Tying up loose ends

On the day following Seth and Henrietta’s visit to the prison, the release of the Royal family was carried out. Henrietta only got involved with approving the funds for their journey and leaving everything else to the guards.

Henrietta instead spent the day making arrangements for Seth’s official visit to the kingdom, holding some announcements for the former king’s trial, and dealing with other official business.

Seth spent the day cultivating, and soon it was time for King Lian’s trial.

Early in the day, a large gathering was present in the town square, everyone looking forward to the trial. The trial was scheduled to start only at noon, but people were okay with waiting in the square for it to begin since early morning.

At noon, two guards dragged Lian toward the main square in chains. Henrietta and Iris also appeared on the podium, ready to oversee the sentencing.

After Lian was brought in front of the people, a royal officer brought a list and started listing all of Lian’s crimes.

Barely a few lines in, the people were all yelling for his execution, even throwing stones or whatever they could find toward him, but Lian showed no reaction as he listened to everything the official had to say.

After more than half an hour of crimes, Lian’s face was already drenched in blood from all the stones hitting him. Henrietta was also on the verge of tears, having to move to the side to prevent the people from seeing her red eyes.

Seth was also observing from a distance, but he could only sigh and continue watching. Just as he was about to move his eyes back on Lian, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye and his heart fell.

Watching Lian’s face unflinchingly, Elise had started bleeding from her eyelids. Her skin was also wriggling wildly, like blood wanted to leak out of her body.

“Oh fuck.” He muttered, opening his soul-link to Henrietta: “Teleport Iris to me. I’m on the roof across from the square.”

Henrietta was startled and quickly noticed the changes happening with Iris as well. Without hesitation, she placed her hand on Iris’s shoulder and teleported her away to Seth’s location.

Seth immediately moved to grab Elise’s hand and asked: “What is happening? Is she waking up?”

Elise frowned and shook her head weakly: “She’s trying to kill herself. Her soul is shutting down, and I have difficulty keeping it alive.”

“Break your control over her.” Seth nodded and placed a hand on Iris’s forehead, flooding her body with perception energy. As Seth tried to soothe her soul, a small drop of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth and turned into a core falling on the rooftop.

Seth ignored the core for the moment and kept trying to calm down Iris’s soul. It took almost a quarter of his perception energy to send her back into a deep slumber. Once he felt she was out of danger, Seth heaved a sigh of relief and slowly placed her down on the floor.

“Still so stubborn….”

Seth then looked to the side at the small blood-red core, picking it up and saying: “Remain like this for now. Stirring her soul again might be dangerous for both you and her. I’ll find you a new host.”

The core flashed bright red for a moment before becoming dormant. Seth placed it in his jacket pocket and continued watching the execution.

King Lian surprised everyone by confessing to all the listed crimes before moving on to the guillotine by himself. After declaring his sentence, which according to all the screams coming from the crowd, was death, Henrietta fought the instinct to close her eyes.

She didn’t want to look away from it, and she and Lian just looked into each other’s eyes until the guillotine blade fell and caused his head to roll lifelessly on the floor. Henrietta’s body shuddered as a small teardrop fell down her cheek.

The yells and curses from the people also turned silent for a moment before erupting into loud cheers. Henrietta walked to Cain and whispered: “Can you take over… I can’t….”

Seeing her face, Cain nodded and said: “Go. I’ll handle everyone.”

“Thank you.” Whispered Henrietta before teleporting away.

Cain resumed the execution by bringing Necros to be tried next. After listing his crimes, Necros also shared the same fate as the former king.

Seth placed a hand on Iris’s shoulder and teleported after Henrietta.

After arriving inside her chambers in the palace, Henrietta jumped into Seth’s arms, crying her heart out. For the rest of the day, Seth spent it monitoring Iris and trying to calm down Henrietta.

It was already late at night when Henrietta finally left Seth’s arms. Seeing Iris unconscious next to them, she wiped her tears with the back of her hand and asked: “What happened with Elise?”

Seth lifted the small core from his pocket and said: “She’s back in her core. Iris tried to kill herself, and Elise wasted her life force to keep her from doing it.”

“Now she’s hibernating, and Iris is unconscious again.”

Henrietta sighed with a nod and asked: “Will they be alright?”

“Elise only needs a new host, so there’s no problem there, but I can’t say I’m not worried about Iris. Honestly, it would be best to have her moved to Endora. Maya’s presence might ease her troubled soul.”

Henrietta nodded and looked at Iris before saying: “I think Maya would also be happy to have her there… even like this..”

After speaking a bit more, Seth decided to intercept Hollie right after his announcement tomorrow. He was sad to miss Henrietta’s official crowning, but he still had to take care of many things.

The following day, most of the city gathered in the main square again, this time to meet the King of Endora.

The people were quite unhappy since, even if not official, Seth would be their king, but since one couldn’t be king of two kingdoms, their kingdom would most likely fall under Endora as a tributary one.

Their questions to Queen Henrietta about it remained unanswered as she declared everything would be revealed following Seth’s arrival. All she did was to assure everyone that her promise of a better life still stood.

As everyone was discussing with each other in wait, out of nowhere, there was now a new person sitting on the podium erected in the city square.

The people stopped speaking as more and more eyes were attracted to the newcomer.

Seth nodded towards Henrietta with a smile before turning towards the rest of the people gathered in the square. Feeling the tense atmosphere, he started his speech right away.

“People of Oath. Some of you might be familiar with me since I had lived here as a teacher of the academy for a while, while to others, I’m nothing but a complete stranger.”

“My time is also limited, so I will make this as quick as possible. You don’t know, but the alliance had not only attacked Oath. They also attacked Endora at the same time. Rushing here as Endora is still reeling from the attack was troublesome, but I know I had to ease some of your worries.”

“Many of you are afraid I will add Oath’s territory to Endora, but that’s not the case.”

“Moving on, Queen Henrietta will remain the official Queen of Oath, and I won’t be taking the title of King of Oath. Both kingdoms will maintain their current government independent of each other, but since Henrietta is also my Royal Consort, things won’t be able to remain like this forever.”

“The alliance had attacked both Endora and Oath, so for now, while Oath would focus on improving its stability, Endora will strike back at our enemies for both kingdoms.”

“I’ll be moving against the Kingdoms of Noth, Curse, Sorrow, Loss, and Wrath with full force, and I won’t stop until every one of them falls under my banner.”

“Once the war is over, The Kingdom of Endora would be no more and this will be the birth of the Endora Empire. The Oath Kingdom would then fall under the empire’s influence, as will all the surrounding Kingdoms.”

“Queen Henrietta will remain the ruler of the Kingdom of Oath, and not much would change for the common people besides having the support of an entire Empire. I’ll also not directly involve myself in how the Kingdom of Oath will be ruled, leaving everything to your queen.”

“Since Oath will be positioned right in the center of the empire, you will never have to worry about enemies arriving at your doorsteps, and you’ll finally live the safe and happy life you had dreamt of.”

Seth then continued explaining a few more things, mainly about the academy in Endora and how ascended will travel to support them in bettering their lives, before thanking the people of Oath for listening to him and moving to speak to Henrietta.

“I’m leaving everything to you.” He said, grabbing her hand in the view of everyone gathered there.

Henrietta nodded and lifted herself to peck Seth’s lips: “Take care, Seth. I’ll make sure to take care of Oath.”

After nodding towards Henrietta, Seth waved his hand to all the people of Oath and teleported away. He next arrived in Iris’s room, where Caitlin was watching over her.

“Are you ready?” asked Seth, lifting Iris in his arms. Caitlin nodded and stood up with a red face. Their conversation from that night was left unsettled, but she couldn’t bring herself to open it again, so she was now feeling quite awkward.

After Caitlin nodded, Seth opened a portal and teleported with the two toward the south, looking to intercept Hollie. With his speed being faster than hers, Seth only had to travel for one week when a gust of wind ruffled his and Caitlin’s clothes.

They both stopped and looked up, watching Hollie gently glide downwards towards them.

Hollie looked at the three and said: “Oh, good thing we didn’t miss each other.”

Seth chuckled and watched her land in front of him. Hollie then looked at Iris and, feeling her heartbeat increase as she asked:" What happened to her?"

“Her soul had relapsed…” Seth began explaining what had happened since the only news that reached Endora was about her shutting down and Elise using her body temporarily.

After explaining Iris’s condition, Seth also told her about Caitlin’s breakthroughs, making Hollie scan the little girl with a raised eyebrow.

After updating her about everything in Oath, Seth said: “I will need you to take her back to Endora and have Maya look over her until she gets better again. That sixth shell destruction should also be there, tell him to use his energy to seal her air source.”

“Sure, but what’s the deal with that guy? He’s been acting like a child. Did your perception backfire?” asked Hollie with interest.

Seth nodded and said: “That it did. I only managed to convert half his soul before my energy dried up. I resumed the process after it recovered, but it turned slightly crooked. But there’s no need to worry. I made sure he won’t try anything, or the moment he does, he will die.”

Hollie nodded and made Iris’s body float from his arms toward her. “Alright. Anything else?”

“No. I’ll pass by Endora and tell Maya everything myself, but I first wanted to leave Iris and Caitlin with you so I can travel faster. When you arrive back in Endora, I’ll be gone again. Sorry about that.”

Hollie nodded and said: “That’s fine. You’ll make it up to me the next time.”

Seth chuckled and moved to kiss her lips briefly, slipping something inside her hand.

"That I will. Keep this safe. After taking care of everything, I plan on going into seclusion with all of you. During that time, I'll make it up to everyone."

After his promise to Hollie, Seth moved to Caitlin, who was looking down with a red face. Seth chuckled and stunned the poor girl by bending down and kissing her lips.

Seeing Caitlin’s face turning redder by the second, Seth broke the quick kiss and started revolving his space energy.

“That is your answer. Wait for me.”

Before she could erupt again, Seth disappeared with a burst of loud laughter.