Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: The Secret of the Imperial Family
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The Empire's Fourth Imperial Princess, Cecilie Epania.
Somehow, Krash Valheim found himself alone with her in the boys' dormitory room, where he took a sip of the tea Alicia had brewed.
"How did you get into the boys' dormitory?"
"The maids come and go all the time—what's the problem?"
Servants tended to be mostly women.
So, as Cecilie said, the maids did frequent the place.
But what about a female student enrolled at the Academy?
"On my way here, I even saw guys whispering sweet nothings to maids. What's the big deal?"
She tapped under her eye with her index finger, insisting she'd seen it with her own eyes.
Sure enough, while they tried to keep it out of sight, romance between maids and students wasn't all that rare.
They were all at that age, after all.
"Besides, the dormitory head is from the Empire. That's what power is for."
She swung her slender arm around.
Due to her congenital frailty, her arm had barely any muscle and looked like it might shatter at the slightest touch.
"And I hear rumors that another person's maid frequents your room quite often. You're a real playboy, aren't you?"
She was talking about Lilina.
Krash let out a sigh as he watched Cecilie giggle behind her hand.
"Enough with the gossip."
Krash decided to cut the small talk there.
"Let's get to the point."
Krash had contacted Cecilie through Mary Diana.
He'd asked her to track down the traitor in the imperial palace colluding with the Hell Fairy and Ixion.
Cecilie had grown suspicious of the palace's odd movements lately and had started investigating herself.
The moment she heard the intel from Krash, she dove right in.
With her mind hailed as the Empire's greatest—perhaps the world's—Cecilie was someone whose opinion Krash valued highly.
Cecilie fell silent for a moment, then lifted her teacup for a sip.
Just watching her, Krash could tell this wasn't something she could easily spit out.
As Krash waited quietly, Cecilie slowly tapped her arm with her index finger.
Then she glanced at him.
"First off, you're right—there is definitely a collaborator."
She sounded certain about the traitor but hesitant to say more.
"And to be completely honest, I'm not sure if I should even tell you, Krash."
"I'm a Valheim."
Krash and Cecilie were quite close.
More precisely, they just clicked really well.
Cecilie, with her innate genius, had matured far beyond her years by early childhood.
Krash, having regressed, had a mental age worlds apart from his peers.
Cecilie was the playful one, but they generally understood each other perfectly.
That said, their positions mattered.
Cecilie was an imperial princess of the Epania Empire.
Krash was a direct descendant of the Valheim family in the Staron Kingdom.
The Epania Empire and Staron Kingdom weren't outright enemies, but they eyed each other warily.
And Krash was the Sword of Staron, a Valheim.
Naturally, neither he nor Cecilie could ignore that dynamic entirely.
So Cecilie hesitated to share carelessly.
"You could end up as the Empire's target."
And there was an even bigger reason she couldn't speak freely.
It wasn't worry that Krash might use the info to harass the Empire.
It was purely the fear that the Empire's blade might turn on him.
The Empire was strong.
From its massive population to holding the most of the Ten Heavenly Supremes, plus the knight orders guarding it.
While the Valheims led in knight quality,
the sheer numbers were overwhelming.
If it came to war, even with the Valheims in Staron, national power would fall short.
In that context, a direct Valheim like Krash learning the Empire's secrets?
The Empire would come knocking immediately.
"I've taken precautions for now. They still don't know I dug into this at the palace."
But Cecilie wasn't omnipotent.
More accurately, the people around her weren't.
She could handle things flawlessly if she set her mind to it.
But mistakes from those around her were beyond her control.
This world didn't run on one person alone.
"Once you hear this, you'll be dragged in whether you like it or not."
Cecilie was genuinely worried for Krash.
She owed him her life once.
Even with precautions, without him, she'd have suffered greatly.
Given her weak constitution, it might have been irreversible.
So she wanted him safe.
His personality would have him charging into the fire anyway.
Once he knew, he'd dive in like a moth to a flame.
"Cecilie, let me ask you one thing."
At that moment, Krash spoke up.
"Can you handle this alone?"
Hearing that, Cecilie bit her lip slightly.
She was an imperial princess of the Empire.
Undeniably one of the highest positions, with some real power.
But it was an ambiguous spot.
She couldn't actually steer the Empire.
She'd deliberately distanced herself from it.
To keep those who overvalued her intellect from clustering around and stirring up trouble.
The Empire was in turbulent times.
The Emperor had been showing signs of illness lately and was bedridden.
His successors were subtly drawing blades on each other.
Cecilie couldn't join in.
No matter how brilliant her mind, her position as Fourth Princess and frail body were shackles.
"No."
So Cecilie answered honestly.
She couldn't control the Empire alone.
She could try, but it'd take ages.
And irreversible consequences might hit first.
"Ixion is a pack of lunatics with truly dangerous ideals."
Cecilie knew about Ixion too.
She'd heard from Krash, and nations including the Empire were catching on to them.
The Hardenharts incident had been huge.
Other countries were gathering intel aggressively.
"We need to crush them before they spread their wings and rampage."
For that, they had to identify the palace collaborator.
As Krash pressed, Cecilie fell silent for a long stretch.
Throat parched, she tilted her teacup again, then finally let out a long sigh.
"Krash, mind if I ask you one thing?"
"Go ahead."
"In the path you're walking, what role does the Empire play?"
Cecilie Epania, who to her last breath protected the Empire by hiding the White Dragon Jade Seal from this world and taking her own life.
She'd always wanted the Empire to head in a prosperous direction.
Krash, meeting her gaze, slowly parted his lips.
"I don't think any nation is set in stone, marching toward one inevitable form."
Every nation has its hour of downfall.
And that path always varies.
"The Empire is the Empire."
So Krash wouldn't define its form.
"Same for Staron, the other four kingdoms—all the same."
Hearing that, Cecilie slowly let out a soft laugh.
"That's just like you."
Her expression eased a bit as she leaned back in her chair.
"The Empire's collaborator is the Emperor's Sword, the Heavenly Sovereign Dalpiron Junnon."
And then the real bombshell dropped.
Ten Heavenly Supremes
Heavenly Sovereign
Dalpiron Junnon
The Junnon family had served the imperial house since the Empire's founding.
Now at rest, but they'd produced the Sword Emperor, hailed as the world's greatest swordsman, one of the Ten Heavenly Supremes.
And they still held one—the current Heavenly Sovereign.
That's why people often said it:
If Staron had the Valheims, the Empire had the Junnons.
The problem? The current head of that Junnon house was colluding with Ixion.
"……."
Krash's face twisted in a deep frown.
Naturally so.
No matter how much Krash had grown, Dalpiron was untouchable.
He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Balok Valheim as one of the Ten Heavenly Supremes.
But that raised questions.
Krash had met Dalpiron before.
'He's loyal to the imperial master to a fault.'
He followed only the orders of whoever ruled the throne.
In fact, gaining his trust was practically synonymous with becoming Emperor.
For such a man to collude with Ixion?
It didn't add up at all.
'Even with regression as a variable, Dalpiron wouldn't decide that alone.'
Someone had to have moved him.
And only one person in the world could.
Krash's eyes turned to Cecilie.
She gave a wry smile.
It carried layers of meaning.
'Cinox Epania.'
The current Emperor of the Empire, whose condition had worsened lately.
That was it.
Krash opened and closed his mouth repeatedly.
Now he understood why Cecilie insisted she couldn't handle this.
The Heavenly Sovereign Dalpiron Junnon was beyond reach.
Let alone the Emperor.
No Fourth Princess could touch that.
At the same time, Krash began to frown more deeply.
Because he knew one truth the Empire desperately hid.
And he'd pieced together why the Emperor allied with Ixion.
'The root is rotten. So I'll replace the root. Is that it?'
Krash knew why the Emperor was ill.
It was a hereditary disease of the imperial bloodline.
On average, it struck after age fifty, slowly devouring one's life.
Not even a saintess could cure this curse etched into their blood.
The Emperor must have joined hands with Ixion to cure it.
'He plans to eradicate the disease plaguing the imperial house, himself included.'
Now it made sense why Dalpiron aided the Emperor's pact with Ixion.
Even he, ever loyal, advised against wrong choices.
But he agreed this would strengthen the house.
Krash tapped his crossed arms.
'Poison Blood Battle Arts.'
The Poison Blood Battle Arts flashed in his mind.
'Before regression, they were stolen too.'
That meant the Hell Fairy and the Emperor had originally allied.
'Did they need the Poison Blood Battle Arts to erase the imperial disease?'
Lagren had stayed neutral between the imperial house and provincial nobles back then.
Lagren was a major force among them.
Though provincial nobles had weakened now,
they'd held strong sway then.
'Lagren wouldn't hand over the Poison Blood Battle Arts willingly.'
Instead, use Ixion to corner Lagren,
then extend a hand to flip the neutrals to the imperial side.
Secure the arts in the process—two birds with one stone.
Krash finally grasped why the Lagren family's Poison Blood Battle Arts had been stolen by the imperial house and Ixion.
'But.'
Before regression, the incident had vanished without a trace.
Krash focused on why.
'Something happened between the Hell Fairy collaborator and the palace.'
That forced the palace to cut ties with Ixion.
The Emperor dying of illness proved it.
And to bury any trace of the alliance, Dalpiron acted personally.
'Dalpiron's skill.'
That could erase the Hell Fairy from existence entirely.
It's why he was the imperial sword.
'But this time, the Hell Fairy hasn't been erased yet.'
Krash already knew who'd intervened.
The Red Witch, Abella.
She'd wedged between the palace and Ixion,
using the World Erosion entity known as the Hell Fairy.
As his thoughts reached that point, a faint headache throbbed.
The situation was more headache-inducing than expected.
And the imperial disease? He'd only learned the full truth right before regressing.
"What now?"
As Krash racked his brain, Cecilie asked.
She looked at him with genuine concern.
Meeting her eyes, Krash slowly raised his head.
A long breath escaped him.
The World Erosion cult Ixion.
The world's mightiest empire, Epania.
An absurd scale with both entangled.
Caught between warring whales, one wrong move and he'd burst.
But Krash's eyes burned clear.
"I can solve it."
Krash held the key to resolving this.
And his solution was simple.
The imperial hereditary disease.
He'd take it on himself.
With Black Hood, he could steal curse-like illnesses.
He'd done it before.
'Sigrin Epania.'
Even that wretched woman's lineage—he'd stolen their curse.
For that, he needed to meet him.
"Cecilie, can you arrange a meeting with Dalpiron Junnon?"
The Heavenly Sovereign Dalpiron Junnon.
The Sword of the Imperial House.