Chapter 234: Your Highness Ophelia, We’re Accomplices
After leaving Hailan Manor, Last suddenly paused and turned sideways to look.
In the next moment, in the direction of his gaze, a figure clad in armor silently appeared.
It seemed to be a woman wearing heavy armor, her appearance concealed behind a visor, making it difficult to discern her face. One could only vaguely judge her gender from her physique.
She gave a slight bow toward Last, the sound of metal clashing echoing from her armor.
“Sir Last, my lady invites you for a meeting.”
Your lady?
Last was slightly taken aback, just about to ask further, when he suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder.
A large, fluffy white furball appeared from a spatial rift and landed familiarly on Last’s shoulder.
“This thing is Kate, one of Ophelia’s.”
Dean Silver yawned lazily, evidently just waking from a nap in the subspace of a sub-dimension, a trace of drowsiness still lingering.
“Go see her. That little girl should count as being on your side.”
An invitation… from Ophelia?
A ripple stirred in Last’s heart.
Shiltina’s half-sister, the Second Imperial Princess of the Granwell Kingdom, the little swan of the royal family…
Though he had heard her name countless times from various sources—be it Shiltina or Dean Silver, both were close to her.
Still, for Last, this was the first time meeting Ophelia in person.
“Feels like this trip to the Imperial Capital is meant for me to meet all of Shiltina’s family… First the parents, now the sister.”
…
The destination Kate led the man and the ferret to wasn’t a palace residence for royal members, but rather a seemingly inconspicuous side estate within the city center of the Imperial Capital.
“Although I’ve long wanted to meet you, the opportunity only came today.”
“Regrettably, for secrecy’s sake, I could only host you here and not in the palace.”
“Well then, pleased to meet you, Brother Last.”
Ophelia gave a slight curtsy, delicately lifting her skirt and offering Last a flawless courtly bow.
With chestnut mid-length hair, a pure white dress over a muted palette, a flawless and delicate face, and that elegant royal aura—she looked as beautiful and delicate as a porcelain doll.
As Last stood unmoved before the doll-like girl who bowed with elegance, it was actually Dean Silver who couldn’t hold back.
“Little girl, what did you just call that guy?”
“Brother Last…”
Ophelia looked somewhat puzzled at Dean Silver.
“By Father’s decree, Elder Sister and Brother Last will be wed in the Imperial Capital three weeks from now. A formal marriage.”
“Since he’s my sister’s husband, that makes him my brother too… Is there a problem?”
“Or is it…” Ophelia blinked her crimson eyes, “Brother Last would prefer I call you brother-in-law instead?”
“That’s not the problem.” Dean Silver covered her face with her tail.
“It’s just… using that term… Little Ophelia, you may well be punished someday—by fate itself.”
Dean Silver hadn’t forgotten that the term “Brother Last”… in the Echo of History, it had always belonged exclusively to Grey, the Angel of Fate.
Even though Grey had since fallen from her angelic status and was trapped at the end of the Starry Sea, Dean Silver had no doubt that this once Angel of Fate would one day return.
And when that time came, who knew whether Grey would begrudge the fact that someone else had claimed her title for Last?
…
On the other side, Last and Ophelia weren’t caught in nearly as much inner drama as Dean Silver.
“Also, I must apologize to you, Brother Last.”
Ophelia bowed once more. “It was due to my selfishness that Miss Aksia ended up entangled in all those incidents… even dragging you into risking your life to challenge a Legendary being.”
“That matter has passed, and so it ends there.”
“Choosing to betray the Gravekeepers, to risk my life to kill Noah… all of that was my own decision, made by my own will. I blame no one else.”
Last shook his head. “Besides, had Your Highness not provided me with the forbidden weapon ‘Sword of Zenith’, I wouldn’t have been able to kill Noah’s Incarnation of Bounty in the Nether Abyss so smoothly.”
“What I’m more concerned about is the present matter.”
He looked at the girl in the white dress before him and spoke softly. “So, His Majesty is pushing the engagement between me and Shiltina so urgently this time…”
“Is it because of that Gravekeeper who visited the Imperial Capital?”
“Exactly.”
Ophelia nodded, a flicker of surprise passing through those wine-red eyes. “I invited you here to explain all this, but I didn’t expect Brother Last to already be aware.”
“That does make explaining much easier.”
A trace of nostalgia emerged in her gaze. “Though for a long time, Elder Sister has rejected the royal family’s resources and refused to carry the name of Fresberg… in the eyes of other major nobles in the Imperial Capital, Father’s child has only ever been me.”
“But in Father’s heart, the successor of the Holy Sword, the future heir to the throne… has always been Sister and no one else.”
“In fact, the reason Father buried the scabbard of the Holy Sword within Sister’s body—part of that intent was to subtly reshape Sister’s soul with the scabbard, to make her affinity with the Holy Sword reach unprecedented heights—”
“To thus turn his heir into the strongest Holy Sword wielder recorded in royal history, and the mightiest Empress of the Empire.”
A flicker stirred in Last’s heart.
He recalled again that warm moment in Hailan Manor, beside the hearthfire—the mild-mannered middle-aged man who seemed no different from any nobleman.
So, back when Allen buried the scabbard in Shiltina’s body—
How much of it was a father’s wish to protect his daughter with Avalon…
And how much of it was the duty of a monarch, forging the strongest heir for the sake of the kingdom?
In such matters, let alone Last, even Allen himself might not be able to clearly distinguish.
“All this time, Father has wanted Elder Sister to abandon her stubbornness, to give up that ideal she inherited from her mother—known as ‘Forester’.”
“Father believes that with such ideals, Sister might become an excellent noble lord, an unblemished knight… but she could never become a flawless monarch.”
“To be a worthy ruler, one must learn to make sacrifices, to understand that ‘saving one group often means forsaking another’. Even though they’re all human, not all lives are of equal value…”
“Being a monarch means having the resolve to choose to save the more valuable and abandon the lesser when faced with dilemmas like the trolley problem.”
“If it were Elder Sister…” Ophelia smiled slightly. “She would probably just charge onto the tracks without hesitation, sword in hand, and block the incoming trolley head-on.”
“That’s the fundamental disagreement between Father and Elder Sister, and also the reason why she left the royal family and chose to join Starfall University, which stands independent of the Empire.”
“And this time, the visit of that Gravekeeper Quasi-Angel has given Father an opportunity—”
“An opportunity to force Elder Sister to compromise.”
Ophelia’s voice lost its earlier clarity and cheer, now tinged with somberness.
“Elder Sister is such a proud, stubborn, utterly self-willed person… She firmly believes in the path she walks, and she’ll continue to walk it, unshaken by the opinions or gossip of others.”
“Even if there’s a wall in her way, she’d probably smash through it without a second thought.”
“However, in that proud sister’s heart, there has appeared a single weakness—”
“And that is you, Brother Last.”
She looked straight at Last.
“The Gravekeeper’s Quasi-Angel came to hunt you, and Father had calculated everything long beforehand.”
“Elder Sister either draws the Holy Sword and thereby shoulders the duty and responsibility of royal blood.”
“Or she refuses. But then, without the Holy Sword, she can’t stand against the Quasi-Angel and can only watch helplessly as you, Brother Last, become a sacrifice in the secret war.”
“That is Father’s overt plot—forcing Elder Sister to give up her ideals and inherit the throne.”
“And faced with your life being in danger, Elder Sister has no choice…”
…
“So, it really is like that.”
Last’s expression did not change as he listened to Ophelia’s words, merely nodding lightly.
What Ophelia had said differed little from his own speculation.
The Gravekeeper’s Quasi-Angel had indeed come for him, and His Majesty Allen simply took advantage of the situation to pressure Shiltina into accepting the crown and becoming a proper monarch.
From the Empire’s perspective, it was undeniably the most refined form of overt strategy—
Righteous and aboveboard, yet utterly inescapable.
“But why is Your Highness telling me all this?”
“Strictly speaking, this should be royal secrecy, shouldn’t it? Is it really alright to tell an outsider like me?”
“You’ll be marrying Elder Sister soon, Brother Last. As the rightful prince consort of the Imperial Royal Family, you can hardly be called an outsider.”
Ophelia smiled again, though there was unmistakable bitterness behind that smile. “Another reason is perhaps due to my personal feelings toward Elder Sister.”
Her wine-red eyes lowered slightly, revealing a complex and indecipherable emotion.
“To be honest—”
“When I was little, I actually resented and disliked my sister quite a bit.”
“From the time I could remember, she had already left the palace to live alone outside, only occasionally returning to visit us.”
“Yet even so, whether it was Father or Mother, they always missed the sister who left the royal family. They paid attention to her life outside, her safety, her development… even her same-gender friends, combat experiences, and power progression—nothing was left unmentioned.”
“Maybe it was just the instinct of a young animal guarding its food… But back then, I felt very dissatisfied with the extra care and favoritism they showed my sister. After all, I was the one who stayed by their side, the daughter Mother had given birth to, yet I didn’t get more attention because of it.”
“Back then—I even had very dark thoughts… like hoping my sister would die out there, or face some setback and return to the palace in disgrace… because that would prove that I was the better one.”
A look of reminiscence appeared in Ophelia’s eyes.
“But later, as I slowly grew up and began receiving various imperial teachings in the court… I gradually found myself instead admiring and looking up to my sister.”
“The ministers and nobles of the Imperial Capital didn’t know much about our family’s internal matters—they didn’t really know of Elder Sister’s existence and just assumed I was the Empire’s sole heir.”
“And precisely because of that, flattery, gossip… whether sincere or deceitful, kindly or malicious, all sorts of attention came rushing toward me when I was still very young.”
“To respond to those expectations and malice, I put on the mask of the ‘Imperial Little Swan,’ trying to transform myself into a flawless princess, a suitable heir to the throne.”
“When facing different people, I had to wear the most fitting personality mask for my interests; in everything I did, I had to think things through, prepare for the worst, and plan an escape route; I had to punish enemies with thunderous means to instill fear in the political adversaries who bore me ill will.”
“I gave up the idle heart that sang of butterflies and blossoms. I couldn’t get close to peers. I couldn’t even grow attached to the pets I raised… because those would become weaknesses for those who studied me in every detail to exploit.”
Ophelia stared at the flickering candlelight on the silver candelabra.
“I lived like a mirror, reflecting an image of the perfect princess that others expected.”
“The brilliance reflected off that mirror was so dazzling that no one ever cared about the girl beneath it—the little girl named Ophelia.”
“And so, in my eyes, Elder Sister’s figure appeared all the more radiant.”
“Her way of life was dazzling. She walked her own path, chasing her ideals, unaffected by outside forces… Whereas I was like a mirror—glorious and delicate in appearance, but inside, I was nothing but a hollow shell living for others beneath that beautiful surface.”
Ophelia withdrew her gaze.
“And so, gradually, beyond responding to the expectations of my parents, ministers, and nobles… another goal took root in my heart.”
“That was to work hard to become the perfect princess, the flawless heir to the throne.”
“If I could become more perfect, more radiant—so perfect that Father would change his original decision and choose me to inherit the throne instead of my sister…”
“Then my sister wouldn’t have to face pressure from our parents or the royal family anymore, and she could freely, unrestrainedly pursue her ideals.”
“All this time, it was with this belief… that I walked to where I am now.”
“But—”
She lowered her eyes slightly.
“Brother Last, I must apologize to you.”
“Even though I forced myself to become a mechanist, hardened my heart, and acted with decisiveness to the point that some nobles had nightmares about me…”
“In the end, I still couldn’t make the Holy Sword resonate with me—of course, that may be because a hollow soul like mine, lacking true self, was never worthy of its recognition.”
“I’m sorry.”
She said softly, “I couldn’t replace my sister. I couldn’t become the heir to the throne.”
“Because of my incompetence, Elder Sister was forced by Father to give up her self.”
“Your Highness need not apologize. After all, it’s not over yet, is it?”
Last looked up at Ophelia, and her heart jolted.
She had thought that, after watching the live broadcasts in the Nightworld, she understood Last well enough…
But now, seeing the look in his eyes, she suddenly realized—she had never truly understood the boy standing before her.
“Your Highness Ophelia—”
“We are accomplices.”