I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Chapter 1290: Chaos Heart [part 2]

King Ruger’s head snapped toward Northern, and then he went completely still. The room fell silent for half a beat. Behind him, Prince Rieran frowned deeply, and Roma’s eyes grew glassy.

"Wait... you... does that mean you can save her?" King Ruger’s voice shook.

Northern looked at the man. He could see his hand tightening around his wife’s wrist, could see the light kindling in his eyes. A desperate, hungry light.

He’d seen that look before. On the Dark Continent, in the faces of people who’d been given hope after resigning themselves to death. It never sat well with him—the weight of being someone’s salvation.

But he sighed and said:

"Yes."

King Ruger shivered, his breath catching audibly. Northern cut in before the man could stray too far down whatever emotional path he was wandering.

"However, it will be difficult." He shifted his gaze to the Queen.

The words made the atmosphere turn cold. The Queen smiled weakly.

"Hmm, is that so..." She paused, and her thin voice came again. "So... what did you find, young lord?"

The King, Roma, Prince Rieran, even his mother—they all fixed their attention on him.

Being the center of the room’s focus, Northern almost felt uncomfortable. He tried not to look at their faces, at the kind of light burning in them. Instead, he focused on the Queen. Her eyes held something different. A light that had made its peace with death a long time ago.

There were no tells of hope or hopelessness in her expression, which made it easier for Northern to focus as he explained what he needed to.

"Since you know of Chaos Prince, I’ll assume you’re familiar with his vestiges?"

King Ruger was silent for a moment, thinking back, then answered.

"Chaos Prince is not a strange phenomenon. Any Drifter who has made it past Master rank has encountered the ruins of his destruction. The magnitude alone has always told of how terrible he was."

Which was what made Northern’s victory so difficult to believe. Of course, there had been several factors working in his favor—Chaos Prince had been weakened, having lost much of his Chaos to Kryos, and had been forced to depend on Void, which was still strange terrain for him.

To believe Northern’s victory would be difficult for anyone who knew the stories of Chaos Prince, and King Ruger was no exception.

"But vestiges?" The King concluded. "That’s not something I’m sure I’ve heard of."

Northern was silent for a moment. Then he said flatly, "Something left behind by the Chaos Prince has attached itself to her heart. It’s acting as a parasite." He paused. "It’s eating her alive."

The King’s eyes trembled.

"What?" His voice came out hard. "How? Who put a parasite in my wife’s heart?!"

His demeanor shifted, and the air in the room seemed to cower beneath the weight of his fury. For a moment, Northern glimpsed the warrior beneath the grieving husband—the man who had held a kingdom together for decades.

"Honey..." The Queen took his hands and rubbed them gently, a small smile on her lips. The simple gesture was enough to help the King put a leash on his rising temper.

She sighed—not with despair, but with something closer to relief. "They all kept saying I was perfectly fine... it’s good to finally know that something was indeed wrong with me."

Northern watched the exchange between them and found himself growing uncomfortable again. He suppressed the urge to sigh.

’How did she come in contact with the vestige, though?’

He couldn’t help but wonder, but those were questions that could wait.

The King looked at him, failing entirely to hide his desperation.

"Lord Northern, what do you need to remove this parasite? Anything—anything you need, I’ll provide it."

Northern exhaled. "Don’t worry. The initial plan was to extract it, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. However, I’m going to need more time to study the parasite first."

The King’s hand tightened around his wife’s once more.

"Please, Lord Northern. Take all the time you need. My resources are at your disposal—anything at all." His voice dropped. "Please... save my wife."

Northern offered a small smile. "I will. But in order to do so, I’ll need to prepare, and I’ll also need more time with her. Alone."

King Ruger looked down slightly, hesitating. The request was reasonable, but leaving his wife alone with a stranger—even one offering salvation—clearly didn’t sit easily with him.

His wife squeezed his hand again and smiled.

"Honey. It’ll be fine."

King Ruger looked down and heaved a sigh. Then he stood, composing himself, and looked at Northern.

"Is it alright if I speak with you? Outside."

Northern turned and followed as the King walked out.

Roma watched the two of them go from where she stood. She wiped her eyes briefly—a quick, almost furtive motion—and set her face back into something neutral. As if nothing had cracked.

Prince Rieran remained standing, his expression caught somewhere between surprise and a fragile, sparking hope.

While Eisha stood invisible among the room’s churning emotions, observing everything.

***

Northern and the King stepped into the hall that led to the living room, then climbed the stairs that opened onto the mansion’s balcony. Below them stretched a small lake and garden, the water catching the light.

The King rested his hands on the railing for a moment. His shoulders rose and fell with a slow breath.

"Can you... really save her?"

Northern smiled slightly and looked down at the lake. It was shaped like a map—a map of someplace he didn’t know, somewhere he’d probably never been.

"Yes. I can. I’m fairly confident." He let the words settle before continuing. "But you should know—it’s been there for a long time. I can’t promise there won’t be complications. Recovery will be difficult." He turned to meet the King’s gaze. "But she won’t die. Not under my watch."

"Ah..." The King sounded more than a little relieved. The tension in his shoulders eased by a fraction.

Northern furrowed his brows slightly, then looked at the King with a new question forming.

"By the way... does the Queen visit rifts often?"

King Ruger shifted his gaze to Northern. The answer was rather obvious, given her condition.

"Well, yes. Frequently. We only stopped when it got worse."

Northern nodded in acknowledgment.

’That’s probably when she encountered it... that bastard distributing his seeds around, I’ll teach you a good lesson.’

"I see." He returned his focus to the King. "I’ll save your wife. And you really don’t need to owe me any favor for it."