Chapter 188: The Way to Change Your Method is to Marry Rast (Two-in-One)
As the sun sets in the west, the lonely sea surface is bathed in a dull yellow hue.
On the chaotic rocks, the two items left behind by Rast are now, under the glow of the sunset, adorned with a faint golden luster.
A heavy impact revolver engraved with the Iron-Washed Moon, and a pitch-black, memory crystal resembling the night itself.
This is the last question Rast left for Ingrid before leaving—
A single-choice question.
Is it to terminate oneself, as Ingrid had envisioned before, putting an end to everything?
Or to choose to live, becoming the companion of the black-haired boy, swearing loyalty to him… using the rest of her life to follow him and reclaim the glory and honor that Ingrid had forgotten in the past.
Ingrid’s gaze lingered on the revolver for a long time, lost in hesitation.
However, after a long silence, she ultimately reached out to that pitch-black crystal.
Ingrid is not the type of person who is indecisive; once she decides on something, she will surely follow through… Her background does not afford her the ample escape routes that others her age have.
For Ingrid, every choice is a gamble. She does not leave herself a way out, only a path forward.
But—
Those words Rast spoke indeed troubled her.
Since that’s the case, let’s first see what Rast left behind, what it truly is.
With such thoughts in mind, Ingrid picked up the crystal of memory as dark as the night.
Individuals who have transcended beyond the fifth tier and have made significant progress in mental power possess the ability to cut off fragments of their own mental strength and memories, manifesting them as tangible memory crystals to present to others… As the former Director of the Inspectorate, Ingrid is quite familiar with this.
She emptied her mind, synchronizing her spirit with the soul fluctuations of the memory crystal, slowly infusing her thoughts into the crystal.
In the next moment, countless fragmented memories and images surged in like tidal waves… causing Ingrid’s delicate body to tremble slightly.
In the past, during interrogations of enemy spies, Ingrid had also employed soul-searching skills with the help of her subordinates, so she is well-versed in reading others’ memories.
As the former Director of the Inspectorate, Ingrid has enough broad experience to describe the black, white, and gray… She is a true transcendent who has risen from the most meager beginnings, and throughout her life’s journey, she has already seen through the myriad states of the world and the warmth and coldness of human emotion.
Yet even so—Ingrid has never encountered such memories, which shocked her soul, nearly causing her mind to collapse.
What kind of heart imagery is this…
The Deep Blue Harbor, polluted by the plague of the Evil God, shattered overnight, turned into a living hell.
The same day repeated endlessly, life stalled.
Being eaten away inch by inch by the Iron Crosses, exploding into a pile of bones in the harbor area due to the blast of steam boilers, dying from having over-injected with veterinary stimulants, feeling oneself gradually being consumed in molten steel…
These deaths, which ordinary people would fear to even think about, the young boy had experienced countless times, hundreds, thousands of times.
Rast was not wrong.
An infinite loop of the same day, unable to move forward, is equivalent to hell for humanity… And the only ones who could return from hell are probably “evil spirits.”
The spirit withers in the long passage of time, the soul also cracks with fissures.
Even memories fade away, and past recollections become blurry.
The only unchanging thing—
Is the ideal named “Guardian,” still existing despite being ruined.
…
When Ingrid finally awakened from the wave-like memories flooding her mind, the sun had completely set.
The glow of the sunset disappeared, leaving only the veil of eternal night, shrouding the sky.
In her hand, the memory crystal quietly shattered, turning into countless scattered fragments, silently drifting away into the night.
However, Ingrid’s eyes remained immersed in the earlier shock, unable to extricate herself.
Back then, her words when rejecting Hiltina’s rescue were not empty.
Ingrid truly felt deep-seated disgust, and at the same time, genuine envy towards Hiltina—
Hiltina was seen as hope by countless people in the Empire, shining bright like the sun… However, Hiltina, who was born with everything, had never experienced the taste of being the weakest and most helpless, so she could never empathize with Ingrid.
Hiltina’s light could not illuminate her own night.
Thus, back in the ruins of the nuclear power plant, when Hiltina tried to rescue her, Ingrid decisively struck that blow, resolute in her decision.
But—
What about Rast?
She had mocked Hiltina, saying that she had never experienced the despair of the lower class, the taste of being the weakest and most trivial… Yet, in that memory, Rast’s situation in the Deep Blue Harbor was far more desperate than what Ingrid had faced herself.
The plague covering an entire city, beasts disguised in human skin knowing only how to inflict suffering, the pollution and corruption from the Evil God, and the half-body of the Evil God that would descend once the time limit was reached—
At that time, in Deep Blue Harbor, facing all this, Rast was merely an ordinary person unable to lift a finger.
Yet in such a desperate situation, Rast had stubbornly spent three hundred years, undergoing a hundred thousand cycles, to seek out the only opportunity from a one-in-a-thousand chance.
Compared to Rast, her own rise from the mundane, along with those achievements she once took pride in, suddenly seemed trivial.
Ingrid’s silence lasted for a long, long time.
After a long while, she slightly raised her gaze, looking towards the distant sky—
That was the direction of Starry University.
“Rast—”
“Can you truly illuminate… my night?”
…
Rast walked through the student dormitory area of Starry University, basking in the glow of the sunset.
Over the past few months, he had devoted his thoughts and energy to Ingrid, just as Rast had said about “training the eagle”… To win over Ingrid, this was a long tug-of-war.
Therefore, this marked Rast’s first return to the academy after more than three months—
However, just as he was about to reach his dormitory.
He heard faint voices of conversation, or rather, the sound of an argument, coming across the dim sky.
Rast’s heart stirred, and he stopped in his tracks.
One party in the argument was somewhat unfamiliar to Rast; it seemed to be a middle-aged noblewoman whose speech bore an unmissable regal elegance.
The other party in the dialogue was very familiar to Rast; it was Hiltina’s voice.
“Fool!”
Suddenly, one of the arguers raised their voice sharply.
In the quiet dormitory area under the sunset, only the stern reprimand rang clearly in Rast’s ears.
“You must come back and must change that stubbornness of yours—”
“You are the royal family’s eldest daughter, the successor of this Empire can only be you, and must be you!”
The middle-aged noblewoman’s tone remained agitated but lowered again.
“If you want to become the Empire’s successor, the future leader… you must become cold and ruthless like my father, sacrificing the lives of innocent people before your eyes for the so-called choices and decisions, even callously abandoning your own wife. I would rather not be this princess, not be this empress.”
This was Hiltina’s voice, resolute: “I will only walk my own path.”
“Walk your own path? Then where do you plan to lead us, the entire Empire, me, your father, and Ophelia?”
“Do you know how much your father has sacrificed for you? How heavy his love for you is? The sheath of the holy sword should be wielded by the emperors of the Empire throughout history, yet he buried that sheath within the young you, right after he succeeded to the throne.”
“If it weren’t for the holy sword sheath within you, healing wounds, soothing pain, protecting the host from all disasters and turmoil… with your stubborn and obstinate temperament, how could you have survived repeatedly in the Night World? Do you really think it was just your good luck?”
“With your reckless and life-threatening combat style, repeatedly finding yourself in dire situations, if it weren’t for that holy sword sheath protecting you, you would have died countless times already!”
“And since you carry the holy sword sheath, you must bear the corresponding responsibilities and become the empress of the Empire.”
Faced with the suddenly elevated tone of the noblewoman, Hiltina fell silent for a moment.
“This is something I’ve only recently learned… but what you say is not incorrect—”
“Perhaps it is indeed so, the false righteousness, the saintliness, the meaningless hypocrisy born from self-satisfaction and self-pity… But this is my justice. If one day I betray this justice, then Hiltina Ingulite will no longer exist.”
“Before the identity of the princess, before everything else—” Hiltina’s words were like a rock in a storm, unwavering:
“I am first and foremost, myself.”
The sunset over Starry University fell into a prolonged silence.
The noblewoman remained silent, while Hiltina stood resolute, leading to a long standoff.
“Perhaps, my visit to speak with you was truly presumptuous.”
After a long while, the noblewoman sighed lightly: “Clearly, your father has already proposed another way, a method for you to shed your sharp edges and learn to compromise.”
Hiltina remained silent.
“Actually, I didn’t come to Starry University just to see you, but also to see the person your father mentioned.”
“Only, it seems he is not in the academy, so it was for naught.”
The noblewoman stood up to leave, her final words drifting away, dissipating in the evening glow.
“Your father said that the new student named Rast is your only weakness, the only person you would be willing to compromise for.”
“If the royal family intervenes and arranges a marriage contract for you… then once you both are married, one day, you will shed your sharp edges because of him, and restrain your stubbornness and boldness—”
“Then, you’ll become a qualified heir to the throne, the future empress of the Empire.”
………………………………
PS: The person who attended class felt a bit dizzy, so the update was delayed for a while. I’ll try to make up for it in the next few days.
(This chapter is complete)
