Chapter 4993: Forward to York, Forward (Twenty-Nine)

Two days ago, the Celestial Palace.

With a bang, the furious Thor flung open the door of the sleeping hall and hurried through the corridor. The steward rushed after him and asked, "Your Majesty, did Loki anger you again?"

Thor opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he only drew a breath and let out a long sigh: "Take care of him. The most important thing is, don't let him run out again."

"Especially lately," Thor instructed, "the courtyard has invited many guests from other universes to visit. If he goes out and causes trouble at this time, I may not be able to protect him, you know, humans don't like him to begin with."

"I will do my best," the steward said, "Your Highness may simply not realize how much painstaking effort you have put in."

"How could he not know?" Thor said coldly, "To bring him back, I nearly fell out with the entire Avengers, and he saw it all. He just doesn't care."

After saying this, Thor flew away. The steward also sighed, then walked back to the sleeping hall, pushed open the door, and found the room in disarray, tables and shelves overturned. Loki stood barefoot among the shattered porcelain shards, his black hair disheveled.

He lifted his gaze toward the steward, who froze, unable to tell whether Loki's bloodshot eyes were from sorrow or anger. He could only say: "Calm down, Your Highness, you truly cannot continue to quarrel with His Majesty."

"He locked me in here!" Loki roared, "And I can't find any way out. What on earth is going on?!"

"Your Highness," the steward swallowed, "is it possible that you were able to escape before only because he tacitly allowed it?"

"Why can't I this time?!!" Loki bellowed uncontrollably, "Something must be wrong, it shouldn't be like this……"

"Please calm down," the steward could only repeatedly reassure him, "Of course things will be different from before. You are no longer princes. His Majesty is the leader of Asgard and must consider the bigger picture."

"If he thinks I am a trouble and a burden, why did he bring me back?!" Loki stared at him and questioned, "Bringing me back here is just to lock me up, isn't it?"

The steward also didn't know what to say, so he comforted him gently for a while, then used magic to tidy up the floor before taking his leave. Loki cast a spell at the wall, but the wall remained unmoving, not even a ripple.

Suddenly, Loki seemed to hear a sound, he turned his head toward the window, and there stood a figure.

"Tsk tsk tsk, your temper is truly something," another Loki stood by the window with arms crossed, "You've smashed all this stuff in the room, poor crystal sculptures……"

This stranger Loki picked up a shard from the floor, revealing a look of recollection: "This was brought back from Jotunheim, such ice crystals are now rare, and you just smashed it—don't you feel any pity?"

"You……" Loki was at a loss for words, after holding it in for a while he asked, "Who are you?"

"A visitor from the multiverse," the other Loki looked at him and said, "Or if I say I am the prince of Asgard, you should know who I am by now?"

"Prince? How could you be……"

"Oh, I forgot, you died for a period of time, so you don't know. The past decade or so has been quite lively," Prince Loki said with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Loki asked warily, "Just to reminisce about your sculptures and laugh at my jokes?"

"Not at all," the other Loki replied, "Looking at your reaction, you should be unaware of what's happening outside."

"……What has happened?"

"Your brother and the World Tree have merged into one, becoming the true god of the Nine Realms, a rightful lord, which is also why you cannot leave this place at all—he is not joking with you."

Loki seemed stunned, he stood there dazed, and after a long while said: "True god? You mean he can control everything here?"

"More or less," Prince Loki said, arms crossed, "But of course, he cannot control me, so we came to make a deal. How about it?"

Loki looked up at him, Prince Loki smiled and said: "I am very interested in his condition and the World Tree's state. You pretend to be me, go find my brother, I will stay behind and deal with your brother."

Loki opened his mouth, then said: "Since everything here is under his control, how could he possibly not notice……"

"If you don't cause trouble, why would he bother to control you?" Prince Loki also paused before saying, "I mean I won't cause trouble, after all I have no intention of leaving—I need to stay here to study properly."

"Then if you let me out, aren't you afraid I'll cause trouble?"

"There's still another Thor out there," Prince Loki said, "Even if you cause trouble, he can handle it. I have faith in my brother."

Loki was visibly moved, Prince Loki continued: "Actually, you haven't really wanted to go out and do anything, you're just dissatisfied with being locked up by him. Considering your checkered past, he can't be blamed for being too suspicious, and you actually know this yourself, don't you?"

Loki was about to speak when Prince Loki interrupted: "I'm not a psychologist, I don't take responsibility for listening to your complaints. If you disagree, I can just leave."

"Agreed, I agree," Loki said, "But I must remind you, if he finds out, you might not have a good ending either…… He…… might be even more ruthless than your brother."

"I know my limits," Prince Loki said. After speaking, he lightly waved his hand, and a portal appeared in the sleeping hall. Loki stared wide-eyed, but quickly glanced outside, flicked his magic staff, changed into the same attire as Prince Loki, and stepped through the portal to leave.

The portal closed, and only one Loki remained in the sleeping hall. Loki changed into his usual sleeping robe worn in the hall, then set about restoring the tables, shelves, and collectibles, walked to the window, and looked outside.

Thor was probably too angry to notice the changes here. Loki smiled, then walked to the door and shouted: "Steward! Steward!"

The steward cautiously pushed open the door, saw the room already tidied, breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked: "What's wrong, Your Highness?"

"I'm hungry, prepare something to eat for me. Also, tell me the moment His Majesty returns."

The steward was stunned, instinctively asking: "What did you just call His Majesty?"

"Nothing," Loki cleared his throat, he had gotten used to calling His Majesty smoothly. He added, "Just tell me when Thor returns."

After the steward withdrew, Loki began examining the books in the room. They were all Loki's, fond of reading similar things—mostly magical tomes and odd tales. However, the room now contained many more different collectibles, clearly indicating this universe's Loki had a richer experience.

Over the two days, Loki did nothing but read books and practice magic, occasionally chatting with the steward who brought meals, learning of Thor's whereabouts.

"How is he?" Thor stood in the great hall, looking toward the steward and asked.

"Much calmer," the steward said, "He probably realized that if he doesn't calm down to talk, he may never be able to leave."

"Most likely just his pretense," Thor shook his head, "Once I go in, he'll scold me again, shout for me to let him out, and smash things to the ground."

"Will you go see him then?"

"I'll go check on him."

Thor walked to the sleeping hall door, pushed it open and entered, finding Loki sitting by the window. Loki turned his head and saw him, stunned.

"Won't you knock?"

Thor also froze: "When have I ever knocked?"

Loki said helplessly: "How can you have no sense of boundaries?"

Thor didn't know what had gotten into him, defending: "You enter my room without ever knocking either."

"Then when you get married someday, I also won't……"

Thor stepped back and knocked three times on the door with a thud-thud-thud.

"Come in," Loki said.

Thor re-entered, Loki observed him. He was not used to Thor with a beard—before he hadn't noticed, but after Thor grew a beard, he looked exactly like Odin, truly a worthy father and son.

"What's wrong?" Thor touched his own beard.

Loki even felt a bit grateful to Sif. After Thor ascended the throne, he actually wanted to keep a beard, but gave it up due to protests from Sif and Helen. However, Loki also knew that in most universes, Thor sports a full beard.

"Nothing," Loki said, "what do you want from me?"

"Uh, the butler said you've calmed down a bit," Thor sighed, "can you listen to my explanation now?"

"What do you want to explain?"

"I didn't want to keep you locked up all the time, but what's happening in the courtyard right now is important, and also somewhat dangerous. I'm afraid you'll get involved and stir up unnecessary trouble."

Loki nodded, indicating he should continue.

"Once this is over, I'll let you go. Of course, you'd better not release any more monsters, or I'll still lock you up in confinement." Thor extended a finger threateningly.

"I understand, Your Majesty."

Thor stood there stunned for a moment, then incredulously asked: "What did you just call me?"

"Your Majesty," Loki shouted again, "if there's nothing else, please leave. I want to read."

Thor walked away dejectedly.

"Oh, damn it." Loki flicked his hand.

Thor looked at him helplessly, holding the turkey, and said: "I told you it was hot."

"So you're just going to watch me get burned?"

"If you don't get burned once, you'll still reach out to touch it," Thor said while opening the banana leaves wrapped around the turkey, "there are over a dozen grills here—you'll get burned sooner or later."

Loki pursed his lips: "You think my brother could notice?"

"What?"

"Just that we two switched places," Loki glanced left and right, lowering his voice, "you can notice, he definitely can too. I feel it won't be long before he comes looking for me."

"What do you want me to do?"

"You need to stop him," Loki said, following behind Thor, "he's always kept me locked in the room—this is imprisonment. Don't you want to save me?"

"Why did he lock you in the room, and you never mention it at all?" Thor said, the instant he fully opened the banana leaves wrapping the turkey, rich juices slid off the surface, and the whole chicken filled the air with aroma.

"But earlier I clearly……he also didn't do this before. It must be because he became a true god—he thinks he can finally imprison me, so he wants to take revenge for the past."

"You think he couldn't really imprison you before?"

"If he couldn't, then why isn't he letting me go this time? The trouble he caused before wasn't any smaller than this." Loki continued pressing.

Thor picked up a knife, slit open the turkey's belly, and juices gushed out. He cut a small piece, put it in his mouth, nodded, then cut another piece and handed it to Loki behind him.

Loki took it, glanced at it disdainfully, a bit unwilling to put it in his mouth, but also a bit curious. He put it in his mouth and chewed, his brows gradually relaxing: "Not bad……wait, I was asking you a question—can you focus a bit?"

"There might be some changes," Thor turned his head to look at him, "but he hasn't realized some of his changes are coming from your emotional shifts. I can't explain it exactly, but I suggest you go see a professional."

Loki followed Thor's gaze and happened to see Shiler standing in front of the kebab grill.