Chapter 71 - 70: First Playthrough Ending

Chapter 71: Chapter 70: First Playthrough Ending

After a long silence, Lucian finally surrendered.

"...Alright."

He shifted his posture, also lying on his side to look at her. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You’ll be graduating soon, right?" Lilia cut straight to the chase. "What are your plans after that?"

Lucian hid nothing. "I have already contacted Marquis Malo. He intends to cooperate with Prince Theodore, and this will become my best stepping stone and shield."

"Hmm?"

Seeing her curiosity, Lucian smiled and explained, "Since I want revenge, I cannot expose my identity prematurely; otherwise, it will easily arouse the attention and vigilance of the Ovis Royal Family.

"Marquis Malo betting on Prince Theodore is a kind of investment, hoping that after he ascends the throne, he can return the favor to the Marlo family.

"And Prince Theodore, as one of the strong competitors for Crown Prince, is also eager to gain more support. It doesn’t matter whether this support comes from Lien or Ovis.

"However, Ovis is ultimately another country, separated by an ocean. Even with the existence of Magic, there is no way for the two sides to share information in real time.

"At a time like this... Prince Theodore needs to plant a mole in Ovis."

"So, you are that mole." Lilia understood. "This way, you can go to Ovis with a legitimate reason. Moreover, even if you win over Nobles and develop your forces, it won’t arouse suspicion."

After all, that was exactly Prince Theodore’s goal.

"Exactly." Lucian leaned a little closer, resting his forehead against hers. "So smart."

Lilia replied, "...So perfunctory, you mean."

He had already spelled it out so clearly; anyone with normal Intelligence could come to that conclusion.

Lilia asked again, "But doesn’t this mean that the Beaumont family has also taken a side?"

After all, Lucian was now working for Prince Theodore, and Williams was tied to the Beaumont family.

"With Marquis Malo’s support, the probability of Prince Theodore becoming the Crown Prince will greatly increase," Lucian said. "For Count Beaumont, he only needs to be a supporter of the Crown Prince; as for who the Crown Prince is, it doesn’t matter."

Lilia snorted. "You seem very confident."

Lucian raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"The premise of all this is that Prince Theodore can successfully succeed the throne." Lilia looked at those emerald eyes so close to hers. "But what if the one who wins is Prince Reed?"

Lucian smiled. "Why else do you think the one cooperating with Marquis Malo is me, rather than Count Beaumont himself, or Caius?"

He reached out and wrapped his arm around Lilia, pulling her a little closer. "If Prince Reed wins, Count Beaumont will immediately sever all ties with me. When that time comes, both you and I will become discarded pawns on his chessboard."

Lilia gripped the front of his shirt. "That sounds very dangerous."

"It doesn’t just sound very dangerous," Lucian said. "It is genuinely dangerous."

He lowered his eyes to look at her. "Are you regretting it a little? After all, compared to Beaumont, my little boat could be capsized by the waves at any moment."

"Hmm..." Lilia dragged out the end of her sentence. "What should I do? I think I really might be a little..."

Before she could finish speaking, Lucian pressed her head against his chest.

Above her, he seemed to be gritting his teeth slightly. "It’s too late for regrets.

"You already know my biggest secret. Do you think I would still let you go?"

Hearing his fierce tone, Lilia suddenly smiled.

"I won’t leave." She reached out and hugged him. "I told you I’d stay by your side forever."

Feeling the girl’s proactive embrace, Lucian’s Adam’s apple bobbed. The hand pressing against the back of her head returned to her waist, trapping her firmly in his arms.

"Alright," he said hoarsely. "You know everything you should and shouldn’t know. Now it’s time to sleep."

"Mhm." Lilia closed her eyes, her voice slightly muffled and sleepy. "Goodnight."

As her voice faded, the room plunged into absolute silence. Soon, the girl’s breathing became slow and even; she had clearly fallen asleep.

Lucian lowered his head and watched her for a moment. Then, he gently kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight."

He thought, "My Lili."

...

[The next day, Lucian escorted you back to the Beaumont Earl Mansion. The Beaumont couple did not know about your kidnapping; they only assumed that your relationship with Lucian was getting better. Everyone was happy to see this, except Caius.]

[You comforted him as usual. He didn’t say anything, but forcibly kept you to sleep in his room for one night. The following day, everything returned to normal.]

[Through the joint efforts of Prince Theodore and Lucian, the mastermind behind the kidnapping incident finally surfaced: it was Prince Reed. Prince Reed’s radical actions prompted Prince Theodore and Lucian to unite, and also made Count Beaumont’s choice of side a matter of course.]

[The following year, Lucian graduated from the Lien Academy as an outstanding graduate and went to Ovis with Marquis Malo in the name of Prince Theodore. You were also in the traveling party, holding the status of Lucian’s fiancée. Your student registration was transferred to the Adrian Public School in Ovis, where you would continue to study Magic. On the day of departure, you did not see Caius among the people seeing you off.]

[Life in Ovis was easier than you had imagined. With Marquis Malo’s recommendation and Prince Theodore’s protection, Lucian quickly made friends with many Nobles and dignitaries. Starting with maritime trade, you became wealthy merchants known far and wide in Adrian. With Marquis Malo’s help, you also acquired a title of Nobility, successfully joining the ranks of the Nobles and even gradually approaching the very center of power.]

[Just as you were about to return to the battlefield for power, news suddenly came from the border: the iron cavalry of the Lien Army had trampled Ovis’s defense lines and was galloping towards the Capital at an unimaginable speed. It was only then that you received the letter sent by Duke Williams—in the battle for the Crown Prince’s throne, neither Prince Reed nor Prince Theodore had won. Caius had emerged halfway and become the new emperor of the Lien Kingdom.]

[Shortly after the coup ended, Caius declared war on Ovis and occupied more than half of Ovis’s territory with lightning speed. As soon as you got the news, you immediately sent someone to deliver a message to Lucian, who was far away, and quickly packed your things to prepare to leave Ovis.]

[But before that, an uninvited guest knocked on the mansion’s door...]

With a resounding BOOM, the tightly shut front doors were pushed open from the outside.

Lilia took a deep breath. At this point, she was no longer nervous. In this war led by Caius, anyone could die, but she absolutely would not.

Sitting properly on her chair, dressed in formal attire, Lilia calmly looked at the silhouette approaching against the light.

To her surprise, the person who came was not Caius, but a young man. He looked to be only about twenty years old, with black hair exactly like Caius’s, and even his facial features bore some resemblance.

He wore pitch-black armor, with a mask wrapped in thorns covering half of his face. At the eye sockets, a ghostly blue flame burned brightly, like the hellfire of the underworld. It was ferocious, yet it possessed a bloody and cruel aesthetic.

The young man, expressionless, arrived in front of Lilia. Only then did she notice that his left hand hanging by his side was incomplete. The flesh had melted away, leaving only charred black bones. Up close, she could faintly see the ghostly blue flames clinging to them, which were not scorching hot, but rather as freezing cold as the abyss.

Under Lilia’s gaze, the young man bowed slightly, giving her a somewhat non-standard Knight’s salute. Then, he reached out his hand to her. "Respected Miss Sifris."

His voice was just as piercingly cold and emotionless as his person, like a sharp blade that only knew how to kill.

He raised his eyes slightly. For some reason, even though he was clearly looking at her, Lilia could not see her own reflection in those burning flames. Within them, there was only endless nothingness.

"I have come... to take you home."