"When did you arrive here?"
Selena’s question caught everyone completely off guard.
For a moment, the room fell into an awkward silence as several pairs of eyes shifted between her and William. Considering that the two of them had just fought a battle intense enough to shake the World Tree itself, the question sounded so absurd that nobody knew how to respond.
William, however, simply smiled. "I arrived a few hours ago," he answered casually. "I wanted to accompany Seraphine during her awakening."
His tone was so natural that it almost sounded as though nothing unusual had happened since his arrival. Anyone hearing him speak would have assumed he had spent the day peacefully visiting the palace rather than exchanging devastating attacks with the Elven Empress high above the capital.
Selena nodded slowly.
"Oh." A moment later, her eyes wandered around the devastated study.
Broken furniture lay scattered across the room. Cracks spread across the floor and walls. Several sections of the ceiling were missing entirely, allowing sunlight to stream through the massive opening overhead.
An embarrassed smile appeared on her face.
"Well... I am sorry you had to see this mess."
William chuckled lightly. "It is alright."
"William!" Seraphine suddenly raised her voice. The frustration she had been trying to suppress finally surfaced. She looked back and forth between the two of them before speaking again.
"What is happening?"
Her voice carried genuine confusion. To be honest, she was not the only one.
Kara, Leila, and Katherine were equally bewildered by the situation unfolding before them. The woman who had nearly turned half the surrounding landscape upside down in an attempt to attack William was now calmly apologizing to him for the state of the room.
Nothing about this situation made sense.
Suddenly, Katherine’s eyes widened. A memory surfaced in her mind.
She remembered the moment when William had appeared behind Selena and placed both hands on her temples before using his strange abilities.
Katherine immediately pointed toward him. "Wait a minute."
Everyone turned toward her as her expression grew increasingly suspicious.
"Did he just erase her memories?" The moment those words left her mouth, Kara and Leila both gasped.
Seraphine’s eyes widened. Then she immediately turned toward Katherine.
"Shut up, Katherine!" Her voice echoed throughout the room.
"William would never do that."
Katherine instinctively shrank back under the force of Seraphine’s reaction.
Meanwhile, Selena’s expression became increasingly alert as she listened to the conversation. She reached out and grabbed Seraphine by the shoulders.
"Sera, honey, what is going on here?" she asked. The concern in her voice appeared completely genuine.
Seraphine stared at her mother in disbelief. "Mom, are you seriously saying you don’t remember anything?"
She paused before narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Or are you just trying to mess with me?"
Selena immediately shook her head. "Sera, I genuinely have no idea what you are talking about." Her tone carried a mixture of confusion and irritation. The more everyone reacted, the less she understood.
Seraphine looked at her for several long seconds. Then she covered her face with one hand.
"Oh, my God." Her voice was filled with exhaustion.
"Mom..." She looked upward as though searching for patience from the heavens themselves.
"Oh, my God." She repeated the words before turning away in frustration. At this point, she no longer knew whether to laugh, cry, or scream.
Selena watched her daughter walk away from her with complete bewilderment. Since Seraphine was clearly unwilling to explain anything properly, she turned toward Leila instead.
"Leila, can you tell me what happened?" Leila immediately became nervous.
She glanced between William and Selena before answering.
"Well..." She hesitated for a moment.
"When we arrived, we saw you and William fighting in the sky."
Selena blinked. Leila pointed toward the surrounding destruction.
"And all of this happened because of that battle."
For several seconds, Selena simply stared at her. Then her eyes widened. "What?" The disbelief in her voice was impossible to hide.
The statement sounded so ridiculous to her that she instinctively turned toward William, as though hoping he would deny it.
Surely there had to be some misunderstanding.
Unfortunately, before anybody could continue the discussion, a cry suddenly echoed throughout the sky. "Protect the Empress!"
The voice carried immense authority. Everyone immediately looked upward.
Dozens of figures were rapidly approaching the palace. Then dozens became hundreds.
Powerful auras filled the sky as high-ranking elven cultivators, nobles, ministers, and military officials arrived from every direction. Within moments, they surrounded the entire area.
At the front of the group floated a mature, middle-aged-looking elf with a powerful aura. His hair was silver and neatly combed, while his sharp eyes carried years of political experience and authority. He was Logan Sernora.
The Prime Minister of the Elven Empire.
The father of Arwen Sernora.
Logan’s face was filled with righteous fury as he pointed his sword directly toward William. "Impudent scum!"
His voice boomed throughout the area. "How dare you attack Her Majesty!"
The sword in his hand trembled with energy. "Do you have a death wish?"
The cultivators behind him immediately echoed his outrage. Many of them began drawing weapons and gathering mana.
The atmosphere rapidly became tense.
Selena immediately stepped forward. "Logan, wait. It is not what you think."
She raised her hand in an attempt to stop the situation. "There must be some misunderstanding."
Unfortunately, Logan completely ignored her explanation. Instead, he released a confident laugh.
"Do not worry, Your Majesty." His expression was filled with certainty. "I know exactly what is happening."
Selena frowned. Logan continued speaking.
"You wanted this pest removed from your daughter’s life." He pointed his sword toward William again.
"And as I promised, I will help you accomplish that." The confidence in his voice was so absolute that Selena almost forgot her own confusion.
She stared at him. "Wait a minute."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "When exactly did I ever say that?"
For the first time, Logan looked genuinely surprised. A brief flash of uncertainty appeared in his eyes.
However, it vanished almost immediately.
Then his expression became even more dramatic than before.
"Oh no!"
He pointed accusingly toward William. "This scoundrel has somehow gotten the Empress under his control!"
The surrounding crowd erupted into alarm. Logan raised his sword high into the air.
"Attack!" His voice thundered across the palace grounds.