Chapter 200 - The Man in the Royal Bed [1]

It had been a long time coming. Today, he would finally meet him.

His uncle, Sirius Midgar, or well his royal name, Sirius Einhorn Velard. Cale had memories of the man from several other lives, and Sirius was the only figure whose memories had carried over from each of them. Unlike others, whose only memory was his past life. It was indeed crazy to even think that you’ve regressed your life for more than once or twice, every time thinking it was the second one.

Without those memories of Sirius, Cale would have believed this was his one and only regression.

But it was very likely that Sirius was part of someone’s scheme too, and Cale needed to know whether this man was in it or not.

A few months ago, Cale would have assumed his uncle, like his father, kept his cultivation hidden but was no higher than Great Sage. Now he wasn’t sure at all.

He had seen at least three memories of Sirius standing at the ninth step of Great Sage Stage, so it wasn’t impossible that he had reached Boundless too.

’Who knows? What if those memories themselves are fake.’

That was possible as well. He would only know once he stepped into the room ahead.

Every Midgar mansion had a teleportation array to the royal palace for evacuation purposes, so it hadn’t been hard to ask for permission to use it.

Now Cale stood outside the grand chamber of the emperor, with tens of guards on his left and tens on his right. All of them were the strongest forces in Velard, and that was before counting those lurking in the shadows.

As Cale gazed at them with a smile, the shadows shifted slightly, as if startled that he had sensed them.

"Knock, knock."

Cale knocked.

No response. He sighed and pushed open the door right away.

"Uncle, I don’t have time for this. I’m already getting anxi—"

Cale had been nervous ever since he arrived. Regardless of their family ties, Sirius was a man who acted on instinct but was also deeply calculating.

Cale could only imagine how occupied the man must be.

After finally reaching the royal chambers, he took a quiet breath and stepped inside.

"Uncle...?"

Silence.

The spacious room looked empty at first glance. Cale’s gaze swept across the lavish furnishings, the ornate decorations, and the tall windows that let sunlight spill across the floor. For a moment, he wondered whether he had come at the wrong time.

Then his eyes drifted to the bed tucked into the corner.

And there he was.

A man lay sprawled across the bed with an almost shameless air of leisure, looking nothing like the dignified monarch Cale had imagined. Long golden-blond hair spilled around him in untamed waves, partly gathered into a loose high ponytail while the rest fanned across the bedding.

A vivid red coat hung loosely from his shoulders, its silver embellishments contrasting against the black shirt beneath. The dark fabric was embroidered with elaborate, thorn-like patterns, and black trousers, polished boots, and dangling silver chains completed the striking outfit.

Even while lounging, he carried an unmistakable aura of danger and authority.

’This is the king? No way, right?’

Cale blinked, momentarily caught off guard.

’Is this... no, who the hell is this man? No way.’

But who else could it be? And somehow, that made Cale even more nervous.

"Hmm, what if he somehow made another kid while I was gone?"

’That’s quite the possibility, if I do say so myself.’

The man he knew didn’t look like this at all. He was supposed to be middle-aged, with a beard and all that.

Cale slowly tiptoed forward and pulled the coat off the man’s shoulders.

’Be polite. Let’s try the calm way. He might be Fiora’s brother or something. No, she only has two little sisters. Then who’s this youngster?’

"Oi, who the hell are you?"

The man didn’t move at all.

Cale shook his body. "Hey, get up."

"Ahhhh," the man yawned.

He didn’t even look around and said. "Oh, you’re here. I was just lying around and got caught in a nap, heh."

Cale narrowed his eyes. "Who the hell are you?"

The man acted as though he couldn’t understand the question. Then he nodded, as if realizing something.

"Oh right, you didn’t know. Many of my kids do, so I didn’t think of it."

The muscles of his face shifted wildly, and his age rose rapidly, but only on his face.

He aged ten years in seconds!

What surprised Cale even more was that the man now looked exactly like Sirius.

Scared a little, Cale took a step back. ’Who the hell is this guy...’

The system displayed a ’?’ across all of the man’s stats, even his name. That was more than suspicious.

"Callisto, do you not recognize me with a younger face? Hehe, it’s quite good, you see," the man said, vanishing from the bed and reappearing in the chair behind the table.

"So you had such tricks too!" Cale realized.

It was indeed Sirius, who had turned his face into that of a younger version of himself. Now it made sense. Others might have seen his younger face, but Cale never had.

Of course, just because he was his uncle didn’t mean Cale had spent much time with him, so it wasn’t obvious.

Cale sighed. "Just call me Cale, Uncle."

"Huh? Why? I named you Callisto, remember? That’s how the name Cale even emerged. Sigh, you and your father, such stubborn creatures."

Cale relaxed slightly and sat down in a chair, lazily.

Sirius didn’t act formal either. He lay back in his chair, his back resting against one armrest and his legs draped over the other.

Seeing this, Cale couldn’t help but say, "Uh... is this alright for you to do? Formal behavior and—"

"Kahahaha, oh my, I didn’t take you for a diligent child."

"I’m not, anyway."

"I am not in some formal meeting, so why should I be tense? Just relax, kid."

’He sure is acting quite differently from every other time I’ve met him. Is something going on?’

"So... you’ve become an Emperor. You must be the youngest ever to exist, right?"

He said it with a sharp smile.

’So that’s it. He’s treating me differently because of that.’

It looked like this talk was going to take quite a long time.

***

"Oh, indeed I have," Cale nodded.

’This man, seriously.’

"Uncle, um, so what is your ’real’ face anyway?"

"Oh, the one from before, after going through body rejuvenation too many times, I just look like someone at 19 or 20."

Cale sighed. "Then just change back to that one, please."

And he did.

"Um, Callis— Cale, what even happened to your eyes?"

"Things, here and there..."

Sirius tilted his head, grinning. "This isn’t getting anywhere. I know you have questions. Ask away."

Cale leaned forward a little. He shouldn’t be asking very serious topics right away.

"Alright. My first question. Will you leave this kingdom if the situation gets bad?"

Sirius’s eyes widened slightly, as if he hadn’t expected that. He scratched his chin. "I might. It depends on what exactly it is."

"Is that so."

’He’ll weigh the danger to himself first, then.’

"What if it’s about the merging of all five continents on this land?" Cale asked. He was taking a risk. Who knew whether the man in front of him was even his uncle?

"I won’t run away just because of that."

Cale flinched. That didn’t line up with what had happened before.

’Is he lying?’

He pressed further. "If not that, then on what condition—"

"Kid, are you trying your luck out here?"

The air grew heavy, but Cale felt no suppression at all, and Sirius’s smile widened a little more.

"If it’s something serious enough to force me out, it must be old enemies, or some bigshots out there. From the looks of it, you seem to have explored quite a lot."

Cale nodded. "You could tell? I suppose it wasn’t that hard to guess. But you just said ’force you out,’ so... what realm are you on?"

"Oh, the Boundless one."

"Right, the bou— w-what?! You’re at Boundless Stage?"

Cale was genuinely shocked. Emperor, Sage, even Great Sage would have been expected. But Boundless? That was definitely a shock.

’Thank god I didn’t go for the kill right away...’

He continued, "...no, wait. That’s... obvious, huh. Given that it’s you..."

Sirius nodded happily.

"It’s just another realm. Nothing too shocking. There are tens of realms above that one."

"Yeah, yeah... sure."

But if Sirius was already Boundless, what could possibly force him to run? Cale replayed the man’s words, ’Old enemies.’

’Ah, is there more trouble than I expected?? Should I also pack up and leave, right, I should leave with him, he’s a better meatshield.’

Who could those old ones be? As far as Cale knew, Sirius had been king since his teens, and that was a hundred years ago.

"Who are these old enemies?"

Sirius clicked his tongue. "For that, I’ll have to tell you a scary tale. No one other than your father knows it."

’Why is he being so dramatic. No one other than the old man knows? What could be so serious?’

Hesitantly, Cale asked, "Is that why... he’s still alive, out of all your siblings?"

Sirius nodded nonchalantly. "Part of the reason. But yes, in a way."

"...I see."

Then, determined, Cale asked again. "Tell me what it is. I’m sure you don’t have some grand reason to hide it. Aren’t I going to be your son-in-law, come on now."

"Hahah, son-in-law? I wonder how many other fathers-in-law you have out there~ Don’t push your luck, kid. I see you know quite a lot of things here and there, but there’s a good enough reason our continent isn’t linked to the other four. You coming here is also for that, right? You want the lordship to belong to us. It’s not that difficult. If I went all out, the other four would probably back down. But then what..."

Cale couldn’t follow. Wasn’t it good not to have all four bordering continents as enemies?

"Why not? Isn’t it a good thing? We won’t have to worry about the borders at all. They’d even submit to us, making our resources abundant... oh shit, I see!"

He realized it before his words had even finished.

"We’d be making ourselves a target for the entire world. Haah."

"Exactly," Sirius nodded.

"We’d be showing our final trump card, and then the rest of the world would know there’s no Transcendent here. That would make us the perfect target for enslavement, sigh. Then you’d definitely run away, huh, heheh."

"Of course. Unlike you, I only have one life."

Hearing that, Cale’s ears perked up like a cat’s.