Chapter 226: Ch 225: Close Betrayal

"What is going on here? What are these loud noises...? Adrian? What are you doing here?"

Kana asked in a shocked voice as she walked over to where they were fighting. Her shock quickly faded as Adrian put his sword back down and let out a sigh.

"Don’t worry about it. We were just having a disagreement. But I need to talk to you. It is regarding our engagement and the future treaty between our territories."

Adrian quickly calmed his expression and looked at Kana. His intention was clear—he needed to talk to her.

But Kana looked hesitant and not ready to talk. She kept looking around for a way out of the situation. But ultimately, she realized that there was no way out, and she sighed before nodding to them.

"Please come with me. We can have a small talk about this situation. However, do you truly believe our relationship will remain the same after what happened?"

Kana’s tone was cold, and Kael did not recall her ever being like this, even in his memories.

To him, she had always been a gentle and kind person, incapable of being angry. And his brother seemed to think the same because he looked taken aback by her sudden change.

Kana noticed this and quickly forced herself to wear her cheerful mask.

"Please forgive me for my harshness. The current situation is a little stressful for me. But I promise I will bounce back as soon as I can."

Kana promised before she welcomed them inside. Kael hesitated before walking in behind her, but his instincts were telling him not to trust Kana. And Kael was going to listen to them.

The elf led them to a beautiful guest hall with high tables and ancient furniture, and they took their seats. Adrian waited a few seconds before he finally spoke up.

"Kana, we should discuss our future. Even if this marriage needs to be called off, I would still like to maintain friendly relations with this territory. Don’t you want to do the same?"

He asked, and Kana let out a sigh before nodding.

"You are right. Most of our needs are met by the traders that bring goods through your territory. Lowering taxes on those imports would make it easier for us to survive and thrive. But I doubt this is what you are here for."

Kana gave Adrian a blank stare, telling him to get to the point. But instead of Adrian, Seraphina decided to step forward and speak up.

"You are right! Let’s get to the real issue at hand. The corruption...what are you going to do about it?"

Seraphina decided to ask outright while everyone else was dancing around the topic. She refused to be silenced, and now the decision was up to Kana.

The elf initially looked taken aback by the question and gave Seraphina a strange look before laughing. But then she realized that Seraphina was serious, and all traces of amusement disappeared from her face.

Instead, her eyes became guarded.

"What can I say about it? You already know that it is integrated into our very being at this point. If you try to remove it, then we will all die. So I would like to ask you to turn a blind eye-"

"Do you think that’s possible? Honestly, we are out of options here, and you only have two. Do you want to guess what they are?"

Seraphina was making a threat, but no one stopped her. She was the legal representative of the temple, and this was her duty.

"So, we can either cooperate and wait to be tortured...or we can all be obliterated. Then, I will choose a third option."

Kana’s smile widened, and Kael had a bad feeling about it. His magic instantly reacted to the change in his surroundings, creating a shield around him, but the others were not that lucky.

"Seraphina, Leon-"

The two were knocked out instantly by the sleeping gas that had started to fill the area.

As strong as Seraphina and Leon were, they mostly relied on divine magic to protect them. And it did its job for the most part...but only against other powers.

It had no effect on natural phenomena like sleeping gas. But Kael’s magic was different.

"Tsk, so you two managed to avoid falling asleep, huh? Not that it matters. You have been here long enough to be affected by the other things in the air. Can’t you feel your body weakening?"

Kana asked, and Kael felt his arm shaking as he tried to keep his barrier up.

Unfortunately, his magic had warned him too late, and Kael had already fallen into a trap. He had not even realized it until now because there had been no hostile intent behind it.

"Kana, is this what you want?"

Adrian asked in a calm voice. Kael could not read what kind of expression his brother was making, but it must not have been a good one because Kana just sighed and flinched.

"Sorry, even if this is not what I personally want, this is the path I will choose. For the sake of our species’ survival, we need to do this."

Kana truly seemed to believe this, and Adrian fell quiet. He was thinking about something, and Kael had a bad feeling about it.

"Adrian..."

Kael whispered as a warning, but his eldest brother sighed and put his sword away. His voice was resolute when he spoke his next words.

"I see. In that case, I would like to join your cause. I don’t really care about this world, and I also made a promise to you when we signed that contract. I would like to fulfill it now."

Kael had a lot of questions and thoughts about this, but his mind felt blank at the moment. Only one thought ran through his head as he heard his brother say those words.

’Adrian, what the fuck-’

And then, Kael was knocked out by Adrian. He never saw his brother coming, and silence filled the room once more.