boyutpedia Chapter 388
Chapter 388
Chapter 388
Vertus had called me to the tea-time terrace, where we were having tea together for the first time in a while.
Two relics... He already knew that I was Tiamata’s master. I had an inkling of it since Sabioleen Tana’s warning.
Vertus seemed like he wanted to say something, but he hesitated slightly, as if the words were stuck in his throat. His fingertips trembled.
‘This guy...! You’re thinking about that again!’
“...”
Vertus opened his mouth again but said nothing. Perhaps he thought he might slip up.
Finally, he sighed. “Well, whatever. That’s not what’s important, is it? The fact that you’ve been chosen by two relics, that’s what’s important.”
‘Yeah. Let’s erase that topic from our minds entirely. I feel like a truly confusing conversation is about to come up, and I’m tired of being confused in this way. Something like, “If you’re chosen by two relics, you’re supposed to be as incredible as Ragan Artorius, so why did you cross-dress?” I don’t want to hear that!’
Vertus looked at me with a serious expression. “I have a lot of questions, Reinhart.”
“... Uh, yeah. That...”
“Not that, you idiot!”
“I-I didn’t say anything yet!”
After that incident, Vertus and I had lost the ability to be serious with each other.
“Charlotte,” he said.
When that name was mentioned, though, we both naturally grew serious.
“You did it, didn’t you?”
He was asking even though he already knew the answer. I couldn’t deny it. He didn’t ask specifically how I did it, but I guess he didn’t feel the need to go that far.
“Yeah.”
“Well, it’s good that you’re not denying it meaninglessly.”
He probably knew everything about my actions and Charlotte’s. Vertus added milk to his tea and stirred it quietly with a teaspoon.
“Reinhart, I can’t touch you anymore,” he said. “You’re not a fool, so I think you understand that much.”
“...”
Having not just one, but two relics now... It was unthinkable to kill me or harm me in any way. My existence had become too important, and so he had lost the option of laying a hand on me, even if I was on Charlotte’s side.
That’s what was frightening about Vertus. He never revealed how much he knew. I didn’t know that he knew I’d saved Charlotte’s life, nor did I know how much he knew about the method which I used, or Charlotte’s current state. He never showed anything, then suddenly blurted out the truth so clearly and matter-of-factly as though it had been obvious all along, confusing the listener.
That was why I didn’t know how much to say, and if I started talking, I might end up revealing things Vertus didn’t know. It was like having a conversation with a snake.
“Reinhart, you can be on Charlotte’s side, but becoming my enemy is a different choice. You can’t be on both Charlotte’s side and mine. But just being on Charlotte’s side doesn’t necessarily make you my enemy.”
Vertus looked at me calmly. “Will you become my enemy? Let’s just be clear about that.”
What would happen if I said I would become his enemy? Vertus wouldn’t tell me what would happen if I became his enemy. For the moment, he might leave me alone, or he might make a move.
“I don’t particularly intend to.”
“Yeah, that’s what I hope for too.”
Things had changed. I wasn’t just a Royal Class student anymore; I was the master of two relics. As long as no one found out that Ellen also wielded two, I was the only person in the world with two relics.
Just as I didn’t want to make Vertus my enemy, Vertus wouldn’t want to make me his enemy either.
Vertus took a sip of his milk tea, and his expression turned cold.
“But Reinhart, do you know something? The competition for the throne is already over. Charlotte can’t take the throne,” he declared.
I wasn’t surprised at all. Vertus had dismantled the Revolutionary Forces, one of the significant threats facing the empire.
Vertus stirred his teacup with a sly smile. The issue of Charlotte’s soul aside, it ultimately circled back to being a political problem.
Charlotte de Gradias... A girl who had to die no matter which path she took.
“You want to save my sibling’s life, don’t you?” Vertus asked, implying that just as I had pulled Charlotte from the darkness before, I might try to save her from the political situation that demanded her death.
I nodded without hesitation, honestly. “That’s right.”
“By any means?”
“By any means.”
Vertus chuckled softly. “Marry my sibling then. There’s no other way.”
Dettomorian’s prophecy... His prophecy had foretold this situation, and I also understood what personal request the emperor had intended to make of me.
However, a question arose.
“Wouldn’t that also strengthen Charlotte’s claim as a successor to the throne?”
Despite everything he’d said, Vertus had no reason to keep Charlotte alive. Even if he didn’t want me as an enemy, having Charlotte someone who possessed holy relics would only increase her standing.
“That’s true.”
Even though he had already won, if such a thing were to come to pass, it could breathe life into Charlotte’s claim to the throne.
Vertus had to have some kind of plan for that. He wouldn’t do something that only benefitted Charlotte. However, he did not share what those thoughts were. Or perhaps, he genuinely felt some sympathy for Charlotte. Who knew?
***
Vertus was already confident in his victory, knowing the result couldn’t be overturned, and I knew that too.
Even if Vertus did not exist, it was uncertain whether Charlotte could ascend to the throne. Now that the Demon King’s soul had merged with hers, the people would merely view her as the wielder of a sinister power unless she could fully control the dark power she’d inherited. All other things aside, that alone was preventing Charlotte’s rise to the throne.
That was why Vertus no longer saw Charlotte as a competitor. However, if he were forced by his aides to kill Charlotte, he would gain a strange and unpredictable enemy in me. Ultimately, Vertus was saying that he was a little afraid of me.
I was the master of both Alsbringer and Tiamata. If Charlotte were to marry me, my status would rise, but Charlotte’s existence would become safer.
If a battle with the Demon King became imminent, my existence would inevitably be revealed, and I would be bestowed with titles like “Hero of Humanity” and “Hope of Humanity”. And if Charlotte became my wife, the empire would not be able to touch her just as they could not touch me.
Whether before or after Vertus became emperor, as long as I was alive, there would be no talk of needing to kill Charlotte.
The emperor had to be aware of these facts as well. That was why he’d stopped himself from making such a request of me. My existence had become too significant for him to ask something so personal of me, and so he dared not make that personal request.
Charlotte likely knew these facts too. To save Charlotte, I would have to marry her. With Alsbringer now in my possession, the justification for such an action had grown even stronger.
That was why Vertus had brought it up. If someone with not just one, but two relics went mad, who knew what they might do?
Then again, was it right to make such a decision regardless of Charlotte’s wishes? What exactly was Vertus’s intention?
.
.
Clang!
“What are you thinking about?”
“... Oh. Nothing. I just...”
“Give me your hand.”
Ellen helped me up after I’d stumbled and fallen backward, my legs all tangled up.
‘What am I supposed to do?’
I had vowed countless times to protect Charlotte no matter what, but now it seemed I had to go as far as marrying her, and I wouldn’t be able to save her unless I did.
‘Is that really the right thing to do?’