[Vol. 7] Chapter 264: A Broken Heart
Normally, the royal family would check every direct descendant’s [Lion’s Ring] during the yearly ancestor ceremony.
Carinvega should have been exposed the very first year. But somehow, during that ceremony, the bloodline activation test showed perfectly normal, even giving outstanding results.
Her performance was so impressive that it far surpassed the other royals, and because of that, the missing ring was successfully covered up.
As for Xiluo, even though he knew early on that Carinvega had lost her [Lion’s Ring], and even managed to get his hands on the real one, he never expected that the princess would pass the bloodline test so easily at the annual ceremony.
That made him start doubting whether the ring he had was actually a fake instead.
Because he couldn’t figure out what was going on, and had no way to fully confirm if his ring was real or not, Xiluo decided to secretly keep it hidden.
At the same time, he also tried many times to forge fake [Lion’s Rings], hoping to find a way to fool the ceremony’s bloodline test with a counterfeit.
Of course, all his attempts ended in failure.
However, because he kept trying, rumors started to spread. People began to say that Xiluo Frederic had a strange obsession with making fake [Lion’s Rings], while the real cause of the incident, Miss Carinvega, was completely kept out of the loop, which is truly both laughable and frustrating.
As for how Violet knew all these secret details...
Well, it’s a pretty unbelievable story. Years ago, the group of assassins who attacked Carinvega were actually sent by Ben Melchior, the second prince of the Human United Kingdom.
At that time, he was in the middle of an important battle for the throne. To stop the Austre Empire from using the chaos to cause more trouble, Ben decided to strike first and cause a riot near the Austre Empire’s capital to distract them.
He didn’t specifically target Carinvega. It just so happened that among the Austre Empire’s many princes and princesses, only she fit the conditions best. Her age, location, and the weakness of her protection made her an easy target.
The [Lion’s Ring] belonging to Carinvega was taken by those assassins during the attack,
then quickly sold at a high price to Xiluo.
After all, the ring was meaningless to anyone outside the royal family, it was more like a dangerous burden, so getting rid of it as soon as possible was the smartest choice.
This event was recorded by the Human United Kingdom’s intelligence agency and classified as top-secret.
Later, after Ben lost his fight for the throne and died, Lilya became the new queen. She reorganized and updated many old agencies, and all the secret information that Ben had controlled fell into her hands.
When Violet asked [Shadow] for information about Carinvega, the group known as the “Shadow Guards” passed all those hidden records to her.
Of course, Violet didn’t think that just because Carinvega had always passed the ancestor ceremonies without a problem, the [Lion’s Ring] in Xiluo’s hands must be fake.
In fact, it was the opposite. Using the powers of the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden, she could clearly feel the invisible connection between the ring and the princess. Without a doubt, this was something only a real [Lion’s Ring], made from the princess’s original blood, could have.
Actually, even with the intelligence skills of the Shadow Guards, it was impossible to find out exactly where Xiluo had hidden the ring.
The priestess only knew that it was somewhere nearby. Once she entered the area, she had to rely on a kind of sensing ability, like following an invisible string, to track down the ring that Xiluo had hidden.
Although the divinity of [Reincarnation] wasn’t as strong in direct fighting as [Radiance],
when it came to mysterious things like this, [Reincarnation] was far superior. Each had its own strengths and weaknesses.
"RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!"
"Wah!"
After putting the ring into her backpack, the black-haired girl had just turned around, and before she could do anything else, the entire palace-like building already covered in smoke suddenly shook violently.
Loud crashing sounds echoed all around, as heavy parts of the building collapsed and fell, making the ground under her feet tremble nonstop.
Startled, Violet quickly left the ruined study room and ran to the courtyard. There, she saw something shocking.
Several of the key buildings belonging to the Lionheart Society had completely collapsed. And in their place stood a huge “giant”. A figure that had smashed through the rooftops and was now wildly rampaging everywhere. The giant looked to be several dozen meters tall!
The shape was vaguely female, but it was completely made of thick, swirling gray mist.
Overall, it looked a lot like the corrupted followers they had seen before at the Church of Truth headquarters. But this one was clearly much stronger and more chaotic.
Even though the figure’s face was completely unclear, Violet instantly recognized who it was.
"That’s the vessel of the [Nightmare], right? I think her name was... Orluk? But this power..."
Silently watching the gray giant destroy everything around like a Godzilla in a city, the priestess simply shook her head calmly, as if she were just watching a show.
"Looks like she pushed herself too hard and lost control. How foolish. Even if it’s a kind of law-based power, borrowing a little within a safe range is one thing, but forcing it constantly with just a mortal body... wasn’t this outcome inevitable?"
"Though, it’s not really a surprise... Still, without that stubborn and reckless girl, things would have been much harder to handle."
Adjusting the hem of her white robe, the black-haired girl pulled up her cloak, and her figure slowly faded away like mist, leaving behind only a faint, playful laugh.
"Now then... things are about to get interesting~"
……………………………………
"How... how could this happen..."
Between the broken ruins of what was once a building, Carinvega raised her head,
staring with shock and worry at the huge gray mist giant, which was roaring in pain.
Not far from her, Noelle, Gladys, and many members of the Royal Guard who had been controlled, were all lying unconscious on the ground.
Some were injured, others weren’t, but none of them were awake.
This wasn’t completely a good thing.
Thin, dark gray threads were continuously rising from their bodies, flowing toward the rampaging giant.
And not just here, across the entire academy city, in every district, similar threads were floating into the sky and gathering into the giant, making it grow bigger, stronger, and even more violent.
Even though the giant’s face was wrapped in swirling gray mist, even though it was so blurred it was almost impossible to recognize, Carinvega, through some deep instinct, still knew exactly who it was.
It was... Orluk.
She felt so much pain, anger, and denial. These strong negative feelings, both old and new, were made even worse by something else. They became like a crazy, burning gray fire. Now, she was barely able to think straight.
A coldness spread through the girl's chest.
In the end, things had really gotten out of control.