"I…"
Ilucia's voice trembled; she really wanted to refuse, but the current situation made it impossible for her to reject the Lich King's proposal.
That's right, the two souls trapped in the secret chamber were none other than her parents, Alex Barov and Janice Barov! At this moment, their souls were enchanted and in a deep slumber, unable to see their daughter.
For her parents, Ilucia had no excuse or reason not to do everything in her power to save them: when the Barov Family became the target of all Human Kingdom nobles, they spent a great deal of effort and care to send Ilucia to Dalaran for further studies, shielding her from the turmoil.
After studying in Dalaran for a while and realizing her talent in magic was far inferior to her talent in management and business, Ilucia decided to return to her hometown in Caer Darrow, Westwealde, to revitalize the family.
She had intended to share some of the burden with her parents, but Ilucia gradually discovered that her parents, in their efforts to restore the family's wealth and reputation, had become so obsessive they were no longer like their old selves.
Moreover, her two idle brothers were truly unbearable; the Barov Family was facing its most perilous moment in thousands of years, yet they were still constantly thinking about dividing the family property and power.
What horrified Ilucia even more was that her parents were eventually driven to a dead end by the Barov Family's predicament, signing a death pact with Archmage Kel'Thuzad, who had been expelled from Dalaran, virtually gambling everything the family had.
From that moment on, Ilucia understood that her formerly kind and wise parents had long since vanished with the decline of Barov, replaced by two strangers who had transformed the hope of family revival into a desire for revenge against the entire Human civilization.
Ilucia had once tried to persuade her parents not to go down this dead end, explaining that the Barov Family's situation was not irredeemable; with just a little time, they could once again become the wealthiest nobles among all humans.
But by then, Alex and Janice were already blinded by the desire for revenge; they did not heed their daughter's advice but stubbornly chose a path directly into the dark abyss.
It wasn't until they died and Gandling extracted their souls that a bone-chilling coldness finally brought them to their senses, realizing they were the ones who had truly failed Barov and their children.
The fate of the Barov Family was predetermined; as nobles of the Alterac Kingdom, they were bound to be hated.
Their king had betrayed humanity during the Orcish Wars, becoming a traitor, but his defection did not earn the orcs' mercy; the screams and fires of Alterac raged for days and nights before subsiding.
When the orcs left the ruins with treasures and food, only silence remained in Alterac; a Human Kingdom was annihilated in this disaster.
Because of this incident, all the nobles of Alterac were scorned by the entire Human society, and the Perenolde surname was regarded as a disgrace by everyone.
The Barov Family had been deeply rooted in the Human Kingdoms for a long time, accumulating countless wealth and prestige, but due to the foolish actions of the King of Alterac, they lost their backing and were exposed to the scrutiny of all nobles and royalty.
Therefore, when the orcs wanted to reach Lordaeron directly from Caer Darrow, they fought so desperately.
Alex cursed King Perenolde's shortsightedness and foolishness while hoping his actions could regain Lordaeron's trust and support; however, he still underestimated the supremacy of Lordaeron's monarchy.
King Terenas would not tolerate any powerful, deeply entrenched great noble clinging to Lordaeron's system; Lordaeron had many lords and nobles, but a dominant noble family like Barov simply did not exist.
Other Human Kingdoms also agreed with Terenas's approach, happily dividing Barov's lands and wealth, leaving them only their original ancestral land—Caer Darrow.
There was no way around it; the Barov Family's reach was simply too far. Just outside the walls of Lordaeron's capital, the important town of Brill, which could be reached in less than an hour, was actually Barov Family land?
Not to mention Southshore, an important port, and Taren Mill, a granary; the land deeds owned by the Barov Family were like a thorn, piercing Terenas's heart.
Therefore, the outcome was set from the beginning; the decline of the Barov Family was even within Ilucia's expectations, but this was also Barov's opportunity—they could use this to escape the scrutiny of the Human Kingdom and develop anew.
Although the continent of Lordaeron is no longer as easy to find opportunities for family prosperity as it was a thousand years ago, it is not entirely without opportunity. Unfortunately, her parents' actions completely led Barov into a dead end.
However, Ilucia couldn't blame her father and mother, because she knew that for the past decade or so, her parents had endured unimaginable pressure; they had painstakingly tried to re-enter the top tier, but had repeatedly met with setbacks.
Thinking of her father's stern yet caring gaze, and her mother's benevolent smile, Ilucia closed her eyes tightly, took a deep breath, "As long as you don't harm my parents' souls, I'll do anything."
Gandling's lips curved slightly under his mask; he pointed a finger, and a parchment scroll flew down from a display shelf nearby, landing in Ilucia's hand.
Ilucia broke the wax seal on the parchment scroll, and after preparing for the worst, she slowly unrolled the scroll, but when she saw the words on it, she stood frozen in place.
After a long while, Ilucia confirmed that the entire scroll, from the magical border to the regular text, contained no hidden information or words. She then looked at it with a mix of surprise and uncertainty.
"You're not mistaken, what's written on the scroll is the content of the contract." Dark Dean calmly put away his collections. Arthas was no longer paying attention to things here, which greatly relieved him.
The contents of this scroll were personally finalized by Arthas. For Arthas, as long as this scroll was given to Ilucia, she would naturally sign it.
Because it contained conditions that Ilucia simply could not refuse.
...
After dealing with the Barov Family's affairs, Arthas refocused his attention on the letter in his hand, a magical message he had just received.
The magical seal was Jaina's favorite style. Before even opening the letter, he knew it must be urgent news from Kalimdor—sending magical messages across an entire ocean was quite difficult, and Jaina certainly wouldn't do something so troublesome unless absolutely necessary.
Opening the letter, after just reading the first two lines, Arthas's expression became solemn. After he finished reading the entire letter word for word, he put it down and began to ponder the events described within.
The Centaur being repelled was expected, with no surprises, after all, it was just a vanguard force, and it was a preemptive attack by the Alliance and the Tauren. If they still couldn't win, Arthas felt there would be no need to consolidate forces to face the Burning Legion.
What he cared more about was the involvement of the Night Elves. He had thought that confronting the Centaur in the Barrens wouldn't attract the attention of the Night Elves, but he didn't expect them to be alerted by the Alliance's large-scale landing and stationing.
However, this wasn't entirely a bad thing; at least it gave Varian and the others a preliminary understanding of the Night Elves' current situation, which was clearer and more intuitive than Arthas's verbal descriptions.
Moreover, if those orcs hadn't all drowned in the Endless Sea, it probably wouldn't be long before the Night Elves would be too busy to bother with the Alliance's affairs.