Baldur was fatigued.
Being the regent of a nearly overthrown duchy was no easy job, but it wasn't work enough to overwhelm the Prince of Pala Kingdom.
The training he received from childhood gave him enough skill and disposition to rule over a dozen duchies.
One duchy, as mired in problems it may be, wasn't a backbreaker.
The issue was—
"Why the long face, brother? Don't tell me you hate seeing your sister?" A woman in a long blue dress with silver embroidery leaned forward and asked with her hands behind her back.
Baldur shifted in his throne with a discontent expression and clenched the armrest tight. "Stop the act, witch. Why are you here?"
"What do you mean, brother?" Despite her appearance being in her twenties, Azalea acted like a ten-year-old. Acted for sure, as even her teary eyes couldn't hide the gleaming wisdom in her them.
"I am here to see you! To help you!" She pounded his chest like an affectionate little sister and said with an earnest expression.
With a pout, she placed her hands on his shoulders and looked down into his eyes. Her breath was cold, hitting Baldur in the face. And it smelled of…blood.
"Who did you kill this time?" Baldur struggled to stop himself from yelling.
"What do you mean who?" Azalea tapped her index finger on her lower lip and opened her mouth with an "Oooh!" and said. "I killed a few sneaky rats who claimed they came for the census. They were smuggling forbidden potions."
Baldur's pupils shook fiercely for a brief moment before they returned to normal. "Education Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Urban planning ministry, and now, even Survey ministry. If you keep killing everyone, this duchy will stop functioning."
"Don't worry about it," She gave a wide smile full of innocence but her words were chilling. "Killing the traitors is more important than a functioning duchy. Besides, I applied for the kingdom's assistance with civil servants."
'And all these new civil servants were my henchmen.' That's something she didn't need to say and something he didn't need to know.
Baldur took deep breaths and pushed her away. "Just don't go too far."
The princess watched Baldur leave the throne hall with a smile on her lips and narrowed her eyes. "I will go as far as I must, brother."
The consensus among the royalty was that Baldur already knew about Miss Calamity's plight and infiltrated this region with a false identity to help her out and gain her favor.
He wasn't even in the race before but now he's the crowd-favorite prince. Even the King of Pala spoke favorably and hinted that Baldur could receive a better position as long as he showed another worthy performance.
What's the better position for a prince when the king still rules?
Crown Prince! The defacto successor of the kingdom.
Baldur was a single step away from reaching heaven yet he still chose to remain here.
Why?
If he's so ambitious that he'd sacrifice a crucial year, go into hiding, and bet on a dangerous mission to gain the favor of Miss Calamity, staying in Centaurus as a regent, he must be onto his next plan.
There's something else to be discovered. Perhaps something as good as the favor of Miss Calamity itself.
'But brother, this time, you stand no chance of winning. You should've stayed low while those three battled it out.'
If Azalea was here with her own power, it'd have been a disastrous mission. But she was backed by the two princes and the princess who were originally fighting for the crown.
They unanimously decided to eliminate Baldur before continuing their infighting. So, they chose her and used the combined might of their political capital.
Yet, they had to pay a painful price to push her to the position of 'Royal Advisor'— a post that'd connect the regent and the kingdom on important matters and ensure the regent follows the kingdom's interests.
After arriving, she dug up Baldur's past activities and ensured no suspicious activity went unchecked.
Baldur was fine with her antics, bearing them with a stable outlook. While he might not have guessed the backing behind her, he did know her intent. Perhaps seeing her as an unavoidable annoyance, he maintained the policy of minimum engagement.
He showed no weaknesses, none of his inner thoughts, and certainly not a glimpse of his plans.
But that day, something changed. After that news, no, even before the education ministry reported that their lab detected the last erasure of Havoc bloodline, he was disturbed.
Baldur's expressions were hard to study. There was a mix of disbelief, exhilaration, doubt, and fear. He didn't even respond to the news of the Havoc extinction.
The man who remained expressionless until then and maintained a stoic face was gone. His eyes weren't so cold anymore.
The loud court meetings turned quiet. The talkative regent started staring into the sky for hours. The genuine attempt to fix Centaurus turned half-hearted.
Azalea tried hard to find the cause of his disturbance. There were just no leads for her to latch onto. So, she tried to find out the mystery by following after his footprints.
When he asked the education ministry to study for tools to detect special aura, she killed a few scientists that were at the forefront of that field under the guise of 'traitors'.
Then he asked the Agriculture ministry to develop a special detector to find traces of lifeforms and their age.
A hundred heads rolled.
Space ministry was tasked to update the oldest space fluctuations of tier-6 scale in the past century.
Azalea thought he might be trying to find a collapsed space and perhaps a treasure in it. But a space that collapsed from tier-6—rank 6 celestial space fluctuations wouldn't really contain anything noteworthy for Prince Baldur.
Finally, Baldur signed the next census that was long due. Azalea didn't really want to spoil this normal activity.
But for some reason, her intuition led her to act. She obstructed the Survey ministry without any remorse and essentially pushed the next census by a year.
'And it turns out, I was right.' Unlike any other ministry. Baldur showed an intense reaction to this one.
He was careful to hide it but Azalae was a strong Adept. Even the slightest change in his expression could be captured by her, much less that intense reaction, even though it lasted a moment.
"Census, Space fluctuations, lifeform, special aura."
As the pieces fell into place, the puzzle started to make more sense.
Azalea thought for a moment and tapped on her white earring. "Bring sensors that can trace space fluctuations, and identify strong life forces. Oh, don't forget to bring out the most advanced census items."
Her henchmen would be here in two days at most. Azalea wasn't really sure how she could find a single thing in an entire duchy with those vague clues.
'Wait a minute, maybe I got it wrong.'
The declining Centaurus used the same items and procedures every time. If there's anything special about the census, it's the new civilization that's discovered.
"It's probably not it, but it doesn't hurt to check." Azalea decided to take a look.
Civilizations that just pop up after being hidden were very rare. So, it would be a lie to say she wasn't interested.
The reason other duchies didn't duch the civilization so far was the protection of Centaurus on one hand and the weak aura fluctuations given by the civilization itself.
"But I have a feeling, even if it's not what Baldur is looking for, it could be something hiding a deep mystery."
