Kyran looked indifferently at the woman. His expression was unreadable, just like when he snapped at Celine back at the warehouse.
However, Kyran was in a state where all his pent-up emotions were messing up his mind.
He remembered how he started to hope that he would be able to divert the army’s attention away from his clan by making contact with the Mercenary Hall. Truthfully, he was really willing to put himself in danger if it meant he could save his clan. Still, he knew it would not be easy to really divert the whole army’s focus.
People had their own circumstances and priorities that would affect how they would react to a change in a situation.
But it was for this reason that Kyran decided to take drastic actions. He needed people to help him. Unfortunately, it did not go well with the Mercenary Hall. However, he was given another path to take. And that was to directly make contact with the Conclave’s Leader.
As long as Kyran was able to negotiate with someone with a higher ‘status’, it would be easier for him to help his clan.
But then this man, the Head of Conclave, admitted to knowing what happened to his clan. What did that mean?
Did the Conclave sell them out? Or were they colluding with the army right from the start? After all, they readily posted a bounty for him at the army’s request.
Kyran was mostly ignorant of the different factions in the empire, but he was well aware of the status of his clan with the Royal Family. He knew they had been trying to reduce his clan’s power. The previous Emperor was not satisfied with just the Regis Clan living in seclusion, and it seemed the new Emperor inherited his will. Wasn’t this situation a very good chance for them?
But Kyran was still in doubt. Why would the army waited for such a long time before attacking his clan if they were in collusion with the Conclave? They had plenty of chances to do so. Or was it because they were waiting for Kyran’s seal to ‘weaken’ thinking it would not expose the Conclave’s betrayal?
“Hahaha!” The young woman’s soft voice rang.
To Kyran however, her melodious laughter got on his already unstable nerves.
Nolan clenched his fists, he was trying to weigh how to proceed in this situation. He was not completely in favor of cutting all ties with the Mercenary Hall and escape with Kyran. It was not because he had some attachment to the Mercenary Hall. But more with his own doubts in Kyran’s real plan. What if he made a move and ruined the kid’s plan? Did Kyran even have a ‘real’ plan?
[Kid. Just what the hell happened? Why are you suddenly attacking for real?]
Nolan tried to ask Kyran telepathically. He was not expecting to get an answer, but he was hoping to at least get a reaction from Kyran. To his dismay, Kyran remained unmoved.
“Alright. Sorry I know laughing is rude. It’s just you looked very serious,” the young woman controlled her laughter and apologized at Kyran. “But you really have a nerve to come here, destroy my barrier, and even bully my people. Now you’re even threatening me and my right hand man.”
She looked at Malek and waved her hand at him.
Golden rings made of small clocks circled him from top to bottom.
The ‘something’ that Kyran threw on the ground vanished as soon as the rings passed Malek’s chest.
Everyone from the Security Unit were surprised to see Malek’s bloody appearance slowly changed to a much better state.
‘This…’ Nolan in particular was shocked. He had some guesses about the young woman’s magic when she made their movements stop. He knew it was different from old hag Celine, who could do that with the use of her ‘voice’. Now, seeing a new proof of the young woman’s magic right in front of his eyes, Nolan could not decide whether he was lucky, or unlucky.
How come he was able to meet two people, with two of the most dangerous forbidden magic, in a matter of a day?
Nolan was also surprised that apart from everyone on the Security Unit, the Chairman of Mercenary Hall and the Head of Conclave were not surprised.
“Thank you, Milord!” Malek looked at the young woman ecstatically.
However, Kyran did not simply watched. The moment the young woman waved her hand, he already aimed his left hand at her and a black orb started to form in the middle of his purple rings circling on his palm.
The young woman immediately looked at Kyran in confusion, “H-Hey, you aren’t really serious about the killing part–!”
Before she could finish her sentence, the black orb already increased in size and touched her semi-transparent golden sphere.
“Stop!” The young woman’s golden eyes flashed as golden array-like clocks hovered above the black orb’s surface.
The black orb’s progress halted in an instant.
Kyran frowned. Using his right hand, he aimed at the young woman once again.
The young woman’s brow twitched slightly, “Why are you attacking? Aren’t you here to get our attention? We are here now. You can stop the act!”
“Milord, please undo your magic and let us protect you!” Hugh exclaimed.
Nolan gritted his teeth. Even if he could not use his magic, he had other means to escape.
If the woman removed her magic just like Hugh requested, Nolan was prepared to move and grabbed Kyran. To hell with keeping his identity a secret. Their survival was top priority.
Another black orb appeared in the middle of the purple rings.
“I already said to stop!”
The young woman frowned at Kyran while another set of golden array-like clocks appeared. This time it did not simply appear on the orb but around Kyran.
Purple rings appeared on Kyran’s feet.
The young woman suddenly felt a chill around her as the air inside her sphere crackled.
“Milord!”
Both Hugh and Malek exclaimed in fright as a fissure started to appear behind her.
“Kyran Regis! What are you trying to do?” The young woman suddenly demanded. She already noticed the change in the air inside her sphere. “Are you really going to ruin the relationship between the Conclave and the Regis Clan?”
“Did you think that when you decided to collude with the army?” Kyran finally spoke.
“Collude?” The young woman looked at him in confusion.
Nolan was also shocked. Collude? The Conclave and the Royal Army? Just what transpired between Kyran and that Malek guy? How did the situation become more messed up?
Kyran did not reply. Instead the purple rings on his feet linked together and started to wrap around his legs.
The fissure behind the young woman started to grow.
“Could you stop first and explain what you mean? Why did you say we are colluding with the army?” The young woman asked once more.
“Stop acting. You’re right-hand man already admitted to knowing what happened to my clan! He also admitted to seeing it!”
“Seeing…” she looked at Malek.
Malek on the other hand, looked at her awkwardly. “About that… my beautiful Lord–!”
“You stupid Malek!” The young woman shouted. She waved her hand and the golden rings circled around him continuously from top to bottom, then bottom to top.
“AAAAAHHHH! Milord! P-Please! S-Stop! AAAAAHHH!” Malek screamed when the rings passed his chest repeatedly.
Almost everyone who saw this turned pale when they realized that Malek’s appearance was changing back and forth to being bloody, then being better, then back to being bloody.
The young woman’s action stunned even Kyran to the point that he stopped midway in performing a ‘warp’. He gaped, with his mouth slightly open at the pitiful situation Malek was in.
“What did I tell you about speaking vaguely! ” The young woman reprimanded Malek.
Malek only replied with a mournful scream.
“M-Milord, just what is…?”
Even Hugh was dumbfounded.
The young woman looked at Kyran imploringly and said, “Kyran. I’ll explain. What he meant about ‘seeing’ your clan’s situation, is that he had seen it in a vision. I’ve also seen it. Please believe me.”
To show her sincerity, she removed all her magic, except the one that was still ‘punishing’ Malek. Her golden eyes also turned normal and revealed a light blue color.
“Vision?” Kyran repeated. Although his eyes still looked fierce, after the young woman undid her magic, he also did the same. At least with the magic he was about to use.
The young woman nodded.
“Yes,” she looked at the still screaming Malek with a faint smile. “I’m sure you already noticed. Malek isn’t really… stable right now. That normally happens whenever he had a vision. And he had one last night.”
She looked at Kyran, “He saw that the army raided the Regis Estate. And that they pursued you in the forest.”
“You said you’ve seen it too.”
“If his vision had a great impact on a future event, it resonates with my magic. That’s why I saw it too. We also know you’d come here. But we are not sure when. Well, we know you’ll destroy the Tower’s defensive array so I thought, maybe you’ll try to create a scene to get our attention.”
[She’s telling the truth.]
Nolan’s voice came into Kyran’s mind. He observed the young woman’s aura when she spoke and noticed it was very stable.
Kyran remained silent and just looked at the young woman.
Seeing that Kyran did not undo his sphere and that his eyes were still reddish-purple, the young woman sighed. She glanced at Hugh and said, “Chairman Hugh. Contact the rest of the reinforcements and assemble them in the conference hall. Explain that everything is under control. Just ask Chairman Noir to fix the Tower’s defensive array. I don’t care how much resources he uses. Also take Malek with you.”
She added and finally stopped punishing Malek.
“Ugh…” Malek was slightly sprawled on the floor. He looked exhausted.
“But Milord,” Hugh looked reluctantly at her then at Kyran.
The young woman smiled, “It’s okay. Kyran and I had a lot to talk about. So I’ll leave these things to you first.”
Apart from that, she felt that Kyran would not talk if there were too many possible ‘enemy’ around him. That was why she decided to make everyone leave.
“Then we will take our leave,” Hugh bowed.
“Millard, correct?” The young woman turned to Millard.
“Yes, Lord of the Tower!” Millard saluted.
“Please take care of everyone outside.”
“Yes, I will do as you wish.”
“Thank you.”
With Millard’s help, Hugh took Malek and all of them left. Although he was still reluctant, he could only obey the Lord of the Tower’s orders.
Seeing that Kyran did not stop them, the young woman was convinced that he was at least willing to listen.
Nolan contemplated whether to leave as well. However, based on the young woman’s words, she might be aware of his and Kyran’s connection.
Just as he was thinking about it, the young woman looked at him and said, “Nolan, we’ll talk separately. For now, I’ll take Kyran with me.”
“Take me where?” Kyran asked coldly. Obviously, he had not let his guard down, even though the young woman appeared sincere.
The young woman looked back at him. Instead of feeling offended by Kyran’s attitude, she just smiled and answered, “To my room. First, we need to get you cleaned. You stink. Did you not notice?”
“I don’t care. Nolan stays and we’ll talk here.”
The young woman sighed exaggeratedly and said, “Seems you don’t trust me enough.”
Kyran did not reply.
Nolan also did not move.
“How about I make an oath?”
“Oath–?”
“I, Stella, Lord of the Tower, swears a soul-binding oath to Kyran of the Regis Clan that, I, Stella, will never betray him and will only act in his best interests. If I fail to keep my oath, my soul will then be bound for eternity.”
Nolan could not help but whistle when he saw the red rune appeared on Stella’s forehead. This woman was very decisive. She did not even wait for Kyran to accept or reject the idea and just went on with it. Aside from that, an oath to never betray that person, now that was a very heavy oath.
Similarly, a golden rune appeared on Kyran’s forehead.
With a slight frown, Kyran touched his forehead where the rune had appeared. He looked at Stella, who remained smiling as the red rune on her slowly disappeared.
“Now. Can you trust me a little?”
“You… really did not have to do that,” Kyran suddenly felt uneasy. His eyes turned to its normal dark gray shade as he turned to look at Nolan.
“What? Don’t look at me,” Nolan shrugged. He could tell Kyran’s reluctance to speak with Stella alone.
Stella chuckled, “Don’t mind too much. I intended to do this anyway. But like I said, you first need to get yourself cleaned. Then we’ll talk over dinner.”
Kyran looked back at her, not sure how to reply.
“It should be fine. Don’t worry, if she ever does something or take you somewhere, I have my ways to track you.” Nolan assured him.
“So rude. I won’t abduct him. Besides, I can’t leave this tower.”
“Why not?” Kyran asked.
“I thought it’s already obvious,” Stella replied with both brows raised. “I can’t leave this place for the same reason why your family tried their best to keep you within the Regis Estate. Just like you, I also have a forbidden magic.”