Chapter 407:What is happening?
Lilith looked toward him.
"What?"
Zelpher hesitated. Atheline had never seen him look so tired.
"The latest reports arrived."
Something about his tone changed the atmosphere immediately. Simion looked toward him.
"From where?"
"Everywhere." Zelpher placed several documents on the table. ,"The number of corrupted has exceeded our previous estimates."
Nobody spoke.
"By how much?"
Zelpher looked toward Lilith.
"We don’t know anymore."
Her expression hardened.
"What does that mean?"
"It means there are too many outbreaks happening simultaneously for our scouts to maintain accurate numbers."
He opened one document.
"The western settlements reported three new hordes."
Another.
"Two more villages disappeared in the south."
Another.
"The corrupted creatures near the High Elven border have increased again."
Another.
"And the ocean reports are worse."
Simion rubbed his forehead.
"How much worse?"
"Enough that several coastal settlements are evacuating."
The throne room became completely silent. Atheline watched Lilith but she said nothing. Zelpher looked down at the final document.
"And there’s something else."
Lilith’s eyes narrowed.
"Say it."
"The blame has fully fallen on us."
Atheline frowned.
Simion closed his eyes. Lilith simply stared.
"Explain."
Zelpher swallowed.
"The rumours have spread beyond the Human kingdoms."
"What rumours?"
"That the Dark Elves caused the corruption."
A councillor immediately struck the table.
"Absurd!"
Another stood.
"Based on what?"
"Nothing!"
Zelpher shook his head.
"Not nothing."
The councillors looked toward him.
"There is a reason people believe it."
Lilith’s voice became quiet.
"What reason?"
Zelpher hesitated, then spoke.
"The Harbinger of Death."
Atheline froze. The room went silent.
Zelpher continued.
"Stories about the ancient Sovereign of Death have spread. Different kingdoms call him different names, but the title being repeated most often is the Harbinger of Death."
Atheline stared at him.
The Sovereign of Death; the same ancient being whose corruption had nearly destroyed the old world.
Zelpher looked toward Lilith.
"The stories say he was a Dark Elf."
Lilith’s expression slowly changed. Atheline immediately understood where this was going.
Zelpher continued reluctantly.
"They’re saying the corruption originated from Dark Elven power."
Simion shook his head.
"That’s not even historically accurate."
"It doesn’t matter." Zelpher looked toward him. "People don’t care whether it’s accurate."
He turned back toward Lilith.
"They know the Sovereign of Death used darkness."
Lilith’s eyes narrowed.
"He didn’t."
Zelpher nodded.
"The Sovereign of Death used corruption."
"Yes your Majesty."
"Then how exactly have those two things become the same?"
Zelpher didn’t answer immediately. Atheline already knew.
Fear.
This was an incomplete history. Two ancient figures remembered through fragmented stories. And one modern Dark Elf Queen famous for wielding darkness.
Zelpher finally spoke.
"Most people don’t know the difference anymore."
Lilith stared at him.
"You’re serious."
"Yes."
"The records exist."
"Not everywhere."
"The temples know."
"Some do."
"The High Elves know."
"Some of them."
Lilith’s expression became increasingly incredulous.
Zelpher sighed.
"Your Majesty, most ordinary people don’t study ancient history. They hear that the Sovereign of Death was a Dark Elf. They hear that corruption destroyed the old world. They hear that darkness was involved. Then they look at you."
Lilith became completely still.
Atheline’s jaw tightened. Zelpher continued carefully.
"You are the most powerful Dark Elf alive. You manipulate darkness." His voice became quieter. "You’ve demonstrated that power publicly."
Simion looked away.
"And now," Zelpher continued, "corruption is spreading across every continent."
Lilith stared at him.
"So they think I’m causing it."
"Some do."
"Some?"
Zelpher’s expression told her everything. Lilith’s smile disappeared.
"How many?"
"We don’t know."
"Zelpher."
"A lot."
Silence filled the room. Zelpher looked exhausted.
"The story has changed dozens of times. Some say you’re the reincarnation of the Harbinger of Death. Some say you’ve inherited his power. Some say the Dark Elven royal family has been hiding the source of corruption since the Cataclysm."
Atheline’s hands curled into fists.
"And people believe this?" Lilith asked.
Zelpher laughed bitterly.
"They’re scared."
Simion looked toward her.
"That’s why we cannot attack."
Lilith didn’t respond.
Simion stepped forward.
"Do you understand now? If our army crosses the border first, none of the truth will matter. The rumours will become history."
Lilith’s expression became cold.
Zelpher added quietly.
"And the other species are preparing for a siege."
That sentence changed everything. Lilith slowly looked toward him.
"All of them?"
"We’ve confirmed forces from multiple kingdoms."
"High Elves?"
Zelpher hesitated.
"Yes."
Atheline’s chest tightened.
"Humans?"
"Yes."
"Beastmen?"
"Yes."
"Demons?"
"We haven’t confirmed their full involvement."
Lilith turned away.
The throne room remained silent.
Atheline watched her. He wanted to reach her, tell her this wasn’t real, tell her she wasn’t alone, and tell her he was standing right there.
But when he tried to touch her shoulder, his hand passed through her.
Lilith looked toward the broken window. Outside, dark smoke rose somewhere beyond the capital.
Simion spoke quietly.
"Your Majesty."
Lilith didn’t turn.
"We still have time."
"Do we?"
"Yes."
"You actually believe that?"
"I have to."
Lilith was silent. Then she looked around the ruined throne room. At the empty places where councillors should have stood.
At Zelpher, who looked as though he hadn’t slept properly in weeks. At Simion, whose body carried wounds from battles Atheline knew nothing about.
At the maps covered in marks representing enemies and corrupted outbreaks. At the kingdom apparently collapsing around her.
And then Lilith laughed. It began quietly, a single breath of disbelief, then another.
Zelpher looked worried.
"Your Majesty?"
Lilith covered her face with one hand as her shoulders shook.
Atheline stared at her.
The laughter grew louder, filled with complete disbelief at the absurdity of everything surrounding her.
Eventually, she lowered her hand. Her eyes were colder than before.
"They think I’m the Harbinger of Death?"
Nobody answered.
Lilith laughed again.
"They think my darkness is the same thing as corruption?"
Silence.
"And now every species in the world is preparing to surround my kingdom because someone decided that two completely different Sovereigns were apparently the same person?"
Simion opened his mouth. Lilith laughed before he could speak.
"What an absolutely ridiculous world."
Atheline stood several steps away from her. And as her laughter echoed through the broken throne room, one thought settled heavily inside his mind.
This wasn’t simply a memory, it couldn’t be. Because none of this had happened.
.
.
.
Lilith’s laughter slowly died.
The throne room became painfully quiet afterward, with no one seeming willing to be the first person to speak. Atheline stood near the shattered council table and watched her carefully, disturbed less by the anger on her face than by the exhaustion underneath it.
This Lilith looked as though she had been forced to endure one loss after another until anger had become the only thing keeping her standing.
She looked across the councillors.
"If they’ve already decided we’re responsible, then I don’t care anymore."
Simion’s expression changed immediately.
"Lilith."
"I don’t care what the Humans think. I don’t care what the Beastmen think. I don’t care what the Dwarves think, and I certainly don’t care what the High Elves think."
"You need to care."
"Why?"
"Because you’re their Queen."
"I’m the Queen of the Dark Elves."
Lilith descended the remaining steps from the throne and walked toward the table, her damaged armour making a quiet metallic sound with every movement.
"My responsibility is to my people. If the rest of the world has already decided that my people deserve to die because of rumours they were too frightened to question, then why should I continue begging them to believe otherwise?"
"No one is asking you to beg."
"That’s exactly what you’re asking."
Simion shook his head.
"I’m asking you to wait."
"For what?"
"For diplomacy to work."
Lilith smiled coldly.
"You’re still saying that?"
"Because starting a war with almost every major power in the world is madness."
"Perhaps."
"Lilith..."
"But if they’re already coming, then the war has started. We’re simply the only ones pretending it hasn’t."
Simion planted both hands on the table.
"Preparing an army isn’t the same as declaring war!"
"Tell that to the soldiers they’ve placed near our borders."
"They’re afraid!"
"And I’m supposed to make myself weaker so frightened people feel better?"
"No. You’re supposed to avoid proving everything they’re saying about you."
Lilith stared at him for several seconds, then her gaze moved toward one of the maps.
"The High Elves broke the alliance."
Atheline stiffened.
Simion’s expression became complicated. Lilith continued.
"That should have told us everything; it told us that relations collapsed. It told us they’re snakes."
Several people in the chamber shifted uncomfortably.
Atheline frowned.
The alliance?
What alliance?
The relationship between the Dark Elves and High Elves wasn’t perfect in the world he knew, but it had improved significantly. His marriage to Lilith had contributed to that, as had the cooperation surrounding the corruption.
Yet the way this Lilith spoke made it sound as though an alliance had once existed and then catastrophically failed.
Simion sighed.
"You know why the alliance ended."
Lilith looked toward him.
"Do I?"
"Yes."
"Then enlighten me."
Simion hesitated.
"You killed the High Elf you married."
Atheline froze. Gor several seconds, he genuinely believed he’d misheard him.
Lilith’s expression barely changed.
Atheline looked from Simion to her.
The High Elf she married?
His mind immediately supplied an answer.
Him.
But that couldn’t be right.
He was standing here.
Or rather... what had happened in the book. He had completely thrown that to the back of his mind.
Atheline’s thoughts accelerated.
Lilith laughed quietly.
"Is that what they’re still telling everyone?"
"You did kill him."
"After he betrayed me."
"That doesn’t change what happened."
Lilith stepped toward Simion.
"He was my husband."