The morning was too quiet for the kind of conversation Kael knew he would have. Sunlight stread through the large windows of the Ainsworth mansion, reflecting off the long wooden table where only two people sat. There was no rush, no excessive noise—just the discreet clinking of cutlery, the steam rising from the coffee cups, and that comfortable silence that only existed between soone who had taught them how to live… and soone who had survived too long.
Kael was slumped in his chair, one leg stretched out, the other bent, his elbow resting on the table as he swirled his spoon in his cup without actually drinking. His gaze was distant, fixed on so nonexistent point ahead. On the other side, Adalric ate with his usual thodical calm, impeccable posture, straight back, neutral expression—the sa as soone who had seen too many wars to be impressed by juvenile crises.
After a few minutes of silence, Kael spoke, as if comnting on the weather.
"So…," he began, blowing on his coffee before taking a lazy sip. "I'll have to go see the Emperor."
Adalric didn't imdiately look up. He just chewed, swallowed, and wiped his mouth with his napkin.
"Go."
Kael rolled his eyes.
"And here cos the important part," he continued, in a clearly disdainful tone. "Do I need to make an appointnt, send a formal invitation, kneel, kiss the ground… or can I just show up and get it over with?"
The sound that followed wasn't imdiate, but it was heavy. Adalric carefully placed his cutlery on the table. He slowly looked up, staring at Kael over his cup.
"If you were closer," he said calmly, "I would have given you such a good whack on the head that you'd rember it until your next reincarnation."
Kael gave a crooked, almost childlike smile.
"See? That's exactly why I don't want to go."
Adalric sighed, long and deep, like soone who'd had that conversation too many tis.
"You talk like a spoiled teenager," he said. "Not like soone who understands the weight of their own na."
Kael leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.
"Because I don't want to understand," he retorted. "I don't want to talk to the Emperor. Everything involving him becos a problem. Politics becos a threat, a threat becos debt, debt becos war. I've spent too much ti trying not to die to now get into this willingly."
Adalric watched him silently for a few seconds. There was sothing different in his gaze—not anger, not pure disapproval, but a mixture of concern and… expectation.
"Kael," he said finally, in a lower tone. "You may not like it, but you were raised by Elion."
Kael grimaced. "It's not that I don't like it, but it's problematic. Well, raised is a strong word, isn't it?"
"No," Adalric retorted. "Created. Molded. Prepared. And that doesn't change the fact that, like it or not, you are the future King of the Witches."
Kael let out a short, incredulous laugh.
"Impossible."
Adalric raised an eyebrow.
"Impossible?"
"Never," Kael continued, now more firmly. "I will not be King. I don't want that responsibility. I don't want a throne, I don't want a kingdom, I don't want people dying because of decisions I didn't ask to make."
He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table.
"I want to live my life peacefully. To train, to travel, to love whover I want, to solve problems when they arise—not to spend the rest of eternity sitting on a throne judging people."
Adalric remained silent, but his gaze beca more attentive.
"Besides," Kael added, with a slight, almost teasing smile, "my grandmother is still the Queen. And she's immortal. She can take care of the Witch Kingdom for… I don't know, millennia."
Adalric finally took a sip of his coffee.
"Do you really think," he asked calmly, "that one day she won't get tired?"
Kael blinked.
The question seed too simple. Almost innocent. But sothing about it resonated deeper than he expected.
"Tired?" Kael repeated, frowning.
"Of ruling," Adalric explained. "Of carrying decisions that affect entire lives. Of being the axis that keeps everything turning. Even immortals get tired."
Kael was silent for a few seconds. Then he smiled.
"If I ask with big eyes," he said, exaggerating the expression by widening his eyes, "and with a really cute face… she'll keep going."
Adalric stared at him.
He blinked once.
Then again.
And then he let out a low, deep laugh, too rare not to be aningful.
"You really believe that," he said, shaking his head.
"Of course I believe it," Kael replied, shrugging. "She's my grandmother."
Adalric rested his elbows on the table, interlacing his fingers.
"And she's a queen," he reminded him. "One of the oldest and most dangerous there is."
"One thing doesn't exclude the other."
Silence settled between them again, but now it carried a different weight. Adalric watched Kael as one watches soone on the brink of sothing inevitable.
"You run from politics," he said finally, "but politics doesn't run from you."
Kael looked away, staring at his coffee.
"I know," he murmured. "I just… didn't want it to be now."
Adalric nodded slowly. "It's never when we want it to be."
He rose from his chair, tall and imposing as always, placing his hand on Kael's shoulder for a mont.
"You may hate the Emperor," he said. "You may hate the ga. But ignoring it won't protect you. It will only ensure that others decide for you."
Kael took a deep breath.
"I hate it when you make sense."
"I know," Adalric replied, with a slight smile. "And that's exactly why you're going there."
Kael closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again.
"Great," he said. "I'll see the Emperor. I'll smile. I'll hear threats disguised as cordiality." He stood up as well. "But if he tries to use as a pawn…"
Adalric smiled slightly.
"Stop acting so strong, he won't do anything. Dude, he likes you, why so much distrust?" Kael interrupted, "If you only knew…"
"Hm? Knew what?" Kael questioned.
"Nothing, nothing. Just go, you'll see with your own eyes." Adalric said…
…
The mory of his conversation with Adalric still echoed in Kael's mind as the doors of the imperial hall closed behind him with a deep, definitive sound. The space was vast, towering, adorned with white marble columns and stained-glass windows that filtered the sunlight in golden hues. Everything there exuded power, history… and expectation.
In the center of the hall, seated in a completely inappropriate way for soone in that position, was Hadriam, Emperor of Humanity.
He wasn't rigid. He wasn't distant. He wasn't threatening.
He was smiling.
A wide, almost youthful smile that widened even more the instant his eyes t Kael's.
"KAEL."
The voice echoed through the hall, too loud, too animated.
Kael froze.
The Emperor rose too quickly for soone with that title, crossing the space with long strides, completely ignoring the presence of the advisors, guards, and nobles who observed the scene with carefully neutral expressions.
"You finally ca," said Hadriam, stopping a few steps from him, his eyes shining like those of a child who had just t soone he deeply admired. "I knew you would co. I said you would."
Kael blinked once.
Then again.
"…Your Majesty," he said, in an automatic tone, too rigid for the surreal situation.
Hadriam grimaced.
"Don't start with that," he complained. "It always sounds strange when you talk like that."
Kael felt the ground shift slightly beneath his feet.
"I… apologize?"
Hadriam laughed, a loud, genuine laugh, almost out of place in that environnt.
"See? Exactly that." He waved his hand in the air, as if to dismiss the formality. "You look like a fish out of water. Hella always said that."
Kael felt his heart skip a beat.
"Hella… talked about ?"
"Speak," Hadriam corrected imdiately. "All the ti."
Kael swallowed hard.
Alia, he understood. Alia was direct, intense, protective. But Hella?
"She says you're impossible," the Emperor continued, pacing around him, analyzing him as if Kael were a rare gem. "Stubborn. Too talented for his own good. And completely oblivious to the chaos he causes."
Kael opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again.
"That… doesn't sound like a complint."
"Of course it does," Hadriam replied, confused. "That's exactly how she talks about the people she respects."
That didn't help matters.
Kael felt as if he'd been ripped from reality and thrown into an alternate version of the world where the Emperor of Humanity acted as an enthusiastic admirer.
"She also said," Hadriam continued, now stopping right in front of him, leaning slightly, "that you've changed."
Kael tensed his shoulders.
"I… woke up from a coma," he said. "Changes are expected."
Hadriam nodded too quickly.
"Yes, yes, but it's not just that." He pointed to Kael's chest. "You're different here. I can feel it."
Kael took a deep breath.
"Your Majesty… Emperor… Hadriam," he corrected himself mid-way, clearly lost. "With all due respect, I ca because I was summoned. I don't know exactly what you expect of ."
Hadriam blinked.
Then he smiled even wider.
"I expect nothing," he said, with absurd tranquility. "I just wanted to see you."
Silence.
Kael felt his brain fail for a mont.
"…What?"
"I wanted to confirm," Hadriam explained, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "To confirm that you're alive. That you're whole. That you're still… you."
Kael looked away for a second, feeling a strange discomfort run down his spine.
"That's… unusual."
"You are unusual," the Emperor retorted promptly. "That's why everyone gets obsessed."
Kael looked back at him.
"Everyone?"
Hadriam gave a conspiratorial smile.
"Hella. Alia. Your grandmother." He tilted his head. "Even ."
That was too much.
Kael felt completely detached from reality, as if he were in a dream that followed no known logic. The Emperor of Humanity, the figure who should represent threat, politics, and danger… seed only happy. Genuinely happy.
"You're not here to be used," Hadriam said, suddenly more serious, but without losing the gleam in his eyes. "Not to be pressured. You're here because you're part of history, whether you like it or not."
Kael swallowed hard.
"And that," the Emperor continued, with an almost childlike smile, "makes very excited."
Kael thought, not for the first ti that day, that Adalric had omitted crucial information.
"…I have a feeling," Kael murmured, more to himself, "that this is going to be much more complicated than I imagined."
Hadriam laughed.
"Ah," he said. "It's going to be wonderful."
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