Chapter 82

Remnants (3)

“Grand Duke, my son and I have known each other for quite a long time,” the Emperor remarked, leaning back in his seat. “I’m pretty sure I’ve known him since the day he was born, at the very least.”

“Even in private, please observe some decorum, Your Majesty,” Grand Duke Aslan replied calmly.

“Shut up. What the hell is this?”

Grand Duke Aslan offered a quiet sigh as the Emperor hurled abuse without a second thought, then explained without breaking composure.

“I am recommending that you declare martial law. The Imperial Prince’s movements are troubling.”

“I know Arden’s been running around doing stupid things lately. But martial law? What kind of insane nonsense is that?”

Under normal circumstances, the Emperor’s reaction would have been perfectly reasonable. Martial law was a measure reserved for severe national emergencies. Bringing it up so suddenly without extraordinary cause was far too extreme.

“Considering His Highness’s disposition, this may actually be a slight overreaction,” Aslan admitted. “He is not the sort of person who would simply do whatever he wants without caring whether civilians die.”

“…”

The Emperor’s demeanor visibly darkened the moment those words left Aslan’s mouth. Unless he was a complete fool, he could not fail to understand what the Grand Duke was implying.

“Are you saying he’s plotting treason?”

“Yes.”

“Your source?”

“The same man who asked me to request a declaration of martial law.”

“…”

The Emperor silently flipped through the official documents the Grand Duke had handed him. The source had used every little trick imaginable to keep his name off the official record, but anyone familiar with the internal workings of the palace could identify him almost immediately.

“…Looks like Noel picked herself a pretty good husband,” the Emperor muttered softly. “He can even sniff out something like this?”

“I agree,” Grand Duke Aslan replied in a mild tone. “I will explain how he reached his conclusion as well, Your Majesty.”

Even so, it would be natural for any father to struggle with the realization that his own son was plotting treason to overthrow him.

“I approve it.”

Apparently, that was not a problem after all.

Grand Duke Aslan blinked in surprise as the Emperor immediately slammed his official seal onto the approval form.

“You’ve obviously reviewed something this serious dozens of times before bringing it to me,” the Emperor said plainly. “What do I gain by wasting time denying reality now?”

“We are discussing a member of your own family trying to take your throne,” Aslan noted. “You accept that rather easily.”

“I say it because he’s family and I know him well. If people are saying something like this about Arden, then he is absolutely capable of doing it. More importantly…” The Emperor flipped through the pages again, pointing at one particular section. “What about you? Are you planning to make that brat your successor or something?”

The martial law proposal stated that personnel from House Aslan would be mobilized, while the deployment and command of those forces would be entrusted entirely to Aiden Kellermain. The authority granted to him was so extensive that an outsider could easily mistake Aiden for Grand Duke Aslan’s acting representative.

“That would violate the law, Your Majesty,” Aslan answered smoothly. “He is not a direct blood relative.”

“…”

To the Emperor’s ears, that sounded suspiciously as though Aslan would have done it already if the law did not forbid him.

“I was planning to raise that brat properly and take him for myself later,” the Emperor grumbled. “Why does everyone keep trying to put their mark on him?”

“That sounds as though there are others besides me.”

Instead of answering out loud, the Emperor pulled a sheet of paper from his desk and tossed it across the room toward Grand Duke Aslan. Aslan privately admired the impressive technique required to send a single sheet flying in a perfectly straight line without fluttering, then caught it effortlessly.

However, the contents written on it were somewhat less pleasant.

“…The Holy Kingdom’s ‘Perfected One’ and the Great Plains’ ‘God’s Right Hand’?” Aslan read, raising an eyebrow. “Is this real?”

“Why would it be fake? The latter is… well, such a strange bastard that I can almost ignore him. The bigger problem is the former. That side is in bad shape. They’re making the most aggressive approach, with the Pope himself leading it.”

Grand Duke Aslan’s expression tightened.

The title of Perfected One carried a weight at least as great as Lionheart did within the Empire. In some ways, the situation was even worse than dealing with the Pope directly. While the Pope stood at the summit of divine ability wielders, the Perfected One ranked among the absolute strongest of all supernatural ability wielders.

In terms of pure combat power, the person was a monster who could stand above even the Pope without anyone finding it strange. People even called them a legendary genius out of place in the modern age, when supernatural techniques had regressed significantly compared to ancient times.

“I’ve heard the information is starting to reach people who operate in the shadows too,” the Emperor added darkly. “Nobody knows what kind of lunatics will crawl out next.”

In fact, one of those shadows had already approached the brat directly. The Emperor remembered the intelligence regarding the assassination organization Dark Moon, and his expression turned as sour as the Grand Duke’s.

“…It feels like someone cracked open a jar of honey only I knew about.”

“Men that useful are rare, after all.”

Their shared sighs drifted through the quiet room together.

✦ ✦ ✦

Aiden could hardly remember another moment in his life when he had felt this useless.

“…”

“…”

Two wooden dolls sitting across from each other would probably have created a far livelier atmosphere than this.

Noel had gone deathly pale. She barely touched her food while repeatedly stealing anxious glances at him. Just watching her was enough to make Aiden feel completely helpless.

‘…I have absolutely no idea what she’s thinking.’

He genuinely could not figure out why she was acting this way. He had made a living by reading the hidden thoughts and psychology of others, so sitting across from someone this terrified for reasons he could not identify was deeply troubling.

Looking closely at her, he could at least be certain of one thing: Noel was not thinking clearly right now, and her fear was painfully real. Aiden had simply invited her out for a meal, yet he had no clue how the situation had spiraled into this.

“…Noel, please calm down.”

When he tried to comfort her, Noel gave a stiff nod despite trembling all over.

“Why are you so nervous?” he asked gently.

“…”

At his question, Noel squeezed her eyes shut. She took a slow, deep breath, looking like a warrior steeling herself to march onto a battlefield.

“Whatever it is, I’m ready, Aiden.”

“…Pardon?”

“I studied a lot before coming here. I’ve prepared myself mentally too.”

“…Pardon?”

At this point, trying to decode what she meant seemed far less useful than simply saying what he had planned to say. Aiden cleared his throat, watching her tense expression.

“Noel, I only invited you because I wanted us to talk about ourselves.”

“…”

Noel slowly blinked at him in complete confusion. She looked as though she had just heard something entirely unexpected.

“Talk about… ourselves?”

“Yes,” Aiden said softly. “We’ve never really talked about things like that before.”

He was merely following Theresa’s advice to have a normal, personal conversation. Living together had given them a basic idea of each other’s habits, but they had almost never sat down and opened up honestly to one another.

However, Noel’s response was not at all what he anticipated.

“…There wouldn’t be anything interesting about learning things about me.”

“…”

“…Would that really mean anything?”

Aiden stared at her, wondering how low Noel’s opinion of herself had to be for such an answer to come out so naturally.

“Aren’t we engaged?” Aiden asked gently. “I want us to become closer.”

The instant those words left his mouth, Noel’s face stiffened. All the nervous tension she had built up evaporated at once, replaced by a painful expression that suggested something else had struck a raw nerve. She looked almost as if the wind had been knocked out of her.

“…Is it because I’m your fiancée?”

A bitter, quiet smile appeared on Noel’s face. She closed her eyes for a moment, opened them again, and then lightly slapped both of her cheeks as if warning herself not to imagine things that were not there.

‘…Of course not.’

In the end, she and Aiden were bound together by a contractual engagement. Their relationship had never advanced beyond that point, nor had there been any clear sign that it ever would. From beginning to end, almost everything beyond that contract existed only in the romantic hopes she had created in her own head without ever asking what Aiden actually wanted.

‘I’m such an idiot.’

She had misunderstood everything on her own, hoped on her own, and panicked on her own. What was she even doing?

A wave of fresh embarrassment made Noel press her lips together, but she forced herself not to let it show. She was spending precious time with Aiden right now. There was no need to ruin the atmosphere any further.

After all, this was the man she loved.

“All right,” Noel said softly, offering a faint smile. “Is there anything you would like to ask?”

“Yes. To start with, I’d like to know what kind of food you like.”

“…My food preferences? I can eat just about anything.”

She was a battle-hardened veteran of war. It would have been far stranger if she were a picky eater.

“No, I mean what you like the most,” Aiden clarified in a gentle, warm tone. “I can cook reasonably well, you know. I’d like to make a meal at least once for someone I li—”

[System Message]

• Target ‘Noel’s’ ‘Extreme Affection’ toward you has risen to Stage 2.

• Skill ‘Weaver of Fate’ activates. You can copy an additional skill!

• Your influence over target ‘Noel’ has greatly increased.

• A major change has occurred in target ‘Noel’s’ state of mind because of you. The possibility of altering the future has emerged.

• The target’s ‘Personal Quest’ will soon be unlocked.

• Unique Trait ‘Origin’ has been unlocked.

• Unique Trait ‘Divine Descent’ has been added.

“…”

Aiden stared at the system notification window in complete shock.

‘What in the world…?’

When he looked back up at Noel, her face was burning bright red. Even a ripe tomato would have looked pale next to her blushing face.

“…Noel? Are you all right?”

“…I, um…”

Fearing she might be unwell, Aiden spoke up again. Noel moved with the awkward stiffness of a wooden puppet before finally squeezing out a answer.

“Since we met… I think that’s the first time I’ve directly heard you say… that you like me.”

“…”

‘Was it?’

Now that he thought about it, she was probably right. He could barely remember ever saying anything like that directly to her.

While Aiden paused to reflect, Noel covered her face with both hands and cursed silently under her breath.

‘Damn it…’

Until just a few moments ago, she had completely resigned herself to giving up hope. She had been trying to convince herself to stop expecting things on her own. So why did this man have to say something like that now?

‘If you say things like that, I can’t stop hoping…!’

When Noel peeked through her fingers and looked at Aiden with tearful, resentful eyes, he panicked and tried to explain himself.

“I’m not lying.”

“…”

“Who could possibly dislike someone like you? I genuinely mean th—”

“…Aiden, stop.”

“Yes?”

“Please, just stop…” Noel squeaked out, barely finding her voice from her constricted throat.

Her face was completely hidden behind her hands, and from Aiden’s perspective, it looked as if steam might burst out of her ears at any second.

“A-A-Aiden, I… I have to tell you—”

Before she could finish her sentence, a loud, sharp pop echoed above, and a brilliant flare shot high into the sky.

“…”

“…”

The timing could not have been more terrible.

Aiden turned toward the direction where the flare had risen. It was a dark, black signal flare, tracing an ominous black line across the sky that sent a chill through the air even under the bright midday sun.

The sudden burst caused nearby diners to turn their heads in surprise, but a freezing sensation was already rushing down Aiden’s spine.

‘…That flare.’

He had seen this scene before in the game story. There was no mistaking what it meant.

It was the signal that marked the official beginning of Act Three: The Imperial Capital Fracture.

The catastrophe had triggered far earlier than Aiden had originally anticipated. Something massive was happening, and it was happening right now.

[System Message]

• A change has occurred in the ‘Main Story.’

• The event begins at an earlier point in time!