Aquí la traducción al inglés:
Eternal Scales Palace – Council Chamber
The air inside the Council Chamber was thick, not from the dampness of the underground, but from the venom contained in every unspoken word. The circle of elders gathered beneath the emerald flames of the torches, their flickering reflections dancing along the serpent-carved columns like accusing tongues.
Cai Lin, the Medusa Queen, sat tall upon her obsidian throne, her eyes as still as two frozen lagoons. The silence was not obedience. It was tension.
—A human! —Elder Huo roared, slamming his black-scale staff against the floor. —An outsider defeated our warriors! And left them alive to tell the tale!
A murmur spread like poison through clear water. The other elders, their skin covered in scales and their tails coiled with restrained strength, nodded in simmering indignation.
—He was no mere human, —another voice murmured, calmer, quieter. Elder Bi Yan, a counselor with a soft tone and sharp gaze. —That man defeated Kar Misu… one of our five pure-blood captains.
—And spared him? —Elder Tu spat, her skeletal tail whipping angrily. —Do you know what that means? That we are now the laughingstock of the lesser races! A human Dou Shi humiliating a unit of royal blood!
—And all of this… —she paused, her voice dripping with venom— because of her.
The name was never spoken. But it floated in the chamber like a poisoned dart.
Cai Lin did not move. Her fingers rested upon the arms of the throne, her dark hair cascading like a silent waterfall. When she finally spoke, her voice cut like a blade wrapped in silk.
—Die Ba is of my blood. None of you have the authority to judge her without my word.
A murmur of unease rippled through the hall. Even the oldest among them knew defying the Medusa Queen’s word was a death sentence… but politics was far deadlier than any blade.
Elder Bi Yan tilted his head, smiling like the serpent he was.
—Your Majesty… no one questions your lineage. But… if the second princess survives, and if she is being protected by someone as powerful as that human, how long before a faction forms around her?
Cai Lin’s eyes flashed for an instant.
—Are you suggesting my sister will start a rebellion?
Bi Yan smiled, offering neither denial nor confirmation. He only murmured:
—I am suggesting… that such a thought may already be nesting in the minds of many. Even… some in this very chamber.
The elders’ eyes narrowed. An indirect accusation. A warning. Or perhaps… bait.
—If she does not return willingly to the Palace of Scales, —Elder Tu added, —we should declare her an enemy of our people. Only then can we restore our honor before the other tribes.
—No. —Cai Lin rose to her feet.
Silence fell like a blade.
—My sister will not be hunted like a traitor. If anyone dares to try… I will deal with them myself.
The elders bowed, but their eyes spoke a different truth. A queen protecting a rival heir was a strategic weakness. And in politics… weakness was fresh blood.
When the session ended, Elder Bi Yan walked alone through the stone corridors, a thin smile curling on his scaled face.
—"A human with sacred Dou Qi… and a princess with pure blood… What nest of serpents will hatch from that?"
His shadow stretched long beneath the torchlight, while his mind wove the next betrayal.