Chapter 244
Chapter 244
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 244
Chapter Title: Declaration of War
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After treating Emperor Sirius's illness.
Krash was given a room in the imperial palace to rest in.
Even though they'd used the teleport facility midway, they'd still traveled quite a distance by carriage.
So Krash planned to rest there for at least a day.
'Most importantly.'
Krash had something he wanted to try with the White Dragon King's egg now settled in his body.
If he succeeded with it.
He would gain a power unlike any he'd had before.
Conveniently, he needed time for it anyway.
Knock knock-
At that moment, Krash turned his head at the sound of the knock.
Standing there at the open door was the Fourth Princess, Sizli Epania, who had knocked.
"Is the room to your liking?"
"If this place isn't good enough, then nothing in the world is."
As Krash said, the room was extravagantly luxurious.
It was a guest room prepared for the most honored visitors to the imperial palace, after all.
So it naturally featured the finest furniture and layout.
Sizli let out a light giggle, as if she couldn't deny it.
"So, what's the reason for coming to my room?"
When Krash asked why Sizli—who should have returned to her own room to rest—had come, she shrugged casually.
"We didn't get to talk much on the way here because it was so rushed. I thought we could chat a bit."
"From my perspective, we've already talked plenty."
"Conversations about the process are different from those about the results after it's all over, aren't they?"
Sizli casually closed the door behind her and plopped down onto the sofa inside the room.
There was thick-skinned, and then there was this.
But since Krash also had a few things he wanted to discuss, he sat down across from her on another sofa.
"So, what are your plans from here?"
"Plans for what?"
"You stole the White Stone Syndrome for a reason, didn't you?"
She noticed.
"Who else but you would try to make use of an illness passed down in the imperial line?"
Sizli looked at Krash as if to say he was something else.
Of course, all was well that ended well, so she didn't chide him too much.
"Thank you for saving His Majesty."
That was the main reason she'd come here—to express her gratitude.
Though she hadn't shared particularly deep bonds with her father.
To Sizli, Sirius was still her parent.
It was only natural for her, as a daughter, to offer thanks.
Krash gave a brief smile.
"Sizli, if it weren't for you, I might never have heard those words of thanks."
The imperial family members who coveted the throne had all been waiting impatiently for Sirius to breathe his last.
After all, the seat had to be vacated before they could claim the throne.
But Krash had saved him, which made their chances of ascending even slimmer.
So they had no reason to offer Krash sincere gratitude.
It was thanks only the distant-from-the-throne Sizli could give.
"What do you take my brothers for?"
Sizli smiled faintly and chided him lightly, but she didn't deny his words.
The imperial family had long been rotten from the inside.
"It makes me a bit ashamed. They've all been drilled from childhood that the throne is everything. They're so fixated on it that they can't see the truth."
It would have been nice if they could have laughed and lived together like other siblings.
Unfortunately, being born into the imperial bloodline was decided from birth.
"That's one thing I envy about you, Krash. You're close with your sister, aren't you?"
Hearing that, Krash clutched the back of his neck for a moment.
"I only realized it recently myself."
There had been a time when he'd failed to recognize Charlotte's affection for him at all.
Instead, he'd only resented and envied her existence.
"Realizing it sooner or later is what matters."
Sizli gave a slightly weary smile, different from her usual one.
Having such a sharp mind, she'd become more adult than anyone else from early morning.
She pitied the imperial family's reality while understanding it at the same time.
Watching her quietly, Krash spoke up.
"Why not just become empress yourself?"
"......Me?"
"Yeah. Once you're on the throne, make sure the imperial family never fights again. You could do it. And if that's the goal, I can help."
He planned to bring down Sigrin one way or another anyway.
And Krash wasn't particularly fond of the first prince either.
So having Sizli take the throne didn't sound bad at all.
"You've cured His Majesty's illness, but the others still have theirs. You could use that to blackmail them into stepping down, right?"
Sizli burst out laughing.
She could tell he was saying it to lighten the mood.
After staring at Krash intently for a moment, Sizli soon flashed her usual mischievous smile.
"Didn't His Majesty just say something similar earlier? About making our child emperor."
"Not you too. Like I said, I have a fiancée."
"Do people point fingers at capable men for having multiple women? If anything, they look on with envy."
Sizli rested her elbows on the table and propped her chin on her hands.
"And right now, it's just the two of us in the room."
Sizli stared straight at Krash.
"Even if you did something to me now, I could guarantee there'd be no issues."
Krash looked at Sizli for a moment before raising his hand.
He slowly brought it toward her cheek.
"Eek!"
And then he pinched it hard.
"Cut it out."
"It hurts, you idiot! What are you doing?"
"Yeah, it's a problem for a princess to talk like that."
Krash released her cheek as he pulled his hand away.
Sizli rubbed the pinched spot vigorously, giving him a dissatisfied glare.
"Don't you have any libido?"
"Everyone has some."
"Then use it. What's the point of having it if you don't?"
Why am I the one getting scolded?
Sizli sighed heavily before standing up from her seat.
"I want to see that fiancée of yours. Wonder how pretty she is. I need to at least see her face to calm down."
"She'll enroll next year."
Not much time left until next year.
Krash knew he'd see Bianca again soon.
Sizli glanced at him and turned to leave.
"That girl sure got lucky. Snagging you first. The others must be insanely jealous.
Give her a heads-up later. She's gonna get a ton of envy and jealousy thrown her way."
Krash imagined Bianca facing envy and jealousy.
Considering her personality, it probably wouldn't faze her at all.
But it wasn't what Krash wanted either.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Sizli gave Krash one last dissatisfied look before turning and leaving.
Flap-
At that moment, the sound of wings flapping came from outside the window.
When Krash turned his gaze there, sure enough, a crow was perched.
A World Erosion being that came and went from the imperial palace freely.
He wondered about it, but since even the imperial family were originally World Erosion beings, it wasn't all that surprising.
Krash opened the window, and the crow waddled inside.
It hopped up onto the bed and sat there.
"What, did you come to chime in too?"
As Krash closed the window and asked, the crow simply stared at him silently.
Unlike usual, with its beak firmly shut, it felt awkward.
"Don't worry. The White Disease is no real threat to me. If anything, it's helpful."
So Krash tossed out a casual remark.
But even then, the crow just kept staring.
Sensing something off, Krash looked at the crow again.
And soon, he realized this wasn't the crow he usually saw.
As Krash's eyes narrowed subtly.
They began to widen slowly.
"......Who are you?"
Krash asked the crow.
The crow clearly held the power of World Erosion.
But it was definitely not Crimson Garden's crow.
Hearing Krash's question, the crow preened its feathers for a moment before opening its beak.
"The person you're most wary of."
A young, childish female voice.
The moment Krash heard it, he barely kept his expression steady.
The voice's owner.
Was none other than.
'Abella.'
One of Arthur's women.
The Red Witch, Abella.
"I've got more than one or two people I'm wary of."
Krash forced his expression to stay neutral.
He'd known Abella would approach him in some form eventually.
Since his regression, Abella had always been a bundle of variables.
Starting from how she'd hidden herself away.
Among the three, she had the strongest obsession with Arthur and could grow the fastest.
And the woman who'd also gotten involved with Ixion and the fake Arthur.
And now.
She, who had stayed hidden all this time, finally appeared.
She gave no information about her side.
But she needed to extract info from his.
"Who are you?"
So Krash played dumb with her.
She clearly suspected him.
But suspicion wasn't certainty.
Probing might yield something useful.
"Abella. Someone who hasn't met the you of this era."
"Abella?"
Krash's face twisted at those words.
"The one the Igrit family was looking for?"
Krash feigned innocence, as if seeing her for the first time.
"Why would someone like that use World Erosion powers?"
He tossed in a question to fish for info as well.
"I came here today to warn you."
But she ignored Krash's words entirely.
Krash clicked his tongue.
This was why dealing with Abella was so frustrating from the start.
She always just said what she wanted.
"A warning, huh."
"The consequences of your reckless actions."
Krash's eyes narrowed.
"What do you think you know, spouting off like that?"
This was sincere.
Abella had only wailed at Arthur's side as the world met its end.
Who was she to lecture him now?
Krash asked her with genuine intent.
But Abella didn't answer this time either.
"Whatever secrets you have, I don't care. But your actions are getting in my way."
The crow stood and looked up at Krash.
As she'd said, she'd come to warn him.
"If you interfere with me again, I'll kill you."
That was sincere.
This was why Krash treated Abella as a variable.
Unlike the other two who didn't act rashly.
This woman lived and acted purely for herself, without mercy.
If she said she'd kill him.
Next time, she'd do exactly that.
"So this is your warning."
At that moment, the crow Abella had sent began to turn red.
"Shit!"
The moment Krash cursed at the sight.
The crow ignited, glowing pure white.
"If you don't want to die, stay out of my way."
Boom!
The room exploded entirely with the crow.
The imperial palace blast caused chaos all around.
In the midst of the uproar.
Black smoke rose from the burning room.
Whoosh!
A hand shot out from the smoke, dispersing it.
There stood Krash, his eyes turned red.
He'd forcibly activated Annihilation Flame Erosion the moment of the explosion to block it.
Fortunately, no major injuries.
Through the wall shattered by the blast, the outside was visible.
Krash glared out at it with chilling eyes.
"Let's see if you die or I do."
They'd thrown down the gauntlet first.
So it was only right to respond in kind.
He'd make them regret not killing him today.