Episode 146- The real truth behind the incident 3 years ago

Previous ep: Elder Gres ran to get his wife back. Everyone found out that Levis and Moniqua eloped. Ario was a part of the innocent 3 years ago.

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Now that Levis had the time to ponder upon Ario’s words, it put him in a tight spot. In that situation, he never anticipated learning anything about the attempted assassination of the Crown Prince, let alone in this country.

Though the citizens and people in United West Liasel know the gist of what happened due to the papers flying around Xenperia, no one knew the details in regardings to the investigations surrounding criminal Aiya, and Crown Prince Ren. Even if the people know, they would have assumed that the incident was already resolved due to criminal Aiya being caught. At least, that was what anyone would’ve thought. This was why when Ario compared himself to criminal Aiya and was confident that they wouldn’t be able to find anything, it was like a confirmation that he was linked to her.

And true like what Ario said, they weren’t able to discover any huge leads in the past 3 years. It wasn’t that Xenperia didn’t put anything into researching what happened to the Imperial Palace and how it happened. Because they did, and they put in a lot of time, effort, resources, and money into investigating that incident.

One of the resources put into the investigation was deploying military personnel to Serv. This was no little money as 100,000 soldiers were sent to Serv. Not only that, the Emperor had ordered the Commander of the Military who was about to come home after years of being stationed outside of Xenperia to investigate Serv and be stationed there until further notice. In the end, Serv turned out to not be involved in the organization and half of the soldiers deployed were ordered to return home.

Xenperia searched for the organization in United West Liasel and enlisted the support of the United West Liasel union to investigate, but they came up empty-handed, just like Serv.

Though they’ve been stuck with the same information, they were able to hypothesize and find evidence on why there were two groups involved and not just one. The reason was that the plans each organization had clashed. One organization had bombs planted underneath the palace and looked to have been executing out a plan, however, failed due to one of the bombs going off. The bomb going off and the freshly dismembered body was the evidence. And the hypothesis was that the organization that attempted to assassinate the Crown Prince was the one who killed the man.

There was also an incident that occurred in Xenperia with the incident at the Imperial Palace being spread around Xenperia in papers, but it was a very high possibility that it was one of the organizations involved and not an independent individual.

And that was about all the information they had, as well as saw any movements made by the organizations until another paper incident occurred just before criminal Aiya’s execution and the children leaving for Zene.

Ario’s words made no sense yet made much sense at the same time. The organization was more deep-rooted that than anyone had thought and bigger than anyone could ever imagine. And if Ario had not semi-confess his involvement with the organization, no one would have known that he was a part of or even linked with the organization.

‘How long has the organization been around for? And how deep is it?’ The more Levis pondered over Ario and the organization, the colder his heart began to grow.

“Was the target truly the Crown Prince?” it was Eugene who had asked amidst the silence. It wasn’t a question no one had ever thought of but was a question no one dared to ask.

‘The Crown Prince might’ve been a scapegoat for something bigger all along.’ Eugene thought as she furrowed her brows. The more she thought about how meticulous and smart Ario was, the more these feelings began to grow.

She hesitated for a moment and asked, “There was something I was always curious about.” She turned and stared straight into Levis’s eyes, “Why was the palace empty?”

The atmosphere became cold and still following her question but Eugene wanted answers today. This question had been on her mind since the incident and after the incident occurred. There were multiple times when she wanted to ask, but she didn’t know how to come about it. Because the sole reason why that incident happened was that the palace was empty.

Amid the silence, a young voice replied to Eugene’s question, “It had always been like that.”

Eugene, Levis, and Moniqua immediately turned to Louis who had replied to Eugene.

“What?” Eugene… didn’t understand.

But Louis didn’t continue and only glanced towards Moniqua. In the end, Moniqua exhaled in resignation and confessed,

“Whenever the 8 of us, His Highness Emperor, Her Highness Empress, Levis, Claude, Irwin, Earnest, Amos, and myself meet up in the palace, the inner palace would always be cleared. It has always been clear for us to have space. And that… was a huge mistake at that time.” Her head hung low, and she spoke with a heaviness in her voice. The eight of them had always had their group dates like this and it wasn’t the first time they’ve done that as well.

The reason why this was allowed in the first place was because of the way the Imperial Palace was structured. The palace they were in did not allow for any intruders outside. They were safely guarded within the middle of the huge Imperial grounds and were heavily guarded against all sides.

It was only when they began to have children that they began to implement security, which was how the whole incident occurred in the first place. There were 6 guards, and 6 servants rotating to guard and help the children. And two of these 12 were enemies who managed to infiltrate this security group, drug the remainder of the team, and render them unconscious.

The Imperial Palace has intensive security measures and background checks before anyone could enter, let alone work inside the Imperial Palace. Usually, not even a rat could enter, however, somehow did. Then came another rat, criminal Aiya who claimed to be the Princess of Serv. Naturally, they couldn’t deny her, but that made the situation spiral the way it did. Criminal Aiya who was a part of the organization influenced and manipulated the old guard who had been working in the Imperial Palace for years. She then met up with her comrade, the first rat who infiltrated and conspired to have him and the old man whom she had manipulated be in the shift that protected the children from the inside. And they succeeded in the end.

From the culprit's perspective, this was a good plan. A really good plan that would’ve worked if the bomb didn’t go off and made Aernest suspicious. It would’ve worked if the twins weren’t sensitive to the sleeping drug that was administered into the room.

“... So nothing would have happened if there were no guards,” Eugene mumbled speechlessly. The young and old criminals would not have been able to bypass the massive security they had surrounding the inner palace because Duke Marleigh and Duke Rodriguez had their soldiers waiting and surrounding the middle palace. The Imperial knights, in addition to soldiers, were also stationed around the inner palace. There was no way anyone could have infiltrated unless they’d rather be shot or slashed by the soldiers and the Imperial knights.

‘Everything that happened was because of the small group of security…’ Eugene was in deep thoughts when Levis shook his head.

Levis shook his head, “There was a possibility that the incident could’ve also occurred if there were no security at all.” And that was why they had put guards in front of the children’s room in the first place. To be there to protect the children in case something happened. They were scared of the 2 percent chance of intruders slipping in and didn’t think that the children would be in greater danger if enemies had infiltrated into this small group of security.

In the end, the faults and mistakes led to two things, and that was that they failed as parents, and at guarding the children 3 years ago.

Eugene furrowed her eyebrows. She now understood how the incident 3 years occurred and were in deep thoughts. The young criminal who had died by Aedelak’s foot was strong, and smart just like Ario. And also like Ario, if there were no plans for that incident to occur, no one would have known that a rat had infiltrated the Imperial Palace. That was how deep the young man’s and Ario’s backing was.

And in the end, the young man’s plan failed… or did it not? In reality, the young man was smart but he was also very strong. He wouldn’t have come up with a plan that left him no way to escape unless… he had planned to die in the first place.

There was also another thing and that was, kidnapping the Crown Prince would have been impossible from the start. They wouldn’t have been able to bypass the security placed around the inner palace nor get out of the Imperial ground which has even tighter security. So why would they do something impossible from the start? Or was this suicide mission a part of the plan? But what could they do in that short amount of time? Test something out and relay information about that something?

‘If it had been a suicide mission…’ Then the papers being spread throughout Xenperia was a diversion. Diversion to direct the investigation to who hated the Crown Prince, and Serv. Eugene closed her eyes as she exhaled sharply. They have been investigating the wrong direction from the start…

“...” Suddenly she felt cold shivers running down her spine as she remembered the look on Ario’s face when he looked at her. Back then, his eyes showed intense concentration on her, and his words and actions made it seem that he had long known of her. Was there possibly a connection?

In the quiet atmosphere, Aernest reached out to Eugene and shook her lightly, “Sister, if you think too much your brains are going to get cooked.”

Aernest’s voice snapped Eugene out of her thought and she turned to him with a weird expression displayed on her face, “How’d you know it’ll get cooked.” Whatever serious thoughts she had previously, disappeared like smoke.

Aernest gave Eugene a look and fanned himself dramatically, “Because you’re blazing fire.”

“....” Eugene was struck with speechlessness and rolled her eyes a second later.

Aernest pouted when he saw that she gave up on speaking with him and pointed at her, “If you want to fry your brains, go ahead and fry it! Hmph!” He turned away and crossed his arms.

Eugene rolled her eyes hard.

Seeing Eugene not pestering him, he pouted again, “Fine!” He won’t be concerned over her again! “If you want to fry it, I'll give you something to make it so that it’s crispy and unusable!” He breathed hard and turned to Ramon, “Brother Ramon! Help me!” Say something that will make her brains fry even more, please!!

“....” Ramon turned to Aernest and blinked, “Um…”

His next words, however, brought chills down everyone’s spine. Like what Aernest said, Eugene’s brains got even crispier due to overusing her brain.

‘... What?’ Eugene was speechless. “... You’re jesting.” She shook her head, unwilling to believe what Ramon just said.

Moniqua and Levis, on the other hand, were sweating profusely as a result of Ramon's words.

Ramon sighed and repeated, “I bumped into two soldiers whilst trying to get help.”

“But why do you suddenly remember now?” Eugene asked him. There was something she forgot and that was he was still three when that incident occurred. He was still very much a baby back then.

Louis remained quiet and said in a low voice, “Was it the nightmare?”

Ramon’s eyes shook hard however he nodded.

Eugene’s eyes widened, ‘Then that’s… possible. At that time, Ramon was in a state of panic and everything was very much traumatic, which explains why he had forgotten.’ She thought for a minute before asking,

“Which means… You are saying that the soldier you bumped into initially wasn’t the soldier who caught up with you.”

Ramon nodded slowly and replied with heaviness in his voice, “The man I bumped into had a deep and low voice, different from the soldier who saluted when he saw the Emperor.” He glanced up and lowered his head slightly, “I’m sorry Father, Mother. I didn’t think much of it back then but now that I’ve been training my senses and also been put under murderous gazes several times, I now understand.”

He straightened his back and looked straight into Levis’s eyes, “The man whom I bumped into wanted to kill me. The chills I got from Commander Kal were similar to what I felt from the man whom I bumped into. And the soldier who caught up and everyone saw wasn’t him. They were not the same person.”

Just before Eugene could question again, a hoarse voice called out to them. “We… We are done.”

Immediately everyone turned to a shy Lise with reddened and puffed-up eyes. They didn’t have to ask to see that she had cried her eyes out due to the messy state she was in.

Lise escorted everyone back to the wooden house, which Eugene observed to be very large for something built in a day or two. Seeing Elderly Gres' macho physique, she did not doubt that the house, which had only one bed as furnishing, had been built in a day. It was a possible mission.

Moniqua smiled gently at Elder Gres whose eyes were just as puffed up as Lise before turning to Lise, “Did you talk?” She asked.

Lise's eyes shook but she nodded firmly. She confessed to her father that she has lost her memories. Of course, her father looked livid when he heard what she said, however, he said nothing and suppressed his emotions. Other than that, she told him briefly about living in the palace and that was all. The rest… she had yet to come through.

Levis and Moniqua were thanked by Elder Gres, who bowed his head in appreciation, “Again, thank you for everything, my savior. Thank you for bringing my family back to me.” Gratitude couldn't contain the depths of the feelings he had towards Moniqua and Levis.

Moniqua and Levis both shook their heads, “It’s what we should do.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Elder Gres bowed his head again, “If there’s anything I can do to repay you, please tell me. I will do anything.” He said and straightened his back. His eyes then wandered to the children and accidentally met Eugene’s, which made him jolt a bit.

Eugene blinked.

Elder Gres massaged his eyes, and when he saw Euria standing with Aeselak, he jolted again.

“?” Levis glanced at Eugene and Euria before turning back to Elder Gres, “Is there something wrong?”

Elder Gres stared blankly at the air before shaking his head very nervously, “No. No... I thought I saw a ghost. I’ve also never seen ‘twins’ before.”

‘Ah.’ If that was so, Eugene could understand his reaction. To be honest, several of the tribesmen had the same reaction when they saw her with Euria, although not nearly as strong as this Elder.

Moniqua laughed, “Yes. I was surprised as well.” She was referring to three years ago when she gave birth to Eugene and Euria. Back then she assumed that she only had one child, who would have known that another one would pop out. It was flabbergasting and the best miracle that could’ve happened to her.

Elder Gres smiled when he suddenly realized something.

“Are these…” he glanced at all the children in the room. ‘1,2,3...8… EIGHT CHILDREN?!’ His eyes were wide as they stared at Levis in shock! His jaw almost dropped to the floor however he didn’t dare be rude and locked it in place.

Moniqua’s eyes widened and she quickly denied, “No! NO!” She grabbed the hem of Levis’s jacket and shook it hard. The meaning behind her action was for him to explain!

Levis chucked and played along, “We have five children. Louis, Ramon, Eugeneia, Aernest, and Euria.” He explained as he introduced them to Elder Gres.

“Ron Graeme is a child of our friend. Aeselak and Aedelak are children of our other friend and also Eugeneia’s and Euria’s caretaker.”

Elder Gres blinked, “Is that so…” His soul almost slipped from his body from being envious of Levis when... Levis’s words sunk in.

‘5 children…’ He blinked. Damnit, he was still envious!

He turned to Lise held her hands gently, “I only have one child, Lise. She is the sun of me and my wife’s life.” On Elder Gres's face, there was nothing but joy and pride. True, he envied Levis, but he would never give up Lise for the sake of having five children because Lise was truly the sun of his and his wife's hearts.

Levis and Moniqua smiled gently. As parents, they understand what Elder Gres was feeling and couldn’t help but turn to their children and look at them with pride.