Chapter 189

Chapter 190 History
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CASSANDRA
I wasn’t sure what kind of game Kaleb was playing, but from the moment I agreed to hear his story, his mocking and arrogant demeanor shifted to that of a much kinder gentleman. It was as if he sl*pped his old mask back on and was the strange yet charming foreign king I’d first encountered in the market of Anemond.
As we walked back to Merliscire, he walked alongside me, and his guards lingered about ten feet back to give us some privacy. While my guard was still up around the trio from Yurene, I had a strong feeling that Kaleb was behaving somewhat genuinely.
When we finally reached the palace, my heart began to race in anticipation, but then the king turned to me and cleared his throat.
“Before we get on with this, I will take you to see Erika and Finnick,” he announced, and he gestured to the corridor before us. “So you know that I am being true to my word.”
My l*ps parted in surprise and my voice caught in my throat, so I simply nodded in response.
He then led me to a door at the end of the corridor, which was flanked by a few tall, muscular guards. They bowed to Kaleb in respect and after he flicked his hand, they parted and allowed us to enter the room.
I steeled myself for a terrible sight, but much to my surprise, Erika and Finnick were seated on a large, plush couch. The curtains were drawn open and sunlight flooded the room.
“Mommy!” Finnick exclaimed happily and he rushed over to me and threw his arms around me. “Mommy, you’re okay!”
I intercepted him gladly and drew him close. “Hi, baby. Yes, I’m okay. Are you alright?”
We stood there for a moment and then Finnick pulled away.
“We’re okay,” he said with a nod, and his gray eyes were serious as they stared into mine. “Auntie Erika and I have been sitting on this nice couch. She’s been telling me stories.”
“That’s wonderful,” I replied, and I shot a grateful expression toward Erika. The maid sent me one of her own and then I turned back to Finnick. “Finnick, I have some things I have to do, but I’ll see you really soon, alright? Be good for Auntie Erika. Everything is going to be fine.”
“I will,” my son swore. He hugged me again, and after I gave Erika one last glance, Kaleb held the door open for me and we stepped back out into the corridor.
“I told you,” he replied once the door was closed and the guards stepped back into place. “Safe and sound.”
I remained silent as the Northern king led me to another room. Though I’d told them that everything would
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Chapter 190 History
be fine, I wasn’t so certain I believed it myself.
We took a seat in a pair of plush chairs by a window, and after a set of Northern guards served us some tea, they stood aside and turned their attention to the door. I held the cup in my hands but didn’t sip. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen and didn’t want to risk Kaleb poisoning me or something.
“ So, Ca*sandra, if you’re ready, I’ll begin,” Kaleb remarked, and after I nodded, he crossed his legs and fixed his steady gaze upon me.
I had believed that Kaleb was going to avoid the key point and just tell me some banal story he made up in an attempt to get on my nerves, but I was quickly proven wrong. In fact, he began to speak about something that I had been wondering about for a long time and seemed to clear up some of my confusion.
It was a story about the establishment of Wegalla and the demise of Ewonmiams. According to Kaleb’s version of the story, the very first king of Wegala was a bastard who stole the fruit from the leader of the Ewonmiams. He abandoned them after he came into power and despite what they had done for him, he decided to hunt all of the sorcerors down and destroy them.
That was why the Ewonmiams were an unspoken secret in Wegalla.
The king had covered up their existence and wiped them from history.
As he spoke, I wished I had paid more attention to the history cla*ses I’d taken in my youth, or at least had taken more time to read through that dusted book I’d found in the secret room of the royal library so I knew enough to refute Kaleb’s story.
Was it a coincidence that the founding of Wegalla and the demise of Ewonmiams happened nearly at the same time in history? Or was he telling the truth?
Kaleb continued speaking, mentioning that the surviving sorcerors ran and lived in shadows. They’d remained hidden away until decades ago when they formed a new Pack and named themselves Dark Abyss. Their motivation was revenge on the people who had forsaken them and cast them into the darkness, but they were not as powerful as they had been in the old days, so they started to look for collaborators who could help aid their mission.
“My father,” he said with a strange expression on his face. “The former king of Yurene was at the top of their list. ”
A frown formed on my l*ps. “I’m confused. I thought there was a battle between Yurene and Dark Abyss. ”
Kaleb nodded. “There was a battle indeed. Not between Yurene and Dark Abyss, but between a secret troop of Wegalla and Dark Abyss. As soon as Dark Abyss made their move and revealed themselves from their hiding place in the shadows, Wegalla acknowledged their existence. It all became… complicated.*
“How so?” I wondered.
“The king of Wegalla wanted them to die,” he replied. “But soon, it became a greater dispute due to the magic Dark Abyss possessed. Wegalla and Yurene both wanted their power, you seo.”
I shook my head in confusion. “ But that would be nonsense. Why would Wegalla want the power of black
Chapter 190 History
magic when it was strictly prohibited in the country?”
“It’s not a matter of wanting or not,” Kaleb said thoughtfully. “It was a matter of need, a matter of possession. It might be true that Wegalla could choose to own but not utilize the power and just kill all the sorcerors, as was its initial plan, but with Yurene involved… the stakes were different. It was competition, a race to see who could seize the power of Dark Abyss.”
He sighed. “Ultimately, there was no winner, of course. Both kings ended up getting the disease and had to let go of the sorcerer they were chasing.
My eyes widened in shock as I stared at him in surprise. Had Kaleb just said that Asher’s father had gotten infected with the disease? Was that why his physical condition deteriorated with no specific reason?
But Kaleb didn’t give me time to ponder these questions as he continued.
“The sorcerer they wanted to capture was Emmett Keller’s father,” he revealed suddenly, “Of course….his surname wasn’t Keller. Keller was the name of the poor family who offered them shelter, until the sorcerer’s wife gave birth to their son.”
My l*ps parted as I tried to make sense of what he was telling me.
The Kellers weren’t truly the Kellers?
They were imposters?
“After their son was born, the sorcerer family left Wild Cralwer, but before they did, the sorcerer gave the Kellers a magical amulet they could use to alert the sorcerer if they were ever in danger. The amulet, unfortunately, brought them bad luck. Everyone believed that the Kellers were murdered by a bunch of robbers, but that wasn’t the truth.”
“Then what was?” I blurted out boldly.
“They were all brutally executed by the king,” Kaleb replied matter–of–factly. “Even their youngest. All because they couldn’t tell him where the sorcerer family had gone. After all, they had no idea where they’d gone in the first place. But the king didn’t care about that. When the sorcere got the news it was too late.”
I shook my head as I processed this information.
“Was Emmett the name of the innocent child who was killed?” I wondered slowly as the realization: crossed my mind.
“Yes,” the king of Yurene confirmed. “Very good. And later, it became the name of the sorcerer’s son who, after all of those years, decided to return to Wild Crawler and live his life as a healer.”
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