Chapter 581: The Pawn of the Gods

Ruby frowned. "But my vision..."

The words came out smaller than she’d intended. She hated the sound of it, the desperate need to be believed. She was the Saintess, for gods’ sake. She shouldn’t have stooped so low she begged to be believed!

Even though she never knew the real truth from the world before her regression herself, it was true that she truly believed that it was Damon who did it. Without a doubt.

She felt vindicated even more when even though she had prophesied the Emperor’s death and made him raise the security to the maximum the empire could muster, that he still died.

If Damon was innocent, why had the security failed? Why had the Emperor fallen despite all their precautions? It didn’t make sense.

Baron Merdier—"He couldn’t be the one who did it. Are you saying that someone like him is capable of doing it?"

Bruce Merdier was rich, yes. His grandfather was a Prince Consort of the previous generation’s Princess. He didn’t have the audacity, the brain or the connections. And yet, these people were insisting that he’d somehow orchestrated the most significant political assassination in a generation?

Angela leaned back on her sofa. Her posture was relaxed, almost bored. The teacup in her hands was still warm, still steaming, and she took a slow sip before answering.

"He is," Angela said. "Now, you were called to confirm the truth, so tell us more about it. In your vision, have my brother called me to the surface?"

Ruby was confused now. The question came out of nowhere, a sharp turn in a conversation that was already twisting in ways she didn’t understand. "N-no. That’s why I was... surprised to see you here, Your Highness."

It was true. In the future she’d experienced, Angela had remained in the dungeon. She’d been a forgotten princess, a woman who had faded into obscurity while the world moved on without her. Or at least, she had seemed to be so.

"See?" Angela grinned. The smile made Ruby feel like she was missing something obvious. "From my perspective, Saintess, the gods didn’t make you prophesy my father’s death to prevent it, but to allow me to get out of the dungeon."

W-what kind of—

Ruby was flabbergasted now. What kind of logic was that?! The gods worked in mysterious ways, sure, but this was absurd.

The Emperor’s death, the assassination, the chaos that had followed... all of that was just a convenient excuse to free a princess who’d been locked away for years?

"I think, if they didn’t show it to you, the Emperor would die, and that’s it. My brother and I would still find the truth that Baron Merdier was the culprit, and that’s it. But since my Brother’s reputation had always been the worst from the start, people would think that it was him who actually did it," Angela said.

She didn’t hold back. The words came out like arrows, each one aimed at Ruby’s fragile understanding of the situation.

"If you didn’t prophesy it, my brother, Jove, wouldn’t be sliced by the neck by his own mother, because my family’s daily schedule wouldn’t change. The Emperor would just die quietly without exposing our dear step-mother’s ruthlessness," she continued.

Ruby’s blood ran cold.

"In a way, it’s all thanks to you too," Angela smiled, with a hint of mockery.

The mockery was unmistakable. Angela was twisting everything, reframing Ruby’s prophecy as a gift, a blessing, something that had helped them rather than hindered them.

And by that framing, Ruby trembled. Was she saying that because she prophesied it, the Prince almost died—?!

Ruby had thought she was doing the right thing for her cause. Of course, she didn’t actually want the Emperor to survive. She was targeting Damon. It would be a fortune for her if the Emperor could cut Damon down with his own hand after seeing that his son planned his assassination.

But instead, her warning had changed the timeline, shifted events in ways she couldn’t have predicted?

"But now, because you did, and it was proven that the Emperor died anyway no matter what we did, Brother had to pull me out of the dungeon to prove that Baron Merdier was capable of pulling it off," Angela said.

Ruby stuttered. "T-that—"

Angela tsk-tsked, shaking her head. "Yes. The gods did take care of us."

Something hot spread inside Ruby, but it also mixed with something as cold as ice. This swirling hot and cold sensation inside her made her cold sweat even more. She felt... sick.

So the reason this woman came out... was her own hubris?

Ruby had spent years believing she was the architect of her own destiny, the one who could see the future and shape it to her will.

But if Angela was right. If Ruby’s own actions had been the catalyst for everything that followed... then she wasn’t a prophet. She was a pawn.

The pawn of the gods.

"You are right. It’s normally impossible for Baron Merdier to be able to plot such assassination," Angela said. "But what if he just had to pay the greatest assassin in the world to make sure our father died?"

Ruby widened her eyes. "T-the greatest...?"

Angela nodded.

"Yes, yes," she said. "I mean, normally, we won’t announce the details to the world. Who carried it out, who was paid... especially, because the one who did it was such a notorious assassin impossible to be caught. We also don’t want to recklessly provoke him."

"In your vision, because you’re the Saintess, you see us accusing Baron Merdier without a convincing enough proof, right? But if you don’t announce the prophecy, it would be convincing enough proof, because the assassination itself wouldn’t be as challenging," Angela explained.

The logic was twisted but undeniable. Without the prophecy, the assassination would have been a mystery, a puzzle that could only be solved by the most thorough investigation.

And that investigation would have led to the same conclusion, Baron Merdier.

But because Ruby had announced the prophecy, because she’d made the Emperor’s death a matter of public knowledge, the investigation had become a spectacle. And spectacles required proof.

"But now since people wouldn’t believe that it was Baron Merdier, my brother dragged me out to prove it," Angela sneered and nodded to her. "Thanks to you, I got out. I owe you one."

Ruby was rattled now.

Did Angela just tell her that in her previous life, the only reason people dared to accuse Damon in the rumor as the killer of his own father... was because she couldn’t prophesy the murder?

Ruby was the one who unearthed this witch with her own two hands?!

"What proof?" Ruby frowned. Her voice was sharp now, demanding. "Who... who did Baron Merdier hire... to be able to breach the empire’s utmost security?"

At this, finally, Cecilia straightened her back and leaned forward. Her eyes behind the veil glanced at the man behind Ruby, who smiled at her without Ruby’s knowledge.

The Luna’s presence had been quiet until now. But now, she was impossible to ignore. Her red lips curved into a smile that was equal parts satisfaction and anticipation. "Well, he is the reason I’m present today, Saintess."

"He’s the greatest assassin the world can hire, the only one who can take the job and finish it flawlessly," Cecilia answered. "And his name is Roarke."

Ruby widened her eyes.

That man—

She understood now.

From her lips, she unconsciously whispered his name.

"Roarke... the Heretic..."