CHAPTER 231: CHAPTER 232: ALLIANCES

Aurora slept like a log near the cellar, one arm stretched over her eyes, the other limply curled near her waist. Her staff leaned against the wall, untouched, gleaming softly in the low magical light that pulsed from the rune-stamped ceiling.

The air was cold—damp from centuries of stone and silence—but it didn’t seem to bother her. She breathed deeply, like a beast that had finally found stillness, the fatigue of war melting into slumber, at least for now.

Not far from her, Henry and Merlin sat, quiet murmurs floating between them like smoke. A candle flickered between their shadows, struggling against the dark that clung to the ancient walls. The scent of burnt herbs and melted wax mixed with the musk of the underground, damp and metallic, like old blood sealed in stone.

"So the king of Berkimhum is indeed wise. But wisdom, shall we say, comes with a cost," Merlin muttered, voice a rasp more than a tone. His breath fogged in the chill.

Henry, hunched slightly in the old squicky frame he now wore in public, didn’t respond immediately. His body creaked when he shifted, as if his bones were held together by the weight of memory more than muscle.

Merlin’s gaze sharpened. "So tell me, Henry von Roxweld. What did you sacrifice?"

Silence stretched. For the first time in decades, Henry had to think before he answered. Not out of confusion, but weariness.

The kind of exhaustion no rest could cure. A tiredness of the soul, not the body. Strange, he thought, how his enemy—no, not enemy. Something... stranger—was asking him this. A question he had not dared ask himself in years.

"...Everything," Henry finally replied, his voice hollow, echoing with the weight of choices past. "You already know this, oh High Mage Merlin. The cost of everything you want is... everything."

Merlin smiled at that. And then laughed, a dry sound, wheezing through his cracked lips. "...Hahahahahaha."

"No need to wear that skin in front of me, oh king," Merlin said, voice sharpening with knowing.

Henry smiled faintly. Then came the hiss of steam from his frame. The false wrinkles peeled away. Flesh rippled, bulking and stretching until the façade of an old man collapsed.

In his place stood the hammer of Berkimhum in his prime—broad, towering, battle-scarred yet radiant with strength. The air grew heavier around him, like gravity had remembered who he was.

"Well, that’s the pinnacle of humanity for you," Henry said, straightening, the air around him crackling faintly from the shift in pressure. He rolled his neck, the bones popping like thunder. "...That’s it for today. I was here to extract information, but... it went another way around."

He exhaled a hot breath, misting in the cold. "I hope you take my offer, High Mage Merlin."

Merlin scoffed, returning to his meditation pose, eyes half-lidded. "...What I want, no kingdom except the Empire has. But... the exception being—"

"Atlas," Henry interrupted, his tone more curious than confrontational.

"I didn’t know my boy had the knowledge of science," he continued. "Sorry to say, but we also consider it heresy... so I think you are wrong on that part. I saw him grow. So—"

"I am only voicing what I saw... haaa... leave it. Let’s leave it for another discussion, for another meeting," Merlin said, suddenly tired again, as though speaking of Atlas drained something personal from him. Not fatigue of the body—but of the mind. Of memories he couldn’t place, or didn’t want to.

Henry nodded and turned, footsteps echoing softly in the corridor as he exited the cell. The stone beneath his boots was uneven, cracked by time, by pressure, by secrets.

He flicked Aurora’s forehead as he passed. A light tap, like a father waking a daughter. She stirred, groaning.

"At least try to do your job," Henry said with a small smirk.

"...Fuck off," Aurora muttered, rubbing her eyes. "You know if they wanted to get out, they’d already be out."

Henry glanced back into the cell. Merlin, unmoving in meditation. Elizabeth, still as death, one hand over her arm as if guarding a wound or sealing something in. He had tried speaking to her. She said nothing. Voiced nothing. Her only words had been:

Bring me Atlas.

Only then would she speak further.

"But can we believe them?" he asked aloud.

Aurora yawned, stretching. Her joints cracked. "Like Atlas said... and like she said... the war is over—for now. But the danger of them attacking still lingers. We should still prepare."

Henry nodded absently.

Aurora smiled. "Don’t worry—"

"Don’t say Atlas."

"Atlas is here."

Henry’s expression tightened. Not out of anger, but something darker. Older. Fear and longing tangled into one.

"And why are you worrying? Your unification is going good. You’ve done the impossible. What are you so afraid of?" Aurora asked, studying him now.

He shrank again, compressing back to his squicky old form. But this time, it was not to hide—it was to think.

His hand went to his chin. He looked again at the Empress. Silent. Cold. Eternal.

If only Atlas could entangle her.

That one thought spun in his mind like a thread catching fire.

Maybe then... maybe then I can raise my ambition more. Maybe Berkimhum can expand. Can grow.

But such desires could only exist in the shadow of dreams. Still, the thought lingered like smoke in his chest. And if opportunity arose—if the Empress, Atlas, and the future aligned just right—he would not hesitate.

He would slide in, not like a hawk.

No.

Like a dragon.

He already had Atlas. And Lara. Even if he was a terrible father—he was still their father nonetheless.

He turned to leave when Aurora called out.

"Henry—"

He paused. "Hmm?"

She raised a hand, fingers glowing violet, and a shimmering dome sealed around them. Not even air leaked through.

"I just got info from one of my traps... the Empire has.... contacted the Holy Kingdom."

Henry turned slowly. The lines on his face deepened, not with age, but with calculation.

"Do we have more details?"

Aurora nodded, face paling. "They say they seek an alliance."

A breath passed between them. Cold. Heavy. A premonition more than a sound.

Then her forehead tingled.

Another message—her connection to the thousands of magical traps scattered across the continent flared. Her body tensed.

Henry read her face instantly. "...I know that look. Come on. Tell me the worst."

She didn’t answer at first. Her eyes were scanning invisible strings of magical data, translating sigils and warnings, piecing together a map of betrayal.

"...The Empire is asking for an alliance not just with the Holy Kingdom, but also with all the kingdoms within the Unification. And..."

Henry leaned in, eyes narrowing. "...And?"

Aurora’s voice was cold now. "...Other nearby kingdoms as well."

Henry exploded.

He stepped back and kicked a table, the force cracking it in half. It splintered into the wall and burst into cinders. His breath came fast, shoulders rising with fury. "That fucking... bastard!!! It’s him. It’s Arthur!"

He tried to contain it. Clenched his jaw. Took in one hard breath—like swallowing fire. "...Okay...We do....nothing. if we move. We will be playing at his hand."

Aurora blinked. "Nothing?"

Henry didn’t answer her directly. He just stared down the hallway. Deep into thought. Calculating again.

Aurora didn’t question further. She knew this side of him. And she knew better than to interfere with a king in this state. She deactivated the dome and leaned against the cold stone.

Inside the cell, Merlin stirred, eyes blinking slowly. He hadn’t heard the conversation, but the burst of mana when Henry kicked the table hadn’t gone unnoticed.

He smiled faintly. "...Pretty good for a sick man. What did Aurora say?"

Elizabeth didn’t open her eyes. She simply tilted her chin. "...You and your fixation with magic and science. Think for a second, old man..... It’s Arthur. Simple as that."

".... you’re coniving big brother?.....haaa...I didn’t like him then, I don’t like him now....I’m still amazed you named him warmaster."

Eli only smiled...

’....for a reason.’ Eli thought.