Chapter 1062: Act 234 – The Last Ten Minutes
Princess Gloriana.
Brendel remembered this name, as Charles had once told him that this woman was Grifian’s aunt. Princess Grifian had also mentioned to him that she had such an aunt who was her father’s fiancée.
He recalled that Charles had originally told him, “She might not want to see you.”
This meant that this princess might still be alive.
“Is this princess still alive?”
“She is alive,” the old chancellor replied firmly. “She was seen a few years ago near Bruglas.”
“Near Bruglas.” Brendel’s voice trembled slightly. “Where is she now?”
This time the old chancellor shook his head. “No one knows.”
“No one knows?”
“No one, unless your father is willing to speak.”
Brendel thought for a moment and shook his head. Even if he could persuade his father now, he had no way to contact him.
He took a deep breath, then another, to calm himself. After a long silence, he asked, “Lord Nidwen, how does this relate to our current situation?”
“I believe this is the crux of the matter, so I must meet with His Majesty. I suspect someone sabotaged things back then and deceived everyone.”
“What do you mean?”
“From Mr. Pamid’s notes, it can be inferred that what happened that day is not consistent with what people learned later. On the first night of the events, there was no conflict between the princess and your grandfather. In fact, there were three people who headed to the center of the fog and entered that central temple—the princess, your grandfather, and one unknown person. However, later, in front of the people of Bud, the princess’s accounts were completely different. Your grandfather was excluded from the event, and the mysterious third person was concealed. As far as I know, it was this person who actually gave the orders that caused the princess to make that decision.”
Brendel was stunned. “Why?”
“To cover up the truth, but I doubt it was the princess’s intent, as it brought no benefit to the Empire,” the old chancellor continued. “This is precisely the answer Mr. Pamid spent his life searching for. Like Mr. Pamid, I can find no points of interest throughout the entire event. All actions appear absurd and unfounded, as if someone is manipulating everything from behind.”
At this point, he paused and slowly said, “But recently, I suddenly started to see some things clearly. I believe I may have a clue now.”
“Lord Nidwen, do you mean you can convince Her Majesty the Queen?” Veronica asked cautiously, frowning.
“If I can confirm that everything happening now is in contradiction to what Her Majesty expects,” the old chancellor replied.
“Is this why you’ve insisted on staying with us?” Brendel asked.
The old chancellor nodded.
“Then can we hear your conclusion?” the latter asked carefully.
The old chancellor nodded and replied, “I have been investigating Her Majesty the Queen for the past few years. I discovered that she has been trying to locate that little girl from back then, indicating that her efforts over the years have all failed. Her most recent failure led to the death of the fourth prince, after which Her Majesty stopped all actions. The alchemists I contacted have also been disappearing one after another.”
“What does she want to do?” Veronica asked.
“Unknown, but there must be some plot. I suspect that the situation behind it is not so simple. On the surface, it appears that dark dragons are trying to recreate the glory of Odin’s era, manipulating Her Majesty to act this way. The three great dragons are directly involved. Everything seems to make sense—except for the fact that Her Majesty and your grandfather concealed a key piece of information, so both the Bud people and the dragon race also believe only this side of the story.”
“Is it that infant?”
The old chancellor nodded.
“I have long been pondering a question: what forced Odin to seal a newborn within the temple? The birth of the newborn is crucial for the Minren, and I have gone to many places, relying on many connections, to check various documents with the wizards and the temple, yet none of the abundant Minren literature has any record of this newborn’s birth. All evidence points to the heavy enigma surrounding this infant.”
The old man’s slightly narrowed eyes reflected a profound light, as if having witnessed the supreme era of the Temple of Fire come to an end in his hands, personally placing the crown filled with honors on the head of Emperor Glantodi.
This old man sneered, questioning, “Strangely, the one pushing all this seems oblivious to it. He surely possesses more information than we do, yet as a seeker of dark dragons, how could he ignore such an obvious hint from Odin?”
“But what about Her Majesty the Queen?” Veronica asked. “Does she overlook these doubts as well?”
“For the Silver Queen, these doubts do not exist,” Brendel finally spoke. “Lord Nidwen has spent decades investigating this matter, and your investigation was based on the more detailed inquiries made earlier by Sir Pamid, even relying on frontline materials and notes. This is no simple task. If there were no doubts, the Silver Queen would not have conducted such a thorough investigation. Moreover, if she were working with that mysterious person, every move would be under the other’s surveillance, leaving no room for her to consider otherwise.”
“I see. So, for Her Majesty the Silver Queen, what she perceives may very likely be a carefully woven lie. If she continues down this path, what awaits her will not be what she hopes for.”
“You guessed correctly, Commander. Furthermore, this likely extends beyond Her Majesty; the other party has played the three empires, the Bud people, and the dragon race as if they were puppets. Their purpose is not simply to overthrow a nation. The infant certainly holds significant secrets. I have suspected multiple times that the main target of the other party might be that infant from back then. However, I cannot ascertain why Her Majesty chose to send her away, or why she concealed the existence of this little girl.”
The old chancellor sighed. “This question has troubled me until recently. I have little time left, and only Her Majesty the Queen can answer this question for me.”
“In other words, Lord Nidwen, you do not actually have solid evidence?” Brendel asked.
“This journey is fraught with peril; no one has absolute assurance.”
The old man, once at the pinnacle of imperial power, responded lightly to this question.
Brendel fell silent, for he was no different. He fought for his promise, while the old man fought for the grand empire he had built. They both had reasons to press forward, even at the cost of their own lives.
He looked at the somewhat stooped figure of the elder, yet in his eyes, he seemed to see the splendor and elegance he once held over millions.
Some people are born to achieve greatness. Their existence serves as a footnote to history, and their remains will become monuments, whether their enemies agree or not.
The three remained silent, each with their own calculations in mind.
Brendel was the first to break the silence after a moment, asking, “I wonder what you suspect about ‘the other party’, Lord Nidwen?”
The old chancellor seemed to have anticipated this question. He began, “In recent years, I have been investigating the cultists. I found that contrary to the general perception among many nobles, the cultists are actually divided into various factions. The main Everything Returns Society and the Shepherds are not on the same side. Moreover, many of the infamous Black Fire cultists are not subordinates of the Everything Returns Society, but rather were closer to the Shepherds.
The Shepherds have twelve heads of shepherds. Besides Andisha and Myad, who are imprisoned in the imperial city, there are also the Messenger of Sorrow Fenica, the Bloodlord Rokrel, the Death Speaker Tiamas, and others. These twelve are known as the Twelve Heads of Huddra, which is the origin of the twelve shepherds. The sea monster has twelve heads, but only one body. This enormous body is called the Ash Ring. Since the withered druid split from the world ring, this organization has been controlled by a fallen line of the golden people for generations.”
“I traced the roots and finally found some information about its last leader. It is a skeletal dragon residing near the Ossopalk region. This skeletal dragon had a remarkable past; it was a subordinate of the dark dragon Fusiya, outwardly appearing as a member of the dark dragons, often inciting dragons to return to the glory of Odin’s age. However, it was later discovered to have dealings with the Shepherds and was killed by its own kind. Since then, the dragons have harbored deep fears toward the dark dragons. Unfortunately, the dragon race underestimated this fellow. I have evidence proving it was not simply involved with the Shepherds but was actually the leader of the Shepherds during that time. Moreover, it did not entirely perish but became undead and escaped to Madara…”
“Of the three black dragons that infiltrated the empire sixty years ago, at least one is very likely to be a student of this skeletal dragon, that is, the current leader of the Shepherds and the foremost among the twelve heads, the dark dragon lord Clessis.”
Brendel’s heart immediately formed a clear answer. The dragon queen Gwendolyn—everything fell into place.
Why did Andisha and Myad suddenly appear? Why was the situation in Rustra so bizarre? If dragon queen Gwendolyn was also a member of the Shepherds, then everything made sense.
And if sixty years ago, with the Silver Queen, then still a princess of the empire, Gwendolyn being a potential Shepherd member lying in wait, could leverage Her Majesty’s aspirations for the empire under the guise of restoring the glory of the dark dragon era, using lies to rationalize everything that has occurred to date.
However, there remains a question.
“But how can you be sure this isn’t Her Majesty’s intent?” Brendel asked.
There is no lie in this world that is seamless. Though the Silver Queen may have no evidence, sometimes there is no need for proof when questioning—if she had no intent, why would she keep going further down this path?
Today’s Her Majesty is no longer the kind princess of the past.
“If so,” the old chancellor replied, “if I ultimately die on this land, at least I have an excuse to explain it to Glantodi—”
“I don’t want to die.”
“You can choose to withdraw.” The old man smiled at Brendel, his eyes revealing a teasing glint.
“At least I won’t put my hope in others.”
The old chancellor smiled slightly.
Veronica remained silent nearby, perhaps digesting the information. When Brendel first heard the truth from Turiman, his reaction hadn’t been much better than that of the commanding officer.
He took out his pocket watch to check the time—only ten minutes left. It was deep night; the forest was quiet, with only the sound of the wind. Even the night owls had left the treetops, while a full moon hung over the hills.
Kehua rode up on her white wolf beside him and said, “There are people in the forest.”
Before Brendel could speak, the nobles stirred first.
“Who is over there?”
A voice shouted from afar.
Brendel couldn’t help but wipe his sweat. If it were an ambush, he would be met with several sharp arrows. In the game, players often made such foolish mistakes, but after a few encounters, they learned their lesson.
Fortunately, the newcomers bore no ill intent, and soon, a familiar voice rang out from the forest: “Don’t attack, it’s our people.”
Upon hearing this, Brendel relaxed visibly.
It was Charles’s voice.
Emerging from the bushes were Charles and a few others. The young wizard attendant walked in front, swathed in a smoky, battle-scarred appearance. He had not been surrounded by wizards during the battle with the Fire-affiliated knights at Cold Dew Manor, indicating they had encountered fighting on their way as well.
Behind Charles were Medephis and Andrigraphis, both soaked in blood, which further confirmed the matter, but judging by their states, the blood seemed to come from the enemies they defeated.
“Why did you arrive just now?” Brendel furrowed his brow and asked.
“We encountered a bit of trouble on the way, my lord, and couldn’t reach you,” Charles replied, glancing around and quickly noticing the absence of the mountain girl, stammering, “Is something wrong?”
“Xi has been relocated ahead of time.”
Brendel answered, glancing at Charles and the vampire siblings behind him. “Are you guys okay?”
“Killing to the point of numbness,” Andrigraphis coldly interjected. This classic Andrigraphis response shocked the nobles who wanted to get near the beautiful lady.
“Why are all the women under this guy like this?” the blushing Cruz nobility felt emotionally wounded.
But fortunately, they found solace in the fact that the Elf Princess remained graceful and possessed the demeanor of a standard noble lady.
Brendel was unconcerned with how these people thought; he was accustomed to the sharp-tongued way of speaking of this vampire lady, only asking, “What happened?”
“The city is in chaos,” Charles shrugged. “We had a great battle with the cultists, and we even brought back a guy. If we need to head back into the city, he might be able to help us.”
It must be said that among everyone present, it was this young wizard attendant who understood his lord’s temperament the best.
If he didn’t rescue Xi.
Then there would definitely be bloodshed to the bitter end.
