"Do you need assistance?" The King asked. "If it's a political or diplomatic matter the Kingdom has your back. I can send you our minister for foreign affairs in a minute."
"Thanks, Your Majesty, but it won't be necessary." Lith gave the King a polite bow. "It's a private matter regarding the sighting of Meln Narchat in Jiera. Please, inform our troops to be on alert and keep Night's destruction spell at the ready."
He had no idea if the self-destruction spell would still work, but it could buy the people of the Kingdom precious time.
If Night made a move before her power core had the time to adjust to the changes, there was a good chance that the spell would still work or at least cause her serious damage.
'I wish I could tell Meron about Dusk and the powers that Night might gain after assimilating his crystal, but then it would become a political mess. The Kingdom would blame the Empire for aiding and abetting a Horseman.
'Even worse, the Crown might try to take Night's crystal for themselves or destroy it.'
Lith gave the King a doctored version of the story where Night had attacked one of the Empire's mining towns and killed its colonists.
"The Empress wants my advice on how to deal with Night since I'm one of the few people who has survived multiple confrontations with her."
"How do you know that if she doesn't even have your contact rune?" The story made sense but it didn't explain how Lith could know so much.
"Leegaain." Lith shrugged. "He passed the messages but he's tired of playing middleman."
"I see." Meron nodded. "Thank Lord Leegaain on my behalf for not Warping his disciple without my consent. The Kingdom appreciates the efforts of the Lord of Wisdom to keep the peace between our countries. Meron out."
"Damn if you are good at making up bullshot on the spot." Milea and Leegaain said in unison, neither needing the Guardian's auto-correct.
The Empress walked to Kelia and knelt in front of her. Much to Milea's surprise, instead of throwing her arms at her, crying, or having any emotional reaction, the young girl shied away.
Kelia made herself small and hid behind Elina.
"I'm sorry. Even with your warnings and teachings, I failed my missions." Kelia looked at the Empress and Lith, feeling like she had failed the former and betrayed the latter. "I let Meln take me by surprise. I let him take Dusk away from me.
"What's wrong, daughter?" Milea's voice was calm and soothing.
Kelia opened her mouth to speak, but she ended up crying. It took her a few minutes to compose herself enough to make sense.
"I'm sorry. Even with your warnings and teachings, I failed my missions." Kelia looked at the Empress and Lith, feeling like she had failed the former and betrayed the latter. "I let Meln take me by surprise. I let him take Dusk away from me.
"I'm useless to you now."
The Empress furrowed her brows in confusion for a second until the meaning of those words dawned on her.
"Do you really think that I'd throw you away just because you are not a Horseman anymore? That I'd disown you and make you an orphan again?"
"Yes." Kelia nodded amid sniffles. "Without Dusk I'm just a weak runt. I'm no longer the top student of the Red Emperor. I have no bloodline abilities and no chance to graduate in time.
"Without Dusk, I'm worthless." She started sobbing again, clinging to Elina who glared at the Empress with the fury of a mama bear.
Elina didn't know Kelia's story, but from that exchange, it was clear that the adoption was just on paper and there was no love between mother and daughter. It was a business deal that an adult in a position of authority had imposed on a child.
"I'm not going to disown you, daughter." Milea said. "I'm sorry for what happened to you and I'm even more sorry for making you think I value you only because of the services you can provide me.
"That's how our relationship started, but back then I had no reason to believe that Dusk had turned a new leaf. I needed to keep you at arm's length until I was certain it wasn't a trick to avoid capture."
"I know we haven't spent much time together but that's because the academy leaves you little time and the throne leaves me even less. I thought that at your age and with your ambition, you wanted your personal space."
"Yeah, right." Elina's voice carried the coldness of an ice age. "Why would an abandoned child want affection and a family? Leaving her in the care of someone you considered an ancient monster was the most sensible thing to do."
"I…" Milea wanted to reply but every justification that came to her mind sounded idiotic.
"How much time did you spend with this poor girl? How many times have you called her just to ask her how she was doing and how many to question her grades or give her a mission?" Elina was furious.
She saw Lith and Solus in Kelia and the parent she had tried her whole life to not be in the Empress. Elina was grateful for Lith's hard-earned money and proud of his achievements, but they weren't the reason she loved him.
She wanted him to be safe and happy, not a means to her ends.
Kelia knew it as well because Lith's biography was a bestseller. She envied him since the day Dawn had told Kelia that his family knew about his other half and accepted him anyway.
"I admit that I've never taken care of Kelia after adopting her, but that's because I didn't know if I could trust her." Milea sighed. "Kelia's background check was a nightmare and there was no way to know where she ended and Dusk started."
"It's still unforgivable." Elina retorted.
Milea gave up explaining politics and reason to an angry mother, knowing it would only enrage Elina further.
"Well, I don't care. I didn't come here to argue with you but to discuss Kelia's future with her and Verhen." She replied.
"What do you mean?" Kelia asked from behind Elina's back.
"That I need to know if you want to take a short break from the academy or a sabbatical." Milea replied. "You've gone through a lot and I don't expect your trauma to go away overnight.
"As I said, I'm not going to disown you. I can have you move in the safety of the imperial palace until you feel better. We can spend time together, know each other. Whatever you want."
"What about me?" Lith asked.
"I don't like the idea of using Kelia as bait but what I want is irrelevant." Milea replied. "We both know that sooner or later Meln will come for her. The moment he notices that Dusk's mind isn't in the crystal pieces he stole, he's bound to figure out what's happened.
"Even if he can't perceive Kelia's shard, he'll look for her first. Why spend years mastering a craft when you can just torture it out of a weak girl?" Milea's lips curled up in a disgusted expression.
"Yeah. Meln would never work hard when he could just take a shortcut. As long as he's not the one paying the price, everything goes." Lith noticed too late how those words hurt Elina.
