The woman let out an amused chuckle, the soft sound echoing lightly in the empty chamber, but Elion still couldn't see her. His vision was too limited, and his body too weak to even attempt to turn his head.
"How careless of me... I do apologise for leaving you unattended for so long," she said smoothly, her tone casual, almost conversational, as if they were discussing something trivial rather than the fact that he had been left to rot for weeks.
"But wars are time-consuming, and a rather powerful mage appeared that only I could deal with, so I had no choice but to leave quickly, and I forgot to tell someone to check on you."
Her footsteps shifted slightly behind him.
"The battle itself was… quite close," she continued, her voice carrying a faint hint of amusement as she recalled her time on the battlefield, "so close and time-consuming that it took a whole month before my opponent finally decided to call a retreat when he realised he couldn't defeat me so easily."
