Chapter 275: Dear Rosalie Please

"Do not tell Seraphina about this," Rosalie murmured, her voice trembling beneath the roar of the downpour.

Emily stumbled in her stride, the umbrella in her hand wavering as her eyes widened in disbelief. "What...? Your Majesty, how can you ask that of me?! He laid his hands on you! The Emperor struck the Empress of the realm like a common—"

"I know," Rosalie interrupted, stopping dead in the middle of the flooded flagstones.

She turned around, her black hair plastered to her trembling shoulders, cold rain streaming down her face and mixing seamlessly with the silent tears that spilled from her ruby eyes. She looked dead into the knight’s face with a look so hollow, so intensely fragile.

"I know you send a carrier bird to her every evening, Emily. I know you update my daughter on everything that happens within these walls. But I beg of you... not this. Do not tell her about this."

"Your Majesty, Princess Seraphina has a right to know—"

"If she knows, she will get back here immediately!" Rosalie gasped. "She will abandon her trip, she will abandon her friends, she will throw aside every careful, delicate plan she has spent years weaving! She will march into this den and that bastard will use it as an excuse to destroy her!"

Rosalie’s hands grabbed onto Emily’s soaked hands. Her grip was tight, frantic, the desperate plea of a cornered mother who had nothing left to lose except her child.

"Let her enjoy this trip, Emily... please," Rosalie cried, her voice cracking. "Just for a few days... let my little girl breathe. Let her smile. Let her believe that she has an ordinary life, even if it’s only a brief illusion."

The sovereign Empress of the Regulas Empire—the true-born heir who carried the sacred blood of founders in her veins—shuddered violently. Her strength simply evaporated.

Her knees gave out, collapsing with a heavy splash straight onto the imperial courtyard.

"Your Majesty! No—please, get up!" Emily cried out in horror, dropping to her knees, desperately trying to haul the Empress back up from the mud.

Rosalie refused to rise. She slumped forward, burying her face right into the young knight’s hands. The woman who had endured twenty-four years of humiliation, who had watched a usurper steal her crown and flaunt his wretched mistress in her own halls without shedding a single public tear, finally broke completely.

She sobbed into Emily’s palms.

"I’m sorry, Sera..." Rosalie wept, her muffled voice swallowed by the thunder above, choking on her own burning grief. "I’m so sorry... Mother failed you. I brought that monster into our home... I gave him the keys to your birthright... and I couldn’t even give you a life free from fear. I’m sorry... I’m so sorry, my sweet girl..."

Emily knelt in the freezing puddle, her own vision blurring with hot, furious tears.

Looking at the broken, weeping Empress huddled on the stones, the young knight clenched her teeth so hard that blood seeped from her gums.

She wrapped her arms tightly around the trembling Empress, shielding her from the rain with her own body.

The Emperor would pay for every single tear falling. She would make sure of it.

***

[Ding!]

The sound sliced through the warm hum of the carriage as Eren slumped against Emma, arms folded, dead to the world after three different sessions with three girls all night.

Now he was standing in the Endless void. Pearlescent floor, sapphire dome, that faint champagne-colored light that managed to be both cozy and deeply unsettling.

He exhaled slowly and looked up at the translucent blue panel hovering in front of his face.

"...You," he said flatly. "It’s been a while."

[Greetings, Host.]

The System’s smooth female voice dripped with languid indifference.

[You look well. Battered, but well.]

"You always show up when I’m having time with my women. Have you considered that you might be avoiding me during waking hours?"

[I have no interest whatsoever in your domestic arrangements.]

The System replied primly.

[They generate excessive emotional noise. I am here for one reason only: reward disbursement.]

"Reward disbursement," Eren repeated, perking up despite himself. "Okay, that’s the only kind of small talk I want from you. Continue."

[Processing recent narrative-altering achievements.]

The panel flickered, re-rendering in crisp gold.

[DING!]

[Major Quest Completed: Prevent the Fall of the Demon Queen.]

[Objective: Stabilize Carolynn Vordain’s deteriorating succubus core and prevent her descent into irreversible corruption.]

[Status: SUCCESS.]

[You have prevented a high-ranking Demon Queen from consuming The Substance.]

[Reward: +8000 Fate Points]

[Bonus Reward: Permanent affinity boost with Carolynn Vordain.]

[Hidden Achievement Unlocked: "Daughter’s Request Fulfilled."]

[You accepted Norelia’s desperate plea and chose to save her mother rather than eliminate the threat.]

[Reward: +4200 Fate Points]

[Special Item Gained: Fragment of Crimson Court Authority (Sealed).]

[New Title Acquired: "Demon’s Anchor."]

[Effect: Slight resistance to demonic corruption and charm-type abilities.]

Eren stared at the panel. He stared harder at one specific word.

"Wait—what?" His jaw unhinged. "Substance? What does Carolynn have to do with The Substance? She’s supposed to go crazy because her succubus core overloads her mind."

The System’s voice went flat and patient, like a teacher explaining something to a slow child.

[Would Carolynn Vordain have allowed herself to remain alive until the day she became a threat to humanity?]

Eren’s mouth opened. Closed.

The puzzle clicked in his mind with realisation.

"...The Substance," he whispered. "Someone feeding her. And it would’ve eaten her from the inside—"

His blue eyes widened.

[Correct!]

[By suppressing her succubus powers, you inadvertently stabilized Carolynn’s mental state and restored her awareness of her surroundings. This allowed her to recognize the danger posed by The Substance and avoid further exposure.]

Eren slumped backward against nothing, floating slightly in the void.

"...Okay. Alright. That’s terrifying." He rubbed his face. "Fine. Continue."

[DING!]

[Major Achievement: Partial Collapse of the Untouchable Rujgard.]

[Two of the Four Lords eliminated. Municipal army decimated. Bounty structure shattered. Syndicate supply chain destabilized.]

[Reward: +15,000 Fate Points]

[Bonus: Skill Unlocked — "Battlefield Clarity." Temporary boost to perception and decision-making during large-scale chaos.]

"Finally," Eren muttered, rolling his shoulders. "Something I actually earned with my own two hands after one week of hell."

[Disbursing to inventory.]

The panels folded up and drifted away, collapsing into a single soft line of text: Rewards archived.

Eren waited for something more, something he anticipated long ago. The void stayed quiet.

"...That’s it?" he asked.

[That is the complete registry of accomplishments.]

The System confirmed.

Eren frowned. Then the frown deepened into something colder.

"What about the Violet quest?"

[There is no registry of mission accomplished regarding Violet Lavenza.]

"What?" Eren yelled, echoing across the emptiness. "The whole reason I went to the Rujgard—the whole reason I did anything—was to keep her away from The Substance! The Carnival Carnage! The night she mutated, the night Alice had to put her down in every single loop—I avoided it! I kept her off the substance! I fixed her mana!"

[You did not. Yet.]

Eren stood frozen in the void. And for the first time in a long time, Eren Volsver had absolutely nothing clever to say.