Medea no longer accommodated the old pervert. Even though she and he had gone a long way back, especially during their prime, the past is the past, and her past actions have cut their relationship off for good.
Instead, Medea simply smirked. Of course, there's a reason why Elias was here in her makeshift village and all of it is according to the Coven's plan.
Their years of planning and gathering information are finally about to bear fruit today. The day that the so-called Golden Son will perish while still in his stage of infancy.
And it all starts by separating the master from his student.
Medea knew she didn't stand a chance against Elias. The old man is clearly holding himself back for their old times' sake. But as all human beings are, everyone has their limits
And if Elias stops holding back, that would result in her end. But she'll take advantage of that first.
"Come now, Medea. You almost hit me there, playing with lightning Magic is dangerous. You know that, right?" Elias tugged his robe, a few lightning sparks were dispersed as he did so.
Medea mentally snorted. Her mission isn't exactly to fight Elias here to death. But simply to hold him off while her fellow sisters of the coven go to Lioncrest to finish the job.
After years of studying and deciphering the defensive runes of Lioncrest's royal castle, they were able to make a small hole without Elias's knowledge, enough to manually disable every single defensive rune from the inside without alerting its creator.
At least, that's what Medea thought at first when Elias's expression took a sudden turn, like when someone realized something.
Medea doesn't know what caused the old man to react like that but she has a hunch that there is more to his defensive runes than they expected.
'This is a trap.' This was what was inside Elias mind.
He raised his staff, ready to leave the place without a word but he failed to cast the spell, or rather, he was able to cast the spell only for it to break down midway.
"You seemed to have caught on, old man. You're not leaving this place unless I say so…" Medea paused for a short time before smiling arrogantly, "Or should I say, unless We say so."
At the same time, there were a few flashes of light all around them, several red witches appeared floating in the air, some were holding staffs while others had empty hands.
Elias scratched his white beard, "You seemed to have managed to multiply your numbers compared to our previous encounter."
Medea, filled with confidence now that she was joined by her fellow sisters, gave a condescending laugh, "You have no idea of our true might today, Elias."
Elias tapped his staff on the floor, "Then how about you show this old man about this so-called true might you're babbling about, hm?"
"Attack him!"
———
"And that's how I lost my arm. Fret not, this is nothing but a scratch, so I don't need those pity looks." When Elias finished his story, everyone around him was left contemplating his words.
On the other hand, he made his way towards the corpse of his long-time friend. Crouching, he gave the man a light pat on his unmoving chest.
"I'm sorry, my friend."
Henry noticed this, he wanted to get angry again but managed to control his emotions, "That doesn't explain anything about how you didn't see this attack coming."
"Neither did I, Henry boy. From the looks of it, there is a limit to my prophecy magic. I should've known not to fully rely on it but this senile old man is quite a bit stubborn, you see."
Hearing his words, King Triton took this moment to add something, "Prophecy is not something that can easily be wielded by mortals. The only prophecies that are set in stone are those of my uncle, Apollo and the Oracle of Delphi, Pythia. Aside from them, prophecies made by people like you are simply crude at best."
Elias clicked his tongue, "Please, no need to rub salt in my wounds, dear god. I should've learned my lesson long ago."
Henry didn't speak anymore, or rather, he didn't want to stay in this place anymore, where he could see the dead body of his father, which would constantly haunt and remind him of his failure today.
'This is all my fault. I should've gone all out from the start.'
While he turned to leave, nobody dared to stop him. But they stared instead. Henry may not show it outright but they can see how much this entire event affected him.
"Henry…" Elsa wanted to reach out to him but refrained from doing so.
Of course, the feeling was mutual for Ariel and Rapunzel, who were clearly saddened to see this side of Henry that they've never seen before.
The usual smiling and charming man who looked like he came out of a heroic fantasy book, now looked like someone who had lost the will to live. He no longer looked like the same guy who would assure you that you could depend on him.
———
Henry retreated to his room, sitting on his bed while still keeping his head down. He still couldn't believe it.
His own father was gone, just like that. He wasn't even able to say his goodbyes or things like that.
'Is this what people meant when they say that life is short so you should cherish them? Now I understand.'
Henry lifelessly chuckled. This is not his first time losing a loved one of course, in his past life he had friends who unexpectedly died, pets who passed away in his arms.
But seeing them outright killed in front of him, especially in a situation he could've clearly handled better hurts the most.
He knew this wasn't the time to grieve and lament about his father's death. He should be out there, handling the repercussions of today's events like a man.
His mother was bawling her eyes out, he should stand beside her and comfort her. Instead, here he is, choosing to grieve alone like a loser.
He lay his back on the bed, using his forearms to cover his arms, "Goddammit…" His eyes felt a little bit hot and his lips wouldn't stop quivering.
———
Meanwhile, in the Underworld, the three fates stared in glee as the golden string that had been causing them years of headache finally deemed.
"Yes yes, come now. Turn down that light and let us cut you." One of the fates spoke with a raspy tone.
"Yesss~"
Unfortunately, they still couldn't cut the golden string after a few more attempts and could only grumble silently.
———
Back in the ballroom, several more knights and some officials arrived with grim expressions. They were tasked with handling the Kingdom's matters today as the King was already dead, their Queen was still in shock while their Crown Prince had locked himself in his room and obviously, they couldn't ask the youngest Princess Lily, to take care of things as she is still a child.
As for Princess Samantha, the princess seemed to have disappeared completely during the event. No one knows where she went to and even her mother, one of the King's concubine was nowhere to be fohnd.
In short, the mess was left to be handled by the advisors and other high ranking nobles, more specifically, the Grand Duke, Queen Olivia's father.
"Make sure no one speaks about this for a short while, we don't need the entire Kingdom going in an uproar for the loss of their King. Contain the news as much as you can. Make everyone who had witnessed this sign a contract to zip their mouths." The Grand Duke, Albert van Croam, spoke with a cold tone and clenched fists.
He was angry, extremely angry. As someone whose status is only next to the King, Grand Duke Albert was a man with a huge wealth of experience, usually he can keep his composure during high stakes situations like this.
But today is different. His daughter, Olivia could barely even speak. Her mind was still in a shock and it took everyone a great effort to put her to sleep, it was only thanks to Master Elias who had to cast a sleeping magic after several futile attempts from the others.
No doubt about it that his soft spot is his daughter. What kind of a father would a man be if his children don't serve as his only weakness?
'Henry should be the one handling this. He's the Crown Prince and everyone is expecting him to take care of everything. Unfortunately, he was greatly affected by the death of his fat—'
Albert didn't manage to finish that sentence as the door to the ballroom was pushed wide open, gathering everyone's attention.
"Prepare a funeral for my father. In exactly three days, we'll announce the grave news to the entire world. In the meantime, I want this entire place spotless and my father's funeral the grandest it could ever be."
It was Henry, his face looked like it has aged a bit despite only being 18. His hair was unkept yet the tone of his voice sounded more authoritative than usual.
Albert instantly knew what to think of this.
'The boy, no, the man has grown this much in a single day.'
Yet, there was no pity or disappointment in Albert's tone. Rather, his respect towards Henry had grown several levels higher than before.
'This is how a proper King should act. Putting the sake of others, especially his subjects before himself. You would grow into a finer King than your father, Henry.'
"Make sure to preserve my father's body as long as possible. I want him to look just as handsome as when he was alive. Understood?"
Everyone straightened up, even Elsa and the others found themselves submitting to Henry's sudden dominant tone.
"Yes, Your Highness!"
"Good. And where is my mother? Bring me to her."
———
"Leave us be." Henry dismissed the servant who led him to his father's study room. He had an inkling as to why his mother was inside the room.
True to his guess, as soon as he opened the door, there was his mother, lying on the floor with her back turned against him.
He could clearly see a small painted frame of his father being hugged within his mother's arms. It seemed the sleeping spell that Elias cast on her was purposely lifted.
"Mother…" Henry silently gulped his saliva.
She didn't speak.
"Mother are you okay?"
There was still silence. It's like he was talking to a wall.
Henry found a small chair to sit on and waited. He was not going to force his mother to speak to him.
Finally, after almost half an hour of sitting in silence, she finally spoke.
Her voice was raspy and lifeless, "Max didn't even say goodbye before he left…"
Henry felt like a thousand knives directly stabbed his heart all at the same time, "Mother I…I'm sorry…"
Olivia didn't respond to that, "I shouldn't have run away like a coward. I should've stayed with him…"
Henry clenched his fist, "Mother, don't say that."
"Maybe I should've been the one who died—"
"No! Don't speak anymore. All of this is my fault, okay? I-I'm sorry…I'm really sorry, Mom…" Henry bent down, still sitting on his chair, and grabbed his own hair, clutching them and pulling them down to his face.
Thankfully, his mother went silent after that. When Henry looked over her, he realized the reason she stopped was that she had fallen asleep.
'I have to do something. I need to fix this…I'm the only one who can.'
——————————
[Honestly, I wanted to write a dramatically sad chapter that would make readers sob but I'm quite a bit inexperienced so I just wrote what I would feel if I were in Henry's situation. I still think my writing was lacking though.]