Ending the chapter on that ominious note, Grigori smiled and turned to cast her gaze across all the guests seated in the Palantír Hall. Her gaze appraised each of them before she came to some sort of conclusion, and once she did, only then did she address everyone.
"I'm sure you're all quite curious about how the Battle of Castle Leona progressed, so I've decided that I will show some of the highlights of this battle for everyone." she announced and then gestured toward the Palantír and Naur played the scenes of the battle at her bidding.
The audience from both worlds watched in awe and rapt amazement as the video recordings played out upon the Palantír while Naur continued to narrate the scenes. TBOAH!Valentino watched in awe and fearful fascination as TCF!Valentino was able survive the final battle that had claimed TBOAH!Valentino's life in his own timeline.
The scene of the Roan Kingdom forces digging and burying something in front of the southern tower which they were in charge of defending stirred curiosity wthin everyone. Everyone watched in awe and horror as the Northern Alliance's 500-600 ships arrived to attack the Caro Kingdom. They sat in mute terror as they watched around 100 of those ships attempt to crash into Catle LEona and with dead mana bombs, turn the land into a dead mana zone to stall the majority of the Caro Kingdom's forces while they went on to attack the populated northern shores of the Caro Kingdom.
And then came the awe-inspiring scene when the 100 Dark Elves arrived, blazing across the Land of Death. Everyone continued to watch with various emotions overflowing from their hearts. TBOAH!Tasha and TBOAH!Obante were in tears as they watched Mary and the Dark Elves, whom Cale boldly declared were the part of the Roan Kingdom forces, purified the land. And then TBOAH!Valentino broke down. Tears streaming down his face, he could not take his eyes off the Palantír as it showed how Mary controlled the two wyvern bones in order to transport Cale and Choi Han so that they could stop the departing ships. He watched as Cale conjured an enormous silver shield along with a number of whirlpools in order to destroy and attack the ships alongside Choi Han's attacks as well.
Clutching his head in his hands, TBOAH!Valentino curled forward, his shoulders shaking as he muffled his sobs with sleeves of his shirt. He could still remmeber the haunting screams of his soldiers and faithful citizens that died by the dead mana at Castle Leona alongside him. He could still recall the helplessness he'd felt knowing that those bastards were going to get away and attack the northern shores even while he himself lay dying after being poisoned by dead mana. Tears, big constant droplets of clear tears continued to fall from his eyes as he stared wide-eyed and haunted at the floor of the Palantír Hall, the haunting memories of the past continued to play out before his mind's eye.
"What's wrong? Why are you behaving like this? Are-are you crying?! Are you actually crying right now?!!" TCF!Valentino exclaimed, watching his counterpart sob and emits sounds that resembled a greviously wounded animal. Kim Rok Soo turned from his seat beside Cale, he wondered about something as he watched Grigori leave her seat and then move to stand before TBOAH!Valentino. She embraced the broken Crown Prince of the TBOAH!Caro Kingdom. SHe clutched his head and allowed him to cling to her and sob to his heart's content. Kim Rok Soo grimaced and stared at the clueless TCF!Valentino as he continued to insensitively demand to know why his counterpart was acting like that.
"Ahem..." Kim Rok Soo cleared his throat and saw the expression of sympathy and sorrow that etched itself upon Grigori's ethereal features.
"Your Highness Valentino..." Kim Rok Soo called out and continued only once he had the TCF!Valentino's undivided attention.
"Yes? What is it?" TCF!Valentino asked, he hadn't even once directly addressed Kim Rok Soo, since coming here, but now that Kim Rok Soo was actually calling out to him, he felt it only proper to respond to the man.
"In the Battle of Castle Leona of the TBOAH!World... Castle Leona became a dead mana zone... and... you died there... Your Highness."
"W-what?" TCF!Valentino sounded uncertain . Cale nodded mutely to himself as if this was an outcome he would have expected to occur in the TBOAH!World.
"Think about it, Crown Prince Valentino. In the TBOAH!World, there would have been no Indestructible Shield to block the dead mana bombs, and they would have gone off with the ships crashed into the three towers..." Cale added with an expression that said he was both correct and unhappy with this information.
TCF!Valentino fell completely silent and Grigori took a seat between both TBOAH!Valentino, who looked like he'd hd all the vitality and energy sapped entirely out of him, and TCF!Valentino, who was now sporting a somber and serious look upon his countenance.
"Let's continue watching this and then you can both have some rest." Grigori urged them and then after both of them returned haunted stares back toward the Palantír, Naur continued showing the battle scene between the Dragon Half-blood, Arm's Magic Brigade verses Cale, Choi Han, and Raon Miru.
After a terrifying battle, the scenes on the Palantír reveal that the Dragon Half-blood escapes with teleportation magic, but not before Raon had placed a mana tracker on him. At long last the Battle of Castle Leona ends that night with Caro Kingdom's victory and since the priest of the Church of the Sun God refused to do it, the Dark Elves courteously began to fully purify the dead mana zone.
While Cale uses the opportunity that the stubborn Church of the Sun God's priests had given him by refusing to treat the soldiers, everyone watched with amazement as Pendrick disguised as a priest arrives and gets to work healing the soldiers. While Grigori quietly assesses TBOAH!Valentina and TCF!Valentino who both look like they're on the brink of collapse, Naur reveals that Cale warned Valentino about the enemy smiling behind his back - refering of course the Empire's Duke Huten. In order to give everyone a chance to process this information. Grigori had curteously added the record of Cale's lunch meeting with Valentino, where they discussed the serious secret of the Empire's alliance with the Northern Alliance.
<Chapter 225: Do Not Worry (6)>
The table inside was full of delicious food. Such a feast was only possible due to the end of the battle, however, it also symbolized that this meeting was important. However, something was off with Valentino, the Caro Kingdom's crown prince.
He could not say anything even with this feast in front of him. The soup in front of him was already cold as well. Valentino did not pay any attention to the soup as he looked toward someone. He was looking at Cale Henituse, who was sitting across from him. Cale seemed to have no problem continuing to eat. Cale was giving off a very noble-like vibe as he continued to eat.
However, Valentino's hands were shaking to the point that he could not hold a spoon or a fork steady. The only thing that he could grab with his shaking hands was the knife next to the fork. A knife. That was the focus of Valentino's gaze right now.
"...So, what you are telling me." Valentino was speaking in a choppy manner. He looked again at the documents next to his soup bowl.
"The dead mana bombs were created by the Empire?"
Cale continued to eat without responding back. Valentino did not take offense as he continued to speak.
"The Empire and the Indomitable Alliance are on the same side?" Valentino slowly started to frown.
"But the Empire still sent soldiers to us? And Adin, that bastard, came to cheer me on as well?"
Adin. The Mogoru Empire's Imperial Prince.
TBOAH!Litana scowled darkly, "More likely that that bastard came there to make sure to see you one last time before he killed you!"
"True, he came in our timeline too!" TBOAH!Valentino whispered, his voice sounded raw and faint, his eyes were bloodshot and still full of fire and rage.
Cale raised his head the moment Adin was mentioned. He made eye contact with Valentino as he responded back.
"Please eat. You need to be full in order to fight." He then lowered his head back and continued to eat. Valentino could not say anything while looking at Cale. At first, he had wanted to say that Cale and the Roan Kingdom were lying.
TCF!Alberu's gaze narrowed slightly at this, but Cale reached out and lightly tugged on his sleeve to stop him from voicing any opinions he might have at the moment. TCF!Alberu took one look at Cale and understood his intentions so he let out a hushed sigh and inclined his head in concession to Cale's request for him to hold his silence for now.
The documents they provided were difficult to believe at first, and he wanted to tell them not to destroy the good relationship between the Empire and the Caro Kingdom. The Roan Kingdom was not very close to the Caro Kingdom. He could not blindly trust the words of such a kingdom.
However, Valentino did not say anything without thinking through it first, and after a while he started to lean in one direction. The Roan Kingdom was the kingdom in the most similar situation as the Caro Kingdom. He could also see Cale's pale face.
Valentino turned his head. He could see the Dark Elves and the Roan Kingdom's people down by the shores. They were helping out with the cleanup and he had also heard about how a priest and the necromancer were healing the common soldiers. Furthermore, Cale and his sword master had fought a fierce battle where they almost died.
TCF!Mary and TCF!Tasha both nodded in aggressive agreement. This battle against the Dragon Half-blood had been incredibly dangerous for Cale especially since his plate had not been balanced at the time. TCF!Tasha and TCF!Mary had heard about what happened to Cale after the Battle of the Gorge of Death after Cale faced the Dragon Half-blood again and managed to capture him, but this battle could still have been the one to cost them. Valentino's observation upon the Palantír was an undeniable reminder to all his loved ones about just how many times they had almost lost Cale during the war - it reaffirmed their collective decision to take away all possiblity of him working or doing anything strenuous in the future.
Although he had not managed to ask Cale about the fiery thunderbolt yet, he was fully aware of Cale's shield. Such a strong person had protected Castle Leona while getting injured in the process. Valentino slowly picked up his spoon. He then opened his mouth in order to speak.
"Yes. We must be full in order to fight back."
Cale raised his head and Valentino's gaze headed toward the knife.
"We need to be full in order to raise up our blades."
However, Valentino soon put the spoon back down. He then picked up the whole bowl of soup and started to drink it. It was a completely classless act. The empty bowl was placed on the table as Valentino looked toward Cale and continued to speak.
"You can eat anything when you are hungry. You also become desperate."
Valentino was hungry. Information, power, a sense of unfairness, anger, and betrayal. All of these things were making him hungry. He needed to fill his empty stomach.
"Commander Cale, I wish to speak in secret with crown prince Alberu."
"Of course." Cale picked up his knife and cut a piece of steak as he responded back. "He will fill your empty stomach, your highness."
TCF!Alberu practically preened at this. Meanwhile, TBOAH!Alberu pouted lightly and swallowed down the urge whine childishly at his counterpart of the TCF!World gaining all these supports and benefits simply because Cale Henituse... TBOAH!Alberu stopped his own thoughts and began to frown to himself. Now that he thought about it, he really couldn't understand exactly what the relationship between Cale Henituse and his TCF!World counterpart was. Even if they were sworn brothers, TCF!Alberu treated Cale closer than he treated the Dark Elves and their Aunt Tasha. It was as if TCF!Alberu trusted Cale Henituse more than his own life.
TBOAH!Alberu had never had anyone he could consider his family aside from Tasha and the Dark Elves and he knew that his half-brothers could never be anything more than his rivals, so he envied this 'sworn brotherhood' between Cale and TCF!Alberu and he wondered if it would have been something that he could have achieved with TBOAH!Choi Han if he had trusted TBOAH!Choi Han more in their own timeline. TBOAH!Alberu could tell that the bond he shared with the TBOAH!Choi Han was different from the bond between TCF!Alberu and TCF!Choi Han. TBOAH!Choi Han and TBOAH!Alberu were close enough to share a glance and communicate - similar to how Cale and TCF!Alberu could, but TBOAH!Alberu felt that their TCF!World counterparts had a much closer familial connection than what he had with TBOAH!Choi Han.
TCF!Alberu seemed to be capble of having entire conversations with Cale Henituse - they even seemed to know what the other was thinking and TBOAH!Alberu could tell that TCF!Alberu did not have a single trace of falseness in his demeanour nor in his attitude toward Cale and the others - TCF!Alberu appeared as if he had nothing to hide, and TBOAH!Alberu guessed that this was because TCF!Alberu was fully confident that his sworn brother and their friends and family would have his back. TBOAH!Alberu took a deep breath to compose himself again and returned his gaze to the Palantír, fighting against the instinctive envy he felt toward his counterpart for getting to experience something so incredible.
Valentino looked toward the steak on Cale's plate that was getting cut into pieces as he gulped. He then made eye contact with Cale once again. Both of them started to smile. One side was thinking about revenge while the other was thinking about blowing up the Empire and the church as a set. The two people who were having different thoughts were both smiling brightly.
Chuckles of amusment came from people around the room, which prompted looks of confusion from a few of the TBOAH!World people. Thus, a snarky grinning TCF!Archie helpfully spoke up to explain to his confused counterpart.
"If it's about blowing things up... then the Young Master-nim is definitely the guy for the job!" He grinned with an almost crazed glint in his eyes.
"I would have initially objected to that... but it's actually a surprisingly accurate assessment." Paseton spoke up with a pout. "Sorry Young Master Cale, but Archie's right on that one..."
Cale shrugged with an easy-going smile that belied his internal promise to get Archie back for this dig at him later.
Watching the children banter and play like this soothed Grigori's heart and she smiled softly to herself before she stood up to address them all. She'd already sent both TCF!Valentino and TBOAH!Valentino to their private rooms to rest. The dissonance between the two Crown Prince's of Caro Kingdom was reacting strangely, so she was planning to fuse the two parts of Valentino's soul back together since she'd finished repairing their soul dissonance.
Therefore it was unlikely that the two of them wuold return to the Palantír Hall, it would either be TCF!Valentino who returned or he would remain unconscious and resting for the rest of his friend's healing process - only time could tell, Grigori had also made the decision to allow him to rest for now, seeing as his part of the records was officially complete.