Whatever Varian knew about Duke came from others.
Catherine respected him and wished to fulfill his dream of Centaurus' revival.
The Imperial guards had a mix of opinions but most of them were less than supportive of his passive stance towards the drug mafia.
The Duke could've gone ahead and ended the Havocs himself. But he feared the unknown dangers that it could entail. What if the Havocs had a method to kill him?
Duke Cassius failed miserably in curbing the drug menace and watched it devour the people of his duchy bit by bit. Despite being the only person with the highest chance of ending the suffering, he chose not to act.
Why did Centaurus have to suffer for decades until an unknown man save it? If they needed some nameless savior, what good was the Duke even for?
Ubiq was just one of many planet-cities that had a stark rich-poor divide. There had always been poor and rich but the drug pandemic pushed many families onto the streets and mass-manufactured poverty. The so-called middle-class ceased to exist.
The rich enjoyed their lives and maintained good relationships with the Duke. For them, whoever allowed their wealth to grow was the good guy.
While common people spoke nicely about him in public, behind the curtains, inside the privacy of their own homes, their words couldn't be different.
'The Duke is an old man clinging to his throne.'
'He doesn't want to die. But he has no problem letting this Duchy go to the dogs.'
'What has he ever done for our people? He's been ruling for hundreds of years and this place has only grown shittier.'
'Everyone who can leave already did. We're here not because we want to but because we have no other choice.'
There was no love, no admiration, no reverence. It was only an utter and honest disappointment towards a ruler who couldn't even take care of his subjects.
When he toured the capital city, Varian blended with many people and heard the same things over and over.
Akira and Catherine said that he dreamed to revive Centaurus to its past glory. But the people saw none of that in him.
'What are my people thinking about me? Do they hate me? Feel that I'm too incompetent? Or maybe they don't care at all?' Varian's mind wandered as he followed the maids to the largest living palace in the Imperial Quarters.
The carefully tended gardens and fountains passed by in a flash. The rank 3 auras scanned him as he stepped into the perimeter.
As he passed through twelve gates made of different materials, some plants, some flowers, and some metals, he was inspected every single time.
'What an insanely paranoid guy!' Varian's lips twitched.
At the main gate to the Palace, two rank 3s themselves descended from the balcony above and inspected his aura carefully.
Then, they also checked everything in his storage ring—including the medicine. This time, it wasn't just the guards but some old men and women in white, blue, and black dresses were also called.
'Doctors?'
'Alchemists?'
'B-Blacksmiths? For what exactly?'
Varian watched on everything with an indifferent expression but he had a strong urge to roll his eyes.
After an hour and many nods, the rank 3 men said. ""No issue.""
The way they said it with such sync made one wonder just how many times did they do this.
Varian didn't even bother to reply at this point and just walked in with three maids. Of course, they weren't simple maids.
[Rank 1 Mystic]
[Rank 1 Mystic]
[Rank 2 Mystic]
'…' Varian took a deep breath and suppressed the rising fear.
Akira was certain the Duke wouldn't find anything off with the medicine. What if he did?
'I don't have a chance to run away from a rank 5.' Varian chuckled nervously and his shoulders shifted to the side subtly along with his feet.
The two rank 1 maids infront of him and the rank 2 maid behind him also shifted their shoulders and turned their waists a bit.
They once again returned to the best position and distance from which they could attack him at will.
'For fuck's sake!'
They're trained assassins, alright. And extremely skilled ones at that.
The inside of the palace looked extremely simple and even a bit lacking. A couple of seaters, trophies, tables, bars, and others.
If any citizen or even an official saw it, they'd be applauding Duke Cassius' minimalism.
But Varian's eyes flickered as he passed from one staircase to another.
'Ten, eleven, twelve…twenty, twenty one…'
Arrays!
Killing arrays! Imprisonment arrays! Paralyzing arrays! Spacelock arrays!
Arrays that he knew and didn't were carefully hidden behind the walls. If not for his sliver powers, Varian wouldn't have noticed them even if he reached rank 5.
'So that's the reason there are so few items! Expensive items like aura-rich beast bones or precious aura-conducting metals interfere with these arrays!'
Varian gained a new understanding of the Duke without even meeting him yet.
'Then why was he so cool during the court meeting? Or wait, was that even him or a projection? Or maybe the Palace has way more arrays?'
Amidst his wild thoughts, a hexagonal block's six doors creaked open into a wide room.
The Duke sat on a comfortable sofa, tasting a glass of wine with a very strong fragrance. "Welcome, Dr. Constantine. Please make yourself comfortable."
The room had far fewer arrays than others but the ones it had were of much higher quality.
"I can see that the Duke is happy about the marriage." Varian greeted politely and sat on the sofa opposite the Duke.
"Hahaha! I must be smirking again, but I can't help it! As a Duke and as a father, this marriage is something I'm very happy about." Cassius revealed generously that the marriage had a political angle to it.
But looking at his glowing eyes, Varian was also sure that the Duke was really happy as a father as well.
Even though Catherine was sulking and he felt guilty about it, he must be expected Catherine to eventually move on from Theoron and build a loving relationship with her husband.
From the rumors and information sources he could gather, Saron was a very well-mannered young man who never had any scandals.
Considering that Catherine came from a stronger family, there's zero possibility that Saron would take concubines.
'So he thinks she's going to get a dedicated, loyal, and loving husband, huh.' Varian took a deep breath and said. "May I check your condition?"
"Of course." The Duke stretched his thick arm generously.
Varian sent a strand of his sense inside without invoking any aura. People hated being pried upon and even the Duke frowned for a moment sensing the intrusion.
After a simple inspection, Varian took a second look at the Duke. His internal organs, no, his entire body, were quickly crumbling. He's like a hole-ridden bucket quickly losing its water. In his case, it's his vitality.
If it goes on like this, he might survive for two or three decades at most.
Just a small sync allowed Varian to feel a part of what the Duke was feeling.
'Pain!'
'Horrible pain.'
'My chest feels like it's burning and freezing at the same time!'
Varian withdrew from the sync and looked at the Duke with a heavy gaze.
"Is it done?" The Duke smiled at him nonchalantly.
'He's living like this for years? No, decades. How is he still able to smile?' Varian looked at the Duke with a blank gaze. 'Anyone else would've killed themselves than live like that.'
"Dr.Constantine? Dr. Constantine?" The Duke waved his hands in front of Varian's face and asked.
"Uh? Ah! I apologize, It's worse than I thought." Varian shook his head.
Instead of making an issue out of it, the Duke smiled wearily. "It gets worse every day."
