Gage looked out from the hall and saw the queen talking to a Death Guard behind an archway.
If you look at it from the perspective of Gage, the First Captain of the Ultramarines, then this would simply be a scene of Death Guard trying to communicate in a friendly manner with the Queen.
Something didn't look right with the Queen though, she looked scared, very scared, so scared that Gage thought she was going to scream any second.
Gage was puzzled, for even when the Ultramarines' fleet pressed upon Abstuo, the queen remained rare calm and rational.
Even when faced with their father, Lord Guilliman, the lady was only slightly surprised.
But now—why was she so scared
Gage raised his eyes and looked at Hades again with a scrutinizing gaze. He needed to make sure that the Death Guard was not trying to destroy the hard-earned peace between the two sides.
Hades was smiling, a very kind smile, and was talking to the queen in a very approachable tone.
Gage was deeply confused, but seeing that the two were still talking, he did not want to disturb them, so he waited with Lord Mortarion of the Death Guard. Lord Mortarion did not seem to be interested in the conversation between Hades and the Queen. The Primarch was just looking at something in the hall with boredom.
Some fragmented sentences of the conversation between Hades and the Queen floated into Gage's ears.
Queen Circe took a deep breath, gripped her scepter, and tried hard not to fall down.
Even though her body was shaking uncontrollably, the sweat from her hands was sticky on the scepter.
It was humbling, but she knew she had shown superhuman courage.
After looking directly at the unspeakable monster, she still firmly maintained her courage, reason, and necessary courtesy.
Her god did not give up on her. Even in the dark night, the god still pointed out the morning star of wisdom to her.
He circled words for her, swords that could sting the monster.
The queen bit her lower lip imperceptibly, and forced herself to look directly into the human eyes mimicked by the indescribable thing, preparing to speak—
Seeing that she was about to speak, the being smiled at her, revealing its white teeth. She shuddered again with fear and almost fell to her knees.
".There will be no war. The change of civilization will only be a subtle undercurrent. You cannot interfere directly here."
"There will be no war."
She uttered these words tremblingly and firmly as possible. The monster opposite her became even noisier, and the buzzing sound continued, as if a two-dimensional ball of black wire was twisting randomly.
No, she couldn't indulge in the spiritual vision anymore, she would go crazy, she would go crazy! The queen refocused her attention on her eyes, she looked up, trying to tell the other side that their tyrannical actions were doomed to fail.
Then she saw the single eye opposite her that was hiding murderous intent, also looking at her playfully - it was an inhuman gaze!
The queen lowered her head instantly, hiding herself as much as possible under the hood.
"Yes, both sides want to negotiate peace, this is inevitable."
The voice became distorted in her mind, like the sound coming from a coffin deep underground.
"But I am concerned that you and your civilization are not truly devoted to the Empire."
She opened her mouth, her vision began to blur, and a familiar and warm feather brushed across her lips.
She suddenly shouted, her voice echoing throughout the hall, and she stared angrily at the opposite side.
"You can question our loyalty! But we have done everything! We have withdrawn our troops and changed our beliefs! What else do you want us to do? Invaders!"
"Destroy this civilization?! We have already discussed it! Why are you still questioning us!"
Hades raised his eyebrows, and his fake smile faded. He stared at the queen's performance in silence.
Gage suddenly rushed over and pulled the excited queen away. He asked the queen to calm down, but he also protected the old woman behind him.
This is also to prevent Hades from being angered by the queen and making unwise moves.
"Calm down, Lady Circe. My cousin means no harm. He is just being cautious."
Gage smiled apologetically at Hades.
"She was just a little agitated, which is common."
Hades held out a hand, motioning for Gage to continue comforting the Queen.
The Queen began to cry, she sobbed softly and began to ramble on about their efforts and how the Death Guard's rude behavior had just frightened her people.
Gage fumbled to comfort the queen, who suddenly began to cry, but the queen continued to curse.
"Is this how the Empire is?! We thought your legions were reasonable people, but now it's less than a week before the peace ceremony, why are you treating Abstul like this—"
Gage's vision suddenly went dark.
She pointed at Hades tremblingly, and her previous chattering was gone.
Gage turned his head.
Hades smiled apologetically at Gage, and the Death Guard still maintained good etiquette.
"I'm sorry, I may have startled the Queen just now. I'm still not very good at diplomatic relations."
Hades smiled and gave the queen a smile as well. This time, Lady Circe did not refute or curse.
Gage breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the two sides did not have a very unpleasant argument. In the end, both sides gave in. At least it did not come to a tit-for-tat stand.
It was the hallucination that just went black in front of his eyes. Gage blinked in confusion. He should not be the only one who felt this way. The queen also screamed and fell to the ground after that.
"He's a monster."
As if she knew what Gage was wondering, the Queen said in a low and trembling voice behind him,
But apparently Gage wasn't the only one who heard this.
Hades smiled brilliantly and stared straight at the queen.
"I am a soulless person, which does cause some confusion to the wizards. If the Queen is uncomfortable because of my physique, then I apologize."
"No, my cousin, you don't have to be so humble."
Gage quickly comforted Hades, saying that while peace talks were important, the relationship between the legions was also worthy of attention.
Gage blinked, and he felt as if Hades' body was flickering, suddenly turning black, and then returning to its original appearance again.
But when you look closely, nothing happened.
Although the Queen behind him was leaning closer and closer to him, Gage was reminded of the people hiding in the shelter.
Circe gasped, no, no no no, the warm feeling from before was gone, even worse than that.
Just for a moment, she felt that the earth disappeared and she was falling straight into the abyss.
She. She had disturbed the unspeakable thing, and it was taking revenge on her.
The weightlessness in her soul continued. The monster's words had turned into the harsh sound of the wind. She was dazzled, disoriented, and stumbling in the dark night of her soul.
She leaned desperately against the feet of the man in the blue helmet, and that was her last straw.
Gage's voice was still ringing, and they seemed to be going back. The monster began to retract itself, and Circe felt that her five senses were gradually recovering.
She smelled a pungent odor.
She opened her eyes hazily and saw a wisp of yellow poisonous gas dripping to the tip of her nose like saliva from the mouth of a wild beast.
She looked up along the poisonous aura—
I saw a pair of bloodshot, wide-open eyes.
The Grim Reaper was looking down at her. In the shadow of his hood, his eyes exuded a strange light that seemed to want her dead.
“Aaaaaaah!”
The shrill screams tore through the hall once again.
Gage, who was talking to Hades, turned around suddenly and found that Lord Mortarion had run behind him at some point, and seemed to want to stab the unconscious queen with the sickle handle.
Gage was sure that for a moment he had no idea where he was or what he was supposed to do.
".grown ups?"
Mortarion blinked and spoke in a calm tone.
"I was wondering if the lady needed help, but it looks like I scared her."
"No need to say more, we have completed our investigation. Thank you for leading the way, Gage. Guilliman has a good warrior."
The Lord of Death said a few words casually, then strode away from Gage.
The Death Guards also followed him away.
Gage blinked and decided to take the queen to the medical room first. This poor lady, the silent style of the Death Guard and their armor with faint blood stains were indeed frightening.
Yay!
(End of this chapter)