For a long while, an eerie silence settled over the entire space. At last, Julius could hold back no longer and slowly lifted his head.
His gaze met those blue-green eyes across from him, and in that instant, an indescribable unease rose in his chest.
It felt as though he had been seen through completely, as if everything about him, body and soul alike, had nowhere to hide beneath that gaze.
A chill crept through Julius. He had never endured such naked scrutiny before, and it left him deeply uncomfortable.
What confused him even more was the sense of waiting in Nolan's eyes. It was as if Nolan was not speaking to Julius at all, but waiting for someone else to appear.
That feeling was not baseless. That naked gaze did not care what he thought, and the more Julius dwelled on it, the stranger it became.
"So you noticed…"
Just as Julius was about to ask Nolan for his decision, a sudden voice interrupted his thoughts.
It was a woman's voice, yet it came from his own mouth, low and melodious, carrying a faint trace of surprise.
"How did you find me?" 'Julius' asked softly, then began to pace as if thinking it over.
"When one person is looking at me, yet it feels like two people are watching, that isn't exactly common, Your Majesty," Nolan said with a faint smile.
The moment he spoke, a commotion broke out across the hall.
Every gaze snapped toward Julius. The maids drew daggers from their thighs and swiftly shielded Nolan behind them, as if facing a deadly enemy.
Julius's eyes widened. He understood why they had reacted that way, and that was exactly why he found it so unbelievable.
A moment ago, Julius's face had been as still as stagnant water, without the slightest ripple.
Then, in an instant, his expression seemed to be torn open by an invisible hand. Shock, fear, and wariness surged across his face like a breached flood.
His lips began trembling uncontrollably, parting and closing as if he wanted to say something in his own defense, but a vast terror swallowed him whole and left him unable to make a sound.
Yet at the very moment his mind stretched taut, a will that seemed to bring all things to ruin descended upon him without warning.
His body had no power to resist. His eyes and mouth were forced shut.
A breath later, Julius's eyelids slowly opened again, and his pitch-black eyes shone with a blue-violet glow like the dim light of dusk.
"Heh…"
With that soft laugh, Julius's voice changed as well.
The deep, magnetic voice from before became drifting and elusive, filled with a seductive charm, yet carrying a cold, shadowed undertone.
"So you trusted a so-called feeling?" 'Julius' sounded surprised, though even more detached. "I simply did not expect you to know of my existence."
"Then, as a failure of the previous era, should I feel grateful to have been remembered by a newly risen Lord upon whom all people have placed their hopes?"
"No wonder you hesitated. The child beside you, and the spirit girl hiding in the dark and watching, both carry that woman's aura. She truly spared no expense."
She looked at Nolan from beyond the wall of maids, the faintest smile curving her lips, while mockery lay hidden in those night-colored eyes.
"Marika's greed has not changed. She wants everything, and whatever she wants, she will obtain no matter the cost."
That much was true.
Nolan nodded in deep agreement. She was someone who could even sell herself out. He certainly did not believe Marika had played out that dream romance with him out of "love."
"Child? Who is she talking about!?" Trina asked through gritted teeth, only for Nolan to press a hand down on her head. Some questions, the moment they were asked, already revealed the answer in the asker's heart.
Amid a flicker of blue motes of light, Melina's figure gradually appeared. She stood there quietly without saying a word.
Melina certainly did not think that "child" referred to her.
After all, with her standing beside Trina, anyone could tell at a glance who looked more like a child.
But when she saw the Godskin Apostle whose bearing had changed so drastically, a strange, indescribable feeling surged within her.
Especially in her tightly closed left eye. An inexplicable impulse stirred in the socket, as if something were desperately trying to break through the sealed eyelid and burst out.
Everyone around her seemed to recognize the person borrowing the Godskin Apostle's body. Melina did not know her now, but she knew there was a connection between them.
"No need to be nervous," Nolan said calmly from within the crowd, addressing the battle maids in front of him.
"If she wanted to make an enemy of me, she should be charging at me with a Blackflame Claymore, the way she once hunted ancient gods."
"Not standing there chatting with me like this. Stalling for time is meaningless to her, and it certainly will not bring me death or grant her victory."
The Queen of the Gloam-Eyes, who wielded "Destined Death," commanded the Godskin Apostles and Godskin Nobles to hunt countless deities, and contested Marika's path to godhood for thousands of years, truly was not quite dead yet.
"Very confident," 'Julius' said.
"I'm only stating a fact. Maliketh guards Death, and you are nothing more than his defeated foe. Tell me, how much time do you need before you can reclaim the power that belongs to you?"
Nolan's retort was merciless.
An ancient Empyrean who had lost her power. Even Trina might not need to fear her, much less Nolan.
Faced with Nolan's question, the Queen fell silent, apparently with no intention of answering.
Or rather, the answer was obvious enough that it did not need to be said. If she could reclaim Death, the Godskins would not have gone looking for Radahn first and Nolan afterward.
The Queen only sighed softly again, then stared at Nolan with an unusually grave expression.
"That traitor has also realized she was wrong. The world needs death. The girl beside you is proof, for she carries my power."
"Since you know about me, don't try to pressure me with some so-called greater good. Empty words are nowhere near enough!" Nolan said coldly.
Trying to get something from him for free? She could forget it.
Nolan sneered inwardly. He was not the sort of person who would get carried away by a few lofty words and let himself be manipulated.
If this world needed death to become better, then the fire within his body, and the embryonic Order founded upon that fire, already contained death.
Even taking ten thousand steps back, if the death within his body did not suit this world, then he would simply have to kill Maliketh and seize Destined Death.
What did allowing the Lands Between to contain death have to do with this Queen?
He could more or less guess what the Queen of the Gloam-Eyes was plotting.
As everyone knew, anything connected to gods was extremely difficult to kill completely. If Destined Death returned to the Lands Between, this Queen might very well rise from the ashes.