Ch.154The Emperor’s Secret (1)

# Chapter 154: The Emperor’s Secret (1)

Why is our Artraia being scolded like she’s committed some terrible crime?

Sure, her chest… personality pouches might be quite large, but looking at her face, she’s practically a baby.

You can tell just by looking at her expression after the Saint finished speaking.

-Pouting.

Look at those puffy cheeks on that little face.

Despite being smaller than me but still tall for a woman, with those enormous personality pouches, Artraia is actually pouting after being scolded by the Saint!

‘…How cute!’

But regardless of those feelings, honestly, from my perspective…

‘Why is this happening?’

I had no way of knowing why Artraia was being scolded by the Saint.

More importantly, how dare the Precursor Empire scold the Emperor of the Holy Sebelli Empire, one of the galaxy’s major powers?

‘Wait, isn’t this interference in internal affairs…?’

Realizing this, I understood that now wasn’t the time to be dropping popcorn on Riel’s head.

“Riel, do you know anything about this?”

“…All I know is that I’d very much like to punch the Minister’s jaw right now.”

“Hey now, watch your language.”

Despite Riel’s (impertinent?) attitude, I brushed the popcorn crumbs from my hair and asked again seriously…

“Do you really not know, Riel?”

“No, I really don’t. Shouldn’t you know better, Minister…?”

“Hmm.”

Unlike usual, no event message appeared, making us realize we knew absolutely nothing about the situation.

“Minister, what can we possibly do when we know nothing?”

“We’re useless. Just bring me more popcorn, Riel.”

I resigned myself and decided to just eat popcorn while watching the situation unfold.

But perhaps this behavior was somehow irritating or inappropriate.

The Saint of Eternia had been watching our actions for some time…

And finally, seeing us munching on popcorn, she slapped her forehead and exclaimed:

“You, don’t tell me you’ve been hiding this all along without saying anything?!”

“Umm…”

The Saint’s incredulous reaction contrasted sharply with Artraia’s lukewarm response.

It was stirring tremendous curiosity in me as I watched.

But moments later.

When the Saint removed her hand from her forehead, wiped her face, and spoke…

I received one of the most sensational shocks in the top 0.1% of all my experiences…

“Child, you haven’t forgotten that we’ve been watching over you because you share our blood, and are simultaneously the purest bloodline, have you?”

‘…Wait, Artraia is from the Precursor race?’

What on earth does this mean?

Not just a commoner class or even noble class.

The imperial class, strictly managed to maintain pure bloodlines, is actually a completely different species?

The maddening part was that as soon as the Saint finished speaking, a new event message appeared, confirming her words.

[PAUSE]

[Event: The Emperor’s Secret (1)]

[You are unable to hide your bewilderment at the news that the Emperor actually carries the blood of the Precursor race that formed the Holy Empire of Eternia.]

[However, finding this story full of suspicious elements, you are skeptical and must decide whether to continue listening.]

[Choice 1: Let’s hear more, just in case (Continue linked event)]

[Choice 2: This is blasphemy against both the faith and the imperial family, I need not hear more (End event chain, -50 relationship with Holy Empire of Eternia)]

This was beyond someone threatening me with a knife—it was like having a gun in my mouth with someone’s finger on the trigger.

The intention was crystal clear: the answer was predetermined, and I just needed to choose it.

So with an internal sigh, I naturally selected option 1.

[Choice 1: Let’s hear more, just in case (Continue linked event)] <Selected>

Immediately after making my choice, I decided to check my status window to confirm my race, just in case.

‘Status window.’

[Name: Arto Virtorius Sebelli]

[Age: 37]

[Gender: Male]

[Race: Sebellian]

[Position: Minister of Diplomatic Execution, Holy Sebelli Empire]

[Current Condition: Hypertension, Hyperlipidemia, Diabetes, Hair Loss]

Looking at this, despite being from a collateral line, I was clearly listed as Sebellian.

How could Artraia not be of the same race?

‘Wait, was some kind of cross-species compatibility activated?’

But no matter how I thought about it, that couldn’t be it, so I immediately discarded the idea.

‘Games would lag terribly with such a feature, there’s no way that exists.’

So what remained was… a state of complete uncertainty.

‘I guess I have no choice but to listen and see.’

With that thought, I immediately unpaused.

[UNPAUSE]

I focused intently, opening both ears wide to catch every word of the conversation between the Saint and Artraia.

And right after that.

“…Moreover, that child has already received our acknowledgment.”

When the Saint pointed at me, I had to make a tremendous effort to hide my bewilderment.

‘Me? Why?’

Of course, my question was quickly answered.

“Think about it, hasn’t that child destroyed the evil extinction device sealed in ancient times and been chosen as the new master of the nano-machines?”

‘Ah, so it’s because I destroyed the extinction device.’

Since no separate story appeared as a reward for the event message, I hadn’t known.

It seems my relationship with the Precursor Empires had improved without my knowledge.

‘No wonder they didn’t say anything despite our relationship not being particularly good before. This secret was hidden all along.’

Anyway, the Saint continued speaking, so I focused my hearing once more and began mentally taking notes.

“…Nevertheless, child, why do you try to hide your true nature even from your husband?”

“…”

“In case of emergency, confessing the truth to the only being who can hold your crumbling sanity together is the only answer.”

“…I know.”

“Then why haven’t you confessed?”

“…”

“Because you’ve been so inactive, our people have even started betting on when you’ll finally confess to that child.”

After hearing that much, I paused again to organize my thoughts.

The flood of confusing information was making my head spin a little, so I had no choice.

‘…Is this really a scolding?’

Rather than a “scolding,” it felt more like…

It resembled the typical Korean mother looking at her unmarried daughter, which only deepened my confusion.

What should I make of this?

This was the first time I’d encountered such a situation since becoming Minister and Artraia’s ascension to the throne, so my mind was truly in chaos.

But not long after, a brilliant thought crossed my mind.

-Ding!

This exquisite feeling, reminiscent of the universe’s natural perm, was screaming to my instincts:

‘Isn’t this exactly that? A mother nagging her unmarried spinster daughter!’

Suddenly, the Saint’s criticism of Artraia regarding her race made sense if it was about marriage.

And Artraia’s silent response to the Saint’s words also began to make sense.

‘We’re already married, why are you nagging? I’ll handle everything myself.’

She probably saw this as interference in internal affairs… no, unnecessary meddling, and was expressing her dissatisfaction through silence.

‘Ah, that’s it.’

Realizing that to resolve this strange generational conflict(?), I needed to step up as Artraia’s juicing material for her juicing machine…

I handed the popcorn to Riel, stood up, and cleared my throat.

“Ahem, ahem!”

“What is it, child?”

And when the Saint’s gaze turned to me after my throat-clearing…

I decided to deliver the best excuse(?) to resolve this situation.

“Saint? I’m sorry, but Artraia and I already know everything about each other.”

“…Oh?”

“That is… we’ve literally confirmed each other’s insides and outsides, and know exactly how far the other can go, their limits…”

Of course, trying to say such things felt undignified, and my words became somewhat incoherent…

“They’ve already had sex!”

“…?”

“SEX! They’ve had SEX!!! LOTS! OF! AMAZING!!! SEX!!!!”

Riel, whose head had been showered with popcorn and who had witnessed enough of this spectacle, finally threw a humanoid-like fastball.

‘You crazy woman.’

Thanks to Riel’s words, the Saint’s expression showed 100% surprise as she kept looking back and forth between Riel, me, and Artraia.

Then she suddenly stopped.

After a few seconds of blank staring, the Saint…

-Tap.

Created a barrier of psionic force around herself, and then began to literally ‘radiate’ inside it.