The King, despite the nice speech given by Adrian, did not seem satisfied at all.

No, his disgust at the two beings standing before him, Adrian and Alysia, had only intensified because of the Lautes.

“Atonement for what your bloodline has caused is not simply a lifetime of doing good by bearing their name. You… don’t understand anything.”

He tore his gaze away from Adrian for a brief moment and turned to Alysia, who stood silently behind him. His next words were perhaps the coldest that had come out of his mouth during this entire ’interview’.

“What you and your sister experienced is tragic, maybe. Unfair even. But…”

His expression turned cold, a great composure on his face in contrast to Adrian’s determination.

“The scale of the damage done by the Bloodline of Laute is far beyond anything you can even imagine. And, therefore, the punishment for this lineage and all of its descendants is… simply, death.”

Adrian clenched his fist even tighter, his brow furrowed even more.

Yet even after what he had heard, he held his line.

“Do you really think that our family’s punishments should be visited upon us, Your Royal Highness, when only a few days ago I was made aware of my family’s existence, when my sister risked her own life to expose her captors and bring things to this point?”

“Living among humans has kept you away from the culture and mindset of the elves, I can see that clearly. But let me point this out, Adrian Laute. For the elves, betrayal of cultural and sacred values, and more than betrayal, damage to the World Tree, is a crime tantamount to the execution of the entire bloodline.”

His pale yellow eyes flashed for a tiny moment, the mana twisting between his fingers as if preparing to strike.

“And if you wish to be judged here, you will be judged according to the law and culture of this kingdom. The greatest atonement you can make is to end your bloodline by acknowledging its crimes.”

The mana between his fingers grew denser, and then slowly… began to characterize.

Without any runes, simply with the will he had as an elf.

And…

“I remind you, Your Royal Highness, this meeting is not yet over.”

It was my voice that broke the tension between the King and Adrian.

It didn’t really break it, though.

It only drew the focus back to me.

“If I may, there are a few things I would like to say.”

The king did not withdraw the mana between his fingers, the mana in the room did not settle again.

Yet… he surprisingly chose to listen to my words.

“Go on.”

“But, if I may, I would like only you to hear what I have to say.”

The king’s eyes narrowed. The disgust on his face suddenly turned into wariness toward me, as he had no idea what I was planning.

But before he could respond to my request, someone who had until now preferred to remain silent jumped in.

“What kind of disrespect is this?”

The owner of this voice was the one sitting on a smaller throne than the King’s, just to his left.

The youngest member of the Royal Bloodline of Aroniel, with the same physical characteristics as everyone else in the royal family…

It was Alith Aroniel.

The Prince of Eshaware.

“To request a one-on-one meeting with the king of the elves, out of earshot of the Royal Bloodline… even though you are a simple emissary…” Read exclusive adventures at NovelBin.Côm

His eyes were cold. However, in contrast to this, his lips were slightly curled upward… clearly indicating his purpose.

“I will not accept such disrespect as a member of the royal bloodline and prince of Eshaware!”

*******

During our time in Eshaware, Alith Aroniel was the person who might cause us the biggest problems and the one person who was at the center of my plans.

He was looking at me with such contempt that he was enjoying it.

But I was not impressed in any way, and my next words were to him.

“Pardon my rudeness, Your Excellency. But the main subject of our meeting concerns something I am about to reveal, something that no one but world leaders should know about.”

Alith spoke again, keeping a smug expression on his face.

“And you, who is not a world leader, have this information… is that it?”

I bowed my head for the third time today, placing my right hand on my chest.

“Again, pardon my rudeness… but yes, Your Excellency.”

Prince Alith turned to the king of the elves, his father, with an expression that almost looked like laughter.

“With respect, Your Highness, but I do not find what Count Tenebra claims to be credible and I think we should reject it. Also…”

He tore his gaze away from his father, whom he was speaking formally due to the nature of the meeting, and turned it toward the duo of Adrian and Alysia.

“As previously determined, following our culture and law, I believe that Adrian and Alysia Laute should be executed for the crimes committed by their bloodline.”

He clenched his left hand into a fist, opening and closing his fingers as if preparing.

“With your permission, I would like to undertake this task myself and carry out the execution here.”

A deep silence fell over the hall, a silence that, though short, felt like an eternity; a silence in which no one could speak.

As his son waited impatiently for his decision, King Faelan turned slowly to his right. He locked eyes with his wife, Aranel Aroniel.

The Queen was the only exception in this family with hair and eyes of exactly the same color. Compared to her husband and children, she had simple, deep blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. She was about one hundred and eighty but looked to be in her mid-thirties, and also had a beautiful face for her age, even by elven standards.

She waited for a while, looking thoughtful. Then she looked at me, studied me, scrutinized me.

Finally, when she turned back to her husband…

She simply nodded her head up and down once.

Alith’s expression changed the moment he saw what had happened, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Your Majesty-”

“I accept your request, Count Tenebra.”

And with those words, spoken without regard for his son, Alith’s voice suddenly stopped.

I could see his lips moving, trying to say something, but I couldn’t hear it.

In the same way, he couldn’t hear us anymore.

“Go ahead, talk about whatever you want to talk about.”

At first, I took a deep breath as his curious words pressed in on me. No matter how calm I already was, I became more and more calm.

And finally…

“Let’s dispense with formalities. Because what I have to say will really interest you.”

He didn’t really care what I said, he simply nodded and told me to continue.

And…

“Dark elves.”

The curious expression on the king’s face suddenly froze. It was such a sudden change that everyone who could see us, even if they couldn’t hear us, suddenly focused on the king.

“A race parallel to, yet distinct from, the regular elves that began to form after Rian Laute tainted the World Tree many years ago.”

“From where did you le-”

He interrupted himself, and then his shocked expression was filled with genuine concern and anxiety.

Of course, there was another emotion alongside it.

“From the Laute…”

An underlying hostility, an intent to kill.

Directed at me.

And also to the trio standing behind me.

“No, they don’t know anything.”

“If you learned it from the Bloodline of Laute, they both also know.”

“Well, they don’t know because I didn’t learn this from the data I collected from the Laute Manor. They, like the rest of the world, didn’t even know dark elves existed. Not surprising, considering the first dark elf appeared seven years after the taint.”

The king paused, his expression quite confused.

“You even know the date the first dark elf appeared.”

“Because I am aware of an organization that collaborated with them, and I even stole their data in the past.”

There was indeed information about dark elves in Caleuche’s archive rooms, even if I hadn’t searched or analyzed it.

Well, how do I know if I didn’t search about it?

From the game, of course.

“Saligia…”

“That’s right.”

The king was suddenly lost in thought, as if he had forgotten everything, not forgetting to mumble.

“Saligia… is in collaboration with the dark elves…?”

“That’s right. And not only that.”

The king turned to me as if to ask what more there was.

“They plan to attack your capital in about two weeks to two months, to announce their presence to the entire planet.”

The King seemed to have forgotten all about Laute at this point, his only focus was on what I was saying.

“How… sure are you that this information is true?”

I answered his question confidently.

“I am absolutely certain.”

That was the final nail in the coffin for the king. He thought for a while, who knows what went through his mind during this process. But then he stopped, sighed a little and straightened up in his seat.

“I will make preparations, Count Tenebra. I will trust your information, assuming there is no reason for you to lie, and seeing no sign that you are telling one. But if what you say does not come true, or if I find that you have given this information to others…”

He didn’t follow up. But he didn’t need to.

“I take full responsibility for every word that comes out of my mouth.”

“Haaaah…”

The king took a deep breath, then turned his gaze to Adrian and Alysia. His eyes were still more hostile as he looked at the duo, though this time… he seemed more collected.

“Are you asking me to accept your request in exchange for this information?”

“Not exactly.”

“Oh?”

He pricked up his pointed ears, focused on what I had to say. After all, my answer meant I had more to offer him.

“Continue.”

“The stain on the World Tree.”

One of his eyebrows rose slightly.

“We can heal it, prevent more dark elves from being born.”

Today, King Faelan had shown me many expressions. But this time… it was quite different from the previous ones.

His eyes widened slightly, as if he could not quite believe what he was hearing. One slightly raised eyebrow was joined by the other, and he looked at me with a blank expression.

“Can you… Can you really do this?”

The World Tree was the elves’ most important resource. Their reason for living, even. It was so important that it was sacred to this entire race.

That is why the tree being tainted was an extreme, truly massive and tragic incident.

Rian Laute was not just someone who was simply hated by every elf on the planet. He had inflicted a wound on the World Tree that was thought to be permanent.

But that was not actually the case.

“Yes, of course it is possible.”

I turned slowly, looking at Adrian, who was watching everything that was happening, even if he couldn’t hear us.

And King Faelan did the same.

“Adrian has the Laute Family’s mana manipulation technique. And don’t be fooled by the fact that he is half-human. His existence is actually a miracle that probably can only happen once in a million years, maybe even more.”

The King continued to study Adrian as he listened to my words with great interest. And… slowly his eyes began to widen as he did so.

“He is the most perfect child that an elf and a human can bring into the world. He has the full potential of both races.”

I tore my eyes away from Adrian and turned to the king, who was staring at him with mesmerized eyes.

“Adrian has more potential than Rian Laute, the most powerful elf who ever lived. If you have any doubts… you can run as many tests as you like.”

King Faelan said nothing. He… simply swallowed his words as he continued to stare at Adrian as if speechless. Even that had an end, though.

“Hi- his mana heart, his veins…”

He couldn’t believe his eyes more and more with each passing second.

“P- perfect… Even more perfect than those of elves who have eaten the First World Fruit…”

It was maybe disrespectful, but I shrugged my shoulders, not caring about the thing he said.

“Like I said. Adrian has the potential to heal the wounds inflicted by Rian Laute. One and a half or two y-”

I paused, then sighed a little.

“No, he will be able to heal the tree completely in a year.”

And the king… smiled for the first time, as if he had forgotten all his hatred and disgust.

Maybe it was a small smile, he had certainly smiled much brighter at times in his life.

But… since it was his only smile today, it was also quite pleasant to see.

“This… is enough. More than enough. If he can do this, let alone be executed… he will be a national hero, a legend even.”

And… that’s how I saved Adrian and Alysia from execution.

What would happen in the rest of the meeting was completely irrelevant. King Faelan was not going to let Adrian die, no matter what, when he had such an opportunity to heal the World Tree.

“I’m glad we can finally find a common ground.”

I took a deep breath before uttering the words that would put an end to today’s meeting.

“But… I’m not finished yet, so please don’t lift the sound barrier yet. Because this is going to be as important as the one we just discussed.”

Yes, he will never let Adrian die now…

“Hmm? I’m waiting, tell me.”

But I hope he doesn’t get angry and decide that my life is no longer important, after what I’m about to say…

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