Chapter 122: Holy Light

Chapter 122: Chapter 122: Holy Light

It was late December. Although the royal palace was densely arrayed with heat-retaining matrices, the chill still managed to seep through every crevice.

After chatting with Lomita for a while longer, someone sent by the Duke of the South—meaning her father—came to call her back to the banquet hall.

It seemed they needed to discuss something over there.

Lomita was unwilling, but she had no room to refuse.

She sulked: "Then I’ll leave first."

Jeremy nodded: "Yeah."

Right at that moment, fireworks bloomed overhead, and the bells ringing in the new year echoed throughout the royal palace.

Lomita stopped halfway. She turned around to look at the youth still sitting on the rattan chair in the middle of the flower garden: "...Happy New Year."

Jeremy followed her voice and replied, his smile not diminishing in the slightest: "Happy New Year."

The conversation ended there. Only when Lomita’s back completely disappeared from sight did Jeremy retract his gaze.

The banquet hall was too noisy, and people were starting to spill out into the garden.

Fortunately, the place he was sitting was quite secluded. In front was a balcony that offered a top-down view, and behind him was an artificial rockery and a bamboo grove, fundamentally enough to isolate him from the majority of humanity.

The banquet wouldn’t completely end until one in the morning. It was just past New Year’s Eve now, he still had to wait another hour...

Jeremy was just about to pull out a book to kill time when footsteps and conversation sounded not far away.

"It’s really strange this year. His Highness Amber being absent for training far away is one thing, but why did Sesar and his group also fall so severely ill they can’t get up?"

"...You don’t know? Sesar died on the second day of the vacation."

"Huh?"

"I heard they were attacked by magical beasts on their way home. The wealthy young masters and misses traveling with him were also crippled by injuries, their soul seas shattered, they’re practically disabled from now on."

"Also, I’ve heard that in recent months, quite a few people have suddenly contracted a strange illness. No one has been able to cure that disease so far. It tortures people to the point where living is worse than death, and finally, unable to bear it, they end their own lives. Quite a fair number have died already."

"Damn it, what the hell is going on! Then is the Clivein family’s young master absent this time because he also caught a strange illness?"

"That one isn’t. Raphael was already inherently weak, he’s probably just being tortured by the curse he’s carried since childhood."

"..."

Jeremy didn’t expect to catch a whole load of gossip even when hiding all the way here seeking a bit of peace.

His expression unchanged, he flipped through the list of names absent today in his head.

Among them, a significant portion had indeed had a hand in bullying Sylas, with the ringleader being Amber.

As for Amber being severely injured, Jeremy clearly knew it was his parents acting secretly. As for the remaining deaths and injuries... he feared they were Raphael’s handiwork.

Besides him, Jeremy couldn’t think of anyone else who placed such heavy importance on Sylas.

Even bearing the status of a Duke’s young master, assassinating a series of noble descendants still entailed a massive risk.

To have reached this step meant the chessboard had been set a very long time ago.

Jeremy had some respect for that guy’s capacity for action.

A few days ago, he had originally intended to drop by and check on his condition, but then a series of unexpected events struck, causing him to almost forget it completely.

When the banquet ended today, he should make a trip.

The gossip in the bamboo grove continued. Judging by the voices, there were about six or seven people.

Separated by an artificial rockery and a thick bamboo grove, the two sides couldn’t see each other, but the sound slipped right through.

Someone in the group changed the subject: "Let’s stop talking about those things. I heard the representatives sent by the Divine Temple and the Magic Tower this year are both attending in their capacity as heirs?"

"Yeah, but both are dressed so mysteriously, who knows what they’re hiding."

"You don’t even know this? The heir of the Divine Temple cannot reveal their true face to the outside before marriage, otherwise, it will be considered betraying their mate. As for the Magic Tower’s heir, they must also cover their face before ascending to the position—a rule passed down from previous generations, probably to avoid being targeted for assassination by malicious factions."

"The Magic Tower sounds reasonable. But what the hell is with the Divine Temple, just showing a face constitutes betrayal? What a bizarre requirement... But anyway, it has nothing to do with us. Oh right, who was that person standing behind Princess Asaro today? Wearing a mask but you could still faintly see the rotting skin, absolutely disgusting."

"Shh! Do you have a death wish? That’s the Second Princess."

"What?!" Someone couldn’t believe it. "The Second Princess? I thought the empire only had Princess Asaro?"

"Tsk, she’s precisely the daughter born to the dancer sent over by a small kingdom. I heard she’s been so weak since childhood she couldn’t leave her sickbed. Didn’t you see she couldn’t even stand steadily, having to rely on a maid to support her?"

"I heard my mother say she and His Highness Amber were apparently born on the same day. But it’s truly pitiful, she doesn’t even have a name. Rumor has it not just her face, but her whole body rots from toxins whenever the period comes. Her intellect is worsening by the day, and her vocal cords are also ruined, so she can’t even speak."

"How did it get to that state?"

"You really don’t know anything. I heard that back then, the cat of that dancer—meaning the Second Princess’s birth mother—injured the previous Empress. Later, she was discovered secretly learning forbidden dark arts, so she was thrown into the cold palace even while pregnant, and forced to drink poison as punishment. That princess was poisoned while still in her mother’s womb, and didn’t receive timely treatment, resulting in her current tragic state. The Emperor couldn’t be bothered to care. If it weren’t for the maid her mother brought into the palace still looking after her, she would have probably died ages ago."

"Alright, alright, stop talking! Discussing these matters while standing in the royal palace, do you all have a death wish? If we get overheard, I want to see how you guys get yourselves out of it!"

"Are you paranoid about being persecuted? In this secluded corner, who would grope their way here..."

The voices faded away and then completely died out.

Jeremy listened to the whole thing from beginning to end, but had little interest in the gossip.

He hadn’t seen the representatives from the Magic Tower or the Divine Temple yet.

But from what people were discussing, it seemed they came here this time because the seals at the Wasteland rifts were fluctuating abnormally.

Coupled with the fact that several regions on the continent were continuously experiencing anomalies, and heretical cults were surfacing wave after wave to muddy the waters.

But that matter currently had nothing to do with him.

Fireworks exploded incessantly. The garden, originally submerged in darkness, was also dyed in patches by the seven-colored light.

Jeremy leaned back on the vine-woven chair, rarely intending to fully enjoy the fireworks display, when he accidentally caught sight of the third-floor balcony door—where Lomita stood earlier—opening again.

He reflexively looked up closely.

In an instant, a youth draped in Divine Temple attire entered his line of sight.

The simply tailored gold-trimmed white robe still couldn’t hide a figure with perfect proportions. Silver hair cascaded like moonlight spilling over his shoulders. A pair of tasseled earrings was the only jewelry on him.

The white jade mask completely covered his face, but the transcendent aura exuding from him made it hard for people to tear their eyes away.

The moment he saw that silver hair, Jeremy unconsciously thought of another guy who also possessed that hair color, to the point of forgetting to shift his vision away.

The youth on the balcony seemed to sense it, indifferently lowering his eyelashes, his gaze dropping.

The earrings swayed. The cold white skin accentuated the tassels swaying gently in the wind.

Beneath the mask, a pair of blood-red pupils met Jeremy’s gaze directly without a single warning sign.

In those cold, clear eyes, there was only the indifference of stagnant water. Their gazes intersected for less than a second, then slid past.

It was as if while sweeping his eyes over the scenery, he happened to catch a worthless dry leaf falling with the wind.

"..."