Reincarnated as an Energy with a System

“The current Emperor doesn’t have a claim to the throne because the bloodline is too diluted now? Is that the only reason why the two kingdoms are still against him?” Ning asked.

“What more reason would you need?” Matthew asked.

Ning thought for a bit. “What about the Emperor’s family?” he asked. “I mean the old one, the one that went mad and had to be killed. What about his family?”

Matthew remained silent for a while before taking a deep breath to speak out. “I only heard about it from others, so I am not sure how much truth is there in these words. But they say that they say they finally got their hands on the emperor, the throne room was a mess of blood with all the men, women, and children of the royal family massacred.”

“The soldiers that made it into the throne room that day speak of it as though it were the most horrific scene they had ever seen in their entire life,” the man said.

“So he has no family left,” Ning asked.

“None from the direct bloodline,” Matthew said.

“What about relatives?” Ning asked. “Where do the princesses marry off to? I assume the noble houses in the Republic have plenty of people with royal blood.”

“There are people that would be counted as relatives, but they are of a distant bloodline,” Matthew said. “And none from the direct bloodline.”

“What do you mean? The Emperor’s father didn’t have a sibling or something that got married elsewhere. What about the ones before that?” Ning asked. “I would assume them to have more claim that the king that has claimed himself to be an emperor.”

“They would, if they existed,” Mari chimed in. “But they don’t.”

“Were… they killed off?” Ning asked.

“No, they never existed,” Mari said.

Ning failed to understand what they were implying. “Can you guys be more clear?”

Matthew paused. “I don’t feel it right discussing this matter in front of this young girl,” he said. “If she were to leave…”

“She killed a human today. She can handle anything I’m sure,” Ning said.

Matthew looked at Shara and sighed.

“The royal family inbred,” he said. “The Emperors married their own sisters to keep the bloodline pure. Only in the case where there was no one for the Emperor to marry would they find someone from outside. They did all they could to keep their bloodline pure.”

“I… see,” Ning said, slowly understanding the situation. As it turned out, the royal family was incestuous, doing all of that in the name of keeping bloodlines pure. He sighed, saying nothing else on the matter.

Shara looked around, half confused, half embarrassed.

Ning frowned a bit. He suddenly realized something didn’t make sense. “Just earlier you mentioned that the royal bloodline was with the nobles, but now you say they are inbred. What’s the real situation?’

“Oh, the royal bloodline with nobles is the one from the king of Gohlhog kingdom. His family inbred too for a long time, until about a hundred years ago when for the first time, the princess of that kingdom eloped with a prince from the Marsh kingdom.”

“They birthed children afterward, and since no other kingdom had the same rule about keeping the bloodline within the family, those children went on to have their own children, who had their own. So, now the bloodline is out there. It’s not the direct bloodline, but it is a bloodline of the old emperor.”

Ning nodded for a moment and frowned. “Wait, doesn’t that mean the current Emperor doesn’t have a higher claim than anyone else to the Onyx throne?” he asked.

“That’s what we told you just before,” Mari said. “There are others with the royal bloodline that can be considered heir to the Onyx throne. That is why the Marsh and Olvia kingdoms refuse to accept the Golhlog king as their emperor.”

“I see,” Ning said. “No wonder he has yet to get them to submit to them. That part of the information was not available in the books I read.”

“Oh? It’s readily available in most history books as far as I know,” Matthew said.

“No, actually a lot of them have been changed, physically,” Mari said. “Most of them are redacted of critical information like the bloodline stuff and Spirit artifacts and Reapers. It removes stuff like those nobles that sired a lot of bastards. Basically, anything the royals and nobles believe the commoners should not be privy to.”

Ning paused all of a sudden, a thought coming to him out of nowhere. “Tell me, is there someone out there tracking bloodlines?” he asked.

“There should be some, but it’s hard to tell since it’s information from a hundred years ago,” Mari said.

“So how does one know if someone is able to have a claim to the Onyx throne?” Ning asked. “Especially considering bastards can be involved.”

“Bastards would have no claim, obviously,” Mari said.

“No,” Matthew said. “There is no true bloodline here. Everyone stands on the same ground. Bastards or not, they will have a claim to the Onyx throne, especially if the Marsh and Olvia kingdoms keep challenging anyone’s claim.”

Mari had to agree there was truth to those words. As much as she didn’t want to agree, she couldn’t deny their reasoning. Especially now that she was considering all the sides. “Still, a bastard can’t have a claim to the throne,” she said. “How would a bastard prove that he has the royal bloodline? He can’t.”

Matthew nodded. “That is true,” he said.

“What if he can?” Ning asked.

“If he can, then yes. But I don’t think he can. Their recorded bloodline can’t count,” Mari said.

“No, but what about a more concrete evidence?” Ning said. “Say, something so very rare that only the royal bloodline can have.”

Mari and Matthew were confused at first, but then their eyes went wide at once, both of them beyond surprised by the implications.

“You don’t mean to say…”

“I absolutely do,” Ning said. “I believe Reapers are the only ones who have a direct claim to the throne.”