By the long oak table in the center of the bedroom, Lanqi and Hyperion sat on one side, while the imperial princess sat across from them.
Their gazes converged on the three sheets of paper on the table, as if the deepest secrets of the entire Creti Empire were concealed between those pages.
The night had deepened. The world outside was so quiet it felt forgotten, leaving this room isolated beyond the torrent of time.
The terror that had nearly engulfed Alexia receded with the disappearance of the Poet of Great Love. Drawing in a deep breath like someone surfacing from the ocean depths, she was finally able to rein in her emotions.
After a long silence, she spoke.
"I believe your intelligence is accurate, but... who on earth are you?"
Imperial Princess Alexia's brow and the corners of her eyes were taut, her lips slightly stiff, unable to shed the unspeakable tension in her voice.
"I'm an ecologist. Currently, I'm working on a research project concerning the Blood Clan."
Lanqi's gaze was sharp as a blade, each word laden with solemn weight.
Although he could later join the faculty of Ikerite Academy by virtue of his status as a Platinum-rank card maker, there was still a long road ahead if he wanted to rise to Headmaster.
Presently, the position of Headmaster at Ikerite Academy stood vacant. Professor Borao, Dean of the School of Magic Engineering, had no ambition for power; the Dean of the School of Knights was an emeritus rehired after retirement; Dean Loren of the School of Sages served concurrently as High Priest of the Church of the Goddess of Fate and simply lacked the time; and the Dean of the School of Alchemy was embroiled year-round in lawsuits over copyright disputes involving his newspaper, at risk of going to prison at any moment.
To assume the headmastership of such a premier academy, prestige in academia was indispensable. The school was not merely subordinate to the Hutton Kingdom, but was also officially accredited by and the highest-ranking direct institution under both the Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association and the Southern Continent United Kingdom Council. Entailing immense authority and countless privileges, its prerequisites were naturally exceedingly high.
One particularly grueling requirement was having a dissertation evaluated as possessing the highest tier of academic value in the Southern Continent.
Looking across the entirety of Ikerite Academy, only a handful of professors met this criterion, showing just how demanding it was.
Thus, the most challenging academic study Lanqi could conceive of right now was *On Ecological Balance and Blood Clan Governance*.
He wasn't sure whether this topic would ultimately win recognition from the Southern Continent's academic community.
Yet that was how scholarship ought to be approached: wholeheartedly, striving for the pinnacle.
"?"
Alexia had never heard of an ecologist capable of subjugating the Blood Clan.
Hyperion, meanwhile, peeked sideways at Lanqi, her eyelids twitching wildly. She felt this guy was about to pull off something outrageous again!
The research project to search for stone slates on the Northern Continent during the winter vacation hadn't even begun, and he was already planning his next step: researching the "ecological environmental issues" of the Creti Empire!
*Honestly, if you don't become Headmaster, nobody is worthy of the post.*
And when the time came, even if Hyperion didn't want to drag Lanqi into the mystery surrounding the Duke, Lanqi would probably thrust himself right into the dead center of the Creti Empire's conflicts on his own!
After hearing Lanqi's reply, Alexia took it as a joke. She pondered for a moment before asking again, "What is your relationship with the Blood Clan?"
Alexia's nerves were taut with vigilance.
This youth knew far too many secrets.
There were only two possibilities.
Either he was a lapdog of the Blood Clan,
or he was their mortal enemy.
First of all, Alexia was certain Lanqi could not be a vampire himself. The Blood Clan was the easiest race to identify, as sunlight directly weakened them; at midday, their power dwindled to a mere tenth of its strength. There was no way a vampire could have been as lively and energetic under the sun as Lanqi had been all day.
Yet Alexia had no way of knowing whether Lanqi was a Blood Clan dependent!
Rather than believing he possessed preternatural prophetic powers, a far more reasonable explanation was that Lanqi, knowing the Blood Clan inside and out, was actually on their side!
"Don't worry. Tomorrow you'll know what my relationship with the Blood Clan is."
Lanqi spread his hands helplessly, appearing entirely understanding of Imperial Princess Alexia's misgivings.
Indeed, the source of his intelligence was impossible to explain.
But that didn't matter.
The question the princess raised could be answered and proven to her tonight.
"Tomorrow... Even if you know so much, what does it matter?"
The burst of spirit Imperial Princess Alexia had mustered seemed dragged back to cruel reality by Lanqi's brief words, dissipating completely into nothingness.
Had she met Lanqi outside the Shadow World, perhaps she would have tried to cling to this shred of hope and struggle to the end.
Yet in this doomed Shadow World, everyone dying at the hands of the Tier 7 Blood Clan Count was already a foregone conclusion.
Even if all the challengers fought with their lives on the line, there was no chance they could hold out against the Count until the sixth dawn arrived.
"..."
Lanqi lightly tapped his fingers on the table. The rhythmic sounds resonated through the quiet room, breaking the silence of the night.
He seemed deep in thought.
"To think a mere Blood Clan Count could frighten you so badly. If the entire imperial family of the Creti Empire is like you, no wonder your country was overtaken by others with such effortless ease,"
Lanqi finally spoke up.
Hyperion glanced at Lanqi in astonishment.
She had never seen Lanqi speak so sharply to a girl.
And yet.
Hearing Lanqi's words, Alexia seemed like a wind-up doll that had just been wound, springing to life once more.
She glared daggers at Lanqi, the rims of her eyes reddening, as if the one boundary in her heart that brooked no surrender had been breached.
"You... you can call me a useless princess... but you will not insult the Creti Empire!"
Tears welled in her eyes—the final shred of her stubborn pride.
Clearly she had already given up, yet for some reason, there were certain things she simply could not let go.
"Didn't you think there was no tomorrow? Then what is there left to argue about?"
Seeing her looking as though she had been restarted, Lanqi smiled with relief.
"Remember the charge of insulting royalty! I won't forget this..."
Alexia kept wiping away her tears, still issuing warnings to Lanqi.
"Then I'll be waiting for you to sue me. I'll show you what an undefeated litigant of the Southern Continent looks like,"
Lanqi said with an untroubled smile.
"Then go kill this Count first, you blowhard who only knows how to talk big!"
"And what if I really do hunt down this Blood Clan Count? What will you say then?"
"Then whatever you say goes! Not like you could ever do it anyway."
"..."
To Hyperion on the sidelines, Lanqi's childish bickering tone sounded like nonstop mockery of Imperial Princess Alexia, yet it was precisely these words that repeatedly stoked the stubborn determination deep within Alexia's heart.
Even Alexia herself hadn't realized that her will to survive had been unconsciously rekindled.
"Deal."
Lanqi stood up with a smile and pushed his chair back under the table. The scrape of the wooden legs against the flagstone floor echoed across the spacious room.
Then, together with Hyperion, he walked toward the bedroom door.
Taking on the Count tonight did not require the princess's participation. Or rather, it was better if, from the real world's perspective, "the imperial princess had never been trusted by the other challengers, and the matter of intercepting the Blood Clan had nothing to do with her."
After all, she still had to return to the Creti Empire and interact with that bunch of vampires for some time.
If she aroused the suspicion and vigilance of the Blood Clan, things would get troublesome.
Lanqi pulled the bedroom door shut behind them for Alexia.
"Please get a good night's rest, Your Highness. I promise the sun will rise tomorrow just the same."
The door closed slowly. Through the narrowing gap, his face gradually vanished behind the door alongside his fading voice.
Alexia stared blankly at the now-locked door and the spot where Lanqi had vanished.
Even though Lanqi's parting promise seemed as illusory and unattainable as an impossible lie,
for some reason, she—who had already been on the verge of giving up all hope—felt a blaze burning passionately in her chest once more.
She looked out the window.
The starlight was dim and hazy, as though heralding a long night ahead.
If she truly could see the sunrise tomorrow...
then would the person capable of bringing her that dawn be any less than the sun itself?
"Save me... no matter what kind of sun you are..."
Alexia murmured as if praying, gazing up at the cage-like night sky.
Chapter 149