The Lord Of Blood Hill

Chapter 546: No One Wins

Half a month later, Henwell returns to Peace Haven.In everyone else's eyes, Henwell has returned in triumph, with fame and rewards in hand.

But Melissa, his wife, keenly notices the change in his mood.

Melissa is a clever woman. If Henwell does not speak, she does not pry.

She simply fulfills her duty as his wife and gives Henwell a warm place where he can breathe.

A few days after returning to Peace Haven, Henwell has a grave built in the cemetery district.

That day, many of Peace Haven's senior officials come one after another to pay their respects.

There is no name on the gravestone. Only a white butterfly is carved into it.

Melissa accompanies Henwell to White Butterfly's grave and offers a bouquet of flowers.

After everyone else leaves, Melissa looks at the pattern her husband carved with his own hands and asks softly.

"Henwell, tell me her story."

Henwell pauses. "Her name was Michelle. Maybe that was only a false name. We all called her White Butterfly."

"She was the same as me, the same as Chick and the others. She was sold to a Veil training camp. Later, we became gladiators together and fought side by side..."

Melissa sits down directly in front of the grave and pulls Henwell down with her. "Take your time. Tell me everything. We still have plenty of time today..."

After listening to everything Henwell tells her, Melissa gently strokes the gravestone and says warmly, "Miss White Butterfly, do not worry. I will take good care of Henwell from now on."

Tears fill Melissa's eyes. She looks up at Henwell. "She suffered so much, but in the end, dying in your arms could be considered the fulfillment of one of her wishes."

Henwell gently smooths back the hair the autumn wind has blown across Melissa's face. "You are not angry?"

Melissa shakes her head. "Why would I be angry? I cannot stop Miss White Butterfly from loving you, just as I cannot stop myself from loving you."

"Besides, I am your wife now. I should not become jealous and petty, especially toward a poor lady who had such a bitter life and has now left this world."

"She gave up her life to protect my husband. I feel only gratitude toward her."

"Her fate was bitter. I think if you had not become Arius's substitute and walked the Path of Honor, she might have ended up together with you."

Henwell laughs bitterly. "My dear, you have no idea how humiliating this trip was for me."

"From the moment I entered Billie, I became a puppet in everyone else's hands."

"Like a clown, I thought I saw through the game while every side quietly led me by the strings."

"In the end, I got the Lord Iron Guards under my command killed. I got White Butterfly killed too."

Melissa embraces Henwell and places his head on her lap. "Then tell me. Who was powerful enough to toy with my husband like this?"

Looking up at the blue sky and enjoying the gentle pressure of Melissa's fingers on his forehead, Henwell slowly recounts everything he experienced over the past few months.

No one knows how long passes before Henwell falls asleep just like that, lying on Melissa's lap.

Dalton, Henwell's guard captain and the leader of the Lord Iron Guards, walks over softly and tries to help Henwell up.

Melissa refuses with a shake of her head, so Dalton can only take off his cloak and cover the two of them with it, shielding them from the cooling autumn wind.

Only after night falls does Henwell wake from his deep sleep. He stretches and says to Melissa, "Sorry. I do not know how I fell asleep."

Melissa smiles and shakes her head. "It was just right. I have not relaxed like this in a long time either. I even got to watch the falling leaves here."

As she speaks, Melissa tries to stand, only to cry out softly and stumble a little.

Her thighs have clearly gone numb from Henwell using them as a pillow. Just as she is about to circulate her Fighting Spirit to restore the blood flow in her legs, Henwell reaches out, wraps an arm around her, carries her on his back, and walks toward the manor.

Once his mood settles, Henwell begins to review the entire incident.

First is the Western Federation. They knew something had gone wrong in Billie, but they had only discovered that Ulysses had ties to the Veil and might have been controlled by the Veil Organization.

Precisely because of that, they wanted to push Henwell in as a scapegoat and use five elite teams as bait.

They were prepared to sacrifice five elite teams so they could directly interfere in Billie Kingdom's political situation, and even take further control of the kingdom.

Unfortunately, none of it went as they hoped.

Second is the Veil Organization. They wanted to use this opportunity to draw the Western Federation into the game, then take the chance to slaughter key combat forces from the Western Federation.

After that, they hoped to start a new continental war, preferably pushing Billie Kingdom onto the Western Federation's opposite side.

But Henwell ruined that plan as well. The Veil lost "soldiers" and "commanders," and Henwell even killed one of their High Priests.

Afterward, Henwell even led people to sweep through their important strongholds.

Last is the Marquess of Nothing. Constantly watched by the Veil, he used this opportunity to recover a measure of his strength through bloodline stripping.

Then he lured Henwell and the others into the castle to kill the king, so that he himself could become the real Ulysses.

Henwell can already guess what his script was supposed to be.

It was nothing more than this: he was controlled, but he refused to give up, and in the end he thwarted the Veil's plan.

Then, wearing Ulysses' face, he would return to the palace with the kingdom's elites and assist the Western Federation in eradicating all of the Veil's strongholds in Billie.

He could continue being king. The one who died would only be a Veil impostor. Those wrong decisions would have nothing to do with Billie Kingdom, the royal family, or him.

Unfortunately, he miscalculated as well and was ultimately cut down by the furious Henwell.

Yet in the whole incident, the one who hid the deepest was the man pretending to be the king.

Henwell is more willing to call him King Ulysses. Compared with the Marquess of Nothing, that man was far more like a king.

Henwell is certain that if the Veil had not restrained him, he might even have been able to annex Vorry or Ogiro.

That man is the most formidable person Henwell has met since coming to this world.

He makes Henwell deeply realize one fact: even in this extraordinary world, human intelligence is still a force no one can afford to ignore.

Every side had formidable schemes, but a single gap caused all of them to fail.

No one expected Henwell to have hidden his strength. Neither the church nor the Marquess of Nothing expected Henwell to come out alive.

The Veil expected it least of all. Henwell almost reversed the entire battlefield.

King Ulysses also never expected Henwell to be the greatest accident in the whole game.

But Henwell has also paid the price for hiding his strength.

White Butterfly, who did not know the truth, staked her life on triggering the Veil's restriction because she wanted to warn Henwell.

In the end, that led to White Butterfly's death.

It can be said that every side involved paid a price.

Ulysses and the Marquess of Nothing paid with their lives. The church and the Veil paid with elite fighting forces.

Henwell lost White Butterfly, his companion, and Catherine lost both her birth father and her adoptive father.

In this brutal game, there are no true losers.

And there are certainly no winners.