NOVPUB
Chapter 266: The Leftover Clean Up
While Aldrian meditating inside his room, ignoring all the commotion in the capital, the situation in the northeast region is in disarray. Most of the families inside of the grand duke Gouvard’s faction is in this region and many of their higher up follow infiltrating the capital. They are lost contact with the capital for some time before they finally received a news that make them terrified.
The coup plan has been compromised, and the imperial family is in the midst of purging traitors. These families know it’s only a matter of time before the imperial family passes judgment on them. Their only choices are to surrender or to fight against the imperial family. However, despite their large numbers, with most of their higher-ups apprehended by the imperial family in the capital, they are like foam in the ocean.
The choice was clear for the members of these families in their home bases: to surrender to the imperial family. There was no need to escalate the situation into an unnecessary civil war or fight a losing battle. As a result, they confined themselves to their own territories, hoping to avoid any misunderstanding with the imperial family. They intended to keep their families quiet and compliant, behaving like obedient dogs.
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Inside the Lucard family’s grand mansion, Danius Lucard, the young master of the Lucard family, sat in his seat in the meeting room. He was positioned near the right side of the central seat, which was traditionally reserved for the patriarch. However, in the patriarch’s absence, the family’s grand elder occupied the seat as the interim leader.
Inside the room, there were five other elders alongside the grand elder of the Lucard family. They appeared to have just concluded their discussion regarding the coup attempt.
"So, we have decided to hold our forces as the conclusion of this meeting," the grand elder declared.
He was Zakal Lucard, a middle-aged man with a brown mustache and short, sleek brown hair.
After he announced his decision, the others in the room could only sigh, their frustration evident on their faces. In truth, they had never been optimistic about the patriarch’s reckless plan to join forces with other families in the same faction to stage a coup. They couldn’t understand why their patriarch had acted so irrationally, but the only person in the room who knew the reason could only sigh in defeat.
Grand Elder Zakal was the only one in the room who knew about their cooperation with the devils and how the plan was supposed to unfold. However, he was still in the dark about what had happened in the capital that caused the situation to suddenly flip. His gaze shifted to the young master, Danius, who sat with an expressionless face. He was the only one present who remained unaware of the coup plan, completely in the dark about everything.
The patriarch had a good reason for not telling Danius about the plan. He didn’t want his son to accidentally leak their intentions to outsiders. Knowing Danius’s personality, the patriarch understood that his son often boasted about his status and freely spoke his mind. Grand Elder Zakal thought to himself that Danius must be shaken by the current situation facing the family.
However, unbeknownst to Grand Elder Zakal, Danius was indeed shocked, but for a different reason. Upon hearing that his family had actually planned a coup with other families, his mind was reeling, and he couldn’t help but think of Aldrian. He understood now why Aldrian had made him the spy inside his own family. While the coup attempt itself had taken him by surprise, it was Aldrian’s involvement that truly occupied Danius’s thoughts.
Did Aldrian already know about his family’s coup attempt? Had Aldrian made him the spy to monitor his family’s movements? Was he one of the reasons his family was now in this predicament? What if he hadn’t become a spy—could his family have succeeded in the coup and dethroned the emperor? Many "what if" scenarios flooded his mind, but unfortunately for Danius, he didn’t know the truth about Aldrian.
Poor Danius doesn’t know that all of this was just a coincidence. Aldrian had no knowledge of the coup attempt when he made Danius his slave. His main goal was simply to monitor the families in opposition to the Rivas family. By keeping Danius close, he could learn everything about the Lucard family’s actions, as well as movements from the Grand Duke Gouvard faction. It was, in essence, killing two birds with one stone.
Inside his mind, Danius already believed that the reason for their failed operation was because he had told Aldrian about his family’s movements. He didn’t care about the betrayal of his family towards the emperor, nor did he care about anyone else. All he could think about was his own betrayal, the one that had made a mess of everything, throwing their situation and plans into chaos.
He felt angry at himself and began to blame Aldrian in his mind. However, as soon as those negative thoughts about Aldrian appeared, a sharp pain began to rise from his soul. Danius, knowing what was about to happen, immediately tried to stop his mind from thinking of Aldrian. Clenching his fists in frustration, he couldn’t even think badly about the young man who had put him in this predicament.
"Young master, you must be prepared for any situation in the future," Grand Elder Zakal said to Danius. "Our family may face severe punishment, but I believe the imperial family won’t push so far as to exterminate us. They can’t afford to eradicate an entire faction, our faction controls the northeast territory of the empire, and our faction’s territory borders the devils, and they will need us here."
Danius nodded in understanding. At least this was a bit of good news. Even if his family lost its status, the imperial family would still need them to maintain control over the territory. The idea of the imperial family choosing another family to manage the northeastern region, seemed unlikely—at least that was what Grand Elder Zakal believed.
After the meeting concluded, all the members of the Lucard family left the room, leaving Grand Elder Zakal alone. His face was etched with a frown. Although he had reassured the others that the imperial family would not push too hard, he knew deep down that they would investigate the matter thoroughly. He was the only one in the family who knew about Duke Lucard’s and the other grand elder’s cooperation with the devils.
Now that Duke Lucard and the other grand elders were caught in the capital, Grand Elder Zakal had already resigned himself to the fact that the imperial family likely knew about the cooperation between the Grand Duke Gouvard and the devils. The imperial family would surely investigate all the families in this faction, and that included him, in order to uproot the devils’ influence. It was only a matter of time before they sniffed him out.
"I have to escape from here; there is no place for me here anymore," Grand Elder Zakal thought, his mind racing with plans for his next move.
He stood up, preparing for his escape plan, but suddenly he felt a presence behind him. He tried to dodge, but before he could move, he felt something pierce his chest from his back. He didn’t understand why it happened or who was behind him. He wanted to unleash his attack, but his body wouldn’t move as the dagger, which had pierced his chest, was laced with deadly poison!
His energy flow and body were filled with extreme pain as the dagger pierced his chest, just beside his heart. If he hadn’t moved slightly when he sensed the attacker, the dagger would have already pierced his heart.
He wanted to shout to alert the people still nearby, but before he could, another attack came to his head. The last thing Grand Elder Zakal saw was his own lifeless body before he plunged into darkness.
Looking at the lifeless body, the assassin did not wait any longer and instantly disappeared, leaving the dead body as the only witness.
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"Target eliminated. Mission successful," the Second Finger reported to Aldrian.
Aldrian, still meditating with his eyes closed, responded to the Second Finger.
"Good. Now return to base. Your mission in this empire is done for now." The communication was then cut off.
Aldrian opened his eyes. He had been meditating for four hours, and after the Second Finger’s report, he decided to end his session. Though he couldn’t catch everyone connected to the devils, he had eliminated those within his reach, including those under the Thunderous Shadow Pavilion’s surveillance.
He knew that some individuals from various noble families were the only ones aware of their cooperation with the devils. After reading the memories of Grand Duke Gouvard, he learned who else was involved. He then ordered the assassins of the Thunderous Shadow Pavilion to shift from surveillance to assassination, targeting the individuals he had mentioned.
Now that Aldrian felt his purpose in the empire was complete, he recalled the assassins, leaving behind many corpses in various locations. He stood up and looked outside. The sky had already darkened again, and the situation in the capital was largely under control after hours of purging by the imperial family. However, Aldrian could still see some of the imperial soldiers patrolling the streets.
Rising from his meditative stance, Aldrian decided to assist the imperial family in handling a few remaining matters.
