Chapter 624.1: The Truth Behind the System (1)
Chapter 624.1: The Truth Behind the System (1)
Inside the dimly-lit castle, the man with his body lodged inside the wall looked at the beauty before him, and his heartbeat hastened. Under his gaze, the woman’s eyes slowly turned grim.
The final plan.
This was a classified operation for both the Ardes and the Ackermanns. The Ardes, as the creators of the final plan, were more knowledgeable about it, but there should be hardly anyone in the Ackermanns who knew about it, especially after their fallout.
After the once-powerful Ardes fell from grace, the final plan came to a standstill. That was the reason she felt surprise, heaviness, and resignation upon hearing the name.
However, the mention of a plan’s name couldn’t possibly change her mind.
“The final plan? I didn’t expect to hear that from you, but I have grown tired of your prattle.”
“It’s not prattle. I have found the only solution to resolve the current crisis,” the man clarified indignantly, wiping off blood from his mouth. “The power harnessed by the Savior’s worshipers is beyond what the Ackermanns can deal with alone, but this is a chance for you to exact vengeance on them too.”
“That’s our business, and I don’t think you’re in a position to be concerned about our clan’s vengeance.”
“What do you mean?”
“The other princes might just snatch the throne while you’re squandering your time here. At this rate, you should be worrying about your own life, let alone whatever solution you have in mind.”
“…” Those words silenced the man, but it wasn’t enough to dissuade him. If anything, it only further emboldened him. “Help me to become the emperor, then.”
“…What?”
Those ludicrous words utterly baffled the woman. She began to frown as her eyes turned much sharper. Even so, the man remained unfazed.
“Why don’t you help me claim the throne if you don’t think I have the power to back my words? That would settle all of your doubts. We’d have the power to push any plan to fruition once I take the crown.”
“Do you think this is a joke?”
“If you still don’t trust me, you can bind me in any way you wish. I’ll accept anything you inflict on me, be it a curse or a divine vow. In return, I hope that you’ll do everything you can to help…”
Boom!
The man was slammed into the thick rock wall again before he could finish his words, causing a loud explosion. Rock shards flew in all directions, and dust cloaked the area. He spewed another mouthful of fresh blood.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Your trash pile of a clan owes us countless lives. How dare you brazenly stand before me and request help?”
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“…I know that we have done you injustice”—cough cough—“but if we join hands, we can save more people, even all of humankind. That’s your clan’s ideal, right?”
The battered man propped himself up from the ground with great difficulty. Fresh blood flowed down his lower jaw and dripped from his chin, but he paid it no heed. He mustered his courage as he shared his values.
.
“They use their great power not for domination but to save others. Your ancestors have always quietly looked after the world from the shadows, allowing others to enjoy the peace of a mundane life. They are both heroes and saints.
“It’s because of them that I can remain clear-minded in this turbid world. I know what I can do is limited, but even so, I want to carry on their ideals and”—cough—“continue…”
The man’s consciousness started to fuzz as the world turned around him. As his body crashed to the ground, he raised his head and saw the woman taking a step back with a shocked face.
“You…”
For the first time, the woman looked as if she had something to say to him, but he had already lost consciousness. All that was left was a distant shout echoing in his ears.
…
Paul Ackermann abruptly opened his eyes in a dark room. ｂｅｄ𝚗ｏ𝚟𝚎𝚕.𝚌𝚘ｍ
Similar to anyone waking from a nightmare, his eyes shot open. Little beads of sweat sat on his forehead as he breathed rapidly. His eyes dazedly stared at the ceiling above him.
However, his expression only turned more severe after he caught his breath. He sat upright and rubbed his temples while reflecting on the content of his dream. After a long time, he looked out the window and sighed.
It was right before daybreak, a time when most should have been sound asleep. Yet, he could see platoons of the Austine Empire’s imperial guards deployed all around the palace. It was an uncomfortably extreme level of security to him.
What he was more concerned with, however, were the events that had happened over the past week.
Paul was no longer in the Austine Empire’s imperial palace.
A week ago, he had received a rare order from Emperor Lukas to move to a secondary palace located in the capital’s inner city. He initially thought that it was just another normal deployment order, but he quickly noticed that something was amiss.
The Austine Empire’s armies were mobilized shortly afterward. A tense atmosphere lingered.
It didn’t take Paul long to realize that he was being incarcerated together with Liz, his only maid. What was even weirder was that ever since he had moved into this secondary palace, the frequency of his dreams had increased, and they were getting increasingly vivid.
“Are those… really dreams?” Paul mumbled under his breath as he clutched his forehead, as if the bleeding wound he had suffered in his earlier dream had been transferred to the real world.
In the end, he had no choice but to open his eyes to reality.
From the very start, he had known that those couldn’t have been simple dreams. Neither the people nor the events of those dreams were familiar to him, but there was a weird coherence to the conflicts and relationships. It was hard to fathom that a dream could be so logical as to even have its own coherent plot.
He felt that those dreams were more like memories of the past, the memories of the ancestors of his Ackermann lineage.
But why would these memories appear in his head?
He probably should have visited a doctor to make sense of this issue, but as an illegitimate son, he figured that others might just take him lightly if he summoned an imperial physician over this. Due to that, he had never talked about this to anyone else other than his maid, Liz.
However, in more recent days, he suddenly had an inexplicable premonition that he was about to overcome some kind of bottleneck to remember something vital.
This feeling initially terrified him, but his fear subsided after he had some time to calm down.
He sat dazedly on his bed as the sun slowly rose into the sky. That dispelled his desire to return to sleep. Thus, he got up and walked out, where he found Liz, and some unfamiliar soldiers standing guard.
“Good morning, Your Highness. You woke up early today.”
“I woke up after a dream and couldn’t fall asleep afterward.”
“I see.”
Paul glanced at the impassive guards before proceeding to chat with Liz.
He was surprised by how early Liz was today, given that she would usually wake him up at a much later time. He was just about to ask about it when he saw Liz blink at him. Catching her drift, he began heading to the dining room with her.
Once the door to the dining room closed, Liz turned to look at Paul. The latter took a moment to survey their surroundings with his mana before shaking his head as his expression loosened.
“It’s fine. There’s no one in the vicinity. We’re safe here for the time being.”
“That’s a relief, Your Highness. You don’t have to hide your evil desires anymore now that no one else is around.”
“Evil desires, my head! You’re unusually early today. Did something happen?”
“The situation is a little peculiar today.” Liz’s expression turned serious as she walked over to Paul’s side and said more quietly, “We received news from Her Highness Lilian. She told us to prepare ourselves.”
“Prepare ourselves? For what?” Paul asked in confusion, not knowing what that meant.
Liz blinked. Concluding that he was asking an earnest question, she let out a sigh and said, “Your Highness, you can’t be thinking that you’re a guest here, are you?”
“Of course not,” Paul replied with a bitter smile, as he thought about how his guards changed every single day.
“I have no idea what His Majesty is up to, but without a doubt, Your Highness, you are being used by him. It’s unlikely that anything good will befall you after His Majesty is done squeezing out whatever value he can get from you. We’re in a dangerous position,” Liz said.
“I know that. In other words, you’re saying…”
“Yes, it’s time for us to make an escape,” Liz whispered before walking off to set the table.
Paul stood in a daze before settling down on his chair. Instead of spurring his nervousness, those words sounded reassuring to him.
He wasn’t close with any of the Ackermanns, but he would occasionally receive help from Lilian due to his ties with Roel. He didn’t think that Lilian would seek to harm him, especially now that Roel had returned.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he thought about the dream he had had last night as he patiently waited for his opportunity.
…