CH 225

“Well, that’s because the Ender is the savior. I have to bring you there to save our continent.”

Cecile was flabbergasted by his ridiculous answer yet again, though perhaps it was a good thing since it only left her with more questions. She could kill time while she sought answers for all her questions. After a pause, she remarked, “You make it sound like the Hyun continent is in crisis.”

“It’s not just the Hyun continent,” Ruin said, smiling bitterly. “The whole world is going to be in crisis soon… probably.”

That was what the sages and Taoist who came to seek Ruin had informed him.

“The world has been destroyed countless times. We are living on the grave of those worlds, and ours is the last. Perhaps it will be easier to understand if we were to compare it to the final chapter of a book.”

He hadn’t been able to bring himself to ask what nonsense they were spouting because their expressions were far too sorrowful.

“Empress Cecile… is the one who will be at the end. The things she bears witness to at the end shall be the final view of this world. So please, Your Imperial Highness, you must bring her back to us. It may be selfish, but the land on which she stands shall be the last to face destruction.”

Ruin was holding back the complicated emotions in his heart, as he remembered the despair on the faces of his advisors.

Folding her arms, Cecile stood before Ruin and asked, “So, you’re saying that I’m a great being, and that I’ll be the one stopping the end of the world?”

The prince nodded and watched the empress lapse into a long silence. As he stood there watching her, he suddenly came to a realization. ‘She’s been trying to buy time until the emperor comes.’ No wonder she seemed to be calm, and kept trying to prolong the conversation by asking questions and keeping him talking. He couldn’t play along with her ploy; he needed to take Cecile and run further away for now. They needed to head towards a city with a ship that would sail to the Hyun continent.

However, the moment he stepped closer to her, Cecile said, “Then, hand it over.” She abruptly stuck out her arm and splayed her hand. For an instant, it made Ruin wonder if he’d borrowed money from her. The empress’s demeanor was so confident, it felt like she was asking him to return something she had entrusted with him.

“Hand over what?” Ruin took a step back, instead of enacting his original plan of knocking her out again.

“The price of whisking me away to the Hyun continent. Weren’t you talking about how great I am? That I’ll be the one to stop the end of the world?” Cecile answered matter-of-factly. Seeing Ruin silenced by her unexpected demands, Cecile threw her chest out and held her head high and proud.

“You can’t possibly be suggesting”—Cecile flashed a look of disbelief—“that you were intending on taking me there to do unpaid labor, Crown Prince Ruin? I trust that the heir of an empire ruling over such a large continent wouldn’t be so petty, so wretched, and so shameless.”

Even though she projected an air of confidence, her mind had flipped into overdrive. She already realized that the crown prince couldn’t be reasoned with, so it left her with only one option. ‘Fight fire with fire. If he could make nonsensical demands, then so could she.’

Cecile flashed a brilliant smile, which made Ruin confusedly return her smile. In the most beautiful sounding voice she’d ever used in their conversation thus far, she purred, “I don’t know if you’ve heard of the rumors about me, Crown Prince Ruin, but I…”—Cecile joined her index and thumb into an ‘O’-shape, which was the universal sign for money—“am very fond of this.”

* * *

“What in the world is even happening?” the saintess cried, as she ran through the fleeing crowd. Raising her head, a status box appeared in front of her.

Name: Estian

Race: Due to the activation of Eugendiph’s blood, current class if clansman of Eugendiph

Age: 28

Occupation: Emperor

Status: Second rampage of Eugendiph’s blood ongoing.

That last line made her mouth run dry from the horror. “Why is the second rampage happening here?” she yelled. It wasn’t supposed to happen in Aluna! After Estian’s first rampage, the second rampage wasn’t supposed to occur until much later, and it would be a much milder incident compared to the first. Thanks to Cecile quelling the first rampage, the second was easily subdued.