Different Impressions

Witnessing Xie Shenhong’s unwavering stance, Nangong Yan refrained from pressing him further, instead engaging him in conversation about school affairs.

Easygoing, gentle, and respectful, Nangong Yan displayed not a trace of kingly arrogance, instead exuding the warmth of an older brother from next door.

Yet, this very demeanor was one of the reasons Xie Shenhong was so determined to protect the kingdom.

As a transmigrator who had received a modern education, he inherently harbored no notions of loyalty to a feudal monarch, unless that ruler happened to be someone he knew well or was related to.

Moreover, Nangong Yan never demanded his unwavering loyalty or patriotism. Furthermore, the kingdom’s policies of recent years, emphasizing human rights and curbing the power of the nobility, were all humbly accepted and diligently implemented by Nangong Yan.

Perhaps this was precisely the kind of sage king, the enlightened ruler, the ancients spoke of.

At this thought, Xie Shenhong’s despondent mood from earlier in the day had completely vanished.

Or rather, it had no choice but to vanish.

For he had come to understand that he could neither escape the kingdom nor defect to the Empire.

The two people he held in immense regard, Nangong Yan and Duanmu Yun, would remain here, choosing to stand or fall with the kingdom.

He had to strive harder.

“I’ll be heading back now. Once you’re done with your work, remember to get some rest early.”

As it neared nine o’clock, Nangong Yan bid farewell to Xie Shenhong and Shen’ai, who was inside the house, before transforming into a spark of light and returning to the royal palace.

“Shen’ai, I’m going out for a bit. I’ll be back later.”

Xie Shenhong, too, swiftly left the house, transforming into Xie Hai Zhu in an unpopulated area.

“Today is three minutes earlier than usual… I need to make haste.”

As Xie Hai Zhu spoke, she swiftly transformed into a droplet of water and teleported near the Huangfu residence, as recorded in the intelligence brief.

Indeed, Xie Hai Zhu intended to take advantage of the kidnapping incident today, amidst the chaos at the Huangfu residence, to infiltrate the house and eavesdrop for information.

If there was no chaos… that would be even better, indicating they were merely orchestrating the whole thing themselves.

Xie Hai Zhu approached the Huangfu residence’s perimeter wall, unsurprisingly sensing the presence of a barrier.

Yet, in less than ten seconds, she had fully analyzed and deciphered this barrier, entering it without any obstruction or causing the slightest disturbance.

Xie Hai Zhu was, in fact, somewhat surprised; the magical knowledge stored within this puppet far surpassed that of the Four Directions Academy, and could even be said to completely transcend modern magic.

‘Ancient civilizations, to be so powerful in both technological and magical aspects…’

After this brief moment of awe, Xie Hai Zhu immediately refocused on her original objective.

Honestly, the Huangfu residence’s security forces were far weaker than those at the Deep Sea Crimson Headquarters; most of their bodyguards were only at the Bronze-tier level.

One might argue that comparing a nation’s top knight order to a noble’s bodyguards is unfair, but if the Huangfu family were colluding with the Empire, or planning to cooperate from within and without three months from now.

Even if not all Gold-tier, they should at least be comprised entirely of Silver-tier personnel. It seemed utterly impossible for them to be as they were now, no different from an ordinary noble household…

‘I cannot jump to conclusions so quickly.’

Xie Hai Zhu thought coldly, then dispersed her divine sense to gather the discussions of those inside.

Ten minutes later, she retracted her divine sense and teleported to Huangfu Jing’s room.

Another ten minutes passed, then she teleported to the main house’s rooftop, silently observing the Huangfu family’s courtyard below.

From the results, the Huangfu family showed no anomalies whatsoever.

At least from the content of their conversations, the kidnapping was real, and all of them felt a lingering fear.

Their gratitude towards her, when she was still Xie Shenhong, was also genuine.

The only problematic aspect was that Lyte was not at home.

‘So, you exploited the sympathy and care of an innocent family?’

Though Xie Hai Zhu admired Lyte greatly, some matters were simply beyond what her current self could tolerate.

‘No, I mustn’t make a rash judgment.’

Having said this, Xie Hai Zhu teleported to the Huangfu family’s master’s chambers.

Huangfu Shan was inside, engrossed in a book. Xie Hai Zhu paid him no mind, instead surveying the room and using her divine sense to search for any secret compartments or hidden passages.

Finally, on the middle shelf of a bookshelf, she found an anomaly. With a mere thought, she retrieved it telekinetically.

‘What is this…’

It was a stack of love letters.

Written by Huangfu Shan to Nangong Jing.

Twenty years ago, the then-weak Vermillion Bird Kingdom had sent a princess to the Rhine Empire for a political marriage.

That princess’s name was Nangong Jing.

The prince the princess married later became the Emperor of the Empire, and together they bore a child named Reinhardt.

Later still, the princess was framed by someone and sent to the guillotine by the Emperor.

‘Adopting the son of his deceased lover, and then naming his own daughter ‘Huangfu Jing’…’

Xie Hai Zhu cast a cold glance at Huangfu Shan.

To prevent this secret from being exposed, Huangfu Shan had placed nine layers of restrictions upon the box containing these letters, even applying a self-destructing spell that would activate if anyone attempted to forcibly open it.

The cost incurred in this endeavor, it would not be an exaggeration to say, was ten times that of the external barrier.

‘Wouldn’t it have been simpler to just destroy them?’

While that was indeed a good method, Huangfu Shan probably couldn’t bear to part with them.

Silently placing the items back, Xie Hai Zhu teleported away.

This particular operation did not yield significant results.

Aside from the romance between Huangfu Shan and Nangong Jing, everything else she had already known.

The reason the kingdom trusted Lyte was precisely because the blood of the Vermillion Bird royal family flowed in his veins.

However, from the outcome, Lyte was clearly a person with little sense of belonging to his bloodline.

As for Lyte’s reasons for hating the Imperial Emperor… no matter how numerous, they would not prevent his future betrayal of the kingdom.

Just then, her phone vibrated faintly.

It was Duanmu Yun; it hung up after three rings.

This was a signal urging her to quickly arrive in her Hai Zhu puppet form.

Xie Hai Zhu immediately teleported to the Deep Sea Crimson Knight Order Headquarters, only to find an unexpected third person in the office.

“My knight, you’re here too.”

Upon seeing the blue-haired, crimson-eyed maiden suddenly appear, Lyte and Li Ziying hastily bowed in greeting: “Greetings, Lady Hai Zhu!”

“I invited Knight Lyte,” Duanmu Yun said, “since he is also an involved party.”

Duanmu Yun’s trust in Lyte, while not yet to the extent of revealing the matter of the Hai Zhu puppet to him, had nonetheless reached an alarmingly high level.

At the same time, she seemed to have misunderstood something, believing Xie Hai Zhu was very fond of Lyte… well, perhaps that wasn’t a misunderstanding after all.

“Then let us go.”

Before long, the four of them arrived at the headquarters’ central control room to review the results of the Grand Array’s scan.

After reviewing the results, Duanmu Yun issued instructions to Li Ziying.

“Immediately investigate all suspicious Imperial citizens.”

Despite this directive, the data displayed on the large screen indicated that within the Royal City, apart from Lyte, there were no Imperial citizens above the Gold-tier; the remaining Silver-tier and Bronze-tier individuals were utterly negligible and showed little suspicious activity.

In other words, the Imperial spies had already come out in full force during the daytime kidnapping incident… As if!

Xie Hai Zhu cast her gaze towards the golden-haired youth beside her.

Lyte did not visibly relax, nor did he display any solemn expression.

Yet, no matter how well he acted, Xie Hai Zhu knew with absolute certainty that the Empire had long since discovered a loophole in the Vermillion Bird Grand Array, and people were still lurking within the city.

After all, the Vermillion Bird Grand Array had been laid out ten years ago, using knowledge from ancient ruins.

Even if an ancient civilization was highly advanced, a system without updates for ten years would gradually be caught up to, thoroughly studied, and then deciphered.

Of course, she did not know how the Empire would completely break the Vermillion Bird Grand Array three months from now.

However, the knowledge stored within the puppet contained methods for updating the Grand Array… though the prerequisite was to make contact with the “loophole.”

Indeed, Xie Hai Zhu needed Lyte to believe that all was well, prompting him to contact his accomplices.

‘Don’t disappoint me.’

What Xie Hai Zhu did not know, however, was that this intense gaze she fixed upon Lyte had been noticed by Duanmu Yun.