Chapter 596: Conditions for Exchanging Power 490_2
"I am sorry... Mother... It’s all my fault... It’s all my fault..."
Tristan still lay there, trembling and repenting, looking particularly pitiable.
Beryl watched such a Tristan, with emotions that were a mix of pity and mockery in her eyes, but even more so an indifference that others could not perceive.
"It seems I need to replan everything," Beryl mused.
...
On the other side, after leaving the room, Reiger did not wander about as before but went straight in one direction.
That direction was where the Jade Throne Hall was located.
Today, Reiger finally stopped ignoring the existence of the Jade Throne Hall, or rather the presence of Morgan, and headed straight for it.
As if anticipating this, Morgan, before Reiger arrived at the great doors of the Jade Throne Hall, commanded two centaur-like fairies to approach.
"Her Majesty has ordered that if the prince arrives, he need not be announced and may proceed directly to the Jade Throne for an audience," they said.
"Please, Prince, enter the Jade Throne Hall," they added.
With these two fairy soldiers’ respectful notification, the great doors of the Jade Throne Hall slowly opened.
Reiger paid no attention to the two fairy soldiers and, seeing the door open, stepped forward and entered.
The magic-infused throne came into Reiger’s view once more after several days, including the queen seated upon it.
However, the queen did not turn around but was gazing outside, through the wall’s emptiness, her eyes cast toward the outside of the large cave, pondering unknown thoughts.
Reiger, too, did not care but took no notice of the cold aura and oppressive sensation emanating from Morgan, directly ascending to the throne to sit down upon it.
This action would be seen as highly disrespectful by anyone else, even Gawain, who had been talking with Reiger quite happily these past few days, would have scolded him for such irreverence.
Of course, if it were anyone else, they might have been blasted by Morgan before reaching the throne.
But the person in question was Reiger, whom Morgan chose to ignore, slowly withdrawing her gaze to turn toward him.
"She’s not a bad child," Morgan began.
"She just desires my attention too much," Morgan explained, albeit cryptically. But, piecing together the events before and after, one could guess to whom she referred.
Who else could it be but Tristan, whose real name was Bawan Xi?
But—
"You needn’t tell me these things," Reiger said indifferently. "Whether she is good or bad has little to do with me, doesn’t it?"
"It used to," Morgan replied, her crimson lips parting slightly, her voice still indifferent but with a hint of a change in emotion, suggesting, "In the future, that may not be the case."
Reiger immediately looked towards Morgan.
"You can’t seriously be considering making her acknowledge me as her father, can you?" Reiger said, tinged with sarcasm. "Forget it, even if it were possible, she would only do it by the command of you, her most important mother, and would never truly accept it in her heart."
"That’s fine," Morgan seemingly regained her usual demeanor, and like Reiger, spoke indifferently, "The child is purer than you think. Given time, she will naturally come to rely on you unconsciously."
"That is the essence of Bawan Xi."
"She cannot live a life without depending on someone."
These words only brought one sentence in response from Reiger.
"Like how she’s now taken with Beryl Gate?"
Hearing this, Morgan fell silent.
Reiger spoke carelessly, "Don’t blame me for not warning you. That man is dangerous. If you truly care about your foster daughter, it would be better not to let her continue to associate with him."
"...I understand," Morgan was silent for a while before speaking, "Even though he is my accomplice, I will heed your advice."
Having said this, Morgan changed the subject.
"By now, you should have almost figured out the nature of the ’Oath Stake,’ right?"
Morgan’s shift in topic was clumsy, obviously a deliberate attempt to avoid discussing Beryl.
Reiger looked deeply at Morgan, not pointing out the fact that she had changed the subject, and continued as if he had said all that was to be said, following along with the topic Morgan brought up.
"About that," Reiger said, glancing at his own back, recalling the skill "Oath Stake."
...
"Oath Stake"
· Fairy’s Blessing.
· Restricted to just one person, extraordinary power boost when facing an enemy together.
· Restricted to just one person, powers will not work on each other if they become enemies.
· Restricted to just one person, able to exchange powers and conditions mutually.
· Restricted to just one person, upon meeting the condition "death," inheritance occurs immediately.
...
After recalling the effects of "Oath Stake," Reiger lifted his eyes.
"Even though I still don’t know what use your blessing will be to me, if I haven’t guessed wrong, after you’ve planted this ’stake,’ we are essentially bound by a very special contract that can trigger certain effects under specific circumstances," he said.
"For instance, when we join forces against an enemy, whether it be you or me, our strengths will substantially increase."
"Another example, when I become your enemy, my power will fail, and the same goes for you. Once you become my enemy, you will lose your power."
· Restricted to just one person, extraordinary power boost when facing an enemy together.
· Restricted to just one person, powers will not work on each other if they become enemies.
These were two rather obvious effects.
Thus, even without pondering too deeply, Reiger could discern the purpose of these two effects from their literal meanings.
The latter two effects were less clear.
· Restricted to just one person, able to exchange powers and conditions mutually.
· Restricted to just one person, upon meeting the condition "death," inheritance occurs immediately.
Reiger hadn’t figured out these two effects, nor had he understood them completely. However, combining what Morgan had said earlier and the current situation, Reiger had some speculation about the function of the former effect.
"Under the influence of the ’stake,’ we can exchange our powers with each other after fulfilling certain conditions, right?" Reiger calmly pointed out, prompting a faint smile on Morgan’s lips as she watched him.
"For example?" she asked.
"Like, you could propose a ’condition’ or ’request’ to me, and as long as I fulfill this ’condition’ or ’request,’ then I can obtain a certain power from you," Reiger said, meeting Morgan’s gaze.
"You also mentioned earlier that you don’t want me to leave Camelot. That was the first ’condition’ you proposed to me, right? This ’condition’ refers to the requirement needed to exchange powers, doesn’t it?"
Reiger’s guess received an accurate answer from Morgan.
"It’s somewhat one-sided, but essentially what you said," Morgan quietly said with either delight or complexity, "what I can add is that, at the same time a ’condition’ is proposed, the one proposing it actually can already decide what power to exchange with the other party."
"And when the power being given by the one paying is far more precious than the ’condition’ itself, the ’condition’ will have a certain degree of compulsion, depending on the situation."
"In other words, when I propose a ’condition’ and decide what power to grant you, if the power set to be given to you is too significant and valuable, making the ’condition’ you must fulfill overly simple, then that ’condition’ will carry a very high degree of compulsion."
"Now, you are in the state where you must fulfill this ’condition.’
After all, the ’condition’ Morgan put forward was merely that Reiger should not leave Camelot before the wedding was over.
Such a ’condition’ was indeed too simple.
Yet she was prepared to give Reiger a power that was exceedingly precious and powerful.
That’s why Reiger was constrained by this ’condition,’ not able to leave Camelot before the wedding concluded.