The Empress's chambers.
Tonight the Central Capital was not calm. The entire city guards were dispatched to look for Her Royal Highness, who has stepped forward to resist the monster's attack and protect the people.
So the Empress's chamber was extraordinarily quiet.
Naiya lay on the bed, all the wounds on her body had healed, and her white skin was as tender as a newborn baby. She's breathing very evenly, and it seems like she has a good dream.
Lucius pulled a chair and sat on the side of Naiya's bed. He put his hand on his chin and looked at Naiya's peaceful sleeping face.
Lucius carefully examined...
He has been here for more than ten minutes, and his thoughts have gradually drifted away.
'Oooh, wow! Brother...those dogs are so scary! They keep running after me!"
'Oh... it's so dark at night, I'm scared to sleep alone... brother...'
'My brother lied, honey is not tasty, and the sting of bees hurts... ooh...'
'Idiot...'
This was the biggest impression Lucius has of his sister. No matter what she encounters, she was stupid and has no determination. But when she's afraid… when she's hurt, she just knows to go into his arms…
And so does Naiya.
Lucius spread out his white fingers and squeezed them. How long has it been since he experienced that feeling? The feelings of being depended.
As Naiya wrapped her arms around him and cried bitterly in his arms, Lucius really felt a little bad.
What's worse was that a small figure has suddenly broken into his heart, which initially only had one person inside. That small figure is now occupying a small place. Although insignificant, it was too much for Lucius to accept.
....
"Lord Summoner, you seem to be worried about something?"
Xerath's figure appeared beside Lucius, only smaller. A light blue shimmering light emanated from the arcane creature's body, illuminating the spot where Lucius was sitting.
Lucius didn't look back at it but just kept looking at Naiya, "Still the same question, Xerath, do you think I would like someone?"
Xerath didn't leave Lucius. He had been hovering around since Lucius entered the Central Capital. He was like a nuclear bomb cupped in Lucius's hand. The moment there was any crisis that Lucius couldn't solve, this nuclear bomb could activate at any time and blow up the entire Central Capital into the sky.
"..."
It was the second time that Xerath was silent before Lucius's question.
Xerath was a master among all the masters of arcane and magic. There was almost no knowledge of magic and arcane that he could not understand. But for human feelings...
As a great magician who has been cultivated to be refined and detached from the human body. How would Xerath know?
Xerath had been only interested in training and never thought of anything else.
"Lord Summoner, you are the most indescribable existence among the dozen masters I served."
Indescribable? That was not a good name.
"Is that so? And just how indescribable am I in the eyes of my familiars?"
Tonight, there's nothing else to do but wait for the dawn. So, Lucius has time to chat with Xerath.
"With all due respect, when I first met you, you were naive." The conversation between a being who had lived for thousands of years and Lucius has no concealment at all.
Lucius did not refute. Xerath was telling the truth.
"But at the same time, you are scary."
"I am indeed terrifying among the humans." Lucius didn't deny it either.
"No, I have served several lords who were more brutal than you my lord. They do almost all kinds of evil shit, relying on my power to plunder money and treasures, forcing other opposite sexes to mate with them, and forcing people to submit. And if they are even slightly dissatisfied, it will end in death." Xerath recalled.
"I don't seem to be different from them..."
Lucius can be sure that he had definitely killed a hundred times more people than the so-called brutal masters that Xerath spoke of!
"You are fundamentally different from them! They do this to satisfy themself. Money, sex, power... they are after all of these, but you... What did you get? Money, beauty, or power? No, none of them! It is true that you are a wicked man, the most wicked man in the world, whose sins are so great that they cannot be forgiven, but all these sins that you carry are entirely for another person."
Xerath seemed to pour out what had been buried in his heart for a long time and felt very happy.
"That's why I think Lord Summoner is very naive!"
Look out for yourself, or heaven and earth will combine to destroy you.... isn't it?
"This is also where Lord Summoner is terrifying." After Xerath faintly swept a glance at Naiya, who was lying on the bed. "You have no complaints about what you did, and as always, people who don't give a damn about anything but their obsession are terrifying."
"Just like you?" Lucius glanced at the human who has ascended into a pure mass of arcane spirit, Xerath. The mundane world does not interest Xerath. Such terrifying power can only be obtained through a single-minded obsession to magic and arcane!
"Yes..." Xerath nodded, seeming to find his own shadow in Lucius. "If I am not wrong, Lord Summoner, you do everything without regarding the feelings in your heart, you do whatever it takes to accomplish your purpose..."
Collect despair points... and then…
Lucius clutched the pendant hanging around his neck.
"If I remember correctly, Lord Summoner was only twenty years old this year, right? At this age, it's only natural that someone would have a person of the opposite sex in mind."
'Damn it, you're just a super high-school-level magician, don't talk to me in that tone.'
In fact, this is not what Lucius really thought.
"You're right." Lucius stretched out his hand and gently stroked Naiya's forehead, feeling the soft touch coming from his hand. His eyes became milder, "I really do have a feeling for my subordinate."
When was that? When Naiya hugged him and cried? That inexplicable feeling of affection grew in Lucius's heart.
"But you would give this up, superfluous feelings for the sake of accomplishing your goals, wouldn't you?"
Xerath spoke in a deep voice about what Lucius would choose.
"Not bad my subordinate, you know me well."
Naiya is just a pawn on Lucius's chessboard. Sooner or later, he is going to use and discard his most important pawn.
Without Naiya, he will lose this game.
Lucius can't afford this!
Can't afford it at all.
"Do you know the principle of equivalence?" Lucius stroked Naiya's forehead while speaking to Xerath.
"The introductory law of alchemy."
Of course, Xerath knew it.
"To get something, you must give up something."
Lucius's other hand clutched the pendant hanging on his chest, the one that holds his sister's ashes. He stopped stroking Naiya's forehead and leaned back in his chair.
"I have killed billions of people, even obliterated myself, my goal has never changed! This time is the same."
"That's a heavy price to pay." Xerath whispered.
"No, compared to the reward, these prices are nothing."
Lucius squeezed the pendant tightly and replied to Xerath.
So, this is what makes people who don't give a damn. They're terrifying. They will stop at nothing for their purposes.
Xerath sighed and disappeared in front of Lucius's face...
...
After Xerath disappeared, Lucius stood up. He bit his finger with his small fangs and touched Naiya's pale lips.
A little blood with golden brilliance overflowed from it, dripping down from corners of her mouth and into it.
"Thirty million, thirty million people's lives will be exchanged for your life in three days. Your Majesty, don't let me down when the time comes."