No one knows the content of the secret talks, but afterward, Her Highness the Second Princess chose to temporarily set aside the mountain of military and political affairs and embarked on a journey to follow Shiayar's past footsteps.
The Empire was in turmoil, and the throne was changing hands. At such a critical moment, Isadella, as the primary candidate for the throne, made a whimsical decision. This naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of many of the Empire's powerful ministers and even the senior family members within the Royal Family.
However, in Parliament, Isadella merely used an understated remark to reject all objections:
"Shiayar Egutt.
"He is the Empire's future Crown Prince.
"He is also my beloved, my spouse.
"When I ascend to the throne, my Prince Consort will be him, and only him."
It was a stunningly bold and public declaration of a future spouse; one can only imagine the uproar it would cause throughout the Western Continent. It could even be said that this declaration directly determined the Empire's fortune for the coming decades.
As a former member of the White Tower and an Attendant who had followed both Her Royal Highness and the Gray-Silver Witch, Fioran knew more and was thus even more troubled.
If she wasn't wrong, her own family's White Tower Master also had a fondness for Shiayar Egutt—the kind where she was the one pursuing him. And Her Royal Highness's bold declaration was clearly a declaration of war between love rivals, aimed at that Gray-Silver Witch. The Empire and White Tower had only just managed to connect and form an alliance; White Tower had even established a branch in the Empire Capital. Yet Her Royal Highness's actions were clearly pushing these two powers, currently in their honeymoon phase, into a fiery pit. If the White Tower and the Empire really did break up, she would be caught between her current employer and her own family. Just the thought of it made Fioran feel overwhelmed.
And then there's... Shiayar Egutt.
Fioran murmured the name in her heart again, a name she had repeated countless times in the past six months.
On the other hand, Isadella paid no attention to Fioran's gossipy thoughts. Once the Imaginary Zone was corrected by the proper course of history, even Legendary beings could only notice slight unnatural discrepancies in the river of time. Only those of Throne and Demigod Rank retained the complete memory of that vanished timeline.
Isadella knew well that her actions would be questioned and misunderstood by her ministers and even her family elders, but she didn't care. If that were not the case, she would not have initially betrayed the entire Round Table to create the Imaginary Zone. Moreover, with her current Rank, she already possessed the qualification to disregard all other opinions and do what she wanted.
Isadella gently reached out and pushed the wooden door before her. The door of the hunter's cabin creaked open.
Isadella did not let Fioran follow but entered the cabin alone, surveying everything in the room.
The space was neither too big nor too small. It was furnished with a single bed and a wooden table, upon which lay a cheap hourglass for keeping time and a stub of solidified candle wax. All the furniture was covered in a thick layer of dust.
Against the wall stood a wooden bookshelf, filled with basic introductory books on the Arcane Arts, magictech technology, and beast taming. While ordinary in Knowledge City, such books were rare in a small backwater town like Ceylon, obtainable only from the private collections of noble families or from certain traveling merchants. Clearly, it had not been easy for Shiayar to gather these elementary books.
Isadella carefully examined the books on the shelf. Each volume was well-thumbed and worn from frequent use, some even tattered. The blank spaces on every page were densely filled with notes written in a firm hand.
In the books related to magictech technology, Isadella saw several rough drafts and concept sketches of constructs. The drafts were rudimentary. However, Isadella could still make out the pitch-black mecha Shiayar had used in the final battle in Escarnia. She also recognized the embryonic form of the alchemy bomb designed to erupt like a star.
Directly opposite the table was a window. Through it, one could see the spruce forest and, beyond the canopy, the towering Three Sages Snow Mountain, faintly visible as it reached into the clouds.
Isadella envisioned Shiayar as a child. A young boy, dressed in thick animal-skin clothing, excitedly bringing home fish caught from the ice to cook fish soup with the old Hunter.
She imagined Shiayar living alone in Ceylon after the old Hunter's death. A half-grown boy, carrying a short bow, a petite snowy plains ferret trotting behind him. He would be trading his day's hunting spoils with a traveling merchant for a few simple, worn introductory books and writing materials.