Chapter 191: The Island Loved by the Stars (2)
If Anje is an open maid, Elena is a hidden one.
Since the Procell incident, she has been following Cain, assisting him with aspects of the Empire he is unfamiliar with.
Clatter━.
Administrative Duke Morning, seated at the head of the dining table specifically prepared within the director’s official residence, opened her mouth.
“If you become a citizen of the Empire, I’m also considering pushing for a marriage with the 13th Imperial Princess.”
“……!”
Elena almost spat out the tea she was drinking but tightly shut her mouth to stop it.
Lourens, who was sitting opposite them, nodded.
“If Lord Duke pushes for it, there’s nothing that can’t be done. Besides, since the other party is the hero, His Majesty won’t object either, right?”
“Right? Isn’t that right?”
Morning had spoken impulsively, but the more she thought about it, the better the suggestion seemed, and she was proud of herself.
Slice━.
Cain, who was nonchalantly cutting the steak in front of him, stopped. He glanced at Elena, whose face had turned red beside him, and opened his mouth.
“As expected of grandma, you have no filter even in front of a child.”
At Cain’s words, this time it was Lourens who burst into laughter.
However, seeing Morning’s eyes that seemed to shoot lasers, he pretended not to know and continued eating as if nothing had happened.
Swoosh.
Morning turned her head again and looked at Cain.
“The hero isn’t that old to say such things.”
“Are you saying you’re the grandma who speaks worse than a child?”
“……Hey.”
“What.”
Cain and Morning Inphedral’s eyes met.
In terms of status, one was one of the Three Dukes of the Empire, the Administrative Duke who had managed the core of the Empire for many years, and the other was the true hero acknowledged by ‘Summer’.
“What do you want.”
However, their actual conversation was no different from that of ordinary people.
“Peace.”
“……?”
“I want world peace.”
“Why are you only talking like a hero now?”
Cain smiled faintly.
At first, he wanted the world Abel lived in to be safe, and now he wants Oleciren to live peacefully in that world too.
And that’s not all.
Even if he couldn’t save the whole world, he at least wanted the people within his reach to live comfortably.
[‘Winter’ smiles contentedly.]
His small wish had grown bigger.
He hoped that the new world line he had crossed over to due to his brother’s death would be peaceful.
[27.7% of the world smiles.]
Cain spoke with such sincerity.
“Because it’s times like these.”
“You━.”
“The current Emperor is old. He fathered countless children to inherit the Kreuz’s unique ability, and the princes are numbered 9 and the princesses are numbered 99.”
“…….”
Morning’s eyes narrowed.
This was the first time Cain had directly mentioned the Empire like this.
Lourens and Wiseman also listened intently to Cain’s voice.
“Even if the Empire manages to function somehow with the system of the Three Dukes of Knights, Magic, and Administration, what happens when the Emperor dies?”
“We have to choose the next Emperor.”
Here, ‘we’ refers to the Three Dukes of the Empire.
Unless the Emperor specifically designates a successor, the next Emperor is chosen by the vote of the Three Dukes.
In other words, although Morning often joked in front of Cain, she was a formidable figure who held one of the three votes for the Emperor’s election in the Empire.
Cain looked straight at such a Morning.
“But times have changed. Now the word ‘revolution’ is putting on the pressure.”
Thud━.
Morning slammed down the fork she was holding. Then, she switched to a knife and pointed it at Cain.
“I thought you were just a kid from an island nation, but you seem to have seen and heard a lot. You wouldn’t have heard such things in Airian Island or Märchen.”
Cain chuckled.
And he raised his index finger and touched the tip of the knife Morning was holding.
“Because I’m the hero.”
“Huh.”
Morning let out a sigh as if she was dumbfounded.
Clank━.
And the knife Morning was holding slowly began to bend like a wave. Only after her knife was rendered useless did Cain remove his index finger and continue speaking.
“Old nobility, Blue Blood.”
The name comes from the fact that the veins, visible through their snow-white skin, appeared blue, unlike the peasants whose skin was tanned from labor.
It was a term used to refer to the traditional nobles of the Empire who based their power on vast lands.
“New nobility, Red Hands.”
However, the era of Blue Blood was coming to an end.
With the emergence of various specialized cities for merchants, magic, and mercenaries, new ideas spread, and the Empire came to recognize a new class of nobles.
To be precise, the Imperial Family’s sale of single-generation nobility was the starting point.
If one had the ability, if one was skilled enough in magic and swordsmanship to have red hands, if one was good at making money, anyone could become a noble, and they accumulated power and wealth over generations.
They didn’t have as much land as the old nobility, but they had the ability. They had the City Alliance supporting them from afar.
Cain accurately pointed out that part.
“The Three Dukes and the Imperial Family are acting like a cork, suppressing the conflict between the old and new nobility, but for how long?”
“Unless you’ve seen the future, shut up. We’re doing fine on our own.”
Morning retorted coldly to Cain.
She acknowledged the hero’s worth.
However, she refused to allow him to interfere in the management of the Empire.
No matter how much of a hero he was, she had no intention of listening carefully to the words of a boy who had just arrived from an island nation.
[‘Winter’ is so frustrated that she beats her chest.]
[‘Summer’ is wondering whether to express that Cain’s words are important because he shines brightly.]
Cain, who had actually seen the future direction of the Empire in the future, just shrugged. And he nonchalantly swapped Morning’s bent knife with his own stiff knife.
Slice━.
With a single rub of his hand, the wavy knife straightened back out.
“The events won’t change. The premise will change.”
Whizz━.
Morning glared at Cain once again.
But Cain just leisurely sliced the steak in front of him and put it in his mouth.
“Remember that.”
Since it was ambiguous to say anything more, she started eating again.
Among those who had kept their mouths shut while sparks flew between the hero and the Duke, Wiseman cautiously opened her mouth.
“I found the guys who sold Procell’s heart to me.”
Cain nonchalantly skewered a red cherry tomato that came as a garnish with his fork, chewed it, and replied.
“Is the seller the problem? The buyer is the problem.”
Wiseman frowned.
She now knew that everyone in Academy City Märchen had almost died because of her signature magic ‘night’.
Even though she was crazy about magic, she felt a certain amount of guilt. And she had an excuse.
“What I wanted was something that could be used as a magic core, not a devil’s heart.”
“You knew very well it was a heart.”
“……Well, they explained it to me when I bought it.”
“The seller explained what it was, and the buyer bought it because they liked it, so is there any need to track them down?”
“…….”
Crack━.
Wiseman clenched her fist under the table. This was the first time she had been treated like this since becoming the Magic Marquis, except by Lourens.
But she couldn’t say anything to Cain, the hero who had both power and the Holy See backing him.
Elena, who was between them, smiled faintly and continued eating.
“Still, we have to look into it.”
It was Lourens.
He nodded briefly to Wiseman and continued.
“Those who sold a devil’s heart once won’t stop there. We need to find out where they got such a dangerous item and how many they have.”
“That’s true.”
Cain readily nodded at Lourens’s words.
Lourens spread two fingers towards Wiseman, looking triumphant, and Wiseman, feeling strangely defeated, let out a forced laugh and tried not to mind.
But she couldn’t help but feel a surge of defeat.
“And according to our investigation, there was also interference from external forces.”
At Morning’s words, everyone turned to look at her. Morning shrugged and pointed southwest.
Towards where the City Alliance was.
“I thought the Seven Wise Men might be involved since it started at the Mytilene Auction House, and it seems I was right.”
“The merchant city?”
At Cain’s question, Morning nodded.
“City Alliance. The strong backers of the new nobles you mentioned earlier.”
Rumble━.
At that moment, lightning flashed across the night sky, followed by a deep roar of thunder.
🔹🔹🔹
Thud━.
The hands and feet of the man tied to the small wooden chair were severed. Those looking at him were wearing ornate masks that concealed their eyes.
“Which side is he from?”
“He’s a spy from the Empire.”
“To think we still find them after all that filtering. How did he get caught this time?”
“It seems he was caught because of that heart.”
The eyes of the administrator who was listening to the report widened. He was surprised that the item, which they themselves couldn’t handle easily, was mentioned.
“The devil’s heart?”
“Yes. It seems it caused an accident, which led them to us.”
“It caused an accident?”
The administrator tilted his head.
According to the plan he knew, if the heart caused an accident, hundreds of thousands of people should have died. Even the Empire, which was good at covering up incidents, wouldn’t be able to cover up something of that magnitude, but it had been too quiet.
“I’ll have to look into this separately. Throw this guy into the sea.”
The subordinate who had been torturing the man placed his fist on his chest and said,
“With our flame.”
Thud.
The administrator received his salute and continued,
“We will renew the world.”
Creak━.
The iron door, corroded with blood, opened, and the administrator left the room.
The place he arrived at after leaving the room was a high watchtower.
━Now! The last auction item is!
Far below, in the large auction house, people wearing all sorts of masks were throwing their money around.
And the emerald green sea on the other side…
Splash.
…didn’t lose its color even as it swallowed the corpses.
The borderline between gold and death.
It was Mytilene.
Standing between them, he murmured towards the night sky.
“Our plan has been disrupted. Who could have done this?”
🔹🔹🔹
“You can’t take the princess.”
Wiseman said flatly.
Princess Elena, who had naturally intended to accompany Cain, stopped. Wiseman, with an uncharacteristically stern teacher’s face, said,
“In any case, Your Highness is a freshman at the academy. We don’t know what might happen in Mytilene, so I can’t take you with us.”
Lourens and Anje, heavily laden with luggage, nodded in agreement. Even Morning, who was nonchalantly licking a lollipop, agreed.
Wiseman’s words were that righteous.
“But…….”
“Your Highness. No matter how much I go out, I have a duty to look after all the academy students. How can I possibly take you with me?”
“……”
Elena, who had packed her bags with the intention of following them, clenched her fists.
Cain, watching her, opened his mouth.
“I think it’s okay for her to come.”
“Even if the hero says so, what’s not allowed is not allowed.”
“…….”
Cain also shrugged.
The ball was now in Elena’s court.
Elena raised her head, looked at the Administrative Duke with clear eyes for a moment, and then looked up at the sky.
And lowering her head, she said,
“I’d like to apply for withdrawal.”
“Not accepted.”
Wiseman said flatly.
She knew what the princess was up to, so why would she accept?
“The princess’s tuition is paid for by the Empire, so only the person in charge of the Imperial Administration can accept your withdrawal.”
And the person in charge in this place was pointing to the airship floating in the distance, looking like they wanted to leave quickly because it was troublesome.
“Then I apply for graduation.”
“……?”
“The hero defeated one hundred and fifty students, right?”
“That is correct.”
“Then, if I last longer against the hero than the time they all endured combined, wouldn’t I be qualified to graduate?”
“Hmm…….”
Wiseman pondered for a moment.
There were various administrative issues, but if she and the Administrative Duke agreed here, there shouldn’t be a problem.
“I won’t go easy on you.”
Cain said, placing his luggage on the floor. Elena also put hers down and smiled brightly.
“That’s what I was hoping for.”
“No regrets?”
Cain asked Elena, who had been hiding her talent and strength until now, if she was okay.
“I’m moving in the direction my heart leads me so I won’t have any regrets.”
Elena replied with an unwavering smile, revealing her radiant beauty.
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