Chapter 73: New Sword
"How do you feel?" Kaelor asked, his voice calm, measured.
The moment Mildred replied, her voice echoed with a strange resonance, an otherworldly vibration that sent a dense, smoky pulse rippling through the air. It wasn’t a scream, nor a shriek, but it pierced Kaelor’s ears like a hidden detonation.
His body stiffened as the sound collapsed into his eardrums, making his skull ring as though he had stood too close to a violent blast.
He clutched his ears, teeth clenched tightly, pain roaring through his head like a pounding drum.
’I wish you would be loyal to me like you were to my mother.’
Mildred froze. The voice was Kaelor’s, but it hadn’t come from his lips. It rang from within, spoken straight from his heart. She stared at him, wide-eyed, as though a phantom had whispered her deepest shame.
Kaelor staggered backward, the pain morphing into a sharp fury. His aura, previously calm and quiet, surged outward like an erupting wave. His will solidified, becoming a wall of invisible pressure that blasted outward. Mildred cried out as it struck her like a gust of divine wind, sending her stumbling back until her back slammed into the table behind her, knocking over a chair.
"My Lord... I-I didn’t mean to!" she cried, horror in her voice, her eyes shimmering with tears and dread.
Kaelor’s expression had hardened into stone, his eyes unreadable. Silence hung in the hall, heavy and sharp.
Then he exhaled, a long, quiet breath. He stepped forward, his face softening just enough as he reached out and gently placed his hand on her shoulder.