Chapter 556: Good Evening, Sir

"Magitech Locator... how could it be, how could it be... Vinnie... how could you..."

After listening to Muen’s explanation, Albert was instantly dumbfounded on the spot, his face even paler than when he had been facing a desperate situation just now.

A Magitech Locator, just as its name suggests, doesn’t have any special function. It merely continuously emits a magic aura that can only be detected in a particular way, making it convenient for the arranger to precisely determine the target’s position at any time.

"Now, Your Highness should understand, right? We didn’t wrong anyone. To have the chance to hide this thing in your collar, I think... other than her, you wouldn’t find a second person."

Albert’s body trembled, as if recalling something. His lips moved, yet he could no longer find words to refute.

He wasn’t an idiot. With evidence this clear laid out before him, what else could he say?

"So it was... at the time of that hug?"

Eken murmured, and then, with a face full of shame, lowered his head in front of Muen:

"I’m terribly sorry, Lord Bruce. You clearly already warned me, yet I still made such a slip. If I had noticed in advance, then it wouldn’t have..."

"It isn’t your fault. No one would have thought Lawveny would use such a method."

Muen waved his hand and said:

"However, it truly was fortunate. If I hadn’t arrived in time, if I hadn’t discovered this thing, then this time we really would have lost the game completely."

"What should we do next?"

Eken’s tone was grave: "Since the other side already knows our location, what awaits us next will surely be a mad encirclement and slaughter. With our current manpower..."

He glanced around. There weren’t many people they could mobilize now. He himself was injured, and Lord Bruce was quite obviously extremely exhausted. With such a team, facing Prince Andrew’s tidal-wave-like encirclement and slaughter, they certainly wouldn’t get far.

"Plans, let me think..."

Muen propped his chin and fell into thought.

Time ticked by second after second. Everyone knew this place wasn’t safe. Muen too sped up his thinking as much as possible, even going so far as to activate the Alchemy Core at such a time, seeking a more generous span of thinking time.

Very soon, his gaze fell on the Magitech Locator in his hand.

"Got it."

A gleam flashed through Muen’s eyes: "We can make use of this."

"Make use of this..."

Eken also thought of something. His expression shifted: "My lord means..."

"We’ve been acting right under the other side’s eyelids all along. This may, instead, make them trust this coordinate too much. Therefore this time, I’ll be the decoy."

"No!"

Eken rebuffed him at once. "That’s too dangerous."

"This is the only way. When both sides’ cards have been revealed almost to the full, what decides victory or defeat is the card player’s operation."

Muen toyed with the coordinate in his hand, eyes slightly narrowed, and said softly: "The other side is the advantaged party. Too much confidence in the cards in their hand may make them overlook this point. That is our chance to win."

...

After the plan was set, everything once again proceeded in an orderly fashion.

Taking advantage of the fact that the enemy’s second wave hadn’t yet approached, Eken used alchemical bombs to confuse their vision, then, under cover of the night, took Albert away along another hidden route Muen had prepared.

At the end of that route, Marquis Angus, whom he had already contacted in advance, would come to meet them. One could say that from the moment they managed to slip away in advance, most of the hope of victory had already come into view.

As for Muen, he stayed with the others, took the originally planned road, carried the coordinate, and acted as bait.

"To keep some sharp-nosed Beastkin from getting in the way, to be safe..."

With no outsiders present, Muen casually pulled out Elizabeth and drew a cut across his palm.

Blood flowed.

A faint smell of blood drifted into the night on the breeze.

Muen closed his tired eyes. While calming the still-agitated mental power in his mind, he silently waited.

Very soon, in the silence, there came a low beastly growl.

Just as Muen had anticipated, the blood in him that had all kinds of messy unknown things mixed in was itself of great allure to these bloodthirsty Beastkin.

And farther away, darting figures were also closing in. They harbored no doubt about the position provided by the coordinate and were about to mete out a cruel punishment to that poor First Prince.

...

...

"This is..."

"Father’s body."

Sharp’s face still faintly bore the anger of being offended, and behind him stood a heavy and luxurious coffin.

Celicia went over and, through the crystal coffin lid, could see, nestled among flowers, the emaciated old man lying with eyes closed in eternal sleep.

Memory turned, and Celicia quickly brought up the face of Marquis Dion in her mind. She carefully compared it and confirmed that the person lying in the coffin was precisely Marquis Dion, whom she had come to visit on this trip.

So... he truly was already dead.

Before, had she just been overthinking it?

"Apologies."

Expressionless, Celicia reached out and stroked the coffin, her words tinged with apology.

Even if she was a princess, to have offended a dead person—moreover, a marquis who had once held a noble station—was still something that required repentance.

"Does Your Highness still want to suspect that Father faked his death?" Sharp sneered.

"With the fact before me, I naturally wouldn’t dare."

Celicia bowed respectfully to Marquis Dion’s remains and said:

"I offended much this time. Please forgive me."

After offering a simple tribute before the coffin, Celicia directly took her leave:

"I’ll have someone deliver a gift of apology to the residence afterward. Then, please excuse me for taking my leave first."

"Your Highness won’t stay a while longer?"

Sharp rumbled:

"I see you’re quite fond of coffee. Father was also very fond of coffee in life and had collected quite a few coffee beans of excellent quality. Won’t you stay to have a taste?"

"Time is pressing. I still have other matters to attend to. Thank you for the kindness."

Celicia paid no mind to Sharp’s snide tone and headed out without any dithering.

Since there was no gain this time, she could only go to the next place...

"President, President..."

Just as she was thinking, Veil, who had vanished who-knew-where just now, suddenly scooted to Celicia’s side and handed her a letter.

"From that guy."

"Oh?"

Celicia raised a brow.

That guy?

At a time like this, he should be happily playing with Elder Brother Andrew in the Lower City. He still had time to send something to her?

Harboring curiosity, Celicia opened the letter, quickly glanced through it, and then her expression immediately grew solemn.

There wasn’t anything complicated in the letter, not even a greeting. It merely asked her to help investigate one person... or rather, a monster.

Enclosed was a photograph. It looked very blurry—one could imagine under how shaky and ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) dim a circumstance the Photographic Magitech Device had captured this picture.

Even so, one could still vaguely make out that the so-called monster was a little girl whose body was stitched with massive magical beast limbs—a horrific sight.

"So that’s it. This is the sole test subject from the institute who was taken away, is it? A little girl who, relying on powerful Beast Blood, can stitch on magical beast limbs without any side effects. Stitching... stitching... research institute... Beast Blood... fusion..."

Celicia’s habitually tapping fingers suddenly halted. As if sensing something, she abruptly turned her head and looked at Sharp, who was there out of courtesy to see her off.

"Young Master Sharp, there’s one more question I’d like to ask."

Celicia’s expression was exceptionally serious at this moment, giving Sharp no room to refuse at all.

"Regarding what you once..."

...

...

"For the time being, it’s wrapped up, I suppose."

In the ever-darker street, Muen was covered in blood. His figure swayed. Bracing himself against a wall, he managed with great effort to steady his body.

"This time, I really spent it all, down to the last drop."

Looking at the scattered short-limbed remains all around, Muen couldn’t help but give a bitter smile.

He had just risked his life against that little girl, then came to take care of these Beastkin and the assassins who were there to kill Albert. Even though he had always considered himself quite enduring, at this point both his magic power and battle aura, as well as the tools on him, had all been drained to empty.

It had been a long time since he had felt himself to be this, this weak.

Muen crushed the coordinate in his hand and, taking advantage of the gap before the next wave of enemies arrived, staggered away from the place.

As he walked, Muen replayed the entire night’s confrontations in his mind.

This wasn’t merely a duel of individual strength; it was also a clash between two great forces.

Beyond these open confrontations, who knew how many bloody struggles were taking place in the darkest corners of this district. One could say both sides had brought out every means they had.

But on the whole, it was still that Prince Andrew who held the upper hand.

It couldn’t be helped. After all, even if Muen had obtained the support of the entire ducal mansion, the other side was a prince after all. The power he could mobilize was certainly more than Muen’s.

"However... I suppose I’ve done my utmost as well."

Muen finally tossed these things out of mind for the time being, too lazy to think about them. He looked up at the sky, still pitch-black and deep, and gave a self-mocking smile:

"What remains can only be left to the heavens, then? Great Goddess above, for Lia’s sake, please bless me as well."

"Still... haha, being forced to the point of looking to the heavens—I’m quite rarely this embarrassed. ‘Zi and I are not fish’ says: welcome to read this book at Tongren Novel Network! Counting it carefully, the chance of winning is quite high. With only the last district left, even if he has to crawl, Albert will have crawled there, right?"

"Speaking of which, that First Prince was, to the very end, still pining over that Lawveny. Should I call him affectionate, or call him foolish?"

"Hm?"

While using talking to himself to ease the sense of mental tearing in his head, Muen’s movement suddenly halted, and he looked ahead not far away.

"Heh, truly—speak of the devil and he arrives."

Amid the encirclement of several fallen Beastkin, a body already torn and ruined lay there quietly.

The wide black robe had been ripped to tatters, so at a glance Muen recognized... it was Lawveny.

Muen went closer for a careful look and found she was even more miserable than he had imagined. Half her body bore bite marks, and her inner organs were flowing out of a rent—there was clearly no chance of bringing her back.

"To end up like this—cast aside after being used up? Should I say this counts as paying for one’s own deeds? With a prince who cared for her so much, and yet she still had to betray."

Muen sighed, picked up a slightly larger piece of black cloth at the side, and intended to drape it over Lawveny.

"..."

"Hm? Not entirely dead?"

As he leaned down, Muen saw Lawveny’s lips actually move ever so slightly, as if she wanted to say something, so he inclined his head nearer...

...

...

"Your Highness, we’re almost there ahead."

Along a hidden path, Eken supported Albert, their steps hurried.

After a period of concealed stealth, they sped forward along this little road Muen had carefully picked out, encountering no danger or obstacles along the way.

And now, even with merely ordinary human senses, Albert could clearly see, at the very end of this path, that wide avenue—and beyond the avenue... those luxurious carriages parked there.

That was the venue where Marquis Angus was holding the charity banquet—their destination on this trip and the shore of victory.

Presumably, Marquis Angus was at this very moment anxiously waiting for them over there. And as long as they met up, even that willful Andrew would certainly have no choice but to admit defeat and stop here.

Perhaps at the thought of these things, Albert—whose expression had been bleak after a string of blows—finally had a bit of brightness in his eyes.

Finally...

"Finally, finally, finally..."

"After losing so many things, after sacrificing so many people, after a whole night of arduous escape and killing..."

"I’m finally going to obtain victory in this game. I’m finally going to be the victor and step that foolish younger brother under my feet... I suppose this is what you’re thinking in your heart right now."

Suddenly, a dazzling light came on.

The road ahead was cut off by a massive shadow.

Albert woodenly turned his head and, at the end of that blinding light source, saw a luxurious seat.

And on the seat was a sneering, familiar face.

The Second Prince, Andrew.

"You..."

"How am I here?"

Andrew snatched Albert’s words and laughed loudly:

"I knew you would ask that... What an utterly foolish question. At this point, my dear royal brother, do you still not understand?"

Andrew slowly clenched his palm and grinned hideously:

"From start to finish, no matter how you flailed, you were always in my hand. Do you understand, dear Royal Brother? You never had any possibility of escape. From the very beginning, it was so."

"From the very beginning..."

Albert was struck as if by lightning, his expression extremely ugly: "Impossible. Even if you gained the support of the Inner Council, your power couldn’t be this great. Why... why..."

"But I’m right in front of you, am I not?"

Hands behind his back, Andrew stepped down from the luxurious seat, came closer step by step, and strolled toward Albert, taking great interest in appreciating his ashen expression at this moment.

"Your Highness, I’ll hold them off. You go first!"

Eken suddenly roared and charged at Andrew.

Pfft.

A sharp beast claw pierced his chest.

His face turned abruptly pale and rigid. He turned his head with difficulty and discovered that terrifying, ferocious beast claw actually came from... a little girl.

"Well done."

Andrew’s face was full of praise: "Worthy of a weapon manufactured by the Inner Council. Thanks to you tonight."

The little girl had no reaction at all. She merely flicked the beast claw, and Eken’s lifeless body, like a broken sandbag, was hurled into a corner.

"Congratulations, Your Highness."

Robin alighted on the little girl’s head, stretched out his wings, and clapped them eagerly:

"From here on, there will be no one at all who becomes your obstacle."

"Haha, indeed, no one will become my obstacle anymore."

Andrew spread his arms wide, letting the night wind rich with the smell of blood wash over him, intoxicatedly... savoring this victory.

What should have belonged to him—yet some fellow suddenly popped out to fight him for it—this anger had finally been vented completely tonight.

After tonight, he would ascend the pinnacle of imperial power without hindrance—ascend... that throne.

"I still don’t understand... why you knew my position."

Albert gritted his teeth unwillingly: "If you truly had such power, there would have been no need for you to fear me at all."

"Oh? Seems you truly want to die enlightened."

Andrew’s smile grew ever more exaggerated. The more unwilling and grief-stricken Albert was, the happier he became.

"Then I’ll tell you, dear elder brother: by your side, from beginning to end, there was one of my people. As for who that person is... well, I don’t think I’ve asked yet."

Andrew clapped his hands:

"Robin, come, tell my brother who that person is. Just so, I also want to meet my great meritorious subject. For tonight’s matter, I’ll be sure to reward heavily!"

"Yes."

Like a performer standing center stage, Robin said, word by word:

"That inner responder of ours is actually..."

...

...

"I did not... betray His Highness."

"You, what did you say?"

Muen’s pupils shrank. He seized Lawveny’s bloodstained shoulder and shook it hard:

"Say that again?"

"I... know... you all... suspect me... cough cough... but..."

Lawveny’s face, deathly pale, coughed out blood and her last life’s breath as she spoke:

"I... absolutely did not... betray His Highness... never... did..."

"Did not..."

Muen muttered, his expression shifting between shock and doubt:

"You didn’t betray—then the betrayer is..."

...

...

"Yes, that betrayer is..."

"It’s me."

Pfft.

A sharp weapon pierced flesh.

Andrew’s smile suddenly froze. He dumbly lowered his head and looked at that ferocious bone claw that had pierced him. The metallic tang of blood surged up his throat as he murmured in disbelief:

"W-what... what?"

Why?

Why would that weapon of the Inner Council suddenly attack me?

Also, what did his words mean?

"I said, that inner responder, that betrayer, the one who, from beginning to end, provided you all with positional information... is me."

Albert smiled.

It was different from the gentle smile he displayed at the banquet.

Different from the tender smile he displayed in front of Lawveny.

Also different from the handsome smile he displayed to Muen.

It was a deep, obscure, complex, meaningful smile—even a little terrifying.

It was like... a grinning old fox.

...

...

"I ask you, Sharp—I remember you once served as the First Prince’s family tutor, yes?"

Sharp started and answered:

"So what if I did?"

"What did you teach Elder Brother Albert?"

"Why are you asking that?"

"Cut the nonsense and answer me directly."

"You..."

Due to Celicia’s rudeness, Sharp again felt displeased, but constrained by Celicia’s status, he could only answer truthfully:

"Just the usual royal curriculum. I imagine it’s no different from what you learned."

"And how did Elder Brother Albert learn?"

"How would I know that? You know well what his situation is. All I can say is I taught what I ought to teach."

"Is that so..."

Celicia rubbed her chin, pondering for a while:

"Then one last question: did you ever teach that elder brother of mine how to brew coffee?"

"Brew coffee?"

Sharp’s face looked odd: "Your Highness, are you making a joke out of me? Who would, for no reason, teach a dignified prince how to brew coffee? And, would a prince need to brew coffee himself?"

"You didn’t... eh."

Celicia closed her eyes. In her mind appeared everything Muen had told her after that banquet, not missing a single word.

After carefully recalling it for a moment, she took a deep breath: "Very well, I understand."

Having said that, Celicia did not linger and turned to leave.

"Eh, eh, eh? What is it?"

Still somewhat at a loss, Veil scampered along and barely kept up with Celicia’s stride: "What happened, President?"

"What do you think—can a person, even if a genius, suddenly awaken a skill they have never learned before?" Celicia suddenly asked.

"That... I think not."

Veil tapped her lips and said: "Even a genius couldn’t be born knowing everything, right?"

"That’s precisely where the problem lies."

Celicia’s expression was more grave than ever:

"We have to hurry and hope we can still make it in time. That elder brother of mine, Albert, has a problem!"

...

...

"These are the new research data sent by Mr. Robin, Mr. Yelur."

The new assistant swayed her serpentine waist and handed a stack of documents onto Yelur’s desk.

Yelur, who had been dozing, snapped upright at the words "new data," gave the assistant’s perky rear a slap in passing, then grabbed the documents and began to read.

"Good, good, very good. Everything is normal. A whole month has passed, and everything is still normal!"

The more Yelur read, the more excited he became. In the end he was even waving his arms and legs:

"This shows my research has no problem—no problem at all. This is a viable path!"

"Is it worth getting this excited, you old bastard?"

The assistant cast Yelur a coquettish glare.

"Hmph, you don’t understand. Do you know what this is? Do you know how much effort I’ve poured into this?"

Yelur flicked the documents in his hand smugly and said in a loud voice:

"Do you know what kind of tsunami this would cause in the outside world if it were exposed?"

"That amazing?"

Hearing Yelur say so, the assistant’s interest was piqued as well. She immediately leaned in, pressing that bump against Yelur’s arm:

"Stop keeping me in suspense and tell me, Mr. Yelur."

"All right, all right. Since you’re my assistant, I’ll tell you..."

Yelur answered with a face of pleasure:

"Once, because of this research, I was expelled from the Royal Research Institute. But I didn’t give up and continued secretly."

"However, back then, my research repeatedly failed, because I discovered at the time that the human body will instinctively reject things that do not belong to itself."

Yelur pointed to himself and continued:

"To solve this problem, I thought of countless methods—at one point I even considered seeking help from an Evil God. But an Evil God’s price is too high. I still want to live a few more years and don’t want to sell my soul..."

"Just when I was on the verge of giving up... that little girl appeared."

"That’s right—her Beast Blood!"

Yelur jumped onto the table in a rush and cried out excitedly: "The powerful effect of Beast Blood can perfectly neutralize this rejection. I can even stitch different creatures together—let alone small human internal organs..."

"And thus, my ultimate research result was born—an ultimate taboo that may even push open the door to immortality that no one has ever pushed open before..."

"That’s right, it is, based on soul transfer..."

"Brain... transplantation!"

...

...

"Good evening, Your Highness."

Robin laid a hand over his chest and bowed respectfully: "As this fool just said, from now on, your road ahead will have no obstacles whatsoever."

"Yes, it truly is a night as beautiful as can be."

Albert straightened his slightly rumpled collar and smiled:

"However, at a time like this, calling me ‘Your Highness’—isn’t that a bit distant, Robin?"

"True."

Robin laughed as well and bowed once more:

"Good evening, respected Mr. Speaker."