In the dead of night, the second-floor bedroom of Lichtenstein Castle was so quiet that the only sound was a faint breeze whistling through the ancient window frames.
Moonlight seeped in from outside, washing across the antique carpet and furniture and casting a cool, silvery sheen over everything.
The atmosphere in the room was taut, every corner steeped in mystery.
"Your Highness Alexia, please calm yourself first. We can take our time and talk."
Lanqi's voice remained as calm and measured as ever.
Though Hyperion, seated to one side, had not uttered a word from the very beginning, she was now frozen in stunned disbelief like a stalled machine, staring wide-eyed at Lanqi.
She had only hoped Lanqi might tease out a bit of information about the Creti Empire that could be connected to Duke Mikhail so she could listen in from the sidelines.
Never had she imagined that with just a few words, Lanqi would blow open such an enormous hole!
Just moments ago, when Lanqi told the imperial princess to her face that the Creti Empire was doomed to fall, Hyperion had nearly jumped in to stop him.
What Hyperion could never have foreseen...
Judging by Princess Alexia's reaction...
He actually hit the nail on the head?!
Where on earth did he learn something like that?! And just how many of the Creti Empire's deepest secrets did he know?!
Hyperion's thoughts were a tangled mess. She felt thrilled by how surreal and utterly reliable Lanqi was, thoroughly baffled by how he seemed to know everything, and dazed by a dreamlike sense of unreality.
While Lanqi was the only one among the three in the room who remained placid, Princess Alexia finally slumped back onto her chair in a daze.
Though she had no idea what secrets Lanqi harbored, she could no longer turn a deaf ear to his words.
"Who currently controls the Creti Empire? Is it the Third Progenitor, Duke Lachiel; the Seventh Progenitor, Marquis Heriteer; or the Eighth Progenitor, Marquis Somerset?"
Seeing Princess Alexia regain her focus, Lanqi asked.
He was all about laying his cards on the table.
As for the many finer details, they had days ahead to discuss them at length. For now, it was enough to quickly grasp the intelligence he cared about most.
"?"
Yet Princess Alexia merely wore a look of utter bewilderment. Clearly, she had never heard the names Lanqi had just mentioned.
"Give me a moment."
Lanqi realized that made sense. True names were extraordinarily significant to the Blood Clan; naturally, they would never reveal them in the empire. If the Progenitors learned that someone like him could rattle off the true names of the Thirteen Progenitors like items on a menu, they would probably come after him with everything they had at the first opportunity.
After giving Hyperion a brief word, Lanqi stepped out of the bedroom alone. Following a route he already knew well, he headed to the library on the same floor. The dim stone-tiled corridor stretched beneath his feet, and before long he arrived at the library, well stocked with paper and pens.
In a drawer tucked in one corner of the library, he found paper and pencils, then took a seat at the largest writing desk in the center of the room.
The light was soft and dim. The scent of aged books permeated the air with the weight of accumulated history, and he sat alone in silence within this space seemingly forgotten by time.
Lanqi began sketching the portraits of the three Blood Clan members onto the paper.
His fingers moved lightly across the page, the scratching of pencil against paper echoing softly in the hollow library.
In his memories, these three were the only top-tier Blood Clan powerhouses to awaken before the main storyline's timeline.
Next would be the Ninth Progenitor, Marquis Bernhard.
And then, if the plot developed "smoothly" and allowed the Blood Clan to find and break the seals on the Second Progenitor, the Blood Prince, and the First Progenitor, the Blood True King, there would truly be hope of bringing about the Blood Moon Cataclysm once more.
Lanqi did not deliberate over his drawing; he simply let each stroke flow with his memory. Rough lines gradually outlined shapes on the paper. Casual though his sketching was, his lines were clean and lively, possessed of a strange magic that made the figures practically leap off the page.
After about ten or fifteen minutes, he finally completed three rough sketches.
Lanqi promptly rose, took the three sheets, and retraced his steps along the time-worn corridor back to Bedroom 201.
Pushing open the door, he briskly returned to the long table.
"These three are Blood Clan Progenitors, and the main culprits behind the corruption of the Creti Empire."
Lanqi laid the finished portraits before Princess Alexia one by one.
They depicted an androgynous, delicate-featured youth; a sharp, imposing young man; and a cold, ruthless young woman.
And yet...
The instant she saw those three drawings, Alexia, who had just begun to calm down, looked as if she had plunged straight into a nightmare, her expression twisting in sheer terror.
Hyperion's eyes darted in shock between Princess Alexia's face and the drawings.
This was the first time she had ever seen artwork drawn by Lanqi's own hand.
Even though they were merely three rough portraits dashed off on a whim...
Yet, without Princess Alexia even realizing it, each strikingly vivid portrait was practically miraculous, evoking a terror so deep within her soul that it was as if she were gazing upon the Blood Clan Progenitors in the flesh!
"...Th-they..."
Alexia's voice trembled.
She could not comprehend how anyone could understand the Creti Empire's crisis to such an astonishing extent!
The one she feared most was the young man Lanqi had referred to as the Eighth Progenitor, Marquis Somerset—he was currently the Creti Empire's Minister of National Defense.
She had also caught sight of the Seventh Progenitor, Marquis Heriteer, inside the imperial palace.
But Alexia knew that Eighth-tier Marquises alone could never have corroded the empire to this degree.
There had to be an even more terrifying Blood Clan entity lurking deeper in the shadows, a being of a higher tier.
Yet she had never been able to find out where that person was.
Until everything clicked with what Lanqi had just said and drawn, revealing the answer at last.
The true mastermind, the Third Progenitor, Duke Lachiel—he looked like nothing more than a gentle, friendly freshman at the Creti Royal Academy, completely indistinguishable from an ordinary human.
Lanqi was saying that guy was a Blood Clan Duke?!
A suffocating terror enveloped Alexia from head to toe, driving her to the brink of collapse as she clutched her chest, tears welling in her eyes.
Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that a Blood Clan Grand Duke was toying with the mortal world so close to her, playing everyone for fools.
When even she, who believed herself closest to the truth, had seen only the surface...
Was there any hope left for the empire?
"..."
Lanqi raised his hand slightly, and the Poet of Great Love tacitly dismissed her summoned state.
If the Poet of Great Love remained out any longer, Princess Alexia probably would not even be able to think straight or carry on a normal conversation.
"My apologies... I tried my best to keep the sketches rough."
He still had not expected three simple drawings to deal such a massive psychological blow to Princess Alexia.
Chapter 148