Chapter 418: Luinngard Empire [Part 2]
"The Emperor before the current Emperor, who is the third Emperor of Luinngard, had two wives. One he married when he was young and strong. This one gave birth to our current Emperor and his brothers. When the former Emperor's soul reached the Evanescent rank, his body was renewed. He became young once again, filled with youthful vigor.
"He took another wife, from a special tribe. This tribe is known for their blue eyes and white hair. They are said to be originally from the Northern continent, but half of them migrated. And this tribe has a prophecy of a child who can see all things. A male child that would be born with the ability to see the fabrics of reality. Of course, all of these were just old tales."
She chuckled a little, looking at Northern as she continued.
"When the former Emperor took a wife from this tribe, the current Emperor was thirty years old. The former Emperor was close to his eighties. Of course, being a new Paragon, he looked much younger.
"So eventually your mother and her twin brother were given birth to."
Northern raised his brows, surprised, "My mother had a twin brother?"
"According to what I heard, he was killed by one of the current Emperor's brothers."
"Let me guess, the current Emperor was also a murderer of his brothers."
Jeci let out gently, "It's a really cruel destiny."
'And the kind I'm supposed to join?' Northern chuckled inwardly, 'I doubt there's anything good to being a prince then.'
He looked forward with an intense gaze and asked Jeci,
"So, that is what explains the large age difference between my mother and her brother. Do you happen to know how my mother married the Emperor of Reimgard and why she isn't in Reimgard right now?"
Jeci shook her head and said: "I have no idea, but I did know it was a marriage of convenience..."
She looked like she wanted to say more.
"Jeci, I am ready to hear whatever it is you intend to say, so you better not hold anything back from me."
She bit her lower lip and spoke, "I don't know the kind of life your mother lived in Reimgard, but it seemed to have broken her, then losing her only child made her lose all the spirit she used to have.
"Now, all she does is sit by the window and stare at the roofs of the city. Honestly, I wish she never went to Reimgard."
Northern looked down for a moment.
"Of course, I was assassinated... she must have thought that."
Jeci looked at him with a mixture of emotions rolling across her face.
"What?" Northern questioned as he stared back.
"I don't know, you seem to be taking all of this well."
"Is that not a good thing? You want me to be crying and broken like a kid?"
Jeci shrugged her shoulders, "You are a kid... you're not even eighteen."
Northern smiled, "I presume I am..." Then he slumped his shoulders, narrowed his eyes, was silent for a couple of minutes, then called.
"Jeci"
"Yes, my lord"
"Let's say, the prophecy, this old tale is true, that means it is applicable to my mom, right?" Jeci ruminated deeply for a couple of heartbeats before responding, "I don't know how exactly to answer that question. Your mother's tribe had long moved on without her. But I guess it wouldn't have been out of place, but there was nothing special about her twin brother, if anything my lady even thinks he had it coming."
"Wow, quite cruel..."
Jeci smiled, "Doesn't mean she wouldn't have been hurt to death."
"It's fine..." Northern folded his arms, people were beginning to stand up and the radiance of light burned fiercer.
"You should get some rest, I doubt if you got any at all."
"No, my lord, I can still-"
"Jeci," he shunned, "go get some rest. You'll need it."
"Yes, my lord." She bowed in response and walked away.
After Jeci walked into the room, Northern sighed and said to the air,
"Why don't you just approach me already?"
After a couple of seconds, Annette walked towards him from nowhere, grinning too much.
"It wasn't like I was scared of approaching you or something, I just had to give you time to talk to your uhmm... who is she again?"
Northern rolled his eyes, "You know who that is. She's Jeci."
"Oh, right, Jeci. And how do you know again?"
"I'd prefer it if you just came straight with the question, this is tiring. What exactly do you want?"
Annette's grin reduced, instead she seriously looked at Northern and looked at the horizon.
"Do you wanna walk?"
Northern looked at her with jeer, "Are you feeling melancholy?"
"Will you be serious for once?"
Northern nodded, "Fine, I will be. But I'm not including you in my will."
"You don't need to, I probably have more possessions than you do."
He scoffed as they trekked forward, "You don't want to see my soul cores."
"Oh, right... that insane amount of soul cores. Why don't you ever use them though?"
Northern got suddenly silent, keeping a straight face. Annette looked at him and smirked.
"You have a lot of secrets. So you still don't trust me yet?"
"Well, I do trust you. I just don't trust you with certain things. You protected Night Terror and Mr. Fluffy and Ellis, that's a lot for me."
She nodded in acceptance, "I guess that's okay, asking for more would be selfish."
Both of them continued forward in silence, after a couple of minutes-they were quite far away from the shelter-Annette began.
"Northern."
"I'm listening."
"You've grown strong." She said to him, both of them still walking forward.
"Thank you I guess, but isn't it a given? Everyone has grown."
"I mean, indeed they have. But your growth is outrageous, Northern. That thing in the rift,
when it appeared, I had only one feeling..."
"Death." Northern looked at her as he completed her statement.
"Those were the exact words, the exact feeling. How?"
"Because I have felt it too before, in the rift I was entrapped in."
Annette frowned, "What? You met him in the rift?"
"A quarter of him actually. I defeated him. Or at least I thought I did, but he had been tricking
us all along, so I could help him break free completely from his shackles."
Annette's mouth fell slightly, "That's... sick"
"Yes, and he is terrifying, I wouldn't have done it alone, if I was alone then, I definitely would
have died."
"Then how did you survive?"
"I had Night Terror, he wasn't my monster then of course, we were in a temporary alliance. Night Terror was the one that killed him, killing him caused Night Terror to evolve. Fortunately, for me, Night Terror's evolution incapacitated him for a while, I struck and killed
Night Terror, hence ending the rift."
Northern did well to downplay all that he had done. Because he wanted Annette to not know of the level of hardship it took to defeat such a monster.
It sounded incredibly simple, like anyone would have been able to do it. But Northern knew that not anyone would have been able to do it.
Annette also was no slouch, she could tell what Northern was trying to do. After all, she had
seen this said Night Terror before.
'It definitely wouldn't have been so easy even though he was incapacitated for a while.'
Annette notioned.
Northern looked at her, "What are you thinking?"
She smiled somberly, "I'm just thinking of how much you would have had to endure alone in
the rift." Northern brushed it away with his facial features like it was nothing.
"Well, I was technically not alone, I had two monster companions. Who are with me till now."
She nodded, "So you unknowingly helped him escape, then he killed you and came for us... but
you managed to make it back from the gnaw of death."
"I guess we can put it that way."
Annette stared at him, furiously.
"You are not going to get another explanation, Annette, that's the closest to anything you
will get." "Why are you hiding so much anyway? You don't trust me at all?"
"I believe I already answered these questions. Did you bring me here to interrogate me?"
Northern's tone was beginning to grow disturbed.
"No, it's not. I'm sorry. There's something I think we will need your help with. But I am
curious about one last thing before I ask."
Northern let out a sigh, "Ask."
"What happened between you and Raven?"
In that moment, Northern's expression became dark, "What? You are asking about Raven
now?"
"By the look on your face, something serious definitely happened and yes, I would love to
know."
Northern was silent for a couple of seconds, looking down.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
He brought up his head and turned to Annette as he responded, "She tricked and used me."
Annette raised her brow, "I am not surprised, she basically uses everyone, but how exactly did
she trick you?"
Northern's eyes furiously gleamed as he thought about it. After a couple of breaths, he
opened his mouth and talked.
"There was supposed to be a flying ship that could take us out of here. She promised to give it
to me if I helped her accomplish something. I agreed and eventually when all was done. I had to use the flying ship to save everyone. Turned out that crappy Oracle knew, and if Terence
knew there's no way Raven also didn't know."
Annette's eyes widened, "So are you saying, Raven already knew that you would use the ship to save them but still promised it to bring you on board?" "She was unfazed about it because she knew what exactly was going to happen." Annette nodded, gently touching her chin, "That is quite complicated and fearsome... but Northern, I don't think you are looking at this situation quite well."