Way of the Knights

Chapter 284 - Tears Of A King

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Raven's face became extremely solemn as he heard those words. 

He was shocked since he thought that the King had fallen under Lucy's deadly poison, and had his mind corrupted already. 

In Raven's rising anger, not to the king nor Lucy, a bunch of golden inscriptions were activated. Some were used to restrain Lucy even in her slumber, others were used to at least keep the Poison Laws of Lucy at bay from further affecting the King's body. 

Raven fed him some pills to stabilize his condition. He then reactivated Lucy's prison and proceeded to escort the King towards his chambers so that he could receive proper treatment once Richard and Jacob arrives. 

Once the King's expression became a bit better, Raven laid him to his bed and waited until the two arrived. 

Richard and Jacob came in with the Golden Knights on tow. Upon seeing Raven doing some check-ups with the King's body, the two didn't say a word and began setting up necessary equipment to proceed with the treatment. 

"What in the world happened here!?" Old Lee asked in a very worried tone. 

They could all see how Alexander's state is not faring well. Even though Raven gave him the first-aid treatment, his brows were still furrowed and occasional wisps of green smoke could be seen escaping through his right arm. 

Raven had no reason to lie, so he told them everything that happened prior to their arrival. When they heard that the King referred to Lucy as his 'Beloved Queen', their expressions visibly contorted.

"This is bad." Old Lee stated, "He fell victim to the poison."

"This reckless fool!" Leona spat, "Why did he even decide to visit her alone, even after knowing what she could do?" 

Morel didn't say anything but he promptly left the room and took it to himself on overseeing Lucy's prison. 

"Let us focus on the treatment first." Raven stated in a solemn manner. "Seniors, I need your help. Please make sure that the news of Uncle's current state won't leave this place. We can't afford to worry the masses for now."

Old Lee and Leona nodded, completely agreeing to his words. They then moved out and made sure to inform the people who saw them earlier to not speak a thing about this matter or there would be severe consequences. 

The three then proceed to initiate the King's treatment. Doing their best to think of the best way towards his recovery, they used everything in their arsenal to return the King's previous condition. Unfortunately, they were destined to fail. At first, they debated whether to cut the King's arm or not. 

The King's right arm is where most of the poison were concentrated, cutting it would be a logical decision since it would prevent the poison from further spreading through his body. They could just regrow it anyway by feeding him a Limb Restoration Pill. 

In the end, they didn't do it for now since there are still some scattered poison around the King's body. They would reconsider this idea once they isolated all of the poison to the King's right arm since they couldn't cure it through the pills the have. 

It's not that nothing they did work. In fact, the King's health had been nursed back to it's previous condition. That being said, there is nothing they could do other than to constantly feed him medicines in order to keep the poison of Lucy at bay. 

Lucy's poison is coated with Poison Laws. It is extremely effective and corrosive to one's body. It is rather unfortunate since none of the three's skill reached the level where they could concoct something that would nullify even Laws itself. 

Raven was constantly gritting his teeth, blaming himself for not trusting his instinct and causing this scenario to occur. He wanted to go on a rampage, to personally go through Lucy's prison and end her for good. But his rationality kept him in check, he focused on what's important for now since Lucy won't be able to escape her imprisonment anyway.

Later then, the King regained consciousness, making Raven go on alert and hurriedly ask about his condition. 

However, the King wasn't even concerned at his own body. As soon as he woke up, his first words were: "I hope you did not kill her, or else I would charge you with treason."

Raven was stumped, he didn't know what to say or do. He despaired, thinking that the King must've truly became a servant of Lucy. 

"It seems that you underestimate me Child." The King said. The latter half of his words shook Raven's core, "Do you think I, the King of Final Haven Kingdom, would succumb to the mind corrosive nature of a petty Law?"

Raven's eyes constricted as well as Richards's and Jacob's. All they could do, was to stare unflinchingly at the King. Trying to digest what he just said.

"Raven, I have the Light by my side. So long as my Light exists, it would illuminate the road and show me the truth behind everything. Hence, my sanity remains intact and completely unaffected by some petty tricks."

The King showed a smile which almost brought Raven to tears. Right, how could he forget? Alexander is the King - the Light of the Kingdom. His Light Laws protected him from any kind of mind-controlling ailments due to its innate purification nature. 

"Do me a favor and bring her here." Alexander said in a weakened voice. Raven hesitated but it seems that it wasn't needed since Leona came bursting through the door of his chambers. 

She held the unconscious Lucy on her arms, tears brimming her face as she locked eyes with the weakened Alexander, seemingly asking for answers. Following her was the distressed Old Lee and Morel, who also appeared somehow confused by this situation. 

"Alex!" Leona called to the King, clearly dropping all sense of formality. "I need answers! What the fuck is going on? What sorcery did you use to make us forget about her and why does your new prisoner look exactly like her!? Speak up!"

Raven was stunned by Leona's outrage. He had idea of what's going on and could only watch as the scene unfold. 

The offered Leona a sad smile, he beckoned towards her and said: "Please, lay her beside me."

"I won't!" Leona fired back, almost appearing as if she was challenging the King. "I refuse! Not until you tell me everything!"

"How can I tell you if even I myself don't know what's going on!?" The King stated in his weakened state, clearly saddened by all that is happening as well. "If I hadn't seen her face, I would've not remembered anything at all as well! Of all people Leona, it should be you who understand! You know, I would stop at nothing to keep everyone I care about safe and sound! It is also you who knows just what kind of a woman Elizabeth is!"

The King's words struck a deep chord on Leona's heart. She knew that his words were true, but she couldn't keep still. Her emotions were wild and she wants answers. Sadly, it is obvious that no one in this room could provide her with one. 

Keeping her emotions at check, she laid the unconscious Lucy beside Alexander. 

As soon as her back hit the bed, Alexander's tears gushed out like opened flood gates. Raven could've sworn that he never saw Alexander cry this hard, not even during his past life. He couldn't even imagine that he would bore sight to such a scene. 

Alexander traced the sleeping face of Lucy with his fingers. His tears flowed in his eyes but there was a relieved smile in his face.

"I've always had this nagging feeling that something was missing ever since my return." Alexander spoke, seemingly talking to himself. "It kept gnawing at my heart. But no matter how hard I searched for it, I never found out what was it all about…that's until I saw you."

The King held Lucy's hand, and from the moment their fingers interlocked, a strange sigil appeared on their chest, visible to everyone who's witnessing the event. 

Golden Knights were practically bawling their eyes out from the mere sight of this sigil. Meanwhile, Raven's jaw went wide since he was too familiar with that sigil.

"The Sigil of Fated Love." He said breathlessly. 

The said sigil is a lost ancient art of an era that came even before the Golden Era. The records were a bit convoluted but at it's core, the Sigil of Fated Love is said to be blessing of the God of Emotions to two people who loved each other. It is unclear what the sigil itself could do but Raven knew that this sigil could never be faked. Which basically confirmed that Lucy, or Elizabeth as the King referred to her, is really Alexander's wife and the Queen of this Kingdom. 

But still, Raven remained confused. 

"You are just a handful aren't you?" The King laughed mirthlessly to himself, "What did you do this time? And why did you erase my memories of you as well? Don't you know how painful this is for me? For our children? Why did you have to leave us, my dear Queen?"