37

"I'm happy that I've met you. Your brother is one of my trusted friends. It's unfortunate that he left early…"

Prince Augusta reminisced the past. He remembered how Vincent confronted the followers of the Ira of the Wrath when he was working on the Palace.…… He shook his head, realizing that he would never see his friend anymore. 

"Thank you, your highness."

Christopher expressed his gratitude. His brother once told him that the Second Prince was brave and shrewd. Right now, he was not sure if the Prince was showing his true emotions or not. Still, he needs to present his respect. 

"I guess this meeting is over, huh. You already answered every question. Oh, by the way, my birthday is coming. I know that you're recuperating but I'll be happy if you attend my party. "

Christopher already expected this. He smiled and accepted his invitation. How could he say no to the Royals?

"Yes, your highness. I think I'm already healed at that time."

"Good, now excuse me but I need to leave now. Let's go, George."

The third Prince nodded and followed his older brother. The Duke decided to follow them since he already met Christopher. Besides, it's bad to disturb a patient when he needs to rest. Christopher lost his blood and he was still dizzy. 

Pablo and Yuusha glanced at him. They too, exit the place. 

Christopher was alone, he breathed a relief. It seemed like his acting had been paid off. He closed his eyes and enter deep into his consciousness. He read the Auburn War, thinking that something may have changed. 

For now, the book had still no major alterations. It's following the plot that he knew. 

' This is the hardest part. I can't deceive Pablo. He can detect my lies. Well, right now I can use this chance to tell him that something big will come. Should I tell him about the climax? No, I think it's a bad idea. He will find out that I have different abilities except for reading ancient languages... Should I tell him some of my secrets?'

He thought. 

"Sigh, what should I do to resolve this."

He need to prevent the disaster or else thousands of people would die. But he knew that he couldn't solve this on his own. The one who solved this problem was Yuusha but to accomplish it, the Emperor needs to die. Christopher couldn't accept that scenario, the Empire would be divided after that. He cursed himself realizing that he was the one who made this. 

"Derik, you motherf*cker. Why did you have to kill millions of people just to make your novel famous…"

To portray that the war was serious and frightening. He had written in his novel that many people died. After all, he needs tension to hook his readers. However, this was different, he couldn't treat the population of Cransia as simple mob characters that would die whenever the author wanted. 

In this world, their lives were real. Christopher felt the burden. Yes, in his novel they found the solution to save the Empire, but millions died before they found it. Christopher couldn't stomach that. All the more that his family and Aria would suffer because of the war. 

He searched the bottle of liquor underneath his bed. Whenever he's facing an unsolvable problem, he always drinks. His mouth was missing the taste of booze. 

Luckily, Marlon gave him this bottle of wine to drink. He chuckled but his eyes were melancholy, his expression was messy. He felt like he's a murderer. He was actually jealous about Death Necromancer, he didn't feel anything when he slaughtered the population of Liwan. 

"Yeah, I'm still a human because I'm having this kind of feelings.…"

He uncorked the bottle and put it in his mouth. His face became red as a cherry and his eyes were unfocused. He was thankful that this liquor was strong. Now he could sleep peacefully. 

………………

The Annual Conference. 

It's the yearly gathering of every Aristocrat inside the Empire. This was the time where nobles would visit the Capital to attend the meetings. This was the period to show their wealth too, by preparing a grandiose party. It's the moment to spread their connection. 

Right now, the circle of nobility was busy about the topic of Christopher's heroic act and his almost assassination. Rumors flowed to the Capital about him, but most of it was negative. Especially the nobles from the same batch as Christopher when he was in the Academy. They knew that Christopher didn't graduate because of his curse. Their jealousy reached the ceiling, they never thought that the bastard man would become famous after saving the Princess. 

They were not saying it out of their facade, but they hope that Christopher died when the assassin tried to kill him. They hate the thought that another person from the Mellwood would take the spotlight again. Particularly the Counts, they wanted to show their greatness after all. They craved to risen their position and to do that they must get the favor of the higher nobles. 

Right now, almost all of the nobles visited Christopher to show their worriedness. Though they're gloating inside. 

As for the female nobles, they never liked the Princess. She's an arrogant woman that loves to topple their image. ' Why do they have to save the unmanner Princess?' It's the thought that encircled in their minds. The Princess was famous for being a rowdy selfish woman. 

They even heard the news that Prince Julian slapped Luze thinking that she was a spy. Bad rumors were revolving around the Capital and the Mastermind was still unknown. 

Their hearts were full of dirty thoughts about others. The Demon sneered watching them eating each other. He mocked them because these people would die without realizing that their thoughts were actually orchestrated. 

The battle called socializing would start. 

………………

In the hidden place of the Palace. Two people were talking. 

"Christopher is a threat, he easily deduced my secret."

"Hoh? I guess we need to be careful."

A man swinging his scimitar answered him. 

"What do you think? Should we continue this plan or wait for another time?"

He asked.

"No, the Emperor must die…"

The man with the scimitar laughed when he heard him. 

"So you really hate him, huh, then we need to prepare."

Killing the Emperor was like fighting a Dragon. 

"Yes, I want revenge......"

The man who had scabs on his wrist glinted. He clenched his fist in hatred.