Chapter 49: His Invisible Crown

The next day, the infirmary at St. Celeste was silent, except for the rhythmic dripping of a leaky faucet.

Raziel was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands.

The cost of using [Venomous Truth] and [Regressor’s Gambit] back-to-back was no joke.

His mind felt fragmented, like he’d been awake for three days straight.

“I’m playing with fire,” he muttered to himself. “And I don’t know if Aerion is the water or the fuel.”

He closed his eyes, replaying the meeting in Marius’s office over and over.

Aerion’s face when he made the oath.

Odessa’s tension.

He had bet everything on a single card: the Crown Prince’s ambition and fear.

The System flickered in his vision, responding to his anxiety.

[ACTIVE LINK: Prince Aerion]

[STATUS: UNSTABLE — TRUST: 42%]

[WARNING: Target is under extreme political pressure. Probability of alliance breaking: HIGH if the revealed information reaches third parties.]

Raziel let out a shaky breath.

He knew that revealing the truth to Aerion was a suicidal risk.

But he also knew that without the prince on his side, he didn’t stand a chance against what was coming.

In the previous timelines, Aerion had died like a noble dog, betrayed by his own family and the Church for being too ’righteous’.

This time, Raziel needed him to be ruthless.

“Don’t disappoint me now, Your Highness.”

He was thinking about getting up and going back to his dorm when he heard hurried footsteps in the hallway.

The infirmary door flew open.

Lucian burst in, his copper hair a mess and his eyes wide, filled with panic.

“Raz!” he gasped, shutting the door behind him and leaning his back against the wood. “We have a problem.”

Raziel looked up, feeling his stomach sink.

His instincts were screaming danger.

“What kind of problem? Marius?”

Lucian walked over to the bed, lowering his voice even though they were alone.

“Worse. A royal messenger arrived at the academy an hour ago. He was asking for Prince Aerion.”

“And? Aerion left here hours ago.”

“That’s the point,” Lucian swallowed, pale. “The messenger said Aerion hasn’t returned to the Royal Palace. And that’s not the worst part… the worst part is that the King has deployed the Crimson Inquisitors.”

The world stopped for Raziel.

He felt all the air leave his lungs at once.

Crimson Inquisitors.

The elite of the elite.

The attack dogs who answered only to the Crown, not the Church.

The ones who only showed up when someone was about to be executed for treason.

“Shit,” Raziel whispered.

“What?” Lucian leaned in, desperate. “What does it mean?”

Raziel ran a hand through his hair, feeling cold sweat on his forehead.

“It means King Aurelian knows something is up. The Crimson Inquisitors never leave the palace unless the crown is threatened.”

If Aerion had tried to make a move based on the information Raziel gave him… and the King had seen it as treason…

“Lucian,” Raziel said, looking straight at him. “Did the messenger say anything else? Anything about why the King is furious?”

“No,” Lucian shook his head. “But rumors are flying around the cloister,They’re assuming the King thinks Aerion is plotting to usurp the throne early.”

’Plotting.’

Raziel closed his eyes, clenching his fists on the sheets.

He needed to know what was happening.

He couldn’t operate blind.

He needed to see the consequences of his actions.

“Lucian,” he said. “Give me a minute, I need to focus.”

Lucian backed away, scared by the intensity in his friend’s gaze.

“Okay… okay.”

Raziel took a deep breath, ignoring his mental exhaustion and he forced his mind to open, to search the flow of time.

He activated [Echoes of the Future]

.

The System responded with a sharp hum in his skull.

[SKILL ACTIVE: ECHOES OF THE FUTURE]

[TARGET: Prince Aerion]

[SCANNING UPDATED TIMELINE…]

The world went blurry.

The infirmary disappeared, replaced by fragments of light and shadow, visual static from a future that was changing too fast.

And then… a clear image.

A dark room.

Aerion was standing there, in his armor, talking to an old man with a white beard and deep scars.

Ser Barristan, the Lord Commander of the Royal Guard.

“He says he remembers the future, Ser Barristan,” Aerion’s voice sounded hoarse, desperate in the vision.

“And he’s not talking about vague prophecies. He’s talking about bloody facts.”

The old man, Barristan, frowned, his hand on the pommel of his sword.

“The future, Your Highness? A fifteen-year-old novice? That sounds like witchcraft.”

“He’s not a ’nobody’,” Aerion turned, his cape swirling.

“He talks about Phaedra being destroyed, about the Church as the executioner… and he claims I’ll die if I try to become King the legal way. I need you to get your trusted men ready because if my father falls…”

The fragment cut off abruptly.

[FRAGMENTED ECHO — ACCURACY: 12%]

[INTERPRETATION: Aerion tried to recruit the Royal Guard behind the King’s back.]

[CONSEQUENCE: The King has interpreted it as a coup attempt.]

Raziel snapped back to reality with a gasp, like breaking the surface of water.

He grabbed his head, feeling a sharp pain behind his eyes.

“Raz!” Lucian grabbed his shoulders. “What did you see? Your nose is bleeding.”

Raziel touched his upper lip and, sure enough, there was blood.

“Aerion… he made a mistake,” Raziel muttered. “He tried to find allies too fast. He talked to the Lord Commander.”

“The Royal Commander?” Lucian’s eyes went wide. “But Barristan is loyal to the King to the death.”

“Exactly… Aerion thought he could trust him because of his honor, but Barristan must have reported to the King immediately.”

Raziel stood up, ignoring the dizziness.

“If the King thinks Aerion is a traitor, he’ll disinherit him or execute him and if Aerion falls… we fall with him.”

Lucian sank into the chair next to the bed, running his hands through his copper hair.

“Shit, shit! What do we do?”

Before Raziel could answer, the System fired off a red alert that covered his entire field of vision.

[CRITICAL WARNING]

[UNFORESEEN EVENT DETECTED]

[ANALYZING TIMELINE…]

Raziel froze. ’Unforeseen.’ That was never good.

[INFORMATION ACQUIRED: King Aurelian is suffering from an undiagnosed terminal illness.]

[NATURE: Internal corruption of unknown origin.]

[ESTIMATED TIME OF DEATH: 8-14 months.]

Raziel was completely still.

’Eight to fourteen months? The King was going to die?’

That’s why he was so paranoid.

That’s why he sent the Crimson Inquisitors at the slightest provocation.

The King knew his time was running out and he was scared.

“Raz,” Lucian’s voice sounded distant. “What’s wrong? You turned pale.”

Raziel turned slowly to his friend.

If the King died now, the whole board would change.

Aerion would take the throne too soon, unprepared, and accused of treason.

Ayres and the people controlling him would be ready to strike.

“We’re fucked,” Raziel whispered.

Lucian stood up. “What did you see?”

Raziel looked at him, and for the first time, he let the full weight of the situation show on his face.

“The King is dying, Lucian. Much sooner than he should and when he dies, the civil war is going to start.”

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