CHAPTER 223: TROUBLED LUCAS

Lucas exhaled once, long and steady, then spoke in a voice stripped of any pretense or embellishment.

"Then there’s no alliance," he said at last. His tone was not angry, nor was it desperate. It was calm and even. "If what you say is true, Your Majesty, then forming one now would be like building a house on shifting sand. The first storm would tear it apart."

Beyond the curtain, he saw her silhouette tilt slightly, her head inclining as though in agreement. "Yes," the Empress said, her voice smooth and unyielding. "It is better this way. Your knowledge of space and teleportation..your ’power,’ as you call it...is too valuable to risk. Sharing it now would be a mistake. No matter how noble your intentions, the knowledge could be stolen, corrupted, turned against you. The hands that reach for it may not be the ones you think."

Her words echoed softly through the chamber. There was no judgment in them, only a cool, measured certainty.

Lucas lowered his eyes for a moment, thinking of her warning. He knew she was right. For all his confidence, for all the boldness with which he had walked into this palace, this very possibility had been gnawing at the back of his mind for days. If the darkness had truly infiltrated kingdoms as powerful as Lechia, then who was to say that the moment he shared the knowledge, it wouldn’t slip into the enemy’s hands? It would tilt the balance of power instantly, and maybe irreversibly.

"I understand," he said after a pause, his voice quieter but still firm. "I had hoped that unity might stop what’s coming, but now I see it might only hasten it."

On the other side of the screen, the Empress moved again, her slender silhouette framed by the dim glow of the lamps. "It is not unity that will save us now," she said softly. "It is preparation. Those who survive what’s coming will be those who are careful...those who hold their cards close."

Lucas nodded faintly. He didn’t argue. He didn’t even try to press her again. Something about the certainty in her tone made further persuasion meaningless.

He understood what he had to do....he had relied too much on the hope that others would see what he saw, that others would rally to his cause. But if the empress....powerful, cunning, and perceptive as she was...had already determined that alliance was dangerous, then what could he expect from anyone else?

His mind shifted. He thought of the ladies. Nyx, Selene, Lira. Henrietta, who was already bound to him. They were the only ones who truly knew pieces of him and were bound to him.

He raised his gaze again and spoke simply. "Then I will keep my knowledge. Perhaps the day will come when sharing it is safe...but it isn’t today."

For the first time since their conversation began, the Empress gave a small, approving hum. "Wise," she said softly. "Do not be fooled, Xavier. Not everything I say is meant to frighten you. Some of it is meant to keep you alive."

He gave a small bow. "Then I thank Your Majesty for her honesty."

"Honesty," she repeated with a low, amused laugh. "Another rare thing in these halls."

Lucas straightened again, but inside, his mind had already shifted into a new rhythm. If there would be no alliance, then he would have to fight his war alone...or at least with the few who were truly his. The empress had just confirmed what, deep down, he had already begun to accept.

He could only trust himself.

And the girls bound to him.

She spoke again, her tone softer now, but edged with that same command that carried through everything she said. "You speak with confidence," she said. "And yet I can hear the tremor of inexperience beneath your calm. You remind me of myself when I was young."

Lucas looked at her slightly, curious, though he dared not interrupt.

The Empress continued, her voice slow, her words deliberate. "You see, centuries ago..long before I sat upon this throne, when I was still merely an heir...I too believed that I could change the course of kingdoms. I thought alliances could save the world from falling into ruin. I had faith that reason and unity would prevail. But I was wrong."

Lucas’s brow furrowed faintly. "What happened?"

The Empress gave a quiet, humorless chuckle, though it sounded more like a sigh. "It began just as this does...whispers of darkness spreading through lands thought unshakable. Secret betrayals between rulers. Promises made and broken. And in the end, it escalated into war...vast, bloody, and without purpose. I watched whole realms collapse because their leaders were too naive to see the rot beneath the gold."

Lucas listened in silence, his jaw tightening slightly. Her words carried the weight of someone who had seen far too much.

"I don’t blame you for your nativity," she said, her tone softening slightly, though her voice remained commanding. "You’re still new to this world, aren’t you? The way you speak, the way you look at things...it’s all too... pure. You believe that the truth will convince people, that good intentions will win them over. But the world of crowns and kingdoms does not reward sincerity. It rewards power."

Lucas’s lips parted, but he didn’t respond. He didn’t need to; the truth of what she said struck deep.

The Empress rose slightly behind the curtain, her silhouette tall and graceful. "Still," she continued, "I do not despise you for it. You have courage, and courage is rare. I have seen enough men tremble before me to know when one does not."

Lucas gave a small bow. "Your Majesty’s words are both humbling and heavy."

"Good," she said simply. "Then let them rest on you a while. But know this, if you wish to be trusted, truly trusted, it must be earned, not through speeches or oaths, but through test and survival."

He lifted his gaze slightly. "Test and survival?"

The Empress’s voice grew lower, almost thoughtful. "Yes. You speak of fighting the darkness, of forming alliances, of saving kingdoms. Yet you have not seen what the darkness does to men who think they are ready. I will not take your words on faith. I will test you."

Lucas frowned slightly. "Test me? In what way?"

A faint laugh came from behind the curtain, a sound that made the air itself seem to grow cooler. "If I told you, it wouldn’t be much of a test, would it? No, Lucas. You will not know when it begins, nor where. But it will come, and when it does, I will be watching."

Her words carried a strange, almost playful undertone, though the seriousness beneath them was unmistakable.

Lucas took a slow breath, then nodded. "If that is what it takes for Your Majesty to deem me worthy, then I accept."

The Empress’s silhouette turned away slightly. "You may go now," she said. "I will see you no more today."

Lucas bowed deeply, then straightened, his mind spinning. He turned and began to walk toward the doors.

He found himself wondering what kind of test she meant. Was it political? Magical? A battle? Or something subtler? The uncertainty made him uneasy, though he didn’t show it.

As the doors shut quietly behind him, Lucas exhaled. He had entered the meeting with plans for alliance and diplomacy, but now he left with something else...a sense of being marked.

The Empress had said she would test him.

And Lucas knew, from the chill that still lingered in the air, that whatever the test was, it had already begun.

Lucas walked slowly down the long, marble corridor, his thoughts swirled, tangled between curiosity and unease. The Empress’s words weighed heavily in his mind, but another thought crept in...the fact that she had never once asked him to demonstrate his power.

He frowned slightly, his eyes narrowing as he recalled the meeting in detail. Every person he had encountered since his arrival had shown at least some interest in his unique power. The ability to tear through space itself...to teleport across vast distances....was something most cultivators would kill to witness, let alone possess. Yet the Empress hadn’t even mentioned it. She hadn’t so much as hinted at wanting to see it for herself.

He looked down at his hand and flexed his fingers, as though feeling the pulse of the space energy that lingered faintly in his veins. So she didn’t care? he thought to himself.

"Perhaps it’s not the right time yet," he muttered under his breath. The words came out quiet, but they grounded him. The Empress was not a woman to be read easily. If she hadn’t asked to see his power, it wasn’t because she was uninterested...it was because she was waiting.

Waiting for something.

Lucas exhaled slowly, the realization settling in his chest. Maybe the test she spoke of wasn’t just about strength or survival. Maybe it was about restraint, about whether he could keep his secrets close until the right moment.

He could almost hear her voice in his head again...cold, sharp, and regal. "I will test you. And when it comes, you will not see it."

Lucas’s jaw tightened as he reached the end of the hall where the girls waited for him, their eyes lighting up as he approached. He pushed his thoughts aside for now. Whatever the Empress was planning, whatever game she was playing, he would be ready.