" I think now you are ready to hear what I'm going to say."
In the room of Abigail Sargeer Karl was having dinner with the royal princess.
" You conquered your clan and made your stepmom the matriarch and appointed Rene as her adviser. May I ask why you decided to keep yourself hidden from the outer world?" She asked. Right now, she was wearing a red robe, which almost revealed her small white rabbits.
Karl had already made Erena the Matriarch of the Neitherhood clan before he got invited by Abigail to have dinner with her. Even though his stepmom was competent, she had been away from the clan, and its matters for a long time. So, Karl decided to put Rene as her support because of all the people he had, she was the only one who was the most competent and efficient. Even though, her memories were still sealed, and were being controlled by the Emperor, Karl decided to do so because, not only he could harvest from her efficiency but also he could keep an eye on her.
" Hmm? What to say?" Karl pondered for a moment before answering.
" Let's say I have bigger targets to achieve in my life"
Hearing this Abigail laughed.
" Like father, like son, huh?"
" So, you know? Right?"
She nodded.
" And why can't I know?" Abigail asked.
" What does that supposed to mean?"
" I know it because my father entrusted me with the responsibility of guiding you."
" Huh?"
" The task I was about to give you is this; becoming the emperor of the Sargeer Empire. I had to test you with the objective of claiming leadership of your clan. You know, even I didn't have much faith in his decision. But after seeing you I have to admit that, you are fit for the role."
" So that's why you are here! Hah, I get it now! I thought you being here was a punishment from your big brother after finding out about your secret forbidden love!"
Hearing this Abigail's eyes twitched.
" Where did you hear that from?"
" I read these types of incidents in rom-com novels mostly. And yeah they are pretty common in historical stories!"
" What do you mean by rom-com novels?" She asked coldly while internally swearing if she found any of these things in the future, she would definitely burn them to ashes along with their authors!
" Ohh.. never mind, so tell me what's the catch here?" Seeing her look on her face Karl had to sigh.
' Oh God, please have mercy with the poor souls who love rom-coms. And the souls who enjoy writing them! Please protect them from this oncoming destruction!'
Suddenly, Karl's face began to become uglier making Abigail shiver in fear. After witnessing his prowess against a divine level cultivator she began to fear him. Earlier she had planned to throw away the decree and leave it as it was, but after the fight, she was frightened to death and decided to let him know the whole true story.
In the beginning, she thought he would never be able to find the truth, but she couldn't keep her mind calm in the past three days, after the death of Euger Nietherhood. So she decided to invite him to dinner and escape from his wrath!
' It seems this time, I made the correct decision. He already knew it from the first place. Hah! I can't fight with him! I'm very weak before that kind of deadly power! Hah! What's with that look on his face?'
' Almost all of the rom-com lovers are women! If she kills them all including the writers will there be any woman left? No, I can't let this happen. If there are no women, who am I going to conquer?'
These were Karl's thoughts right now!
" Bitch, don't you dare lay your hands on them!" Karl screamed.
Hearing this, Abigail flinched with fear.
" I.. I didn't plan to.. touch your … your inheritance. Though I kept it a secret from you. I'm really sor… sorry. I didn't plan to-"
" Huh? What are you saying? Come again!" Karl asked wondering why suddenly she became shivering and sweating all over.
" It's about the inheritance my father left for you."
" Oh? How much?"
" According to his decree, everything stored in the royal treasury belongs to you. But I'm sure there's nothing in it now."
" Why?"
" Because my brother also knows the decree as well, so he should have emptied the Royal treasury by now."
" Huh, can he do that?"
" You have no idea how ruthless he is. There is no one against him except her majesty Yalenna Arlogha. Even she doesn't dare defy his orders directly!"
" Knowing him, if he didn't do that, he would never be Wongoner Sargeer."
" Indeed!" Abigail agreed.
" But, only you have access to his secret chambers which are underground. When I was about to leave the palace, he had been planning to break the barrier with all his strength. By now, I'm sure, he has found a way to do that!"
" So, we are running out of time, huh?"
Of course Karl wasn't interested in some old man's secret treasures, even though he knew they would have some connection with his late father.
" Ding..
The host has triggered a hidden quest…
Quest: Finding out the whereabouts of the host's father, Elijah Neitherhood and the host's mother, Helena Arlogha."
A holographic blue message appeared in front of him.
' Hmm? What's this?'
" Information on the side quest:
Side quests are the quests which are slightly related to the main quest of the host. They aren't given to the host by the system unlike main quest(s). On the path of completing the main quest, the host may trigger side quests, which are much more difficult and time consuming. No penalties are given to the host in case of failure. On success, the host is given a chance to select a reward from an allowed criteria which is decided by the system itself."
" System, I need more information! You are telling me.. my parents are alive? Or are you playing with me again?"
" Want to show the story of the side quest? Y/N"
"Yes"
" Even Though, Emperor Wongoner Sargeer had ordered Euger Neitherhood to kill Elijah Neitherhood and Helena Arlogha, he couldn't kill them as Her Majesty the Lady of the Demons had already kidnapped them before his arrival. They were locked in the Demon City of sector 002, for two years and was transported to an unknown place. So now their whereabouts are unknown to the system, but the system still can sense their vital signs from the universe."
" Main quest completion: 0.91%
Side quest completion: 0.24%"
Karl became shocked after hearing this information. He thought about what he saw in Euger's memories.
' Shit, how could I neglect it? Euger didn't see my parents' bodies! And neither the Emperor!'
Marina appeared by his side.
" They aren't dead, I knew that! Hehehe"
" Bitch please! Earlier you were the one who deduced they had no way for them to escape those 'sea of flames'!"
' Sea of flames' was a demonic cultivation technique of massacre which could only be used by the direct descendants of the Demon Queen. Even a cultivator at the peak level of Divinity wouldn't be able to escape from that technique unscathed.
" It would have happened, if they faced those flames! But now we know they didn't get to taste the power of those flames. Even Though we don't know where they are, at least we now know they are still alive."
" Alive while being tortured!"
" May be, but still they are alive. Can't you think positively? Maybe they are serving a greater being who cares about his servants, or maybe they are ruling an empire! Who knows!"
" Positive thinking is simply another term for daydreaming!"
Marina rolled her eyes. Why can't this man stop embarrassing him?
" By the way, there is something to know of my mother's name! How come the previous Karl had never heard of her family name until now? He never knew she was from Clan Arlogha! She always had answered him saying she had been from a poor family from a rural village far away from the Imperial City!"
"Why don't you ask her?" Marina said, pointing to Abigail.
While Karl was dealing with those things, Abigail patiently waited wondering what would happen to her peaceful life, which she was having so far. She got away from the palace and renounced her status of royalty in order to live a carefree life! She never thought Karl would return either. Earlier she met him out of curiosity, and now she had to deal with the mess her father had left her! Fate was a fucking bitch!
" Alright Abigail, now tell me how you got away from the palace? What is the reason for leaving?"
"Well, I wanted to clean up the mess my father had left me with, and start a peaceful life on my own! You know, I'm not a person who likes to deal with fakes, and I just wanted to run away from my responsibilities!"
" I understand how you felt, go on"
' What? He understands me? Even before his parents' death, I heard he led a peaceful life with low responses, over from my father! Bastard, he is making fun of me!'
" As for the way I got away from the palace, it was very much easy. I pretended to be in a relationship with a male servant who worked at the Royal Kitchen, and staged a drama to make my brother believe he caught me red-handed. It was hard but the prize for doing it was absolutely worthy of the sacrifice."
" I knew it! You acted as a princess in those rom-coms!"
" But I said, I PRETENDED like a one in those rom-com things! Why can't you understand?"
" Of course, I understand! You were in a relationship with a poor servant of the palace, the emperor caught you red-handed, casted you out from the family and killed the servant! That's the cliché. Hahaha" Karl laughed.
" No, it was just an act! And I made sure he escaped from the Empire!"
" Like I believe!"
" You!"
" Whatever, I don't care! So, you are saying, you wanted to run away from those 'responsibilities' shit and so you decided to marry Euger and lead a peaceful life on your own, am I right?"
" Yes, that should be the summary, I guess"
" Okay. Now tell me, Helena Arlogha, my mother was from the Clan Arlogha right?"
Hearing this, Abigail's beautiful eyes widened in shock. After a wait of two long minutes Abigail sighed and started replying.
" Well, there is no use of hiding it from you anymore.."