What if...
The Hero himself was being controlled...?
For a few seconds, Elira stared at Kael. Kael stared back at her. He could tell what she was thinking and he did not blame her. After all, he was having the same thoughts about them.
What if... Elira was being controlled?
What if it was Arlan?
Or worse...
What if it was... Veylara?
He couldn’t trust anyone but at the same time, if he let his paranoia dig deep, he would only isolate himself from the rest of the world, and that wasn’t an answer.
He needed to understand that not everyone was being controlled.
If that was true, this world would have already fallen. So as long as it had not fallen, he would trust his instincts and he would trust these three.
"The world needs to know."
Arlan spoke up.
He looked at every person around him and he—
"If this is true, then no one can be trusted with one hundred percent certainty. We need to tell this to everyone!"
He raised his voice.
"It is not that simple."
Veylara, however, shook her head. The group turned towards her. Her expression remained solemn as she stared at Arlan.
"We need proper proof.
We cannot simply go out, say everything, and expect people to believe it.
They won’t.
It would only cause more panic."
"How do we even prove something like this? We can’t just use Verdant Omen on every single person in the world!"
"We cannot use it on every single person in the world."
Veylara nodded at those words.
"But we can use it on the people who matter."
She spoke, and the instant she did, Kael and the others’ expressions changed. Veylara continued—
"And to show my sincerity, the first person we will use it on—
Would be me."
"Mother, you have no need—"
Elira tried to say something, Veylara, however, shook her head.
"I am not doing this to prove that I am not being controlled. I know I am not. This will be a show for the world to see.
Once they see me willingly touch the Verdant Omen, others will be forced to take the test as well, because those who do not will look suspicious.
And once testing becomes the only way to prove innocence, we will start testing people one by one—
The Generals, the Commanders, the Battle Mages..."
Veylara’s eyes then turned sharper as she looked at Kael and Lavinia and—
"The Prince...
And the King."
Lavinia’s face changed at those words.
For a moment, her eyes shimmered as she thought of things from an entirely different angle.
What if... her father never betrayed her?
What if he was being controlled...?
That thought squeezed her heart. She tightly held Kael’s hand to calm herself. Veylara kept looking at her. The Demi-God could practically hear her thoughts.
For now, however, she didn’t comment on that chain of thoughts. Instead, her eyes fell on Kael and—
"Hero Kael."
She called out. Kael looked at her.
"You rejected me back then."
Those words made Kael narrow his eyes. He could tell what this was about. It was about the time Veylara swore allegiance to him when she first saw Cirri.
He rejected her back then.
"And I am only telling you that my offer still stands."
The Demi-God spoke, looking right into Kael’s eyes. Arlan and Elira narrowed their eyes. They did not know what this was about, but they knew enough to not talk about it. Not when the conversation was this important.
"I know you doubt me and you are very correct to do s—"
Veylara wanted to continue her monologue but—
"You are actually one of the few people I trust, Teacher."
Kael interrupted her, then, he continued with a weak smile.
"To be honest with you, I am still scared. You may think I have changed quite a bit, but deep down, I am still the same boy who is paranoid about everything. I just...
I need allies."
He looked at Veylara.
"I can’t keep suspecting every single person I encounter. At some point, I need to make the decision.
And I make that decision right now."
He spoke and Veylara’s face changed.
"Do you mean..."
Kael nodded, then, all the amusement disappeared from his face completely and with a solemn look on his face—
"Veylara Stormhold."
He called out with a voice far heavier and more authoritative than before, a voice that made Arlan and Elira frown.
Why was he calling their mother in that tone?
Had he lost his mind?
Did he wish to die?
They highly doubted even the Steel Dragon would be able to stop their pissed mother.
The two siblings trembled at the thought of angry Veylara. She truly did scare them more than a Guardian Beast did.
The sight they saw next, however, horrified them more than anything they had seen in their entire lives because their mother, the Veylara Stormhold—
She knelt.
She stood right in front of Kael, placed one knee down on the ground, then, she lowered her head as if she was submitting to Kael and Kael—
"One of the twenty-one Demi-Gods of Nerathis, 33rd Head of the Stormhold House—
Do you swear your and your House’s allegiance to me?"
He asked.
Veylara let those words settle for a while, mostly so that Elira and Arlan could comprehend their meaning, then, with her head kept low—
"I do."
She agreed.
Elira and Arlan stared at the sight in horror, unable to believe what was happening. Was this what the two were talking about before? Was this what Kael rejected before? Their mother’s allegiance!?
However, before they could question anything—
"Arlan, Elira."
Veylara called out, still keeping her head low. There was a stillness in her tone that made both their minds freeze.
Their thoughts were silenced. The sight in front of them and its meaning became more and more apparent to them.
They looked at each other, they looked at their mother, then they looked at Kael, then finally—
They too, knelt on the floor and bowed their heads.
House Stormhold had now defected to Kael’s side.
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