As Rean and Roan began to deal with Tissan, Uncle Sam noticed that Tissan still hadn't come out of his room. He once again spread his Spiritual Sense. As one could imagine, Tissan was nowhere to be seen.
"This..."
Uncle Sam rushed inside Tissan's room, only to find it completely empty.
"Did he leave without me noticing?"
Obviously, Uncle Sam didn't think it could have been kidnapping or anything like that. After all, who would come down here without anyone noticing? It wasn't before confirming with the guards outside and checking the entire building that he confirmed. Tissan disappeared!
Immediately, he contacted the Imperial Family and his clan. However, the answer he got left him dumbfounded. Neither side seemed to care about him at all. Both sides said that they were busy and can't spare the resources to go look for Tissan.
"Those damned things! So they knew it would happen!"
Meanwhile, inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm, Tissan had finally woken up after Rean healed the bump behind his head. They had to put him to sleep first since Tissan could reject the Dimensional Realm's pulling power if he was awake.
He looked around and only saw several bars. On the other side of the bars, everything was blurry, making it impossible to tell where he was. Finally, he noticed the twins, who were also inside the same cage as him. Well, Rean and Roan had changed their appearances first, though.
"Ah! What's happening? Who are you?"
Roan shook his head before saying.
"Who we are is not important. What matters here is what you can tell us or not. I might as well tell you this, your beloved family doesn't want to have you around anymore."
Surprisingly, there wasn't a shocked expression on Tissan's face after hearing that, just a bitter smile.
"Sigh... I thought that I would stay out of their view with the Imperial Family's succession struggle for some time. Seems like they really couldn't stand my presence anymore. Go ahead, laugh. Yes, I have this weird hobby of cross-dressing. Men's clothes are just too boring. If I have to die because of this, then so be it. It's not like I can do anything with my problem anyway."
Roan couldn't care less about his clothes, though.
"If we wanted to kill you, do you think we would spend our time constructing this jail? We have a lot more questions for you."
Only then did Tissan notice. Indeed. If the issue was only getting rid of him, why go through the problem of locking him first? He's obviously not inside his residence anymore. Since the enemy had the power to knock him out and bring him away, wouldn't it be better to kill him and only transport the body?
"So... If I answer the questions, will you let me live?"
Roan snorted in response.
"Nope. It only means that you will have a quick death instead of a painful one. As for your cross-dressing issue, I couldn't give a fuck about that."
Rean glanced at Roan for a moment but didn't say anything. However, he already made his mind that he wouldn't kill Tissan. At first, he thought that Tissan would be some hedonistic young master who only knew how to use his status to live. After all, being 21 years old and still in the Energy Gathering Realm was simply a great joke with the Imperial Family's resources. That kind of trash he wouldn't spend even a glance at. However, Tissan was obviously not that type, just an unlucky fella. Well, they will need to keep him locked in this place for some time, though.
"What we want to know is very simple. What's the situation of the Imperial Family at the moment? How far is the Emperor from reaching a decision?"
Tissan was taken aback for a moment.
"Could it be that you are from the Chrole Empire?"
Roan shook his head.
"I already told you. Who we are is not important. Just answer the question. Or could it be that you intend to hold your loyalty for the Imperial Family even though they cast you away? Well, you can do that as well. However, your life will be quite painful if you choose this path."
Tissan didn't seem scared, though.
"First, I want to know what you did with Uncle Sam."
Rean assured Tissan.
"Don't worry. We didn't touch a single hair on anyone inside your residence. We only wanted you, no one else. I don't even know if your Uncle found about your disappearance already or not."
Tissan sighed in relief.
"Alright. I'll tell you what I know. It's not like what I know will make any difference anyway. However, it has been a few months since I was expelled. Besides, you can already imagine my status inside, so I wasn't privy to many things."
"As far as I know, the First and Fifth Princes' struggle continues. They are still trying to pull the Subordinate Clans to their side. However, it's not like the other princes and princesses gave up already. Nonetheless, those two are the strongest candidates."
Roan nodded, satisfied. That perfectly matched the information that they got from Valeu back in the Profound Abyss. It looked like Tissan was willing to cooperate.
"Good. Now, the part that really matters. How long do you think it will take for the situation to reach a critical point?"
Tissan shook his head.
"How would I know? If I were to guess, that would happen once at least half of the Subordinate Clans chose one side. However, I have no idea how long that would take. After all, all those clans have some marriage relations with the Imperial Family. The fruits of those marriages are not exactly on the same side, even within the clans."
Rean pondered for a bit before asking.
"I heard that the Emperor is reaching the limit of his lifespan. Is that true?"
Tissan narrowed his eyes.
"The Emperor is an existence far above what someone like me can approach. I've only seen him when I was a kid during a banquet, and that was from afar. However, there was indeed a rumor in the palace that the Emperor wasn't well."
Rean nodded.
"Have you heard about anything else?"
Tissan thought for a bit before saying.
"Well, this was only a rumor as well. But I heard that someone had tried to rebel."
