Primordial Villain With A Slave Harem - Chapter 1209
Chapter 1209: Caught
Felicity reached for the pendant, pressing it between her fingers. “Hello, Father.”
A pause followed. The sound of his breath came through first. “Is everything okay?”
She smiled, eyes half-lidded. “Okay? Goddess, no!”
Quinlan’s brow lifted.
Alexios’ tone hardened. “What happened?!”
Felicity giggled, light and easy. “I’m much better than alright! I’m feeling fantastic!”
The silence that followed was heavy enough to fill the room.
Both men had the same flat stare.
She was enjoying this.
But soon, as he listened to the grumbling of the king, Quinlan caught himself smirking.
There was something different about her.
The way she held herself was ever so slightly calmer, steadier. Her posture had lost the soft uncertainty she used to carry. She looked a bit older, though nothing physical had changed beyond her eyes.
Quinlan would later learn that for Felicity, years had passed in the trial. However, the girl did not suddenly undergo a drastic shift in attitude; she was still the same girl he knew.
One might assume she should be a mature woman right now, but Felicity spent those years doing nothing but studying magic with Morgana.
Morgana, who, even 400 years later, was not the most responsible or ‘grown-up’ of adults.
Felicity did not go through enough stimuli to drastically alter her persona, and her brain was still the same as it had been before leaving for the trial.
To become an adult, she would have to grow physically.
Quinlan shifted his attention to Feng.
She was perched on the edge of the bed, legs swinging lazily. Usually, she’d be throwing a smug look his way, proud to have succeeded.
This time, she didn’t bother.
Her gaze tracked him quietly instead, unhurried and unreadable. The air around her had changed as well, becoming more controlled and less abrupt.
It was the first time Quinlan saw both girls like this. Whatever they went through in those trials had done more than just upgrade their classes.
It had rewritten how they saw themselves.
But it was not the time to dwell.
“What about our deal, My Great King? Do you accept?”
“From old bastard to Great King, huh?” Alexios grumbled.
“Did you call my father an old bastard?” Felicity quipped.
“I would never,” Quinlan denied seamlessly, making the purple-haired princess giggle as she saw through him easily.
Alexios let out a long, tired sigh, though his tone carried a thread of amusement. “You want Gideon and Naomi Lorien in exchange for information, is that correct?”
“Indeed.” Quinlan’s reply was calm and deliberate.
The king leaned back in his grand throne and began stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Gideon and Naomi Lorien…” he muttered, drawing the words out like a stage actor savoring his lines. “Those names do ring a bell… where have I heard them before?”
The chamber fell quiet for a moment before a soft voice spoke from the side.
“My lord, if I may,” said a woman in Aegis Vanguard armor, bowing deeply.
Alexios gestured with a flick of his hand. “Go on.”
“They were alchemists who financed a group of bandits to attack ‘the outpost.'”
“Ah, yes… I remember now,” Alexios nodded slowly. The corners of his mouth moved upward. “That’s right. Gideon and Naomi Lorien. The outpost attack.”
His gaze shifted. “But I also heard something else.”
The king’s tone sharpened. “Future Mommy Iris, was it, little one?”
Rosie froze.
Her hands shot to her mouth. “Ah!”
Hearing her panicked yelp, Alexios’ grin widened. “Iris… yes, that name rings a bell as well. If memory serves, I placed a bounty not long ago. A thousand gold, on a woman named Iris Ravenclaw.”
He paused, savoring the tense silence coming from the other end of the line.
“And, coincidentally, she was stationed at the very same outpost those two alchemists hired their brigands for before she mysteriously vanished, abandoning her post. Just when something strange happened…”
He let the implication hang.
Quinlan knew exactly what he meant. Iris abandoned her post after realizing that he and the others had stolen the legendary artifact from right under her nose.
Not wanting to face punishment for failing to guard the kingdom’s property, she deserted and became a criminal after joining the Vesper Consortium.
Quinlan spoke quickly, so much so that his words were overlapping. “That’s pure coincidence, Your Majesty. Iris is a wonderful name that many mothers bestow on their daughters. The Iris I know has nothing to do with this Ravenclaw woman.”
The king’s chuckle came low and pleased. “Oh, is that so?”
Alexios’s eyes glinted with satisfaction as he enjoyed finally having the upper hand since the conversation began. “I must say, it’s rare to see you sound so… concerned, Quinlan. I was starting to think you didn’t have that tone in your repertoire.”
Quinlan’s jaw shifted ever so slightly, his smile tightening.
Alexios smiled wider. He liked this version of the boy, one that wasn’t perfectly composed, not entirely untouchable.
Quinlan let out a quiet sigh, the kind that sounded exactly like surrender.
“Alright. I’ll fess up.”
Alexios raised a brow, clearly intrigued.
“It was me who invaded the outpost,” Quinlan continued. “I heard of its existence whispered about in the underworld and… curiosity got the better of me.”
The king’s expression darkened slightly, though his tone remained measured. “The Geim… did you kill it?”
Quinlan shook his head. “No. It spoke to me.”
That made the entire chamber still.
Alexios leaned forward. “It spoke?”
“Yes,” Quinlan said calmly. “Not in words you’d understand. It couldn’t communicate with humans. But I’m not human, Your Majesty, thus I understood its words.”
His gaze hardened. “It told me it was dying. That as a primordial being, its [Geim Roots] should belong to me, not to the filthy humans who chained it up in that little cave.”
Alexios stayed silent for a few seconds, studying the man’s voice. Then, with a quiet hum, he nodded. “I see. So it gave you the last of its roots… and then died.”
“That is the case.”
The king leaned back in his throne, and his fingers began drumming against the armrest. “Now I understand. You want those two alchemists because you believe they might be able to do something with the Geim roots.”
Quinlan clicked his tongue sharply, looking away. “I suppose you could say that.”