Chapter 247: The Duke’s Desperate Council

Rion returned to his room in the inn and sat beside the window as he looked at the moonlit world outside.

Cold wind brushed his face and hair, and he contemplated what he had found out from Tristan.

“A united front to attack Leonara, huh…” he didn’t know how long Leonara could survive if such a thing came to pass, or whether the supposedly thirty-year dispute would halt to defend against it or not.

His worried gaze shifted towards the asleep Dora, and he mumbled under his breath, “I can help my uncle after Dora is cured.”

Clenching his fist, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

After a few hours, Rion called Yuura and Zaelyane into the room and explained everything to them.

Zaelyane stood frozen at her spot and whispered, “The duke can’t forget about the war…”

Hearing the certainty in her voice, Rion furrowed his brows and asked, “How are you so sure?”

Until now, he had only met one outsider who knew about the war fifty-seven years ago, and that was Alger Barley, who also resided near the base of the Red and Black Mountains, so her claim that Clifford knew the war wasn’t something he could just believe without any reason.

Zaelyane turned towards Rion and explained, “Your parents’ marriage was a hidden one, but a few of the nobles had seen it happen… the duke was one of them, yet he is claiming that she had disappeared fifty-seven years ago.”

Rion frowned. “Isn’t that how a person without knowledge acts?”

Zaelyane nodded and pointed out, “Yes. Alger learned everything from a record; thus, he knew when it ended, but if the duke did not know of it, how did he know it had happened fifty-seven years ago?”

His frown deepened, clearly unable to understand her stance.

“The war had started two years before its end; he shouldn’t have remembered it by when it ended; instead, when it had started,” she added.

“That…” Rion’s lips parted as he finally understood what she was trying to point out. “Makes sense…”

’We call it the war fifty-seven years ago because we know that’s when it ended, but the duke who supposedly doesn’t have those memories should’ve used an older year,’ he noted in his head.

He knit his brows together and asked himself, “If he knows about them, then why is he weakening Leonara even further?”

Zaelyane shrugged and sat on the bed beside the one on which Dora was sleeping.

’There’s something he knows which we don’t,’ Rion remarked in his head and stood up on his feet.

He looked at Yuura, who was leaning beside the door, ready to deal with any kind of threat.

“Yuura, stay here,” Rion commanded, and his gaze shifted to Zaelyane. “Let’s go.”

Yuura nodded without grumbling, and the two of them left the inn.

A few minutes passed as they walked towards the duke’s estate.

During this time, Rion assimilated the three rewards he had gained from his travel to the southern city.

[You have assimilated with the Knowledge book: #1, #2]

[You have assimilated with active skill: Zone Relocation.]

———

Name: Rion Del Haden.

Age: 17 years, 8 months.

Race: Psuedo-Demonic-Human.

Moniker: The Crownless King of Unsullied Throne.

– Titles:

ㅤㅤ(Drifter of Virtual Abyss).

ㅤㅤ(One Who Gazed Into The Abyss).

ㅤㅤ(Paradoxborn).

ㅤㅤ(The Witnessed).

ㅤㅤ(Born of the Crimson Legion).

ㅤㅤ(Beholder of the First Spark).

ㅤㅤ(Beholder of the Abysmal Flame).

ㅤㅤ(Devil Slayer).

ㅤㅤ(Fastest Sword Master).

Bloodline: God king: Monarch of The Crimson Throne.

Skills: (Predator’s Eyes), (Heaven’s Vector), (Immortal Body), (Beast Fangs), (Illusion Zone), (Nightvision), (Ruler’s Hand), (Intent Veil), (Honoured One), (Free Fall), (Zone Relocation), (Godflare) – locked.

Singularity: (Absolute Seal) – locked.

Locations signed in: 33.

———

’Zone Relocation, huh… Is it like father’s movement technique?’ Rion wondered.

He raised a hand towards Zaelyane and said, “Hold my hand.”

She looked at his hand with a flat expression before she placed her hand in his, and he mumbled in his head while focusing his Zone within the duke’s hidden chamber, ’Zone Relocation.’

Golden aura flames coiled around both of them, and they disappeared from their spot.

At the far southeastern corner of the southern city, Rion and Zaelyane reappeared inside a hidden chamber of a grand villa.

Shadows hid both of their figures, and Rion activated his Nightvision.

A few steps away from them, five figures shrouded in darkness sat around an ornate bronze table.

Two sat on each side of the table, and the fifth one sat at the end.

’Duke Emerson,’ Rion remarked inwardly upon seeing the blue-haired man sitting at the head of the table.

’These must be his retainers.’

“My lord, we have no other choice but to ask Leonara Kingdom for help,” the second retainer on the left said desperately.

“But who are you going to go to? Leonara is split into two; even if we ask for support from the king, the duke would consider it as disrespect to his claim for the throne,” the first retainer on the right commented sombrely.

“What claim does that bastard even have?! He just used the confusion back then to sow seeds of distrust within the people and the crown!!” The first retainer on the left shouted as he slammed his hand on the table.

His shout echoed throughout the dark walls, and the second retainer on the right stated calmly, “My lords, it does not matter how he did it; what matters is that the duke holds power no weaker than what the king does, and we have no choice but to send a letter to both the king and the duke.”

“Right…”

“Mhm.”

The retainers on the left nodded in agreement.

“But if we do that, the king would think that we agree to the duke’s claim to the throne and are only informing him out of courtesy…” the first retainer on the right added while rubbing his gray beard.

The south duke tapped the table. All of the retainers fell silent and looked at him.

Emerson’s lips parted, and he mumbled, “What do you think, unknown bird?”

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