Awakening Love Reborn to Be His Duchess (Elowen Hale) novel Chapter 610

Chapter 610 The Bloodline of the Oracle

Valessa relaxed slightly at those words, the sharp edge in her expression softening.

“That’s understandable,” she said with a small nod. “Your grandmother’s story alone could take an entire night to explain properly, and once your grandfather becomes part of the story, things get ever more complicated.”

By now, Elowen’s thoughts were hopelessly tangled together.

There were too many questions crowding her mind all at once, each one more confusing than the last, bur after hesitating for several moments, she finally asked the one that mattered most.

“My grandmother…” Her fingers tightened slightly against the edge of the table before she lifted her eyes toward Valessa again. “Is she still alive?”

The question itself felt strange coming from her lips.

She had never met this woman. Before tonight, she had barely even known she existed. Noah almost never spoke about her, leaving Elowen with nothing more than the faint outline of a person she could not truly imagine.

And yet now, waiting for the answer, she felt her heart slowly tense with nervous anticipation.

Valessa’s expression quieted.

After a brief silence, she answered gently, “She passed away years ago.”

Elowen’s lashes trembled faintly.

Valessa continued, “That’s why the ceremonial seal was passed down to you. The Oracle’s bloodline has always passed through a single daughter in every generation. Your grandmother took your grandfather into her household and gave birth only to your mother, and your mother later had only one daughter as well. You.”

Elowen immediately caught the unusual phrasing.

“Took my grandfather into her household?”

Valessa looked mildly surprised by the question.

“That’s simply how things work in Nordia,” she explained naturally. “The customs of the grasslands are very different from Avenlor. Women can choose husbands just as easily as men choose wives. What matters strength and standing, not whether someone is male or female.”

Elowen sat there staring at her for several moments, visibly trying to absorb the information.

Finally, she let out a slow breath and pressed her fingertips lightly against her temple.

“There’s too much for me to process at once,” she admitted with a helpless laugh. “Why don’t we sit and talk properly? If Your Highness doesn’t mind, I’d like to hear everything from the beginning.”

Valessa nodded immediately.

23

M

1/4

09:44 Sat, May 23 M M

The Bloodline

“Of course.”

The three women crossed into the open pavilion near the garden paths and settled beneath the timbered roof while the cool evening breeze drifted softly through the hanging curtains.

Iron lanterns glowed warmly overhead, casting flickering amber light across the polished stone table and cushioned benches layered with woven blankets. It was the sort of quiet corner clearly meant for long conversations and peaceful evenings together.

Elowen and Cassian must have spent countless hours there.

Not long after they sat down, Mira arrived carrying a silver tray filled with steaming cup and freshly baked honey cakes from the kitchens.

Valessa wrapped both hands around the warm cup without drinking immediately.

“In Nordia,” she began slowly, “women hold far greater authority than they do in Avenlor, and that all traces back to the Oracle.”

The lanternlight flickered softly across her features as she spoke.

“The people of Nordia worship the God. According to our oldest legends, only the Oracle can hear the voices of the gods and serve as their eyes upon the grasslands. In the Nordian tongue, the title is ‘Ogu,’ which later became your grandmother’s family name.”

Elowen listened quietly without interrupting.

“The Oracle’s bloodline has always been unusual,” Valessa continued. “Each generation produces only one daughter, and that daughter naturally inherits the title after her mother.”

She paused briefly before continuing.

座

“The Oracle oversees sacred rites, interprets omens, and guides the people during times of hardship. While your grandmother was alive, she even advised the royal court directly behind the ceremonial veil during assemblies of state. Though,” Valessa added with visible contempt, that was under the previous king, and he was a disgusting creature. Arrogant, indulgent, rotten to the core. He would have happily dishonored even the wives of his own brothers if no one stopped him. Last year, my brother overthrew him and claimed the throne himself.”

Only then did Elowen suddenly realize something important.

“If my grandmother is gone,” she said slowly, “and my mother passed away years ago while I remained here in Avenlor…” She looked carefully toward Valessa. “Then doesn’t that mean Nordia no longer has an Oracle?”

“That’s right.”

After speaking for so long, Valessa finally lifted her cup and took a slow sip of water.

“And explaining why is where things become complicated.”

At that moment, Elowen finally understood why Flowira had struggled so much whenever the subject came up before.

23

O

M

2/4

09:44 Sat, May 23 MM

Chat

None of this was the sort of story someone could explain casually

Valessa rested the cup between her hands while her gaze drifted toward the darkened gardens beyond the pavilion.

“When your grandmother first became the Oracle, Nordia was suffering through some of the harshest years in its history. Winters arrived carly and refused to leave, freezing the grasslands before the herds could properly feed. Then summer brought drought after drought until rivers dried into cracked earth and crops failed across the plains.”

Her voice lowered slightly.

“When people began starving, sickness followed soon after. Weak bodies cannot survive disease for long. and before long the dead began to outnumber the living. There weren’t enough healers, and there weren’t enough medicinal herbs to save everyone. So naturally, the people placed all their hopes on your grandmother.”

Valessa looked toward Elowen.

“She was the Oracle. The chosen voice of the gods. People believed she could pray for gentle seasons, drive away plague, and restore balance to the grasslands.”

A quiet silence settled briefly between them.

“But nothing changed.”

Elowen immediately understood the meaning behind those words.

The people had started losing faith in the Oracle.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify