Chapter 800

Chapter 800

The Pallan Empire, at the heart of Tionis.

With the Emperor bedridden, Crown Prince Sullivan, who was ruling in his place, was troubled by a pressing issue.

“Sigh... He’s got nothing,” Sullivan murmured.

The document in his hand contained personal information about a certain man: the Duke of the Lyndis Empire, Neto La Lili. He was a young prospect from the Lili Duchy who had lost his parents at a young age and taken control of the dukedom by himself. With his vast knowledge and financial power, he had become a formidable man of great influence in the Lyndis Empire.

The Lyndis Empire ruled over a vast territory, and he was one of the dukes overseeing the outskirts of it. He stood in direct contrast to the renowned one-man army—the Archduke Kathryn “Red Fox” Carabella. While there was no real political conflict between them, she was considered a formidable rival.

“Am I doing a good job...?” Sullivan wondered aloud.

A minister approached him. "Your Highness, you should take a break. You've been searching for information for days now."

“Chancellor,” Sullivan called out.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“What do you think, Chancellor, when you see someone who seems spotless?”

“Your humble servant does not fully understand what you mean.”

“The question is whether a person who appears spotless and flawless can truly be trusted as a confidant.”

Hearing Sullivan's weary tone, the Chancellor quietly shook his head.

“I see. Is this about that young duke from the Lili Duchy?”

“...”

“I wonder what your wife would think if she knew how much you worry about Princess Illyna.”

“I’m telling you clearly: don’t mention this to her.”

The Chancellor smiled at his stern yet odd combination of words.

“The engagement is already nearly finalized.”

“Yeah, most of the arrangements are in place.”

“Then what’s there to worry about? Although you may find him suspicious, there’s nothing conclusive about him. Even though he lost his wife early, he has a good reputation, wealth, and power. He should be able to keep the princess safe for the rest of her life.”

“I guess... Yeah...”

Sullivan set down the paper scribbled with his investigation findings. However, the report seemed all too clear that there were no issues regarding the man’s suitability.

***

“Are you saying you won’t use the Absolute Gem to close the Abyss...?” Kain asked.

“Yeah,” Davey answered.

“Why not? It’ll be difficult to eliminate Thanatos with your current strength, even if there really is another way to do so. Besides, you went all the way to the Demon World to recharge the power of the Absolute Gem, and now you’re saying you don’t want to use it...”

“What does the Absolute Gem do?”

“Well, it uses immense primordial power to interfere with the laws of the world...”

“Exactly. So it’s not limited to closing the door, right?”

“Ah, you’re saying you’re going to use it in a different way. In that case, you would have to be able to subdue Eclipse or Thanatos...”

“Which is pretty doable.”

His eyes widened at Davey's confident response.

“Can you really pull that off? Nothing has changed, so how...”

“Some beings who should never have stepped in have done so. If I still can’t subdue our enemies after their intervention, I might as well bite my tongue off and kill myself. But more importantly...”

“More importantly?”

“More importantly, what Eclipse said to me when she regained her senses, just before disappearing, was quite disturbing.”

Eclipse had told Davey that there was a traitor inside his circle, helping Thanatos. If their goal was to make him use the Absolute Gem to seal the doors, he knew it’d be a mistake to let them have it their way. Even so, just because the plan changed didn’t mean he couldn’t use it at all. In fact, he figured a different plan might’ve been better from the start.

He also had to consider the possibility that Eclipse might’ve lied to him.

Zzzttt!! Boom!!

Suddenly, the space tore open with a loud noise as a gigantic airship, several hundred meters long, left Earth behind and appeared in the skies over Tionis.

As soon as the Destructive side of Neltarid had disappeared, every human on Earth was freed from the hallucinations. The remaining god, Tranquility, was managing the situation on Earth as best as possible. Davey figured there would be no major threat to Earth itself for the time being, meaning there was no reason for him to stay on Earth as well.

He also needed to use a magic furnace to transplant Arbit’s dragon heart into Blue Ribbon and Red Ribbon. The people of Heins Territory noticed Davey's return when they saw the massive airship suddenly appear in the sky.

"Your Highness! Welcome back!"

“Nothing happened while I was gone, right?” Davey asked.

This time, it wasn't a hallucination; it was reality. However, Davey still had to deal with some of the confusion caused by Destruction and the hallucinations.

“The Heins Territory... Nothing much happened,” they replied.

"Good."

‘But why are they just mentioning Heins Territory...?’ he thought.

It was then.

"Your Highness."

A surprisingly deadpan voice echoed behind him. Davey felt his body stiffen reflexively when he heard Royal Attendant Bernile call him out.

As the saying goes, no one can predict what’s to come, and even if you know your fate, you can only see the flow of things, not the details within.

“Royal Attendant Bernile.”

"Your Highness, it's been a while since you returned, so I think you should prepare to leave for the palace."

Davey turned cold at his words. It felt exactly like before. Nothing was different from then.

He then asked with a stern face.

Perserque blushed at the queen, smiling brightly and with green hair, and gently took the child into her arms. She smiled as she met its eyes. Some people in the room had their eyes fixed on her as if they were on the verge of having a heart attack. Davey silently hoped that no one would be audacious enough to approach a woman with a husband.

At that moment, Davey noticed a young man—a man with a gentle face and low-key thin-rimmed glasses.

"Long time no see, Prince Davey."

Davey, having stepped away from Perserque for a moment, waved off the attendant offering him a wine glass and instead took a non-alcoholic drink typically meant for young ladies and gentlemen.

"Your Highness, is something wrong?" the attendant asked.

“I’ve quit drinking,” Davey replied.

Typically a royal couldn’t avoid drinking alcohol, not even if they wanted to. But for him, it was possible.

He sent the servant away looking confused and smiled at the grinning Grand Duchess Kathryn.

"Long time no see, Grand Duchess."

"It certainly feels that way, doesn't it? It seems like ages since we last met, even though it was just a short time filled with many events.”

“Are you here as an envoy of the Lyndis Empire?”

“I also wanted to see our lovely princess. I didn’t come alone, you know.”

At her words, Davey turned his attention to the man standing beside her.

"Nice to meet you, Prince Davey. I've heard a lot about you, and I’ve been looking forward to this meeting," the man said, extending his hand.

Davey quietly shook his hand, feeling a strange sense of power.

“I’m Neto La Lili, head of the Lili Duchy of the Lyndis Empire.”

“Davey O’Rowane. It’s an honor to meet a distinguished nobleman from the Lyndis Empire.”

“Compared to you, someone famous across the continent, I’m just a humble firefly.”

His friendly smile and soft voice seemed captivating. There was nothing wrong with him, but something about him still made Davey feel oddly uncomfortable.

“Actually, I’d like to talk more, but I suppose I'll have to settle for just greeting you today. I hope you two enjoy your conversation.”

As Neto retreated, Kathryn, now standing next to Aeria, spoke quietly to Davey.

“So, what do you think?”

"About...?”

“What do you think of him?”

She whispered in her normal tone and also made sure no one else could hear them.

“Well...”

“He doesn’t have anything bad about him,” she remarked.

“It would seem like that, yeah. I’ve heard the rumors.”

He was known as a man whose beloved wife had passed away early, with a good reputation and character. Most people knew of him. Plus, he had good manners.

“Does it bother you that he's so... flawless, in a way?”

“To be honest? Yeah.”

“You shouldn’t be suspicious of everything all the time. That makes you a twisted person.”

“Who’s calling who twisted? You’re someone who gets suspicious even when others do something good.”

She giggled and raised her glass.

Clink!

As they clinked their glasses, Kathryn made a puzzled face.

“That’s not wine. Are you sick or something?”

"No, I quit drinking,” Davey replied.

Kathryn made a shocked face. “Oh my goodness. That’s more surprising than finding out you were a saint.”

‘This woman...’

As surprising as she claimed it was, Davey had good reason. He had just gone through all of that because of alcohol.

“Prince Davey, long time no see,” a voice interrupted. It was Prince Sullivan who was approaching them.

“Thank you for taking care of Illyna all this time.”

“It’s just helping each other out. It’s nothing,” Davey replied.

“Actually, I’m thinking of bringing Illyna back because of an incident within the empire. For protecting Illyna all this time, the empire will offer you proper compensation...”

“I didn’t do it for compensation.”

After all, Illyna had only disguised herself as a student at Heins Academy; she wasn’t a real student and rarely attended classes. There was nobody who could teach her anything about swordsmanship. No way.

Davey looked at Sullivan quietly as he continued.

“You just met him, right? Duke Neto La Lili. There’s been a lot of talk in the Lili Duchy about the marriage between him and Illyna.”

After hearing those words, Davey turned his gaze to find Illyna. Sure enough, he saw her with Duke Lili, who was speaking softly with a smile while Illyna responded with her own calm smile.

“He is wealthy, well-connected, and doesn’t seem to have any major personality flaws. He appears to care for Illyna, so he should be able to protect her well.”

“Protecting her...” he muttered.

Looking back now, Davey couldn’t help but think that it had turned out for the best.

“Her standards have gone downhill,” he said.

"Pardon?" Sullivan looked at him, puzzled.

Everyone had flaws. There was no one without them if one dug deep enough. So, in other words, it meant the man had done a good enough job of hiding away his past.