Chapter 30: Take It Easy (Part 2)

"Your heart is already in turmoil."

The teacup wavered midair, its contents spilling slightly with the motion. Stephen looked at Sandru and spoke calmly.

Sandru remained motionless, his expression cold and indifferent, like a carved ice sculpture.

"You're no different from those restless, antagonistic young people now. Do you really think you're still a match for the two of us in this state?"

"Probably not," Sandru replied after a moment's thought, his tone detached. Though he admitted this, the magical energy surrounding him continued to churn violently.

"Then why not sit down and enjoy a cup of tea first?" Stephen gestured lightly, and the teacup in front of Sandru floated slightly upward. From beginning to end, neither he nor Shante displayed the faintest trace of hostility. At this moment, they seemed no different from two ordinary old men simply persuading a friend to drink tea.

Sandru hesitated slightly. "You really want me to sit and have tea? Weren't you two here to deal with me?"

It wasn't that they lacked the capability to poison him through the tea—they certainly could. But Sandru knew they wouldn't. Perhaps others in this world might attempt such a method, but not these two. Not out of friendship or trust, but because these two men lived up to their title as necromancers.

Even if they might fight him to the death to uphold the inviolate rules of Dehya Valley, they would never resort to such underhanded tactics. So, if they were asking him to drink tea under these overwhelmingly favorable conditions, it truly meant they just wanted to have tea.

"Deal with you? Sandru, I must say, I'm a little disappointed…" Shante, struggling to sit straighter, coughed intermittently as he looked at Sandru. "Have you forgotten what matters most to a necromancer?"

His words were slow and calm, interspersed with coughs, making them hard to catch. But the oppressive aura and magical tension surrounding Sandru suddenly faltered.

Stephen, picking up another teacup from a stone chair beside him, sipped and said, "I can see that your heart is filled to the brim with something—something overwhelming. You didn't come here solely for yourself but for other reasons, reasons that aren't truly your own. You're no longer in control of your emotions, which is why you've mistaken us as enemies."

Sandru turned to Stephen, his gaze colder, sharper, and more piercing than before. With a sneer, he said, "I didn't realize your insight was so impressive. Have you seen through me?"

But Stephen seemed unperturbed by Sandru's gaze. He leaned back in his chair, his eyes wandering lazily over the surrounding mountains, the clouds, the grass, and the streams. His voice remained gentle: "How could I possibly see through you? I only noticed that, from the moment you entered, you haven't truly looked around. Dehya Valley is such a beautiful place. I've been back for an entire day and still haven't had enough of it. But you, after twenty years, haven't spared it even a glance. That can only mean your heart is preoccupied with something else."

Sandru hesitated, his gaze softening unconsciously as he followed Stephen's eyes to take in the surroundings.

The morning sunlight cascaded down from the highest peak of Shadow Whirl Summit, illuminating the valley in vibrant life. Exotic flowers and rare plants were thoughtfully arranged across the valley. Towering trees with lush foliage were scattered here and there, while a mountain stream pooled into a pristine emerald lake, complete with an artfully placed rockery. Every vantage point offered a different perspective of its beauty. The necromancer who had designed and planted this valley was scarcely known in the mundane world, but among the continent's most renowned landscape artists, his name was revered as divine.

The stone benches and chairs placed beneath the trees or beside the lake were all meticulously sculpted by necromancers, each piece enough to drive the most discerning art collectors mad with desire. Even the teacup floating before Sandru bore the same exceptional craftsmanship.

In this place, beauty, elegance, and transcendence were more than just qualities—they were an atmosphere, a presence, a way of being. Even a butcher, upon entering, could sense the extraordinary ambiance of this place.

"Twenty years away… I've never been one for art or aesthetics, but this place remains the most pleasing to the eye," Sandru admitted, his gaze softening considerably.

Stephen said evenly, "Dehya Valley is so beautiful because it transcends the mundane. Here, there is no greed, no ambition, no fear. Necromancers stand above all living beings because of their noble hearts."

"No greed, no ambition, no fear—transcending life and death with clarity and depth. This mindset is the most precious legacy Akibard left us, and it is the essence of being a necromancer," Shante added weakly, coughing as he looked at Sandru. "Do you still have that clarity and depth?"

"No, I don't," Sandru sighed, finally lifting the teacup before him and draining it in one gulp.

"You had people spying on him?" Asa asked in disbelief, staring at the three individuals before him.

"You must be mistaken," Elaine replied coldly. "A man like Mr. Sandru couldn't possibly be monitored without noticing. After Theodorus gifted the Empire the Star Eye as a gesture of alliance and it was placed in the teleportation array, I merely instructed the High Priest to send someone to the library every thirty minutes or so to retrieve books from Old Priest Tom. When Sandru suddenly disappeared, of course, the High Priest informed me."

"You even scheme against him?" Asa rose abruptly, his voice tinged with restrained anger. But he suppressed it again and said, "Even if you find out what's down there, it won't do you any good."

Elaine also stood up, her gaze fixed on Asa. "This is the capital, the heart and mind of the Empire. We have the right to know if there are dangerous, hidden things beneath our feet. I don't care what Mr. Sandru is guarding, or what mysterious artifacts Dehya Valley holds. What we're protecting is a vast empire spanning thousands of miles and its tens of millions of citizens."

Their eyes met, Asa's initial anger dissipating into a peculiar sense of loss. Even in anger, her face remained beautiful, her flushed cheeks like blooming peach blossoms. Her eyes, though devoid of a smile, seemed as if they were, still so captivating.

They were still the eyes of a lover, but now carried the gaze of the Empire's Prime Minister.

This feeling had struck him earlier when Elaine made that subtle political maneuver against Sandru—a move imbued with the calculated sharpness of a true statesman. He had sensed it before, in Duke Murak and Lord Rodhart, but hers was subtler, more refined.

Of course, he knew this didn't mean Elaine was becoming like her father. He also knew that everything she said and did now was what a Prime Minister should say, do, and think. Expressing such thoughts so openly before him was an act of intimacy. But that cold, calculating aura of politics—the metallic tang of weighing, analyzing, and scheming—was something he had encountered too often, and it instinctively repelled him.

To find this quality in someone he had placed his deepest feelings and hopes upon struck a stark contrast, sparking a fleeting anger. But this quickly gave way to an unavoidable sense of emptiness and loss.

Elaine, too, seemed to sense the strange change in his gaze. She stopped speaking, her expression now tinged with an unfamiliar melancholy and unease. Both of them, as if by tacit agreement, averted their gazes and sat down in silence.

Theodorus and Commander Roland exchanged a few glances. Then, with a cough, Theodorus sighed deeply and said, "Even I wasn't informed by Ronis, nor was Commander Roland, about what's in that dungeon. But I can guess that it must be of such importance that even we cannot know. Otherwise, why would he remain here instead of returning to the Glory Fortress to serve as Pope? And why would Sandru willingly spend twenty years in this capital as a mere guardian?"

Theodorus paused before shifting his tone. "But now, too many people know there's something down in that cellar. Lies won't hold against prying eyes for long. And judging by Cardinal Jarvis's behavior, those who know the truth and covet it are surely not few. Elaine is right—this is the capital. No matter how important Dehya Valley or Sandru's secret is, it cannot take precedence over the safety of Einfast and Orford. So I implore you, Asa, to tell us the truth. We have no wish to offend Mr. Sandru, but we cannot allow his secret to endanger the Empire and its people."