Chapter 138: But I Did, So What?
"Behind you."
Hearing that, Kael's lips parted slightly as a sound escaped from his throat, "W-what?"
His eyes began to move quickly, darting from one place to another, lingering for a brief moment on Seraphina before shifting behind her, but there was no one around, not even a trace of presence anywhere near.
'Where the hell is she?'
The thought ran through his mind in confusion as his gaze slowly returned toward Seraphina's shoulder, and in that instant, his eyes widened.
At first, there had been nothing but the faint shimmer of air, but in the blink of an eye, a figure appeared out of thin air, her entire presence so fluid it almost seemed unreal.
The woman was wearing a gown of deep midnight color that rippled softly like flowing water, as though it had descended straight from the heavens. One of her feet touched the ground with a soft whispering sound, her hand resting on Seraphina's shoulder gently, almost as if to steady herself after landing.
Seraphina felt that sudden touch on her shoulder, and her body stiffened slightly.
The silhouette woman had just told her that their leader stood right behind her, and now that grip only confirmed it even further. Both Arwyn and Kael were still beside her, unmoving, and if neither of them had made this contact, then there could only be one explanation left.
'But... how? When did she appear? From where? Why didn't I sense her arrival at all? How could someone slip through my perception as if it were nothing? What should I even do now?'
What choice did she have at that moment?
She had already lost her position before the battle even began. Her enemy stood behind her, and showing one's back to an opponent was the gravest mistake a fighter could make. If that person wished to strike, Seraphina might not even have the chance to defend herself—perhaps not even enough time to sense the attack coming.
For the first time in her life, she found herself standing on another's mercy, and that realization tightened her chest in a way she had never felt before.
She took a soft breath, trying to clear her mind as the world around her seemed to slow down. 'Calm yourself, Seraphina. Think clearly. She appeared silently and has yet to attack. That means she's not here for a fight... at least not immediately. If that is the case, the best option would be to wait, assess, and find the right moment to turn the tables. And...'
However, before she could finish her thought, an immense surge of magic rose behind her. The pressure of it swept through the air so heavily that even Seraphina's knees almost trembled under it.
Her thoughts vanished at once, replaced by a sharp jolt of disbelief. Her lips parted slightly, her eyes widening as she whispered, "A-an Archwitch...? Ah, that explains her impossible speed."
Kael, still watching from the side, saw the Queen straighten herself, her posture elegant but effortless.
She turned her head slightly, her gaze settling upon him for a few moments before she turned her head toward Seraphina. Her voice flowed out, calm and composed, "Greetings, Captain. It is an honour to finally make your acquaintance. You have my sincerest gratitude for choosing to speak with me instead of raising your blade against my people."
Seraphina's gaze followed slowly over her shoulder until her eyes met the veil covering half of the woman's face. Her expression darkened instantly. "No need."
She did not add anything more. Instead, she caught the Queen's hand that still rested on her shoulder and turned to face her fully. "But tell me, what do I owe the honour of drawing the attention of someone like you? What could possibly be your reason to seek a conversation with me? I hope you have something worthwhile to say."
The Queen, however, showed no sign of being shaken. Her tone remained graceful as she slowly withdrew her hand, her movements calm as water. "I certainly do. We shall reach that part soon enough. But before that, I must say... I have discovered something rather peculiar today, and perhaps that alone is one of my reasons for standing before you now."
Seraphina's lips curved upward, almost forming a smile though her eyes carried no warmth. "And what reason would that be, I wonder?"
Kael stood beside them, his shoulders stiff, his breath caught between fear and frustration. His whole body trembled slightly, not only because of his deep hatred for this woman but also because he had nearly forgotten one unbearable truth... this witch knew his real identity.
If she revealed it to Seraphina now, everything would collapse. His peaceful life, his small moments of ease— all would be gone within a single heartbeat. He was hoping that the witch would stay silent.
Seraphina's suspicions he could endure; in fact, he had grown rather fond of them. But the truth itself was something he never wanted her to know—not now, not ever.
Besides, he still had no answer as to why this witch had spared his life the previous night. What did she want from him?
On the opposite side, Arwyn watched the scene quietly, her gaze steady but thoughtful. 'So this is the Queen... the one they say can bend anyone's will. And now she suddenly wants to talk with Seraphina? That alone unsettles me. Why would someone like her approach Seraphina without hostility? There can only be one possible reason... is she perhaps trying to seize control of her mind?'
The thought alone made her heart skip a bit, because she still couldn't truly guess whether the Queen would be able to take hold of Seraphina's mind or her will. Seraphina possessed a firm and resilient mind, and her determination never bent easily. As a result, she would definitely give her opponent a proper fight, and the idea of giving up never existed inside her.
Taking a slow breath, she steadied herself and tried to calm the uneasiness growing inside her, "If worst comes to worst... I'm sure Seraphina will manage something in some way. I simply have to trust her this time and keep my guard up so that I don't end up getting controlled instead."
She cast a cautious look over her shoulder toward the five silhouettes positioned on top of the house.
They stood in a single line now, and it seemed that in the presence of their Queen, not even one of them dared to sit back and observe carelessly. That didn't mean they would refrain from attacking if the moment demanded it. Trusting an enemy was a sin that could lead to one's downfall, and that was exactly what Arwyn needed to watch out for while Seraphina continued her tense conversation with the enemy leader.
"I just hope... I don't run out of mana too soon," she thought quietly while crossing one hand over her chest and resting her chin on the other, trying to ease her nerves.
Seraphina narrowed her eyes slightly when she received no answer despite the long silence that stretched between them.
Since the Queen's face remained hidden, the inability to see her expression irritated Seraphina far more than she expected.
What troubled her even more was the lingering sense that something was undeniably wrong with this woman. She couldn't pinpoint the exact cause, but her intuition whispered it into her senses repeatedly. She sharpened her senses, hoping to grasp even a trace of it, but nothing revealed itself. It created an unsettling feeling, almost as if the truth stood right before her but remained invisible.
'Is this how she controls someone's mind? Is she trying to use it on me? No, it doesn't seem like that's happening. Then is she trying to target someone on my side instead? But... who?'
As the thought passed through her mind, she cast a quick glance at Kael.
Among the three of them, Kael was undoubtedly the weakest in terms of physical ability, making him the most obvious target to control. Anyone else would have assumed the same—except her.
Kael might lack physical strength, but she knew her foolish husband carried a stubbornly strong mind. If he didn't, he would have abandoned his dream of remaining an adventurer long ago after all the times he had nearly lost his life. His will was far more steady than it seemed.
Seraphina blinked several times when she watched her husband, trying to understand the odd sight before her. 'Why is he closing his eyes like that all of a sudden?'
...At some point, Kael had already shut his eyes tightly, because the longer he stared at that witch—or more importantly at her lips—the higher the chance of falling under her charm. He had learned that unfriendly truth from their previous meeting.
Even the strongest man would fail to keep his gaze away from her lips, so instead of letting that happen again, he simply closed his eyes entirely. It was his only way to avoid embarrassing himself today.
'Damn... it's working... at least for now.'
At that moment, a cold presence brushed behind him, and a soft hand gently tilted his head to the side.
Before he could register what was happening, he heard a quiet whisper in his ear, "You display an unusual degree of nerve by refusing to meet my gaze. No man has ever attempted such a thing in my presence. Tell me, though… by closing your eyes like this, are you trying to keep your desire from rising? It is a wise choice, Kael, and I acknowledge it."
Her voice lingered in his ears in a way that made his body tremble slightly. He could not understand why she was suddenly giving him her attention.
'Creepy.'
Even then, he did not dare to move or open his eyes, and instead he shifted his head slightly to the side and asked, "What do you want from me?"
Meanwhile, both Arwyn and Seraphina felt a sharp wave of worry the moment they noticed the Queen had vanished from their sight. It happened so abruptly that they didn't even realize when she moved.
For a brief moment, they thought she would launch a surprise attack, but fortunately, that wasn't what she intended.
Instead, the Queen now stood directly behind Kael, her fingers curled in his hair from behind, her dark lips hovering dangerously close to him.
'Why did she go to Kael of all people? What is she planning?' Seraphina wondered silently, already prepared to move the very second she had to.
The Queen remained silent for a few moments before her voice slipped out in a low, threatening whisper that curled against his ear, "What do I want? You dare to ask me such a foolish question, Kael. Have you already forgotten that I showed you mercy last night, when I forgave the sin you committed? I warned you to stay away from my people, yet you refused to listen, and instead you kept pushing your nose into matters where it never belonged."
Hearing her say that, Kael's expression darkened in a way he could no longer hide. Every word escaping her lips flowed into him like venom that he did not wish to taste again, simply because that voice dragged his thoughts back to last night again and again, which was something he truly despised.
Usually, when he hated something to that degree, he would have already rid himself of it, but this time he faced someone far stronger than him, someone who left him with no chance of victory whatsoever, and since he had no other path open to him, he forced himself to remain still and keep his temper chained, although he struggled deeply to do so.
'The hell with this…'
Taking a slow, shallow breath that barely eased the tension in his chest, he whispered with a cold edge, "Brushing my nose where it does not belong? My ass. You warn me to stay away from you, yet you were the one who kidnapped my student in the first place. Not only that, you pushed a challenge into my hands that I never truly had a choice to refuse. After forcing me into a corner where nothing else remained, you expect me to walk away from it all. Tell me, are you a hypocrite or what? Because it seems to me the great all-watcher Queen has no boundaries when it comes to hypocrisy."
After those words, the Queen descended into an absolute silence, not uttering a single sound as she stood behind him.
The longer the silence stretched, the more uneasy he felt. Something about her presence made the air around him feel strange and heavy in a way he could not describe, but he kept his eyes shut and did not dare to move even a single muscle.
Because of that, he had no idea what his temporary companions were doing right now. Were they worried for him? Were they trying to speak? Could they even hear a word from this conversation? They should have heard everything since they were only a few steps away, but the manner in which the Queen addressed him did not give him that impression at all.
'Is she blocking our voices somehow? Is that even possible? But why am I even questioning it… she is the embodiment of all kinds of impossible things.'
The thought circled in his mind as he stared into the same darkness behind his eyelids.
Then something cold brushed against his neck, and the Queen's voice slid over his skin in a quiet murmur, "You have insulted me far more than you should have, Kael. Truly unexpected. Remember this though, I will not let you walk away from it. Besides, you should not forget that you are still walking under my pity. You are able to speak, move, and breathe freely only because I have not revealed your true identity yet."
Kael let out a soft, humorless smirk. "Empty threats do not work on me, witch. You can try all you want, but I am tired of dancing around your vague games. So tell me, what exactly are you plotting with me? You spared my life instead of killing me, even though I almost ended one of your pawns... I mean people. You kept my greatest secret instead of telling the world. You pushed a challenge into my hands. You kidnapped my student. You dragged all of us here to the place you wanted us to reach, and now that you finally got a chance to speak with the Captain, you ignore your own goal and choose to talk with me, reminding me of everything again. Do you actually expect me to see any of this as pure coincidence?"
He drew in another breath that eased none of his irritation and continued with an indifferent shrug that he barely felt, "If someone else had done all these things, maybe I would have considered coincidence, but since everything revolves around you, there must be a reason behind it. If that is not the case, then explain to me why you want to keep me alive at all costs. What are your reasons?"
He waited, but no answer came. Instead, he felt a sudden pressure on his scalp as her fingers closed around his hair, gripping it in a way that startled him more than he wished to admit.
'What is wrong with her now…?'
When her silence stretched further without the slightest hint of a response, Kael let out a bitter laugh that echoed in the stillness, at least in the space he imagined around him.
His voice came out hollow and strangely distant as he spoke, "So that is how it is, huh? You... you want me."
She said nothing.
Her silence was the only answer he needed, and it only deepened the conclusion he had started to build.
He laughed again, and the bitterness in that laugh lingered much longer this time. "Unbelievable. Never in my life did I imagine someone like you would go this far because of me. If your intentions were romantic, I would have actually preferred them. Unfortunately, what you want is nothing close to that. You want me as one of your slaves or pawns or whatever you call them, and you expect me to follow your commands without questioning. That's why you appeared last night and used your ability on me instantly to twist my will and bend it. You didn't stop at that—you even dragged it to the point where you let me kiss you. Do you have any idea how disgusting that was? And still, you failed. So you took Effie with you instead. Am I wrong?"
He paused, his voice turning darker, "It is funny in a way. I didn't even know someone like you existed before yesterday, and now I can understand parts of your plan as if we have known each other for years. But why do you need me? I am weaker than you, weaker than your people. Still, you went this far. Why?"
The silence that followed stretched long enough to feel unnatural before she finally spoke. Her voice was colder than before and carried a threat so sharp it felt like a blade pressed against the air, "I have not permitted you to question me, therefore I owe you nothing. In any case, you should've never chosen to disobey me, Kael."
Kael shrugged again, though irritation flickered beneath the gesture, "But I did, so what? What exactly are you going to do? Turn me into your slave? Fine. Try. Try as much as you want. You will fail every time. You will never take my freedom from me. I will never allow it. I. Would. Never."
Before he could settle fully into his stance, his head tilted sharply to the side, forced by her unseen strength rather than any movement of his own.
He flinched the moment her palm settled on his face, her fingers curling beneath his lips. Her touch felt warm and cold at once, a sensation that slid across his skin like an unwelcome warning.
Her fingers brushed against his lips with a careless ease that only deepened the disgust twisting in his stomach. The urge to vomit rose as sharply as the hatred he held for her, but he clenched his teeth and forced it down, knowing there was nothing he could do while trapped in her hold.
'What was she trying to do to him now?'
Her voice returned with a tone he had not heard from her before. It folded around him with a strange depth, "You have chosen this path yourself."
He tried to grasp the meaning behind those words, but they slipped away the moment he attempted to hold them, leaving only a soft echo in his mind. He inhaled softly—almost too softly—as something warm spread through him.
The warmth was unfamiliar and did not belong to him, and that made it worse.
A surge of fear rose in his chest.
'I haven't opened my eyes yet. Then how? Don't tell me... her ability works through her touch, not by watching her lips. Damn this witch.'
Queen's chin brushed lightly against his shoulder, and the strange feeling that stirred inside him grew stronger. He could not see her since his eyes were closed, but he understood exactly what she intended.
She tilted her head, and her dark, glistening lips must have been hovering close to his neck because he felt her warm breath slide across his skin in a soft, steady rhythm.
She moved even closer.
The distance between them vanished in an instant, almost as if she meant to press her mouth against his neck.
...Right before that moment, she slowly dragged the tip of her tongue across her lips while keeping her gaze fixed on both women across from her.
Her movement was deliberate, unhurried, and full of silent provocation.
She leaned in.
However, her lips never reached him.
At that moment, a sharp glint appeared behind her and cut through the air with a quiet, controlled grace. It swept forward in a clean, precise arc, angled straight toward Queen's throat with a single purpose.
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(Chapter Ended)