Chapter Forty-Seven: Grudges Beget Grudges (Please Add to Your Favorites and Recommend It)

“I should have realized it long ago,” King Uther said in a low voice.

“I never expected you to realize anything, Uther.” The woman in red regarded the somewhat aged king with amused contempt, her eyes filled with mockery and malicious delight. She clearly took great pleasure in watching him display his weakness before her.

“Nimue, are you not tired of this endless cycle of vengeance?” Uther both hated and feared the beautiful woman before him. He knew all too well how powerful she was. He had once believed they would never meet again in this lifetime, but then…

“And what about you? You were the one who started the war, Uther! You drove me from the court and slaughtered my kind!” Nimue, who had seemed utterly composed until then, suddenly erupted. Hatred and fury blazed in her eyes, their heat enough to make even King Uther feel scorched.

Even so, Uther did not believe he had been in the wrong.

“You brought it upon yourselves! You were studying dark magic! You pushed me beyond the limits of my patience.”

Seeing that Uther still showed not the slightest trace of remorse, Nimue suddenly felt a deep sorrow.

“I was once your friend, Uther. You were the one who welcomed me into your court.”

“But you betrayed our friendship!” Uther cut her off. He did not want to remember the happiness they had once shared, because it would only remind him of the agony that had followed.

“I merely did what you wished. I used the magic you had always despised to make your barren wife conceive the son you had dreamed of!”

The instant Nimue mentioned his wife, Uther’s gaze sharpened. Suppressing his anger, he said, “You will not speak of her that way! She was the love of my life, the very soul of my being.”

Perhaps memories of his wife had risen within him, for a faint tenderness entered Uther’s voice as he spoke. Such emotion was rarely seen on his face, yet that small trace of tenderness filled Nimue with unbearable anger and jealousy. Perhaps neither she nor Uther would ever admit it, but there had indeed been a time when they had been drawn to one another.

Sadly, that relationship had not even had the chance to begin before it was forced to endure a trial between life and death.

“But you were the one who took her from me.”

Seeing the hatred on Uther’s face, Nimue’s heart filled with sorrow as well. She had thought that giving Uther what he wanted most would make him happy. Sadly, things had turned out otherwise.

“She died giving birth to your son! That was not my choice. It is the law of magic. To create one life, another must be taken. The balance of the world must be respected.”

But such an explanation only made Uther more furious. Bracing himself against the table, he leaned forward, the rage in his eyes threatening to consume everything before him.

“You knew she would die! And yet you still stood by and watched it happen!”

“No! You are wrong. I did not know!” A trace of remorse appeared in Nimue’s eyes. It had all begun when she tried to fulfill Uther’s wish, yet the price of that wish had plunged them both into an abyss of hatred and regret. “If I had foreseen her death, and the vengeance you would take against me… I would never have granted your wish.”

Uther lowered his head as well. Had he not spent all these years living in regret? He had hunted sorcerers and destroyed everything connected to magic, but more than anything, he had been venting his anguish. Yet what good had it done? If he could have, would he not have wished for none of it to happen?

“I truly wish you had not…”

This time, Nimue was the one who looked surprised. She stared at Uther in astonishment.

“You wish you had never had this son?”

Nimue knew perfectly well how desperately Uther had once longed for an heir. Otherwise, why would she have helped Queen Igraine conceive?

Uther opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but the moment he thought of Arthur, the words became impossible to speak.

Seeing his inner struggle, Nimue smiled.

“Then I can help make your dream come true once more.”

At those words, all the sorrow and regret vanished from Uther’s face, replaced by cold resolve.

“I will not let you harm him! Never!”

Unfortunately, Nimue was not intimidated.

“I have already watched too many people I loved die by your hand, Uther Pendragon. Now, surely, it is your turn…”

Before Nimue could finish speaking, the door to King Uther’s chamber was suddenly kicked open. The instant it flew inward, a flash of cold steel shot through the room, aimed straight at Nimue’s back. At the same time, a figure rushed inside.

Nimue’s expression changed. She immediately turned and thrust out her palm, blocking the flash of steel. In an instant, the blade came to a halt in midair. It was a knight’s longsword.

At that moment, the figure had already reached Nimue.

She thrust out her palm again, sending the immobilized sword flying back. The attacker’s reactions were equally swift. Just as the sword reached him, he caught it in one hand and swung it back at Nimue.

Nimue’s pupils shimmered with a faint red light. The longsword in the man’s hand suddenly became red-hot, as though it were melting in a furnace. Smoke rose from the palm gripping the weapon.

Yet the man seemed not to feel it at all. Instead of hesitating, he struck with even greater determination, his speed increasing more than twofold.

Nimue frowned at the sight. She clearly had not expected anyone to be so tenacious—to hold a piece of white-hot metal and remain utterly unshaken. With no other choice, she twisted aside and retreated. There was no longer enough time for her to cast another spell.

The figure did not pursue her. With a flash of movement, he appeared before King Uther.

Only then did Nimue clearly see the newcomer’s face.

“Kay?”

“It is a pleasure to see you again, Miss Nimue.”

Only then did Kay switch hands and continue holding the sword. Nimue’s attack had indeed burned his palm slightly, but the injury was not serious; he was wearing gloves. After changing hands, Kay gave Nimue an elegant knight’s bow.

“You are still as beautiful as ever. Would you mind telling me how you maintain your appearance? You do know that I already have a fiancée, don’t you? If you would be so kind as to share your secret, I could use it to properly please the woman I love.”

Kay naturally knew Nimue.

Twenty years ago, Kay had been only a little boy, but he had already been fascinated by magic. He had even shamefully pretended to be cute and childish, pestering Nimue and pleading to study magic by her side. Unfortunately, Uther had refused to let Kay become a sorcerer. Later, after something happened to Kay’s foster mother, Nimue vanished while being hunted by King Uther. And now, by the reckoning of time, exactly twenty years had passed since they last met.

Like Kay, Nimue bore him no ill will. After all, she had watched him grow up. The grievances between the adults could not be laid at Kay’s feet.

“I never imagined that the little pest who used to follow me everywhere, begging to learn magic from me, would grow up. You even have a fiancée now. Ah… The Kay of old always said he would marry me once he grew up. I never thought that, in the blink of an eye, you would fall in love with another woman. Am I truly getting old?”

As she spoke, she pretended to examine her face with her fingers.