In one of the many living rooms of a large mansion, Zara Woz, the forr head of punishnt departnt took a seat. Unlike her usual arrogance, her posture showed only ekness.
Only a handful of people knew it, but she's one of them.
If soone was lucky enough to dig up the secrets of that year, they'd think the biggest mastermind behind Isadora's death was her own mother.
It's true to so extent.
Isadora was heavily injured and exhausted that day after dealing with Eshala's clone. But even then, it was near impossible for anyone to sneak attack on her.
Against her own mother, however, she let her guard down and took a fatal blow. But even that wasn't enough to finish her off.
It was a nightmare to stand against even a severely injured Isadora. There were a total of 100 fighters that day.
Except for her mother, sister, the three maids and herself, everyone died.
Sotis, Zara would feel that she wasn't lucky to have survived. She was just spared. Occassionally, nightmares of that battle would wreck her mind.
Her mind would tell her that Isadora didn't die. Like the maids, she too fainted near the end and wasn't able to witness her death.
Perhaps that's why, a part of her still wasn't relieved. Even though her rational self argued that Isadora's mother couldn't leave her alive after what had happened, the emotional part was still scared.
In every nightmare, Isadora would look at her with those teary eyes and ask again and again.
'Why?'
There was no emotional answer to that question.
Zara Woz was rely following orders of the Martial Saint, her ancestor. He called her a few days prior and told her in clear terms, that Isadora was a threat to the kingdom. He didn't say why or how but he assured her that what they're doing was for the best.
She couldn't disobey him. It was one thing to go against one of the most powerful awakeners of the kingdom, a peak rank 9. It's hard but possible.
But it's another thing to go against the Martial Saint who devoted his entire life to the kingdom.
That mont was a conflict of patriotism and emotional bonding for Zara. Without much hesitation, she picked patriotism.
She's from a family line that prided itself in its contribution to the military of the kingdom. She grew up hearing their sacrifices and nobility with which they gave away their lives for the greater good.
Zara wanted to live up to the ideals that her bloodline's identity was built on. If personal sacrifice was deed necessary for that ideal to survive, so be it.
Betraying a friend hurt. It made her feel terrible, as a horrible person who's never worthy of any significant relationship. Perhaps that's why she never made a friend after that incident.
But she was, is and would always be proud of the difficult choice she made. It's good for the kingdom. It's good for the people. It's good for the future.
'Just…it's not good for .'
She should've already reached rank 9 like Catherine by now. But the battle regressed her gains and suppressed her to the point she still couldn't make any progress.
The Academy, which was her only hope to break out of this bottleneck, was also powerless in the face of damage inflicted by the legendary princess.
Worse, neither the public nor the people in the positions of power, fa or influence knew about her sacrifice.
It was a secret operation from the start and all traces of it were buried without any room for leakage.
So, despite her personal sacrifice, neither she nor her bloodline gained anything.
That's Zara's biggest grievance towards the Martial Saint. But even if she tried voicing her problems, the man didn't spare an ear. He even threatened to crush her.
It was an unexpected response from such a man in such a respected post. He didn't take the 'honor' that Zara lived by seriously. Once he's done using her, he abandoned her without the slightest remose.
And since that harsh reckoning, sothing inside Zara changed.
The code of 'Honor' she so desperately abided by and sacrificed a bright future for seed ridiculous in hindsight.
She regretted it. She regretted everything she had done.
And she abandoned the highest ideals in her heart to pursue tangible benefits. It didn't matter if people called her snobbish or calculating. It didn't matter if her bloodline's honor got tained by her actions.
She stopped caring.
All she wanted now was tangible benefits. Things that would definetely improve her situation.
So, she picked the target.
Prince Robert, the number one student of the first grade, a 'full' sibling of Prince Rudolph.
'He's my ticket to a better life.' Zara's gaze shifted to the prince seated beside her.
With his arm wrapped around her waist, he was focused on sothing else. For the fourth ti, he watched the hologram of 'Telor' threatening him with an amused expression.
'Wash your neck and wait.'
"Hahahaha! I didn't think this bastard had that in him." Robert said with a bolesterous laugh.
"I tried to suppress the news of his awakening and…make him disappear. But it sohow reached the dean." Zara rested her head on his shoulder and said in a soft voice.
"Why do you even do that, hm?" Robert's eyes narrowed and he pinched her chin.
"I-It's not that I don't trust you, I just don't want you to have unnecessary trouble." The ex-head of the departnt explained in a weak tone, her hand gently caressing the prince's face.
Robert swatted her hand away and crossed his legs. "It's my pleasure to beat down n who lived far longer than . And for won who lived far longer than , I want to…"
His eyes flashed with a ravenous light.
Sighing deep inside, Zara reached to the clasp of her dress.
Robert's lips curled up.
The older brother enjoyed married won. The younger brother enjoyed older won.
And Zara had a secret plan.
She wanted to marry Robert and then jump onto Rudolph.
As Robert towered over her with lust, her eyes flashed with a greedy light.
She saw a brilliant future.
'I will live my life to the fullest!'
*** *** *** *** ***
"So you gave him the pill—which is still under developntal stage and failed in all clinical tests so far. Not only did you do sothing so risky and crazy, but you say you suceeded. Without any disrespect, Prince, do you realize how that sounds?"
Researcher Rake gripped the thin glowing slab of screen in his hand with extra force than usual and asked with a smile that wasn't very positive.
"I know it sounds crazy but reality is like that sotis." Prince Samatv shrugged and tossed him a glowing holographic file.
He knew Rake was a maniac. He took research way too seriously. In his dictionary, there's no such thing called as work-life balance. Heck, there's no such thing as life itself. There's only research, research and research.
In the detailed investigation done by Samatv and his supporter on this man, a few disturbing things were revealed.
Rake, for all his intellect, was a social idiot. Even though he was in the Academy for more than a century, he didn't have a single friend. All the conversations he had with other people were for work and work alone.
In that sense, Samatv was the first guy to have non-work conversations with him. But even they, sohow, were related to work.
'Guys like this are the perfect because they don't have anything else in their lives. If it's soone with an active social life, then I'll have to worry and keep an eye on all of them so that the mission doesn't get leaked. If it's just Rake, then there's very little danger.'
"No way! You really gave him the pill yesterday and this happened today? Is my pill really that powerful?"
"To be precise, not even 24 hours have passed." Prince Samatv said.
"This is a miracle! A big breakthrough in our study! We're now much closer to unlocking the potential of natal treasures!" Rake's eyes began to shine with a crazy light.
"Yes. That's why I'm going to implent the next step of the plan."
Prince Samatv's cool words caused the researcher to freeze for a mont before he raised his head and looked at the prince with a worried gaze. "But it's just one sample."
"One is enough proof that it's working. That's all I need. I've been waiting for this result for more than a century.
So, we're moving to the next step. Any errors that still occur are just gaps where improvizations have to be made."
"But that's not how it works."
"That's how it should work."
Samatv's words that seed like they'd take 'No' for an answer shut the researcher.
"I'll bring Telor Xon to you. Study him all you want. And I'll also bring the research materials about the Anvil."
"But how? The study of Anvil is top secret locked in the laboratory."
"I'll also join the competition and get into the laboratory."
"S-Still, even for you, trying to steal from there is too risky."
"Heh." Samatv smirked and waved his hand in dismissal. "This is sothing must be done at so point. So, I've been preparing for years. Don't worry, the robbery will be perfect."
Researcher Rake sighed deeply and finally said.
"You're right. Except for you, who would even think sothing as outrageous as robbing the laboratory."
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