Chapter 11: Monarch
Zul City, Parliament Palace.
Three towering buildings stood staggered, with a flat stone-paved road in front. Flanking the road were elongated pools, and on both sides, rare trees of various kinds dotted the landscape, with birds occasionally landing. As the highest center of power in the Zul Empire, the Parliament Palace was naturally built with grandeur—after all, it was the empire’s facade.
On the nearly ten-meter-wide stone road before the Parliament Palace, under the guidance of the red-haired man, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Bonnie walked forward slowly. On both sides of the road stood two rows of soldiers clad in battle armor. Though not Awakeners and individually not very powerful, if they formed a battle formation, their combat strength would be no weaker than an equal number of Awakeners. This was because they were more perfect beings—the offspring of Awakeners.
The power of an Awakener could be passed down to the next generation, but only for one generation. By the grandchildren’s generation, they would become ordinary people. The empire’s researchers had always studied this issue, but the cause remained unknown to this day.
The path was unobstructed. Upon entering the Parliament Palace, the red-haired man signaled Su Xiao and the others to wait. About a few minutes later, he returned and led them to the fifth floor of the palace, stopping before a bedroom.
After knocking, a deep voice came from inside. The door opened, and a faint scent of blood wafted out.
This was a bedroom of less than a hundred square meters. From the furnishings, the room’s owner was a person of refined taste. On the bed near the inner wall lay a man in his forties with a short stubble beard on his chin. His face was pale, and he looked very weak, but his eyes were bright, as if they could see through many things.
“Kukulin, you’ve arrived.”
The man sat up against the headboard, bare-chested, with layers of bandages wrapped around his chest. This man was no small figure—Monarch Harold, the ruler of the Zul Empire, the only one who could stand above the parliament.
“Your Majesty Harold.”
The title Su Xiao used was the one the former Vice Legion Commander had called Harold.
“Ah, you people from the Execution Agency—what era is this, still calling me ‘Your Majesty’?”
Harold struggled to sit upright. The red-haired man quickly stepped forward to help, but Harold raised a hand to refuse.
“As you can see, I was also assassinated. My beloved stabbed me straight through the chest. If she weren’t so weak, you might be attending my funeral right now.”
Harold was different from what one might expect. He lacked the majesty of a monarch and was even somewhat witty. Yet, at their first meeting, Su Xiao judged him to be a super old schemer.
“You, me, and Lady Nancy were all assassinated. You should have guessed the reason by now.”
As he spoke, Harold glanced at Isevi Bonnie, looking a bit puzzled. He had met too many people to remember everyone; a genius little loli was merely a minor figure.
“The key.”
The basement key slid out from Su Xiao’s sleeve. This item was special—it couldn’t be stored in any storage space.
“Exactly, the key. Lady Nancy came by earlier.”
Harold didn’t continue, but the implication was clear: one of them had been stabbed through the chest, another had their tendons severed, yet Su Xiao, who was also targeted, came out unscathed.
“When I was assassinated, I interrogated the attacker. It was a ghost organization called Ghost Ring.”
“Ghost Ring?”
Harold looked at the red-haired man, who shook his head to indicate he hadn’t heard of it.
“Help me up.” With the red-haired man’s assistance, Monarch Harold stood. After adjusting his breathing, he gestured for Su Xiao to follow him to a place. As for Isevi Bonnie, though not explicitly stated, Harold’s meaning was for her to stay out of it.
“Lord Harold, I am Isevi Bonnie, the one who played chess with you.”
“Isevi Bonnie?” Harold pondered for a moment before suddenly remembering who Bonnie was. He said with interest, “That chess game left a deep impression. Come along; you might be of help.”
The group headed straight for a building behind the Parliament Palace. This structure was half-buried underground. As soon as they entered, Su Xiao felt a chill, and Bubu Wang sneezed several times.
This was the Parliament Palace’s storage room, where fresh vegetables were kept. But deeper underground, it was actually a secret prison. Harold’s so-called beloved was imprisoned here.
“I’ve never been able to figure out why Eve would stab me.”
Before a rusty iron door, Harold placed a hand on his chest.
“Eve is held here. Next door is her sister, Yule. That room over there holds her parents and younger brother, and the innermost room has her distant relatives.”
Harold spoke the harshest words in the most casual tone. His beloved Eve had stabbed him, and in return, all her relatives were imprisoned—the whole family, neatly gathered here.
“Don’t hurt her. As for the others, judge for yourself.”
The reason Harold brought Su Xiao here was simple: among the three victims, Lady Nancy could do little, and some things Harold couldn’t handle personally. As for people from other departments, that was even less appropriate. Harold’s assassination was a secret, and the fewer who knew, the better.
“Not even psychologically?”
“Hmm. Let her keep some dignity.”
Harold looked tired. Su Xiao didn’t press further and pushed open the rusty iron door.
This was a cramped room with no windows, filled with a musty smell. Inside was only a wooden bed, on which sat a short-haired woman in a milky-white dress. Her face was beautiful, but her short hair seemed odd—as if roughly cut with a sharp tool, not carefully styled.
The woman on the bed was Eve, Harold’s second wife.
“Did he send you?”
Eve was very calm, exuding a gentle and serene temperament that didn’t seem capable of stabbing anyone. Su Xiao even doubted she had the strength to wield a dagger.
“...”
Su Xiao just stood at the door, staring at Eve without a word.
One minute, two minutes, five minutes.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on Eve’s cheeks. Being stared at by Su Xiao was an experience one could imagine. Though Eve looked frail, her bones revealed a stubbornness and unyielding spirit.
“It was a very brief moment. My mind felt frozen. When I came to, the knife was already in Harold. Believe me, I was in more pain than him at that moment.”
Eve might have been unable to bear Su Xiao’s gaze, but her explanation was something Su Xiao had already heard from Harold.
“Your sister might know something.”
Leaving that remark, Su Xiao turned and walked out of the room.
“Wait, I really didn’t...”
Eve stood up from the bed, panicked. She knew who Su Xiao was—a monster capable of slaughtering ghosts. And this monster was about to interrogate her sister. She understood her husband Harold. No matter what she did, he wouldn’t torture her, as her current situation proved. But that didn’t mean her sister would receive the same treatment. Harold, that old schemer, didn’t care about his sister-in-law’s fate.
Bang! The iron door slammed shut. Eve pressed her pale hands against it.
“Harold, stop him. That’s Yule! You can’t treat her like this, you can’t!”
Faint pounding and crying came from behind the iron door. Weakened Harold leaned against the wall, his eyes devoid of any emotion. “Sorry, Eve. It concerns the key.”