Seeing Nimue's demeanor, Kai smiled.
"How could that be\! You are still as young, beautiful, and radiant as ever." While Kai was still joking with Nimue, his guard was completely up. His eyes remained fixed on her, and the longswords in his hands were not lowered.
Looking at Kai like this, Nimue felt a sense of the world's capriciousness. The sweet, cute child who used to cling to her side, constantly begging for attention, was now standing opposite her with drawn swords.
"Oh? Is this how you welcome me?" Nimue pointed at the swords in Kai's hands with a knowing smile.
"Oh—\! This is... a misunderstanding, yes, just a misunderstanding. You should be able to understand, seeing as you entered the King's room in the middle of the night without any warning. That's not a great habit," Kai said, trying to sound formal.
He wasn't just stalling to be funny; Kai wasn't that idle. He was buying time. Without using any supernatural powers, Kai knew he couldn't take down Nimue. Although it was a long time ago, Kai still remembered how Nimue used to handle her enemies.
Just as planned, after a short delay, the shouts of soldiers were heard outside the door. It seemed the castle guards weren't slacking off.
Nimue glanced at the doorway, then looked at Kai with a highly amused expression.
Kai spread his hands and said helplessly, "I couldn't help it. Your power is simply too great. I wasn't confident I could take you down while simultaneously protecting Uther, so I had to use this little trick."
Nimue wasn't angry. Instead, she spoke with a mix of satisfaction and melancholy: "Yes, my little boy has grown up and now knows how to use tactics against his favorite 'big sister.' There was a time when that little boy always said he would grow up and marry me."
Kai twitched his mouth. He was certain he had never said that. Those were just jokes made by bored adults back then. He had been close to forty when he transmigrated—he wouldn't have said something so ridiculous.
"I apologize... However, if you're willing to sit down and talk things through calmly, I think we could have a wonderful conversation, don't you think?"
Kai didn't want to assign blame for the events of the past. Both Uther and Nimue had their reasons. Uther certainly wanted an heir, but he never actively demanded that Nimue and Queen Ygraine help him produce one. However, nearly everyone in Camelot at the time hoped King Uther would have an heir of royal blood soon. This was crucial for the stability of the entire kingdom. Without a clear successor, Camelot would surely erupt into a war of succession after Uther's death—something no one wanted.
The immense pressure Uther and Ygraine faced was obvious. The situation became even worse after they adopted Kai as their foster son. No one wanted to see someone without royal blood become the heir to the throne. This greatly displeased the nobles who were related to Uther, who felt that if an heir was needed, it should be chosen from among those nobles who already possessed royal blood.
Under this enormous pressure, Uther and Ygraine were struggling. Especially Ygraine, who loved Uther and desperately wanted to bear his child. At the same time, many nobles were already suggesting to Uther that if the Queen couldn't produce an heir, they should find a new Queen.
Facing this dual pressure, Ygraine sought out Nimue. Nimue, seeing Uther tormented by the heir issue, also wanted to help him. So, the two women, behind Uther's back, used magic.
Once it was a done deal, King Uther had no choice but to accept it. If Uther had a major fault in this matter, it was his failure to stop it once he found out. He simply hadn't anticipated that the cost would be so high, which is why his reaction afterward was so extreme.
As for Nimue? She was also at fault. She knew that using magic to conceive a child would require a price, but she concealed this fact.
Perhaps, in her mind, Ygraine got what she wanted, and paying the price was her choice. Of course, it's also not unrealistic to assume there were other factors involved. Nimue certainly had strong feelings for King Uther at the time, and she may have harbored the intention of seizing the opportunity to rise in status.
In her view, it was a win-win: if Ygraine was fine, she would earn Uther's gratitude. If Ygraine died, then it was a perfect logical exchange of needs\!
Unfortunately, fate is strange. Ygraine did die, but Nimue's ambitions to gain power were shattered, and she ended up becoming bitter enemies with King Uther.
Therefore, it's genuinely hard to determine who was right and who was wrong in the middle of all this. It would be better to sit down and talk. If they could reach an outcome acceptable to everyone, it would be a happy ending.
"Impossible\!"
"Don't even think about it\!"
Unfortunately, Kai was overly optimistic. Twenty years had passed, and the relationship between the two parties was now a bitter blood feud. Unless one side was truly destroyed, neither would give up.
It was then that Sir Leon, leading a large contingent of knights and soldiers, burst into the King's bedroom.
Seeing the knights, Nimue shook her head.
"It looks like our reunion is over. I must be going. However, Uther, I will certainly collect what you owe me\!"
With that, Nimue vanished in a gust of wind. The knights tried to attack, but in the blink of an eye, she was gone without a trace.
...
Nimue's intrusion was a major disruption and startled many people. Arthur and Morgana rushed over, but King Uther forcefully sent them away. He didn't want the two children to know the events of the past; too many secrets were involved.
In the end, only Kai, Gaius, and King Uther remained in the room.
Gaius was treating the burn on Kai's hand while struggling to speak.
"What is it you want to say, Gaius?" King Uther noticed Gaius's strange behavior and asked somewhat impatiently. Today's events had left him mentally and physically exhausted; he no longer had the patience to maintain his composure.
"...You cannot hide the truth forever. You should perhaps speak with Arthur and let him know what happened back then."
Gaius spoke earnestly. Ever since Tristan's body was desecrated, things had been spiraling in the direction they most dreaded. Gaius felt that continuing to hide the truth was now pointless.
"No\! Only the three of us know this. Arthur never needs to know the truth\! Never\!"
King Uther flatly refused. He couldn't let Arthur know the truth of the past; it would have extremely severe consequences for him, for Arthur, and for all of Camelot. He would not allow that to happen.
"But the boy has grown up; he's become a man, don't you remember? You just knighted him two days ago\! It's time he knew the truth. You can't keep hiding it forever, Uther." Gaius still hoped to persuade the King.