svetikya Chapter 13 Witch
Chapter 13 Witch
Camelot's palace hall was the same as when I left three days ago, yet different.
What remains the same are the towering stone pillars, the hanging flags, and the untidy maps on the round table.
What's different is... there's a letter on the steps in the center of the hall.
The deep purple wax seal bears an unfamiliar emblem: a raven with outstretched wings, holding a broken arrow in its beak.
Arthur bent down to pick up the letter and broke the wax seal.
The letter paper was black, and the handwriting on it was silver-white, as if it were written with magic, carrying a hint of coldness.
Arthur Pendragon:
In the three days you were away, I sent three groups of assassins.
The first group was stopped by your knights, the second group was turned into frogs by a silver-haired woman at the city gate, and the third group... I didn't let them set off.
It's not because I'm afraid of you, but because I want to see for myself what kind of king you really are.
I will come to Camelot in three days, not as an enemy... at least not for now. I want to talk to you.
Let's not talk about the throne, let's not talk about the right of succession, let's talk about something else.
— Morgan LeFee
After reading the letter, Arthur remained silent for a moment.
"Three days later," he repeated softly.
Kai walked in through the side door, his left arm still wrapped in bandages, an injury he sustained three days ago while suppressing bandits.
His expression was somewhat complicated.
"In the days you were away, Morgan's people came very frequently."
I led my men to stop the first group of assassins, but the second group... was stopped by a woman with silver hair.
She said she was your 'friend' and told us to call her Miss Meryl.
Arthur's lips curled into a slight smile: "She is indeed my friend."
"Friends?" Kai raised an eyebrow.
"The woman who turned three knights into frogs and then laughed so hard she almost fell over on the city wall?"
"...It's her."
Kai took a deep breath, as if deciding not to ask any more questions.
"So, what is Morgan going to do?"
"She's coming in three days."
Arthur folded the letter and put it in his pocket.
"What are you planning to do?"
"Wait for her to come."
"that's all?"
"That's it." Arthur walked to the round table and looked at the map of Britain:
"If she's willing to talk, then we'll talk; if she's not willing to talk, then we'll fight. But I hope it's the former."
Kai stared at him for a few seconds.
"You've changed," he said. "These three days... no, those forty days in the Land of Shadows, you've changed."
"Has it gotten better or worse?"
"I don't know." Kai shook his head.
"But the way you look in your eyes when you speak is different. You used to hesitate, but now... you don't."
Arthur did not answer.
He simply sat down at the round table and began to peruse the government reports that had accumulated over the past three days.
Three days later, Morgan arrived as promised.
She entered Camelot alone, riding a black steed, without any attendants or guards.
The knights guarding the city instinctively gripped their weapons tighter.
They recognized the man on the horse.
The witch of Britain, the eldest daughter of King Uther, and Arthur's half-sister.
A legendary woman who can use curses to turn her enemies into skeletons.
But no one dared to stop her.
Because three days ago, Wang gave the order: "When Morgan le Fay arrives, have her come directly to see me."
Morgan dismounted, her black high-heeled boots clicking crisply on the cobblestones.
Her long, silvery-white hair almost glowed in the sunlight, her icy blue eyes coldly swept over the knights around her, and a half-smile played on her lips.
She wore a Gothic-style long dress in black and ice blue, her long legs subtly visible as she walked.
The translucent, wing-shaped sleeves fluttered gently in the wind, like some kind of eerie butterfly wings.
That head of long, silvery-white hair was like a crown.
Cold, arrogant, and unapproachable.
She walked through the courtyard, up the steps, and into the palace gates.
Every step felt like measuring this land.
This land, which should have belonged to her, was taken away by her father and given to that illegitimate child.
Arthur stood in front of the study door, waiting.
He was dressed very simply today, in dark blue casual clothes, without a cape or armor.
The sword in the stone hung at his waist, the sapphire on the hilt shimmering slightly in the sunlight streaming through the window.
Her emerald green eyes calmly watched the figure getting closer and closer at the end of the corridor.
Morgan walked up to him and stopped.
She was half a head shorter than him, but the oppressive aura she exuded made the surrounding air feel heavy.
She raised her head, her icy blue eyes meeting her emerald green ones, as if examining an interesting work of art.
"You're Arthur?" she asked, her voice as cold as ice. "Taller than I imagined, and younger than I imagined..."
"You're Morgan?" Arthur said. "More beautiful than I imagined, and shorter than I imagined..."
Morgan's expression stiffened slightly.
"You..." She took a deep breath, seemingly suppressing some kind of impulse:
"Do you know that the last person who dared to talk to me like that has turned into a frog?"
"I know." Arthur stepped aside and gestured for us to go. "The frog is living well in the pond in the garden. Would you like to go see it?"
Morgan stared at him for three seconds.
Then she smiled.
It wasn't a sneer, nor a mockery, but rather a kind of... dangerous smile, like a cat's smile when it sees its prey.
"Interesting." She stepped into the study. "You're much more interesting than your father."
The study door closed behind the two of them.
Morgan didn't sit down. She stood in front of the bookshelf, her slender fingers gliding over the spines of the books, as if caressing some long-lost memory.
"Some of these books are ones I read when I was a child," she said, her voice softening slightly.
"Back then, I was still living in this castle. My father had people teach me to read, write, and learn magic. I thought he would always treat me like this."
"And then?" Arthur asked calmly, sitting in his chair.
"Then you were born." Morgan turned around, a cold glint in her icy blue eyes. "He stopped looking at me; he only looked at you."
Arthur remained silent for a moment.
"That's not my fault," he said. "And it's not your fault either, it's his fault."
Morgan's brow twitched slightly.
"Are you making excuses for him?"
"No, I'm stating the facts." Arthur leaned forward slightly.
"My father is not a good father. He is not good to you, and he is not good to me either."
He just needed a 'successor,' and I just happened to be the one chosen.
If my older daughter is more outstanding than my younger son, I will definitely choose the older daughter.
Morgan stared at him for a long time.
"Are you trying to please me?" she asked, her tone laced with sarcasm.
"It's not about flattery, it's about stating a fact," Arthur said. "I don't need to flatter you, I just need to understand you."
Morgan walked to the chair opposite him and sat down.
She crossed her legs, and the black skirt slid open, revealing a section of pale calves.
She placed her hands on her knees, her icy blue eyes never leaving Arthur's face.
"What do you know about me?" she asked.
"You hate me because you feel that I stole everything that should have belonged to you."
But you don't want to kill me. If you did, the assassin three days ago wouldn't have just been testing me.
Morgan's lips curled up slightly.
"continue."