"Mmph... Mmph... Mmph..."
"Slow down... slow down... dear child..."
Helena gently patted her niece's back.
Though she urged her to slow down, her hand took another plate of barley porridge from her trusted maidservant, sprinkled a little salt and pepper into it, and then handed it to Kallen, who had just finished devouring a piece of bread.
"Thank... Urk—Thank you, Aunt Helena!"
Kallen wiped the breadcrumbs from the corner of her mouth, instinctively about to flick them onto the table. But thinking back to the common folk she'd seen yesterday, many of whom wouldn't splurge on bread like this—unadulterated with dirt or sawdust, even graced with a bit of butter—even once a year, her eyelids drooped.
Like a little puppy, she licked the crumbs clean from her hand.
"You poor child, starving like this..."
This clearly gave Helena the wrong impression. She tenderly tidied Kallen's bangs, her gaze sweeping over her niece's loose fishtail braid, quickly making up her mind.
"Go fetch my comb."
She turned and instructed the maidservant, then rose and walked behind Kallen, undoing her braid. When the maidservant brought the wooden comb, she began to brush Kallen's hair.
"Uh... Aunt Helena, you really don't have to do this?"
Kallen leaned back in her chair, reaching behind her head to try and grab the comb. Having her aunt brush her hair was quite embarrassing; the last time she remembered such a scene was when she was very young.
Of course, Helena wouldn't let her succeed. She took a step back, placed her fingers on the back of Kallen's head, and gently pushed forward—
"Eat your food properly, I'll fix your hair... You silly child, you won't be able to stay here long, will you?"
Kallen had just picked up the wooden spoon and stirred the mushy barley porridge twice when her movements froze.
She let go, and the wooden spoon stuck upright in the porridge paste.
"Aunt Helena... you already know?"
"How could I not know?"
Helena's movements were gentle, but her words inevitably carried a trace of resentment:
"Knights came to inform us just after dark yesterday. They said you publicly slandered Schicksal and committed the crimes of robbery and blasphemy. They told us if we found you, we were to keep you here and notify Schicksal."
Kallen remained silent, gripping the wooden spoon and stirring the barley porridge incessantly, making the already thick mush even more viscous.
She couldn't quite grasp Aunt Helena's meaning. If she intended to follow Schicksal's orders, there was no need to say it aloud. Could it be that Uncle Luka planned to do so, and Aunt Helena was deliberately saying this to warn her?
Regardless of the truth, Kallen's first instinct was a single word—Flee!
"Gurgle... Gurgle..."
Before she could put the thought into action, or more accurately, just as her hands pushed against the edge of the table, her stomach let out an embarrassingly loud protest.
She had gone out with Otto early yesterday morning, originally planning to try lunch at an outside restaurant. But because of the indulgence incident, she hadn't eaten until now.
Valkyries, in the end, were still mortal. Despite possessing greater strength, they would still starve without food. And precisely because Valkyries had greater strength, they required more calories, meaning simply put, they had bigger appetites. So while she had indeed wolfed down a piece of bread just now, it wasn't nearly enough to stave off her hunger.
Helena helplessly tapped Kallen's head, her voice growing even softer:
"Alright now, don't overthink it. In the name of Kaslana, we will not abandon any of our own."
"Tha... Thank you..."
Kallen took two quick breaths, her nose stinging slightly.
But... did she just hear a slight tremble in her aunt's voice?
She didn't dwell on it at first, instead shoving a full spoonful of barley porridge into her mouth and chewing carefully. The taste was rather bland.
"Strange... I definitely saw Aunt add quite a bit of salt and pepper just now... only..."
Clatter!
The wooden bowl holding the barley porridge was knocked to the floor. Kallen clutched her throat with one hand, using the other to push herself up from the table. She suddenly started pounding her stomach frantically, seemingly trying to force out everything she had just swallowed...
But she was wrong. The food wasn't the problem. In a daze, she saw a golden feather appear in her vision, and then the surrounding shadows surged towards the feather like a tide. Soon, she couldn't see anything, only feeling herself stumble several more steps, her arms flailing aimlessly, unable to grasp anything tangible in the pitch-black darkness...
She felt her strength draining away smoothly yet rapidly, like silk being pulled from a cocoon. It was like drowning; she could struggle, but everything would drift away from her. Her breathing grew slower, her body colder...
Thud!
She finally pitched forward, collapsing onto the floor.
Helena watched helplessly as her niece struggled, staggering around the table until she finally fell.
She backed away two steps, then two more, continuously increasing the distance between herself and Kallen until her back hit the cold wall. Her body slowly slid down, and she slumped onto the floor.
"Ahhhhhh—"
She covered her face tightly, letting out sharp, piercing cries. But aside from offering herself some slight relief, it accomplished nothing.
But wasn't she powerless to do anything anyway? She couldn't stop certain people within Schicksal from targeting the Kaslana family, nor could she stop her own husband from making a deal with an unidentified person to preserve the family.
She didn't even have the courage to secretly warn Kallen. Of course, even if she had warned her, it would have been useless. According to the agreement between her husband and the mysterious man, once Kallen arrived here, there was no turning back.
Tap, tap, tap...
The steady, rhythmic footsteps were unchanging, seemingly impossible to disrupt. Helena kept wiping away her tears, finally clearing her vision for a fleeting moment. She saw the man who had conspired with her husband last night. He walked up to Kallen, looped an arm around her waist, and effortlessly hoisted the lifeless form onto his shoulder.
Her lips opened and closed repeatedly, but she never found the courage to utter clear words.
She seemed to have caught the man's attention. In her blurring vision, she saw him turn slightly towards her and let out a soft grunt.
After that, she could only watch his back recede further and further until he walked out of the dining room.
Slam—
The mottled wooden door closed automatically behind Michael, his expression utterly devoid of emotion.
Luka Kaslana stood in the hall before him. He looked at Kallen on Michael's shoulder, opening his mouth several times as if wanting to say something, but ultimately, like his wife, he released all his emotions in a long sigh.
"Have you notified Schicksal."
Michael spoke haltingly, his tone nearly flat, turning a question into a declarative statement.
Luka tucked his entire lower lip into his mouth and nodded heavily.
"How long until the Valkyrie Squad arrives?"
"The carrier pigeon should be arriving soon. For the Valkyrie Squad to assemble and get here, it will take at least half an hour to an hour."
Michael nodded mechanically, indicating understanding. Luka thought the nightmare was over, but Michael then made new demands:
"First, when the Valkyrie Squad arrives, you will go with them to Kolosten and request an audience with Bishop Nikolas."
"Why!"
Luka stomped his foot agitatedly.
"No, no, no! I don't want to go to that place! I'd rather die than go to that hellhole! And I certainly won't see that Bishop!"
Michael tilted his head, conveniently moving his cheek away from Kallen's body. Then he coldly watched the middle-aged man stomp around frantically for several circles.
He seemed to have a deep-seated fear of Kolosten and Nikolas, perhaps even bordering on PTSD. Michael didn't know, nor did he care, where this mentality came from, because it wasn't hard to guess—
After the failure of the Eastern Expedition, someone within Schicksal had to take responsibility (be the scapegoat). While they could have reported truthfully: "It's not that our army didn't try, but the Ming army has an Immortal!" the Castle Council, and likely Nikolas himself, having not witnessed the battle firsthand, would surely scoff at such a claim.
Besides, even if they believed it, how would they explain it to the populace?
Furthermore, did the truth really matter?
Anytime, anywhere, the truth never mattered. Only naive children, not yet adults, would tirelessly emphasize the importance of truth, only to be met with the scorn of those who considered themselves mature.
In short, Schicksal simply needed a scapegoat, a target to stand between the Apocalypse family and the Castle Council, to absorb the public's resentment over the defeat.
And speaking of targets, who was more suitable than the commander-in-chief Luka Kaslana, and the Kaslana family he represented?
Ordinary people only knew that their "invincible" army suffered a crushing defeat under Luka Kaslana's command. As for the fact that almost the entire main Kaslana lineage died on the battlefield, leaving only Kallen and a disabled William, who would care?
To some, how many Kaslanas died had nothing to do with them.
To others, their own families had lost people in the five long years of fighting; why should they empathize with the Kaslana family for that reason?
Perhaps in their eyes, the Kaslana family failed to command the campaign properly, so it served them right however many family members died!
And as for the old guard in the Castle Council and Bishop Nikolas... empathy? What was that? With the Kaslana family suffering such immense losses, it was the perfect time to strike!
As for the millennia-long bond between the Apocalypse and Kaslana families... As for the sacrifices the Kaslana family made for Schicksal's founding and existence... The adult world didn't consider such things.
One could imagine that in the preceding months, Luka probably faced constant torment whenever he entered Kolosten: greeted "kindly" by commoners of all classes upon entering the city, and then, walking into Schicksal HQ, every smiling old man might appear friendly, but who knew if they weren't hiding knives and forks behind their backs, waiting for him to slip up so they could knock him out and carve up the Kaslana family?
Kallen, having just returned from Shenzhou, wouldn't know these things. Otto hadn't anticipated them at all. And the innocent Eleanor couldn't comprehend them.
So they all underestimated the severity of the situation. Only Luka knew that Kallen's willful actions were, in fact, another gentle push against the Kaslana family, already teetering on the brink.
Now, the entire Kaslana family was bent backward, the heels of both feet dangling over the edge.
Without external intervention, falling into the bottomless abyss was an easily predictable outcome.
And the reason Luka Kaslana was willing to reach some sort of consensus with Michael was simply because...
He lunged towards Michael, but halfway there, he recalled the humiliating history of being instantly defeated by this man with a single glance five times last night. So, at the last moment, he forcefully halted his charge, stopping just half a foot away from Michael.
Hmm... yes, the reason he reached a consensus with Michael, the most important... or at least an undeniable factor, was that he truly couldn't beat the man before him. With such a disparity in strength, coupled with the fact that the conditions offered were acceptable, even exceeding expectations, reaching an agreement wasn't surprising.
But now, it seemed he had been tricked... or perhaps not tricked, since the promise made was essentially an empty one.
He was furious, yet he unconsciously lowered his voice:
"You... you promised! As long as I did what you said, the Kaslana family would be fine, and Kallen would live!"
"Yes, that's correct."
Michael spread his empty left hand and shrugged simultaneously.
"I see no problem. I also said the premise for the Kaslana family being fine is that you do as I say. So, is there any problem?"
"No... none... Then when I go to Kolosten... when I find Nikolas, what should I say, what should I do?"
"What else can you do? Grovel, act subservient, beg for mercy, plead only for the continuation of the Kaslana family. What else did you expect to do?"
"This..."
Luka's face twisted intensely. He felt utterly deceived—even if Michael hadn't said it, wouldn't he have done these humiliating things anyway!
Wasn't the reason he agreed to follow Michael's instructions precisely because he didn't want to be humiliated like this!
Luka took a deep breath. Fortunately... fortunately, the only solace left was the other half of the man's promise:
To let Kallen live.
"Then... what about Kallen?"
Luka rubbed the muscles in his face and asked tentatively.
"Prepare a bedroom for me. Then give me half an hour. After that, you just need to wait for the Valkyrie Squad to arrive, take Kallen away, and then go with them to Kolosten."
"Ah... this, this..."
"What's wrong?"
"Forgive my impertinence, but you need that... bedroom... for half an hour... for..."
Michael bit his lip and snorted coldly, disdaining to explain.
Luka realized he might have guessed wrong, but now, besides offering an awkward, bitter chuckle, there was nothing else he could do.
He waved over the maidservant standing far off by the door, gave a few simple instructions, and then, under the maidservant's unfriendly gaze, Michael carried Kallen all the way to a more secluded bedroom.
The moment Michael stepped inside, the maidservant slammed the door shut behind him, not even lighting a candle for him.
But it didn't matter. Michael snapped his fingers, and the room instantly filled with candlelight, so bright it made one squint.
He casually tossed Kallen onto the bed, then waved his hand to open a phase portal beside him. Mobius stepped through almost the instant the spatial rift appeared.
She glanced at the impassive Michael, then at the unconscious Kallen lying on the bed, and asked with undisguised curiosity:
"What do you plan to do with Kevin's descendant? Take her back to the Elysian Realm to discuss culinary arts with Mei and mutually improve?"
"I'm not that bored."
Michael closed his eyes wearily.
"This time, it's truly beginning."
"Huh?"
"The start of the tragedy."
"Speak human!"
Michael didn't speak again. In his clenched right fist, a flesh bud materialized out of thin air and rapidly grew into the shape of a person.