Rivers of the Night-Chapter 328: Forthcoming [1000 GT Bonus]

Chapter 328: Forthcoming [1000 GT Bonus]

Theron hardly moved. His glance didn’t even turn over the Emperor, but that didn’t stop his words from coming out just as evenly as usual.

“The cloaked figures, the four of them. What do you know about them?”

The Emperor’s steps paused, his eyes narrowing.

“… They are of the Seijin Clan, vassals chosen by who is likely to be the next heir of their Clan, though I cannot be sure.”

“What is the Seijin Clan?”

There was a flicker in the Emperor’s eyes. Maybe he had had much the same assumptions as Elder Black, but it was only now they realized that Theron wasn’t actually an escapee of the Clan. Otherwise… why would he go through all this trouble just to ask questions about them?

But that left another interesting question… why would they target Theron otherwise?

Could Theron be a vassal that that young man wanted, but he had refused? That seemed like the most likely story. But in that case, how had they allowed things to even get this far in the first place?

Unless… Chopra wasn’t the first vassal of the Seijin that Theron had killed? Just how much blood was on this child’s hands?

What the Emperor didn’t know was that it was a lot more blood than he knew or could even guess. That was because right about now, there was a rampage cutting through his city, and the Sangun were far from the only ones suffering this defeat.

“The Seijin Clan are a Clan of Spirit Mancers. They are small in number, but their control over the Karmic Spirit Mancy Path is incredibly powerful, so much so that they can easily pick out talents to grow their numbers and use them in their proxy wars. They rarely have to put themselves in the line of fire as a result.”

It was a simple explanation. Succinct and without any hints of fluff. It boiled down everything Theron wanted to know. Well… almost everything.

“What do you know about the Nightingales? Why are they special?”

“The Nightingales…” Emperor Sangun frowned. “There is nothing much I can say. The Nightingales appeared from nowhere at an odd time. They don’t have nearly the same history as the other families in our territory, but their influence skyrocketed in short order.

“The Imperial Clan of the Nightingale Province should have been the Thistles, but they were replaced seemingly by coincidence.”

“Seemingly?”

“It is hard to say. The sudden suppression of Wood Spirit Mana should have been the main reason, but it all happened much faster than natural. At least this is my speculation.”

Theron didn’t say anything but he agreed.

Blood Crystal took many years to form and mature, this much was already known. But that should also mean that in the process, Wood Spirit Mana should have been declining for a long while already first.

The actual details of what happened back then were unknown to Theron, so he couldn’t confirm his theory. For all he knew, it took a while for the Thistles to decline like they had.

But these words confirmed them. There were simply things Emperors would know that others would never.

This was exactly the context Theron wanted.

“The Firewings. Why are they in an alliance with the Nightingales?”

“I do not know. There is no reason for them to do this in my opinion. Fire and Darkness have no particularly synergistic effects, and there’s no benefit like the Blacks and Golds might experience when one affinity heavily suppresses the other either.

“But in my experience, often the most obvious answer is the answer. The Firewings do not have a worthy male heir in this generation. By comparison, the Nightingales have one, but it is speculated that they have an even more worthy female heir who is being hidden by the Imperial Clan.

“In a situation like the—.”

“I understand.” Theron cut him off. He didn’t want to waste time on another’s deductions. He had already thought of it the moment the Emperor began.

Sadie was well hidden, but clearly not well hidden enough. Others knew about her, enough to know that she was the far superior candidate to Aetherion.

That should mean that even if Aetherion became the Emperor, he wouldn’t truly be the one ruling the country, as that would almost certainly fall to Sadie who would have final say.

That was to say while it seemed like Thessa was marrying into the Nightingale Clan and losing all autonomy to their Imperial Clan, she was actually getting the status of Empress, without the downside of marrying a man with the power of an Emperor.

By the same token, she was proving herself to be about as talented as Aetherion as well.

So while Aetherion would play second fiddle to the Nightingales, Thessa would have very strong pull in the Firewings because she had no competition.

This would lead to a very complex political balancing game where the Firewings actually might be able to whittle down the Nightingales and feed into a few cracks in their armor.

Also, because Sadie was a woman who would almost certainly be married off at some point in the future, this would further fragment the Nightingales. If Sadie’s husband was especially powerful, that would lead to a unique dynamic where she would hold great sway over the Nightingales, while also being limited in the action she could take outside of a casual influence.

This would lead to both Sadie’s and Aetherion’s influence over the Nightingales being diluted, leaving space for Thessa to fill in the gaps. ƒreewebɳovel.com

It was a tricky political needle to thread, but theoretically, the Firewings could one day swallow up the entire Province for themselves.

But that might explain why the Firewings would be willing to take such a risk—especially if Thessa was a talent they had no confidence in appearing again any time soon. But what it didn’t explain was why the Nightingales would seek out such an alliance to begin with.

The main question was still left unanswered, and the fact even an Emperor didn’t know only made Theron all the more focused on it.

However, right now, there was another, more pressing question.

“Final question. Why are you so forthcoming with your answers?”

Theron’s wrist flexed the slightest bit and a trail of blood fell down the Empress’ fair neck.