In the hallway of the tower, Sol was walking with a steady gait, his visage, betraying no emotions.
On his way, all the servants bowed in respect before continuing their work.
Since the conference room was on one of the lower floors, there was a larger stream of people, as not only servants but also government members and workers went around preparing for their activities
Lustburg was a powerful kingdom with a solid foundation, and even though they had lost many people, it wouldn’t just crumble like that.
Walking behind him, like his shadow, was the silent Milia,
“Now that I think about it, what about Clara? Wasn’t she supposed to become my assistant?”
Clara, the elf and Lilin’s friend was also implicated in this whole situation.
She had been kept in the tower initially and as such fought Setsuna against the one named Neun.
Thankfully, even though her wounds were no laughing matter, she wasn’t in a situation of ‘enlightenment’ like Setsuna and Lilin, and as such was able to receive proper medical care.
This situation was pretty problematic since, in a way, Clara was like a diplomatic envoy.
In the first place, their relationship with Southern Pride wasn’t the best.
After all, even though the elves lost the control they had on the humans so long ago during Jupiter’s era, they were a long-lived race with long lived grudge and stupidly high pride.
Thankfully, Clara didn’t ask much and only wanted to serve him. From what she said, serving a dragon, even a hybrid one, was basically the highest honor for an elve.
This made Sol understand why the elves' maids were the most enthusiastic during their encounter.
‘I definitely have to visit the elves...for research purposes of course.’
Milia answered calmly, “After we ensured that she wasn’t a danger, she should have joined you but after what happened, I dispatched her to help the patrol. It wouldn’t be too late to take her in after you form your first and second contract.”
“Hum, perfect. I guess I will take time to get to know her more deeply before putting her by my side.”
“Understood.”
Silence settled between them as they continued to walk before stopping in front of an elevator.
This was just a simple platform with no fancy decoration, but it was rather useful.
“...Your highness?”
“Hum?”
“...No...It is nothing.”
She wanted to ask if he was alright, but that would be the most stupid question ever.
After all, the answer was clear.
Still, Sol didn’t let it pass, “I guess my expression wasn’t particularly bright, right?”
He understood clearly that a relationship shouldn’t be used to this kind of unspoken moment.
People had a hard enough time understanding each other's words, not to mention something as abstract as ‘unspoken words.’
It was because he believed in such a thing that he got so easily led on by Camelia.
Since he now had first-hand experience about how notions such as ‘I understand him/her the best’ were generally wrong and a sign of arrogance, he wanted to avoid such a situation.
Milia hesitated before nodding, “I am sorry if I am overstepping my bounds, but did something happen between you two?”
Sol chuckled, “Let’s just say that we need to remake the base of our relationship.”
In many romcoms or josei that Sol used to read in his past life, the male and female leads would always become tense because of some stupid misunderstanding then at later date they would make up as if some magic happened without really trying to dig the root of the problem.
Sol didn’t want to follow in those footsteps.
What was necessary now wasn’t to just kiss and make up again, but rather to truly try to understand each other better to create a more solid relationship that could stand tall against all hardship.
He didn’t wish to see the day where one word of the enemy would be able to shake his confidence in those he loved.
“Well, forget this. The two of us also have some problems to take care of, but right now I need to take a weight off of my chest.”
Milia could only give an awkward smile at this and continued to stand behind Sol as the elevator brought them into the lower floor.
Once they finally reached their destination and left the elevator, what stood in front of them was nothing more than a wall. A large wall with a gate drawn on it.
Sol smiled at the two women who stood on either side of it. At first glance, it seemed as if there was nothing to protect or guard, but,
“Open the gate.”
“Yes, your highness.”
The two women geared in black armor nodded before pouring their mana on two stone keys.
Then the gate drawn on the wall began to glow as a blue swirl formed at the center.
‘Haha, I feel like I am in Stargate.’
His smile slipped when he thought about why he was here and what he would find behind this gate.
“Milia, stay here.”
Milia, who had been somewhat tense as they approached, nodded stiffly and nearly let out a sigh of relief.
“Understood.”
Giving her an encouraging smile, Sol stepped past in the blue swirl and vanished.
Sol’s destination was the special jail created by Neptune, Mars' father, to detain powerful prisoners that were too hard to kill.
Generally, they were people of other races who had a far longer lifespan than humans or simply powerful humans who committed too many grave crimes.
To avoid danger in case of escape, the jail itself was in another part of Lustburg that did not appear on the map but was connected to the capital through the gate.
One might ask, why then did the Wings not use the occasion to free those prisoners? Surely it could have caused even more chaos.
The answer to this question was pretty simple.
There were no prisoners to free anymore.
After all, Lilith had killed all of them after she took power as the Queen. No matter how powerful they are, in front of Lilith, they had been extremely weak.
After all, her sword was specially geared toward cutting everything.
The reason for this,
“Why keep prisoners alive when they were nothing more than a waste of food, space, and were a hidden cancer ready to erupt at any moment?”
Because of this reason, many people saw her as a bloodthirsty maniac.
But now, after searching through old documents during his six days as a ruler, Sol knew another version of this truth.
One that was hidden by this massacre to not show the ugliness of the royal family.
When he appeared on the other side of the gate, what greeted him wasn’t a cold and damp dungeon like he had thought, but rather a facility worthy of the best Sci-fi film.
In this facility, each room was filled with ten cells, each with a transparent door.
At one glance it really seemed like a super-prison of sorts, but the reality was that this place was the secret laboratory used by Neptune for his experiment on living beings.
All the bullshit about keeping prisoners was just to easily experiment on strong people without arousing any suspicion.
Project Genesis was nothing more than one of the many experiments he had conducted.
This was also why Milia had been so stiff earlier and one of the reasons why Sol didn’t want her to follow him.
No matter how strong one was, a trauma was still a trauma and he didn’t wish to make her relive her darkest memories.
‘But what were they trying to accomplish here?’
The only one who could answer him was Lilith. Sol also had a hunch that whatever secret Lilith had was tied to this place.
Shaking his head, he began to walk quietly in the deserted facility until he stood in front of one particular cell.
There, on the other side of the wall, sat peacefully an old man with a missing arm.
Feeling a presence, the old man opened his eyes, and gave a bitter smile,
“I thought you would never visit me, your highness.”
The old man was none other than Gerald.
(AN: Welp, seems like it is time to get answers, right? Man, writing the and not betray expectations will be so hard. Haha. Anyways stay tuned.)
