Chapter 582: Friends reuniting
The portal opened in the entrance hall of the Ainsworth mansion without any prior warning, tearing the air with a scarlet ripple mixed with small threads of green mana. The late afternoon light crossed the tall windows, spreading golden reflections across the polished floor, but for an instant, everything was swallowed by the glow of the portal. Two maids passing by with a tray of tea and some documents let out small startled cries, retreating almost at the same time.
Kael stepped through first, with the naturalness of someone who had completely lost any sense of what was considered a polite entrance. Sylphie appeared right beside him, clinging to his arm with an almost possessive calm, her long white hair falling over her shoulder and her green eyes observing the mansion with warm curiosity. The contrast between her presence and the unstable magic of the portal made the maids freeze for one second longer than they should have.
Then they recognized Kael.
Both bowed immediately.
"Lord Kael."
"Your Majesty."
Kael blinked slowly when he heard the second form of address, while Sylphie pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. He noticed, as he always did, and looked at her from the side with an expression that clearly said she should not start. Naturally, that only made her smile grow.
"Good afternoon," Kael said, trying to keep a casual tone. "Are Irelia and Amelia here?"
One of the maids raised her face, still a little nervous.
"Yes, Your Majesty. They are in the main room."
Kael released an almost inaudible sigh at the title, but did not correct her. He had already learned that correcting formal forms of address inside noble houses only made people even more determined to use them. Instead, he merely nodded and began walking, still with Sylphie attached to his arm.
As soon as they passed through the corridor, Sylphie leaned a little closer to him.
"Your Majesty."
"No."
"Lord Kael, Celestial Sun, King of Witches."
"You are enjoying this too much."
"I am making up for lost time."
"That argument should not apply to everything."
"But it does."
Kael looked at her from the side, and Sylphie smiled with absolutely false innocence. He tried to keep a serious expression for a few more seconds, but ended up letting out a low laugh. It was hard to be irritated with her when she looked so happy just walking beside him. Even the teasing had a familiar warmth he had missed without realizing how much.
They reached the main room a few moments later.
Irelia and Amelia were sitting near the window, with a low table between them, where a tea tray, opened letters, and a few reports rested in careful disorder. Irelia was the first to notice their presence. Her expression changed immediately, her eyes lighting with surprise and relief. Amelia turned right after, and the smile that appeared on her face was slower, more complicit, as if she had already imagined Kael would return accompanied like that.
For a few seconds, no one said anything.
Sylphie was still clinging to Kael’s arm, looking at the two of them with an emotion she did not try to hide. Irelia rose slowly. Amelia did the same. There was a distance of a hundred years between them and Sylphie, even if for the two of them it perhaps had not been so long. Even so, the letters had built enough of a bridge that this reunion did not feel strange. It only felt delayed.
Irelia smiled first.
"It has been a while."
Amelia nodded, her eyes fixed on Sylphie.
"Too long."
Sylphie slowly released Kael’s arm and took one step forward. Her smile trembled a little, not from sadness, but from accumulated emotion. Then she opened her arms, simple and direct, as if she had no patience for solemnity.
"Come on, where is my hug?"
Irelia laughed softly and crossed the distance first. Amelia came right after. The two hugged Sylphie at the same time, wrapping around her with enough force to make her close her eyes and take a deep breath. For a few seconds, the three remained like that, united in the center of the room, surrounded by the golden afternoon light and the respectful silence of the old walls of the Ainsworth mansion.
Kael watched the scene with his arms crossed.
His face was far too serious to be sincere.
"Interesting."
The three continued hugging.
"Very interesting."
Irelia opened one eye and looked at him over Sylphie’s shoulder.
"Something wrong?"
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"I am angry with both of you."
Amelia, still hugging Sylphie, raised an eyebrow.
"You are?"
"I am. You hid important information from me, and still received cute hugs before any judgment."
Sylphie let out a little laugh against Amelia’s shoulder.
Kael pointed at the three of them, theatrically indignant.
"Tsk. I am going to punish you."
Irelia tried to maintain her composure, but the smile escaped.
"You are?"
"I am."
Amelia smiled even more visibly.
"That sounds terribly threatening."
"It is supposed to."
"It sounds like jealousy."
"It is supposed to as well."
Sylphie moved slightly away from the hug, looking at Kael with amusement.
"Are you pouting?"
"No."
"You are."
"I am not."
Irelia tilted her head.
"A little."
Amelia completed with gentle cruelty:
"A majestic pout."
Kael brought one hand to his chest as if he had been struck by a profound betrayal.
"I returned from Yggdrasil, survived a war illusion, dealt with a drunk World Tree, and now I am being ridiculed in the Ainsworth mansion."
"Welcome back," Irelia said.
"We missed you," Amelia added.
Kael turned his face away, keeping the pout on purpose now.
"I am upset."
Sylphie brought a hand to her lips to contain another laugh. Irelia and Amelia exchanged a complicit look, but their amusement was softened by real guilt. After all, as funny as his reaction was, the information about the letters really had been important. Kael had entered the Central Realm believing Sylphie had been completely isolated, and that had probably worsened his disposition toward Yggdrasil considerably.
Irelia was the first to speak more seriously.
"I am sorry."
Kael kept looking to the side.
"I do not accept."
Amelia approached him with her hands joined in front of her body.
"We should have told you that we received letters from Sylphie."
"You should have."
"We thought you knew."
"I did not."
"We realize that now."
"Convenient."
Irelia crossed her arms, trying to hide her smile.
"Kael."
He looked at her from the side.
"I am deeply wounded."
Sylphie pressed her lips together.
Amelia sighed, though there was affection in her expression.
"It was Sylphie’s order."
Sylphie froze.
The silence that followed was small, but extremely expressive.
Kael slowly turned his face toward Sylphie.
Irelia discreetly pointed at her, like an accused person handing over another accused person to reduce her own sentence.
"She asked us not to mention it."
Amelia nodded, immediately joining the defense.
"She said you were recovering, then dealing with the Witch Kingdom, then too involved in dangerous problems. She did not want you to try forcing contact with Yggdrasil before the right time."
Sylphie opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Then looked at the two of them with an expression of pure betrayal.
"You just sold me out."
Irelia raised her hands.
"He mentioned punishment."
"And you used me as a shield?"
"As a primary source of facts."
Amelia nodded with false seriousness.
"Exactly. We merely respected documentary truth."
Sylphie pointed at her.
"You wrote three letters saying you agreed with me."
Amelia blinked.
"I do not recall."
"I have copies."
Irelia looked at Amelia.
"You kept copies?"
"Of course I kept copies."
"So you can prove we are all guilty?"
"Technically, yes."
"That was a terrible decision."
Sylphie quickly turned to Kael, pointing at the two of them.
"They could have told you anyway."
Irelia pointed back.
"You threatened to turn our windows into thorny vines if we told him."
"It was a symbolic threat."
Amelia looked at her.
"You sent a drawing of the shape of the thorns."
"For explanatory purposes."
"That does not make it better."
Kael watched the three of them for a few seconds.
Irelia accused Sylphie. Sylphie accused Amelia. Amelia pretended innocence with the diplomatic skill of someone who was clearly involved. All of them spoke at the same time, trying to reorganize the blame as if this were a complex political treaty and not a secret about letters that had gotten completely out of control.
Then Kael simply walked to the sofa and threw himself onto it.
The impact made the cushions bounce slightly.
The three stopped in the middle of the argument and looked at him.
Kael was laughing.
Not a low and controlled laugh, but a real, tired, amused laugh, as if he had finally found something absurd enough to relieve all the weight he was still carrying. He placed one hand over his face, trying to breathe, but every time he looked at the three guilty expressions, he started laughing again.
Sylphie narrowed her eyes.
"Are you laughing at our pain?"
"I am."
Irelia crossed her arms.
"That is very unfair."
Amelia agreed.
"Especially considering you said you were angry."
Kael pointed at them without being able to stop smiling.
"I am angry. But the three of you trying to throw the blame at each other is much better than any apology."
Sylphie placed her hands on her waist.
"So are we forgiven?"
"No."
Irelia raised an eyebrow.
"But you are laughing."
"I can laugh and remain offended."
Amelia sat in a nearby armchair, smiling.
"That sounds like a royal skill."
"I am the King of Witches now. I have rights."
Sylphie approached the sofa and stood in front of him, still trying to look serious.
"Are you really going to punish us?"
Kael looked at her.
Then at Irelia.
Then at Amelia.
His smile grew calmer, but no less dangerous.
"I will think of something."
Irelia and Amelia exchanged a look.
Sylphie also realized too late that perhaps she had asked the wrong way.
Kael merely settled more comfortably on the sofa, crossing his arms behind his head, still laughing softly.
"For now, I want tea. And I want to hear exactly how the three of you decided that hiding letters from me was a good idea."
The three women fell silent.
Kael smiled.
"Start from the beginning."
Sylphie, Irelia, and Amelia looked at one another.
And, for the first time since he arrived, all three seemed equally guilty.
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