Chapter 510: Not Important

The black carriage passed over the tall palace walls and drove all the way toward that magnificent building.

After entering the palace grounds, she had to proceed on foot. Because of Celicia’s status, she was not subjected to overly complicated inspections, yet she was still stopped in front of her Father Emperor’s room by two towering knights holding halberd-axes.

“Please wait for notification.”

Encased fully in armor and resembling statues, the knights’ tones were stiff and mechanical. Only the faint gaze leaking from the slits of their visors showed that they were not in fact lifeless.

“Please make it quick.”

Celicia nodded, not showing the slightest discourtesy.

From as far back as she could remember, these two towering knights had always stood guard by her Father Emperor’s side. So even she had no qualification to be discourteous.

All she could do was obediently wait.

Time passed. This was a longer wait than any she had experienced before.

Celicia did not waste the time. While waiting, she flipped through the documents in her hands, as if this prolonged wait could not make her feel even a °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° little impatient.

Only when the thick stack of materials in her hands—heavy as a dictionary—was almost read to the end did the towering knights finally move again.

“His Majesty bids you enter.”

The halberd-axes crossed before the door lifted, and the massive doors opened of their own accord.

“All right.”

Celicia put away the documents and stepped into the room.

As soon as she entered, a thick medicinal smell washed over her.

More than one incense burner was lit in the room, not to mask the scent of the medicines, but to cover, as much as possible, a deeper smell that Celicia could still faintly detect—the scent of decay.

“Your Highness, Princess.”

The court maids busy at the bedside saw Celicia enter and, after bowing respectfully, slowly withdrew.

The door was shut behind them, leaving only father and daughter in the room. Celicia’s gaze, however, briefly and without trace slid toward the shadows to the side.

With her realm having advanced, her senses had grown sharper, and the line of sight she had never noticed before, this time she actually detected the faintest clue.

“That must be the shadow warrior who, in the past, only appeared by Father Emperor’s side once or twice...”

Celicia’s mind turned, but she showed no sign of it. She bent her knees and knelt respectfully at the bedside.

“Father Emperor.”

Celicia called softly.

On the bed lay an old man with a gaunt face.

An old man whose surname was the same as that of this country.

Aldrich Leopold.

The world respectfully called him Aldrich III, the supreme Emperor of the Empire.

But at this moment, nothing of the tall, imposing figure of old could be seen on that face showing above the covers. He looked instead like an ordinary old man who had fallen ill.

After this bout of serious illness, this supreme ruler of the Empire had grown old and weak at a speed visible to the naked eye. Now, he could only spend most of each day lying in bed, using all sorts of expensive medicines to sustain his life.

It was said that aside from extremely important state matters, he was already too feeble to personally handle most affairs and had temporarily delegated his authority to his ministers and to the Second Prince, who had once been the sole heir.

“So it’s you, Celicia...”

The old man slowly opened his eyes.

His voice was low and weak, but in those half-open, powerless eyes, one could still glimpse a trace of the sharp edge that had once belonged to an Emperor.

“I’ve kept you waiting so long. You won’t blame me, will you?”

“I won’t. No matter how long it takes, your daughter will wait, without the slightest complaint,” Celicia answered.

“If it were anyone else, I’d just take that as an attempt to cheer me up. But you... proud as you are, you probably can’t even be bothered to lie, can you?” Aldrich III chuckled.

“Father Emperor, you overpraise me. There’s no one in this world who doesn’t lie. If anything, most people need lies to disguise themselves,” Celicia lowered her head.

“For example... that fiancé of yours who’s even changed his face now?”

The old man suddenly fixed a meaningful gaze on Celicia.

“......”

Celicia jolted, almost breaking out in a cold sweat. She stared at the old man on the bed and suddenly realized that neither she nor Muen had ever truly hidden their little movements from him.

Though weakened and aged, he was still... the Emperor of this Empire.

“Don’t worry. Muen Campbell, that fiancé of yours—I think highly of him. That inexplicable appointment order Andrew issued was something I tacitly approved. Otherwise, do you think that kid alone could have successfully sent such a decree out of the Imperial Palace?”

“The way Muen Campbell responded afterward was also very clever. He never should have entered Belrand openly in the first place. Otherwise, as a mere duke’s son who has yet to truly seize power, if he had just swaggered into Belrand under the eyes of the world, how long do you think he could have lasted in the storm? He is ultimately not his father.”

“Father Emperor, you did it in order to...”

“Don’t think too much... cough, cough, cough, cough!”

Aldrich III had just pushed himself up in bed when he began to cough terribly again.

Celicia hurried to support him, using mana to help the old man—who looked as if he’d wasted away by an entire circle—regulate his breathing.

Aldrich III took a deep breath.

The illness tormented him ceaselessly. A few months earlier, he had still been able to cut down the projection of an Evil God in the Shadow of Belrand with a single sword stroke. But now, just a few sentences too many were enough to throw his breathing out of rhythm.

Anyone who saw him like this would sigh. No wonder all sorts of monsters and demons had started growing restless at a time like this.

“I’ve just finished looking through the documents you sent ahead of time.”

After coughing a few more times, Aldrich III spoke slowly.

“The Shadow of Belrand, huh... truly a clever trick. Even I have no choice but to praise them for it. Those parasites keep stretching their hands farther and farther.”

“Then Father Emperor’s meaning is...”

“You want to keep investigating?”

Aldrich III did not answer her question. Instead, he stared into Celicia’s eyes and asked.

“......”

Celicia fell silent.

Keep investigating? That was the question she herself had been considering.

She knew very well that even if she followed the trail from that laboratory all the way back, in the end she would only find a few scapegoats pushed out by the people behind the scenes.

Those people who needed to conceal their identities and gather in secret even from their fellow Inner Council collaborators were never going to leave behind any handle that could actually topple them.

But...

As if recalling certain images, Celicia unconsciously tightened her grip on the bed frame, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

“If you want to investigate, that’s fine. If you don’t, that’s also fine. That’s your freedom. However, Cia, you’re a smart child. You should know that, for the Empire as it stands now, the truth of this matter is actually not important.”

Celicia silently watched as her Father Emperor casually set aside the carefully organized documents she had submitted—information on that laboratory. A faint light flickered in her cold eyes.

She didn’t need him to remind her. She truly understood.

This matter was in fact not important—at least not at her current level.

A drug that could turn people into monsters? Human experimentation? Hundreds of trafficked victims dying tragically? These things appeared horrific and inhuman, but in reality, with just these, there was no way to shake the foundations of the Empire.

Even if those people truly seized the Lower District, so what? It would only be a means to carry out their plans.

Their importance did not even compare to a few pained coughs from the old man before her.

It sounded cold and heartless, but this was reality.

What was truly important now was how, in the eyes of those with ulterior motives, her actions as an Imperial Princess would be interpreted if she really took action—which side they would think she was favoring.

Just as she had said to Muen from the very beginning.

The position of princess did not only grant her an exalted status. It also placed on her shackles that were hard to break. At this moment, with the storm approaching, her every word and deed had to be considered with extreme care.

If she took even one step wrong, the severe consequences that would follow would far surpass that cruel laboratory.

“Hehe. So what exactly are you thinking, my daughter?”

Aldrich III stared at this daughter of his, who was so outstanding that no one could ever mistake her for a harmless vase, and who might even have the power to influence the entire situation. It was as if he were waiting to see what kind of answer she would give.