's hatred for the Elven King of Gods, drow elves and surface elves became sworn enemies.
Trisna was a legendary drow elf. To have earned the favor of Lolth the Spider Queen—who granted her immense power and allowed her to receive the blessings of four goddesses—she must have sacrificed a staggering number of elves.
Trisna undoubtedly carried a blood debt soaked in countless lives. If delivered to the Silvermoon High Court, she might fetch a hefty bounty.
Since he couldn't raise her as undead, he might as well salvage what he could from the waste; he couldn't afford a complete loss.
Anbaixiu wrote a letter to Catherine and went to the post station in Sweetdew City to mail it.
Artifacts like the Necrotic Codex that bypassed distance for instantaneous communication were exceedingly rare. Even the elven race might not possess long-distance communications equipment of that caliber, so cross-border correspondence usually relied on standard mail.
Fortunately, teleportation arrays existed, so it would likely arrive within a day.
The special express fee was rather steep, however—posting that single letter alone cost Anbaixiu over a thousand gold coins.
While reaching the Silvermoon High Court would not take long, the elven kingdom had long since sealed its borders, meaning all incoming mail had to undergo strict inspection before entering the realm.
Due to this delay, several days had already passed by the time Catherine received Anbaixiu's letter.
At first, Catherine was quite pleased that after so long, the lich had finally remembered her. Yet upon opening the letter, she found Anbaixiu as blunt as ever, without a single polite pleasantry.
A drow Matron Mother had been slain by his hand; he asked whether the Silvermoon High Court was interested in settling their blood debts with the drow, and then vaguely hinted at the matter of a bounty.
Finally, he brought up Arthur Ryan, asking when the Elven King could come over to verify his identity.
From beginning to end, the letter contained not a single word of greeting or care.
Catherine was nearly beside herself with irritation. That lich truly didn't worry about her in the slightest.
Still, Catherine's anger lasted only a moment, as everything Anbaixiu mentioned was of paramount importance. The drow were an indelible stain on the elven race and their greatest source of pain. A legendary drow elf was certain to be a criminal prominently recorded on the Silvermoon High Court's kill list.
Anbaixiu had truly done them a massive favor this time, and the Silvermoon High Court would owe him one in return.
Without delay, Catherine hurried off with the letter to find the Elven King... or more strictly speaking, the former-former Elven King.
After the last batch of elves afflicted with mana addiction in the Silvermoon High Court had been sealed away, Catherine had openly proclaimed her transgressions before the entire elven race, offering a final explanation for abdicating the throne.
Her foolishness and arrogance had pushed the elven race to the brink of extinction, inflicting devastating losses upon them.
Consequently, Catherine had resigned to take responsibility and submitted herself to a collective trial by all elves.
The verdict had come swiftly: the elven race decided to forgive her.
One truly couldn't blame them for being soft-hearted. Who could look at Catherine's face and bear to punish her?
Besides, she had already admitted her fault.
Thus, the former-former Elven King, Hildas Terra, had no choice but to issue a decree in his own name. Due to Catherine's grave mistake, she was stripped of all her honors and privileges—summarized simply as being reduced to a commoner.
This was already the harshest punishment possible; anything heavier, and he feared a widespread revolt among the elves.
Even with this token penalty, many elves felt it was far too harsh. After all, Catherine's intentions had been noble; she had selflessly shared her power purely to strengthen the elven race. Who could have foreseen that such sharing would bring about such catastrophic side effects?
The newly appointed Elven King, Aldarian Terra, was among those who thought so. In fact, upon ascending the throne, he had planned to repeal Catherine's punishment immediately.
Whereupon the new Elven King received a sound thrashing from his grandfather—administered by Hildas Terra himself, for the new Elven King was his biological grandson.
The elven throne was not passed down by bloodline. It was typically chosen from among the kingdom's legends, with every elf casting a vote to elect the next monarch.
When Catherine had run for the position, she had naturally won by a unanimous vote. Even her political rivals had actively campaigned on her behalf.
Aldarian Terra had been one of those rivals back then. The moment he learned Catherine intended to run for the crown, he had embarked on a tour of speeches without hesitation, his sole topic being: "Why Catherine Must Be the Next Elven Queen."
It was fair to say that throughout the entire Silvermoon High Court, this new Elven King was Catherine's most ardent admirer.
When Catherine resigned to take responsibility, Aldarian immediately entered the election, exhausting every possible measure to take the mantle from her hands. In the end, Aldarian triumphed with a decisive lead.
This was not merely because his grandfather had once been the Elven King and had rendered monumental contributions to the Silvermoon High Court, but also because Aldarian himself was exceptionally capable.
He had advanced to the legendary rank at a remarkably young age. During Catherine's reign, Aldarian had served as her right-hand man—a role akin to the Hand of the King—and managed the kingdom's administrative affairs with extraordinary finesse. He had even achieved a noticeable rise in birth rates among elves, a people notoriously indifferent toward childbearing. That administrative accomplishment alone was enough to etch his name into the annals of history.
Aldarian's succession was widely supported by the people. Even though his grandfather had cast a dissenting vote, the old elf ultimately had to accept reality.
Who would have guessed that the moment Aldarian assumed the throne, he would attempt to overturn his grandfather's ruling? The white-haired elder had promptly cast aside his political stature, dragged his grandson home, and given him a savage beating.
Poor Aldarian was a legendary ranger in his own right, yet he dared not even dodge, taking the blows until he was battered black and blue.
In the end, the elder invoked his seniority to suppress that absurd decree, though he still couldn't stop Aldarian from sending Catherine constant gifts, eager to shower her with the treatment befitting a queen.
Fortunately, Catherine was well aware of her fault and refused all such gifts, choosing instead to live as an ordinary elf in seclusion within a secluded cottage outside the royal capital. Of course, they couldn't actually permit Catherine to live inside common residential districts, as doing so would plunge the entire area into absolute pandemonium.
As such, entering the royal capital remained remarkably effortless for Catherine.
With just a brief word of announcement, Catherine entered the inner palace and met the new Elven King.
Aldarian looked like a youth of seventeen or eighteen, possessing classic elven features—strikingly handsome and exuding noble grace.
Beside Aldarian stood two white-haired elders. One was naturally Aldarian's grandfather, the former-former Elven King, while the other was an elderly man clad in platinum-and-white robes.
The rose and scales emblazoned on those robes told Catherine all she needed to know: this man was likely the Supreme Arbiter of the Ryan Empire, James Watson.
Chapter 265