episode_0282

‘What kind of person was my mother?’

Victoria, who seemed perfect in every way, also had an incomplete deficiency.

It was a curiosity about her mother.

Victoria missed her mother, who had passed away after suffering from illness for a year after giving birth to her.

‘I can’t ask Father.’

Of course, the person who could best resolve her curiosity was her father, Constantine von Bayern.

However, Victoria could not satisfy her longing for her mother through her father.

This was because she felt how deeply scarred and wounded he was as she wandered with her father as a child.

In other words, just as Eugene Schneider had done, Victoria had chosen to suppress her curiosity because she did not want to touch her father’s painful heart.

“Do I resemble my mother’s personality that much?”

In the meantime, a person unexpectedly appeared to resolve her question.

“You resemble her so much that I sometimes flinch, Saber Victoria.”

It was her superior, Kaiser Antoine des Ailes d’Obreseau, the pinnacle of the Imperial Knights.

During the year or so when Victoria was an apprentice in the Imperial Knights, there was little interaction between the two.

They only met a few times as a formality.

Then, after Victoria’s inauguration as Saber, Antoine took care of her almost exclusively.

As a result, private conversations naturally began to take place.

And most of those private conversations were about Victoria’s mother, Adrienne von Bayern.

“Hmm… Looking at the remaining portraits, she seems to have a kind and warm feeling, unlike me…”

She was not good at expressing herself because she always kept a poker face, but it was a truly meaningful and significant conversation for Victoria.

This was because Adrienne’s image that Antoine conveyed was different from what she had imagined in her head.

Adrienne’s traces left in the Bayern family were those of a benevolent mistress of a highly influential aristocratic family.

“Of course, Adrienne, who strived to be a good wife and a good mother after marrying your father, was also beautiful. But to me, I remember Adrienne, the young female knight who used to practice swords with me, taught me swords, and aimed to be a Sword Master.”

And Antoine des Ailes d’Obreseau alone conveyed Adrienne’s different appearance with such unique differences to Victoria.

Now, the only image of Adrienne von Bayern that remains in the world is the wife of Constantine von Bayern, the head crusader of the Holy See’s Holy Knights.

“You must have been very close to my mother.”

Antoine’s eyes and voice when talking about Adrienne were truly affectionate and tender.

Still, I thought it might be possible because she was a cousin and blood relative, but it was refreshing in light of Kaiser Antoine’s existing image, which I encountered after joining the Imperial Knights.

So Victoria had a curious reaction.

“Didn’t I tell you? Your mother was my sister and teacher at the same time. She is the benefactor who had the greatest influence on me becoming a Sword Master and reaching this position.”

Smile…!

Then, Antoine smiled deeply and said as if it were natural.

Even without trivial explanations, it was enough to feel how much he valued Victoria’s mother, Marianne.

[Antoine wants to resurrect your mother, Adrienne. For that purpose, he corrupted and killed Ulysses, entered the demonic eclipse zone, awakened the Eye of the Demon God, and is trying to bring a demon god who received the grace of the demon god into this world.]

Victoria thought that the smile and heart had some purity and affection.

However, Raonjena revealed that Antoine’s heart toward Adrienne was as insane as her own twisted obsession with Ulysses.

“What kind of crazy talk is that? Duke Antoine is trying to resurrect our mother!”

Victoria would also find it absurd to hear that Antoine had opened the Eye of the Demon God and was trying to summon a demon king who had received the grace of the demon god through it.

But the ultimate purpose is to resurrect her mother, Adrienne, who left her 20 years ago.

Victoria shouted as if she was bursting out, unable to control her expression more than ever before.

[I don’t believe it, but I heard it directly from Antoine. One day, he told me when it seemed like I was going to walk the same path as him. At the time, I thought my intentions had worked, but no. I’m talking to you like this now.]

Victoria’s momentum was such that she seemed like she would draw her sword and point it at his neck right away, but

Raonjena did not care at all.

[Looking back now, he knew that the situation would end up like this. In other words, he wanted me to tell you what I heard at that time. Antoine was trying to use me as a pawn until the very end.]

Meticulous and meticulous Antoine des Ailes d’Obreseau,

Raonjena feels a chill down her spine at his meticulousness at this moment.

Antoine’s intention was that Raonjena was ultimately the one who had to tell Victoria the truth that Antoine had committed.

Raonjena thought that she had been playing a game of wits against Antoine,

The reality was that she was being unilaterally swayed.

‘I vaguely thought that the Kaiser, as a close friend of Sword Saint Ulysses, had made thorough preparations. But because I was the main character of the situation and there had been continuous exchanges, was that why he provided me with such a detailed quest roadmap…!’

The puzzle pieces quickly came together in Victoria’s head.

In the meantime, Antoine told Victoria to put aside her interest in the Sophists and focus on things that would be more helpful to her career.

Then, when the situation was overall urgent and it was difficult for Victoria to disobey Antoine’s orders,

Antoine created and entrusted her with a Sophist quest that she would inevitably succeed in, as if he had been waiting for it.

It was such a smooth process, but Victoria, who had no reason to be suspicious, dismissed it as the result of Antoine’s friendship with Ulysses, as she herself had explained to her colleagues.

However, after experiencing Drake in Enklema and hearing Raonjena’s words, the perspective of interpretation changed rapidly.

[He didn’t specifically tell me the motive for resurrecting Adrienne. But I couldn’t look at it positively. The method was so dirty. He made Ulysses that way in order to break through the wall between Sword Seeker and Sword Master and resonate with the Eye of the Demon God.]

Raonjena, who had become a wreck, relentlessly revealed the fatal facts she knew. Antoine’s overall life direction is related to his secret wandering in the demon realm to practice asceticism, as well as his bizarre behavior such as researching and encountering all kinds of demonic poisonous plants.

In other words, it is the evolution to the core Sword Master, and the betrayal of Ulysses Schneider.

[And around this point, I think Victoria, you also feel something suspicious? I’m talking about the twin swordsmen who came with you. It’s been quite a while since you and the other colleagues have been trapped here, but there’s no response at all.]

Raonjena, who was revealing shocking facts, mentioned the Sword Expert twin swordsmen who had parted ways with Victoria’s group and headed in the opposite direction.

[They are personal bodyguards that Antoine has been raising directly for a long time. They were the ones who came with me when I met you. Do you know what I mean? The twins were instructed by Antoine to induce Victoria to be isolated here.]

She presented evidence to add more credibility to her words.

When entering the Sophist secret headquarters and finding Raonjena, the twin swordsmen naturally decided on each other’s direction when the crossroads unfolded.

They were the people Antoine put in to guide the Victoria group as he intended.

“What on earth is Duke Antoine doing outside right now, Raonjena.”

Victoria was so confused that her poker face was collapsing, but

Before she knew it, the puzzle pieces were put together in her head, and as Raonjena said, the silence of the twin swordsmen made her feel certain.

Therefore, Victoria’s thoughts flowed to the reason why Antoine isolated herself here,

And what he is trying to do after isolating himself.

[He opened the Eye of the Demon God and created a foundation for mana to gradually fill this Gaia for a long time. And the conditions for the demon king’s descent are actually met enough.]

Raonjena immediately answered Victoria’s question.

[However, since the end of the ancient era, the human race has also been granted a device from the goddess to prevent the demon king’s descent. This is a fact that only a very few people within the Church of the Radiant Goddess know.]

In the end, all of Antoine’s actions are aimed at summoning a demon king who has received the grace of the demon god.

[That is the existence of the person who inherited the Goddess’s emblem. And that existence is the eldest of the Elysium Imperial Family, and its lineage continues.]

His sword is directed at the current Emperor Louis XV.

“It can’t be that the Imperial Family and Father are in such a state of tension…”

Charlotte’s face turned pale.

This is because she had received a letter from her beloved younger brother, Eugene Schneider, that the Imperial Family felt threatened by Antoine.

“Mother also said that it didn’t seem like nonsense, but don’t worry too much, sister. Still, it’s Duke Antoine. There must be a reason why such a thing came out.”

Eugene went to the place where Charlotte was working and told her, and after that, the two were heading back to Marianne’s lodging.

This is because Marianne requested Eugene to bring Charlotte along.

Therefore, Eugene was trying his best to reassure Charlotte.

“Yes, Eugene. But anyway, we have to show our own movements. We don’t know what kind of response the Imperial Family will make.”

Charlotte, who had finally begun to recover her mentality after seeing her beloved younger brother showing a mature side, nodded slowly.

If the information Vivian conveyed is credible at this point, the Obreseau family must take practical action beyond knowing the reason.

“I guess we have to return to Pangaea, sister?”

If the Imperial Family launches a surprise preemptive strike, there is a high possibility that they will target the Duke’s main family in Pangaea. In other words, the weakest thing right now is definitely Jeanne of Pangaea.

However, Marianne’s response to summoning Eugene and Charlotte at the same time was quite subtle.

“First of all, I sent an emergency letter separately to Jeanne and Elizabeth. After that, we will meet in the middle of Pangaea and Bahad, and we will all hide in this Bahad.”

Logically, Hitenberg, where Antoine’s Imperial Knights are located, would be safe, but Marianne decided to move her residence to Bahad.