Darius frowned deeply at the sight of Andrato Kingdom's various ministers screaming for the guards. The ensuing scene of the Royal Guards rushing towards him with their weapons out to strike him down didn't put him in a better mood.
Alas, he couldn't blame them.
Their Queen had started crying out in pain the very moment he and his entourage had appeared, so anyone with half a brain would make the logical conclusion that they had to be assailant or assassins, here to take out the thorn in the side of the empires outside.
Darius simply used his Telekinesis to swat away all those about to attack him, burning almost 1000 MP to do so.
This kind of power was the clear distinction between Master mages compared to Adepts and below. At the Master-stage, mages no longer had to resort to magic but could simply use their powerful minds to deal with those beneath them, although the MP cost was high.
Still, this method benefited from its utility and versatility compared to traditional spells. For example, it had allowed Darius to take down an entire room with more than 50 Royal Guards in a single instant without harming them deeply, a feat only very few spells would have been able to achieve.
Darius clapped his hand, the shockwave from doing so with his 50 points of Strength shocking everyone awake from their stupor. Darius then folded his hands behind his back and addressed the trembling ministers.
"My name is Darius Stone, and I have come with my two compatriots today to discuss with Queen Jeanne Ando as to how we may resolve your kingdom's current issue. You may be at ease, there's nothing you or even those empires outside can offer me to come and assassinate her."
His cold words woke up the reasoning in them, and the various ministers couldn't help but share looks in dismay. He was right of course, a person with his level of power would have no need to explain himself to them.
With order getting restored, nurses, doctors, and priests were quickly called over to check up on the Queen. Her screaming hadn't stopped, yet for some reason, she was clutching her head as if someone was shouting in her ear.
While the healing specialists were still trying to find out what was wrong with her, Darius and Xela shared a look.
Their Elementary Psychomancy allowed them to perfectly understand what was going on in Jeanne's head, which left them shocked and deeply baffled at how things could have developed in such a way.
Currently, Jeanne was trying to maintain consciousness as something kept talking in her mind like an endless echo, repeating a single name 'Darius'.
The true Jeanne, hidden in the depths of her mind, was waking up while the fake Jeanne - who was still clueless about being a mere projection summoned forth by the death of the previous Queen - felt like she was being taken over by something.
Fake Jeanne could only hear murmurs of Darius' name at first, but it had since morphed into steady calls then loud roars as the true Jeanne wanted to come out.
Fake Jeanne was slipping, her existence getting crushed by what lay deeper, that thing eating her up and devouring everything she had experienced in this time.
Soon, Jeanne's cries died down as she knelt on the ground, her hands slowly leaving her temples as the real self had broken through and regained control. The fake persona that had been leading the kingdom in her absence was now gone, dead in the truest sense.
Jeanne smiled as she raised her head and patted her body, and to the shock of everyone skipped forward to stand before Darius. She did not look left or right, as if the only thing that existed before her was Darius, the rest not even worth being looked at.
Darius, who already understood the mentality of Jeanne could only smile speechlessly while Xela had a look of interest no different from when she was watching her favorite TV Dramas.
In fact, none of the TV Dramas she had watched had produced such an exciting plot development relating to the romance, so Xela was fully enraptured. Were it not for the seriousness of the situation, she might have pulled out a chair and started munching on some popcorn.
As for Gunner, he just watched on with his arms folded, recalling their brief encounter with the former Princess-turned-Queen and his dislike for her.
Jeanne carefully inspected Darius as if making sure he was the right person before smiling beautifully.
"Greetings, Lord Darius. It's a pleasure to see you again."
Darius smiled weakly. "The pleasure's mine, Jeanne."
Jeanne's eyes curved into crescents when she heard how Darius called her. Darius himself sighed inwardly, feeling the onset of a headache.
Just like Gunner, the last impression he had of Jeanne had been a negative one due to the stunt she had pulled when they had both been 13, but after seeing into her mind and understanding the weight of her current feelings and mentality, he understood that he somehow ended up being one of the things keeping her alive.
If he refused to acknowledge her existence... it wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility for her to pull out a dagger and slash her throat the very next moment.
However, he wanted the Andrato Kingdom and for that he needed her. Everything would be far easier with a member of royal blood maintaining the kingdom, not to mention he could use her special Valkyrie bloodline to empower his own people.
The easiest way would be to fulfill her desire, yet he refused to enter a romantic relationship with her. No matter how beautiful, Jeanne was only a tool for him to achieve his goals.
As such, he would have to carefully manipulate her using her feelings in order to achieve the best outcome. This would be hard though, as the situation was extremely delicate.
With the slightest mistake, Jeanne could end up breaking like a vase.
"Well, Lord Darius, why not come and sit? Didn't you just say you've come to make a deal with me?" Jeanne inquired with a gesture towards the throne.
Not sure if she was asking him to sit on the throne or not, Darius simply chuckled. "Why don't we discuss this somewhere more proper? Your ministers can come too if necessary."
Jeanne only seemed to remember their existence at this moment, and her youthful smile became a cold facade as she turned to them. "All of you disperse! I have important matters to discuss with Lord Darius."
By now, after seeing all this, the various ministers would be fools if they could not put two and two together.
As such, everyone silently left the throne room with different expressions on their face, most of them gazing at Darius while wondering what the fate of their kingdom would be after this 'negotiation'.
