In fact, Hao Ren was not an expert in conspiracies and infighting within the palace walls. Yes, he had read a lot of novels, movies, and TV series about this, but the things in those stories obviously could not be compared with reality. He also knew a lot of real nobles, but whether it was the Aerymian royal family or the Demon Empire, they all had a maverick style. Compared with the upper structure of the Kingdom of Taros, the highly unified ruling institutions were obviously more approachable.
Just based on some of the information he heard from Veronica and what he saw and heard at the banquet last night, Hao Ren could infer how many shadows there were in the upper echelons of this ancient kingdom.
The atmosphere in the room was very solemn for a moment. Even the slow-witted Prince Andrew felt that the atmosphere was not right. He carefully stopped blowing bubbles in the tea. Veronica's brows tightened, and her eyes seemed to be brewing a flame. "If it is true … this is simply appalling! Anya, have you told Father? "
"I haven't told him, and I don't have to tell him." Ania shook her head slightly. "Father is wise, and I am afraid he has noticed some clues. Recently, the guards near my and Andrew's residence have been doubled, and some of father's bodyguards have been added. Obviously, he is guarding against something. It's just that 'someone tried to assassinate a member of the royal family and almost succeeded' is too impactful, and we have not found any clues of the other party. It is not appropriate to make this matter public at this stage. "
Hao Ren casually said, "Then is it appropriate to tell me? I am almost a stranger to you. "
"It's not that I told you, but you have already deduced it yourself, haven't you?" Ania looked at Hao Ren with a smile. "And you are an ancient guardian from a thousand years ago. The power disputes of our era are meaningless to you. Compared to most people in this Palace of Roses, you are the one I really don't need to be wary of. At least until you are recruited by some powerful people who are plotting against the royal family."
Hao Ren slapped his forehead. "Oh, that's true. Let's get back to business. So far, everything is just my speculation. But looking at you, do you have any concrete evidence? "
"There's no evidence. It's all speculation, but I believe in my speculation." Ania smiled and pointed at herself. There was a hint of slyness on her face. "I'm not as powerful as my sister, but I'm proud of my brain. White City hasn't been peaceful recently. Perhaps it's because it's been peaceful for too long, and the war against Chaos has lasted for too long. Some cultists are getting restless, and some nobles are getting restless. I'm almost certain that some people are planning something that shouldn't happen. "
Hao Ren thought for a moment and said, "Then these people really have a long reach. To be able to spy into this courtyard with high walls, this is exciting to hear. But then again, can you determine the range of these people? "
"It's impossible to be sure. If we could be sure, we would have taken further action a long time ago."
Hao Ren rubbed his chin. "How many children does His Majesty have?"
"Only the three of us," Veronica said. "My father loves my mother very much. After my mother died, he didn't remarry."
"Let me think. Let's not talk about who it is first. In short, it's certain that their target is the king's children. So it's not limited to Ania and Andrew. Veronica, you should be one of the targets too. But we don't know when and how they will do it."
Veronica waved her hand carelessly. "No matter who it is, bring it on. Anyway, the battle in the Western Region didn't kill me, and the land of Chaos didn't stop me. I'm not afraid of monsters, so why should I be afraid of people?"
Ania's expression suddenly changed slightly. "Wait a minute, maybe … they have already made their move."
Before Veronica could react, Hao Ren's eyes had already turned cold. "You mean, Veronica's danger this time is also part of a plan?"
Ania narrowed his eyes. "If that's the case, it's much more 'reasonable': the three heirs of the kingdom are in danger at the same time, and none of them are left out."
"Wait a minute," Veronica waved her hand vigorously. "This can't be explained clearly. There are only two main reasons why the war in the Western Region is not going well. One is that the power of Chaos has suddenly become stronger, and the other is that the Theocracy has withdrawn its army in advance. These two reasons seem to be beyond human control."
Hao Ren shook his head. "The tide of Chaos is indeed beyond human control, but no matter how powerful the army of the Theocracy is, they are still mortals, right?"
As soon as he said this, Ania and Veronica suddenly looked at him strangely. Hao Ren was now an 'ancient guardian', an ancient warrior and a high-ranking priest in the Cassouin Grand Temple, which was equivalent to the upper echelons of the Theocracy a thousand years ago. It was exciting to hear such a person openly questioning the army of the Theocracy at this time.
It was as if they were killing themselves.
"Ahem." Seeing that Hao Ren did not respond at all, Veronica could only cough twice to cover up her embarrassment. "The army of the Theocracy is indeed mortals, but they are a group of mortals with the most firm faith. Their commanders are even more so. Although I don't want to say good things about them now, these people are the least likely to play tricks, because it is directly contrary to the teachings of the goddess of creation. The Theocracy is located in the Sanctum, and the entire continent is permanently shrouded in the power of the goddess. People born and raised there will be directly influenced by the divine power, so it has nothing to do with personal morality and nurture. They have been shaped from the depths of their souls into unshakable believers. Of course, the mortals are complicated. Even among the people of the Sanctum, there may be very rare scum, but the probability is very low. Once such people appear, they will soon be found out by the court and expelled from the world of order. They can't do anything at all. Guardian, you are a person of the Sanctum yourself. Don't tell me you don't know this? "
Hao Ren listened blankly, then quickly nodded. "Oh, oh, I know, of course I know …"
In the end, this topic did not come to any conclusion.
No matter who was behind the assassination of the heir of the royal family, one thing was certain: they were indeed skilled and ruthless. Even with Ania's wisdom and Rudolph III's power of secret agents, they could only confirm that there was someone behind the incident. Hao Ren even carefully asked Ania about the names of everyone he and his brother had come into contact with in the week before they fell ill. The princess had an excellent memory, and she could recall every single one of them. But for Hao Ren, he just heard a bunch of names that he did not know at all.
After Veronica's verification, those people were loyal and reliable. Even with the most malicious speculation, the two princesses could not find any suspicious points in these people's past and their motives for murdering the royal family.
"It seems that this is the only way." Finally, Hao Ren spread out his hands. "I'm a newcomer. I can fight, but I'm afraid I can't help you much in the face of this kind of conspiracy. But I still want to remind you: you have to be careful. Their plan this time has obviously failed, but there will definitely be a next time. "
"Of course we will," Ania smiled faintly. "Thank you for your concern, Guardian. Ah, yes, I suddenly remembered a detail. "
Hao Ren suddenly raised his eyebrows. "What is it?"
"When Andrew and I were seriously ill, we had another symptom, and that was frequent nightmares."
"Nightmares?" This was a detail that ordinary people would ignore, but Hao Ren suddenly became vigilant. "What kind of nightmares?"
"There's no pattern. There are all kinds of things." Ania shook her head. "I did suspect this clue, but I combed through all the dreams myself and couldn't find any suspicious points. There were no signs of premonitions, and there were no signs of spiritual guidance or hints. It was just a simple nightmare. It's normal for people who are seriously ill to have nightmares, so I didn't pay attention to this point in the end. "
Hao Ren took a breath. "No … this is important, maybe very important."
Next, he asked Ania to describe all the dreams at that time to him. The princess's powerful memory once again showed its power. Every dream of hers, even if they were disturbing nightmares, was clearly recalled, and every detail was described very vividly. Hao Ren experienced more than a dozen absurd and strange dreams as if he was there, each of them seemed to be filled with dark malice.
After all the dreams were described, he let out a long breath. As Ania said, these dreams could not be analyzed on the surface. But as a person who had encountered the Guardian's Nightmare, faced the spiritual world of the First Born, and been baptized by the ancient evil, he was very good at finding inconsistencies in these treacherous dreams.
However, this kind of incongruity could only be felt with experience, and he did not know how to explain it to the two princesses (the "prince" next to him, who only cared about eating snacks and playing with toys, had been ignored).
"I don't know how to tell you, but I'm afraid these dreams are the real deadly thing," Hao Ren said. "All dreams are distorted, produced by the interference of external will. Ania, there are things in your dream that you have never seen before, and you have completely lost control of your dream. You can't even get out of it. I have seen such a nightmare before. It is a characteristic of the invasion of powerful evil thoughts."
"Then what should I do?" Veronica was suddenly creeped out by Hao Ren's strange words. "This sounds more terrible than the mental curse of the warlock …"
"The dream has faded, so I can't track it, let alone deal with it. Now I can only think that the potion made by your alchemist master is effective: it probably contains the ingredients to enhance mental resistance and resist the invasion of evil thoughts. But if you encounter this kind of nightmare again, I believe I can help. "
Veronica and Ania looked at each other and bowed their heads to Hao Ren at the same time. "Thank you very much."
Hao Ren nodded in response, but his heart was not as relaxed as he looked.
Nightmares, nightmares again.
He thought of the outposts in the Shadowy Forest that were swallowed by the horrible nightmares.
Was there a connection between the two?
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
