Seeing Merlin's obviously poor attempt to cover up the truth, Kay wouldn't have believed him even if he were an idiot. So, he simply turned his attention to Nimueh.
Nimueh, on the other hand, was completely open and didn't hide anything about their past.
"While young Merlin is cute... I definitely prefer older men. Someone like Kay, who looks mature and steady—he's absolutely my type!" She even winked at Kay.
Kay was immune to this. Like all older women, Nimueh loved to tease younger men. It wasn't that she had any serious intentions; she just found it amusing, perhaps trying to capture a bit of her own lost youth through them.
Whatever, Kay thought. He wasn't bothered by the flirtation. Counting his past life, Kay was already in his late sixties, nearly seventy, so such playful wickedness had no effect on him. Still, Kay couldn't help but look at Merlin and offer some heartfelt advice.
"Merlin, I don't really have the right to say this, but... she's not the one for you. Let's put it this way: the first time I met her, twenty years ago, she looked exactly the way she does now. And here we are, twenty years later, and she still looks the same... you get what I mean, right?"
Merlin's face instantly went pale, and his body swayed. The thought of being infatuated with a woman who was at least fifty years old gave him a sudden urge to die.
"No! She can't be the person the Dragon mentioned!"
Seeing Merlin's despair, Kay felt a bit of sympathy. He understood that first love was often blind. But falling for a woman in her late fifties... that wasn't just blind; that was practically legally blind!
"And why would you say that?" Kay didn't know what Merlin was talking about, but Nimueh clearly did, and she asked with amusement.
"You once tried to have me killed!" Merlin had heard the Great Dragon say that his destiny was set: he would help Arthur become the King of Great Britain, ushering in a magnificent new era where magic would return. If Nimueh was truly the inheritor of the Old Magic, she would certainly know this prophecy. No sorcerer aware of that prophecy would actively try to harm him.
This was why Merlin had wanted to come alone to find the cure—he believed Arthur was the Chosen One, and the inheritor of the Old Magic would never stand by and let Arthur die, as his survival was key to the resurgence of magic.
As he said this, Merlin's small eyes looked teary... Kay didn't know what others thought, but he generally disliked teary-eyed men. However, Nimueh seemed to love it. The way she was looking at Merlin now was like someone finding a sad little puppy by the side of the road...
"That was before I understood your importance. As for Arthur... his life won't be ended by me. Now, it seems I'm about to become his savior."
Though Kay didn't fully grasp the backstory, he gathered from their exchange that... Arthur wasn't going to die?
Since that seemed to be the case, Kay decided to stay quiet and observe how things played out.
Merlin obviously picked up on her meaning and quickly asked, "So you know what we've come for?"
"Of course!" Nimueh maintained her look. Kay had long felt that this woman was very much like a fox—always smiling, yet constantly giving off a sense of cunning and danger. Of course, Kay never said this out loud. It wasn't that he was chicken; he was just being polite and respectful to his elders, really!
"Then you'll save him, right?"
"Regrettably, I lack something to accept as payment."
Kay had been enjoying the show, but when Nimueh said this, her eyes shifted to Kay, and Merlin immediately followed her gaze.
Kay scratched his face and gave a wry smile. "It seems you've been keeping a close eye on the palace."
Nimueh said nothing, just continued to stare at Kay.
Kay dropped the smile and spoke with a touch of bitterness: "Does it really have to be this way? I genuinely don't want to have to kill you one day. Everything is in the past, isn't it? Why, after twenty years, are you still clinging to the past?"
Now it was Merlin's turn to be astonished. He already knew Kay and Nimueh were acquainted, but he just realized their relationship was far deeper than he'd imagined.
Nimueh finally dropped the perpetual smile and said through gritted teeth, "Let go? Why doesn't Uther let go? Twenty years—a full twenty years—he has relentlessly pursued and slaughtered my people. If we're talking about who was wrong back then, was he completely blameless?"
Kay honestly had no way to answer that. King Uther was simply built this way: emotional and prone to extremes. Once he flew into a rage, it was hard for him to back down. He believed magic killed his queen, so he set out to destroy all magic.
It was utterly unreasonable. If Kay hadn't been raised by Uther, he might have raised a rebellion and fought him. But the problem was, he was Uther's adopted son, raised by him from childhood. Uther had treated him even better than his own son.
The heart is not made of stone. What could he do? Run off to fight his adoptive father for the sake of a bunch of sorcerers? That was impossible.
Seeing Kay speechless, Nimueh smoothed the fury from her face.
"The feud between Uther and me will only end when one of us completely falls. For now, we only discuss the deal, nothing else. I don't wish to talk to you about this anymore." Nimueh decided not to argue further with Kay. Kay would never betray King Uther and join her side, and she could not abandon her hatred. Any more discussion was pointless.
Kay remained silent, unsure of what to say.
After a long pause, Kay finally reached into his pouch and pulled out a translucent white crystal. Even before coming to the Isle of the Blessed, Kay had suspected that the attempt to steal the Nianade Crystal from the palace and Nimueh were connected, given how closely the assassin's description matched her.
So, Kay had brought the Nianade Crystal with him when he left Camelot. Now that Nimueh was asking for a price, the Nianade Crystal immediately came to mind.
Nimueh's reaction confirmed his suspicion. She clearly yearned for the crystal and quickly took a step, reaching out to grasp it. But just as her hands were about to touch the crystal, Kay suddenly snatched it back.
Nimueh froze, then looked up at Kay. With a complex expression, Kay didn't speak but simply extended one hand, palm up.
His meaning was crystal clear: A hand for a hand. The cure for the crystal.
Nimueh shook her head with a sigh, clearly understanding Kay's intent. She hadn't expected their relationship to come to this in the end.
Kay had never truly regarded Nimueh as an enemy; the fondness from their old days still lingered. But this was different now. Nimueh didn't want the crystal just as a decorative piece. She wanted to use its immense power to do something.
Kay didn't need to guess what she intended to do with it. While he didn't know the exact purpose of the crystal, he knew one thing: the sacrifices made by the many sorcerers who protected it twenty years ago, and Nimueh's current single-minded focus on it, both attested to its paramount importance.
Once Nimueh obtained the crystal, it would pose a huge threat to Camelot, and he and Nimueh would truly and finally become enemies.