Rex clasped his hands on the table and observed Flunra and Kyran closely.
None of them made a move when the question was thrown, but it was Flunra who broke the stillness, his gaze, subtly shifting towards Kyran. Seeing Flunra's micro gesture—Rex turned his attention to Kyran, squinting his eyes.
From the small exchange, he now confirmed that it wasn't merely his senses deceiving him.
"Is there something that I need to know, Kyran?" Rex asked lightly.
Upon hearing this, Flunra could only sigh as he already knew that this was to be trouble.
But as opposed to what Flunra expected, Kyran doesn't seem to be worried.
As the tension continued—a couple of humans, Awakened humans dressed in a maid uniform stepped inside the room with trays of luxurious food. Knowing that Rex—and the others lived most of their lives inside the human territory, Sebrof made a kind gesture.
He assigned these maids to tend to the needs of the castle.
Naturally, their positions are temporary, at least until trusted individuals can replace them.
Keeping their eyes lowered—the maid puts the food on the tables—ignoring the tension that was coming from the eye contact between Rex, and Kyran. It took only a moment before the maid left the premises, and Kyran leaned back on his chair.
"Something you need to know? No, I don't think so," Kyran replied nonchalantly.
At that point, Flunra looked at him with a frown.
"Kyran, what do you mean by that?" He intervened, confused as to what Kyran was doing.
Previously, he knew that Kyran was doing something discreet—and even though he pressed Kyran about it, he didn't gain anything. Now, with Rex posing the question, he expected that Kyran would disclose the secret, but it didn't play out like that.
However, it was then that Flunra heard something shocking.
"Oh, is that so...? Alright then,"
Instead of pressing the obvious matters, Rex instead waved the subject and began eating.
Similarly, Kyran also began eating the food as the tension was instantly gone.
His underwhelming reaction was extremely puzzling.
Considering that Kyran was the troublemaker before he changed, this was not expected.
Flunra was flabbergasted at the sight of the two—Kyran was definitely hiding something, and yet Rex didn't seem to mind about it. 'It's almost as if, these two made an agreement that I, or the others weren't aware of. No, I'm sure something happened between them,'
That is the only conclusion Flunra could think of, and the most probably too.
Meanwhile, Kyran looked at the steak in front of him as his mind traversed back in time.
———
"Kyran, come with me,"
As Rex finished declaring his decision for the Human Army's fate, he called Kyran to the side.
Despite his underwhelming reaction, Kyran was surprised that he had been called inside.
Even then, he knew that it must be something important.
Moving quite far away from the others where there were no people around, Rex stopped with his back against Kyran. Following that—Kyran noticed a barrier was formed around them that muffled the noises in the background.
Kyran began to be curious, but he remained silent and waited for Rex to start.
It took a solid half a minute before the conversation began.
"You've matured after your deep slumber, I'm pleasantly surprised," Rex commended.
Upon hearing this, Kyran nodded firmly.
He felt good about the praise—but maintained a reserved demeanor as it was still uncertain where this talk between them—was going to go, "Time within the Ice and Snow Moon realm was distorted. In there, I was forced to become a gladiator to entertain Iseldra. Physically, it spanned years, but the true journey was within my mind,"
Judging from those criteria, Kyran now understands why he was chosen.
Even though it was not as Kyran initially expected—the fact that he was chosen by Rex, was enough to amply motivate him. Being the troublemakers in the past, the only way that Kyran could redeem himself was through being useful.
And Rex gave the outlet for him to do exactly that.
"If you don't mind me asking, where did this all come from?" Kyran couldn't help but ask.
Observing Rex's intense face, all of this must come from something that triggered him.
One that he could deal with, now that the battle was over.
Looking over to Evelyn in the distance who was stealing glances at them—Rex rehearsed his composure before he replied, "After the evolution of my view, I transcend all hatred that was lingering inside me towards the Supernaturals—but that doesn't mean they would gain more favor from me. Anyone who threatened me and mine will need to be repaid in full"
"Are you aware of what happened to Evelyn at the Dark Elf Kingdom...?" He eventually asked.
Moments before when he was contemplating, he was met with several notifications.
Now that he had defeated the Fifthborn and effectively completed the System Relaying Bet quest—there were a couple of postponed notifications that appeared. One of them was the fact that Evelyn sustained damage while he was away.
Rex thought that it was the notification prompted during the earlier fight.
Clearly, Evelyn was severely wounded because of the Chaos Nova.
But the notification that alerted him that the Luna was nearing death was a separate one, the one that notified him of a slight damage, came from days ago. Since he was with Calidora—it must've happened when he was not around.
He thought that it was recently during the earlier fight, but it came from days ago.
Since Evelyn and the others came with the reinforcements, Rex could guess where she was.
Adhara dealt with the Dwarves and Tigerman, so naturally, Evelyn dealt with the Dark Elves.
"Is this about the scratch she sustained?" Kyran asked.
Recalling the moment he picked Evelyn from the Dark Elf's kingdom, to bring her back to the castle by Rex's directive, Kyran noticed that the Dark Elves exhibited extreme unease. It was almost as if they were nervous about being caught in something.
Kyran thought nothing of that earlier, but now it became as clear as clear water.
Seems like the Dark Elves caused the scratch.
Upon hearing this—Rex nodded, "A matter like that is smaller than the ones I'm dealing with, but nevertheless, I wanted it to be done. I would leave it all to you on how you would punish them, I'm sure you could exact it appropriately,"
"An attack on Evelyn is a breach of the alliance agreement, and the punishment can't be soft"
Laying a hand on Evelyn is the ultimate mistake.
Even though Rex wasn't a Werewolf who regarded the traditional hierarchical norm, the kind of mistake committed against Evelyn, who was the Luna was nothing to scoff at. He couldn't fathom that despite everything he did for the allied nations, they remained unsafe for Evelyn to tread upon.
Such a thing shouldn't be happening in friendly territory.
Kyran's eyes flashed fiercely as the same devilish smile played on his lips.
Countless dark thoughts swirled inside his mind as he was ready to exact the punishment.
"So this is what you meant," He mused. "Then I'll take that responsibility, leave it to me"
Rex nodded in confirmation—observing Kyran's excitement over his brand-new role. Finding solace, in Kyran's enthusiasm—Rex spoke reassuringly, "Good—I have high expectations for you. If you manage the situation smoothly, then there's no need to report back to me,"
"I'll trust you," He added before he signaled Kyran to go back to the others.
———
'Dealing with the Dark Elves will come after the coronation,' Kyran pondered as he took a big bite of his steak. 'But doing nothing to them at the coronation—to show that they are not off the leash is a must. Hmm... I think I know how,'
Gaining insight into the taster he's going to give the Dark Elves, Kyran's smile widened.
If not for him trying to be composed, his devilish smirk would been exposed by now.