Chapter 1557 - 84: The Golden Skyline (Part 4)

"Use familial affection to influence Serey, make him find the existence of his own value, and stop the expansion of the Eternal Night Empire?" Bologue whispered, "Aisha is too naive, she actually places hope in Serey’s conscience."

"There’s no way around it. At the end of the day, she’s just an ordinary person with her own limitations; that’s the extent of what she can do."

Olivia reminisced, "Moreover, she has done her utmost to give me a perfect enough childhood."

"She often told me about her adventures when she was young, explaining to me that this world isn’t just filled with gloomy fortresses and cruel blood sacrifices. She told me that such a world lies at the end of the golden horizon."

Olivia continued, "Since then, I have always longed for the end of the golden horizon, and had attempted numerous times to secretly flee across that line, wanting to see the world she spoke of."

On one miraculous occasion, I succeeded, passing through the strict guards and rugged roads, getting increasingly closer to that golden horizon, almost within reach, and then I saw... war."

People are the sum of their past experiences, and among these experiences, there are always a few crucial turning points that become the cornerstone of shaping one’s persona.

The edge of the Dark Iron Curtain is the golden horizon, and that’s the frontline of war. Bologue guessed that Olivia encountered her first major life turning point there.

"I saw brutal Bloodthirsty and iron riders advancing forward, saw towns after towns reduced to ashes, witnessed droves of people being beheaded, their blood pooling the ground, forming small streams."

Olivia’s eyes lost focus, as if she had returned to that distant nightmare.

"In past life, I was protected too well by my mother and was shaped by her almost fairy tale-like stories, creating a naive mindset. That was the first time I encountered the real world, the cruel world.

And it was at that moment that I personally witnessed that golden horizon and, beyond it, saw for the first time that so-called... sun."

Olivia showed an expression of surprise, her demeanor became somewhat excited, examining Bologue with delighted eyes.

"The sun, I had heard of it in my mother’s stories, imagining countless times what kind of thing it might be until that time, when I saw it for the first time.

It was so immense, warm, resplendent, unable to be directly looked at.

That ocean-like sky, shimmering green fields, flower bushes, were things I had only seen in books or paintings, and now they all appeared before my eyes; I saw the distant city, I saw... saw..."

Olivia’s voice gradually weakened; it was one of the few beautiful moments in her life, every recollection made her deeply moved, her long-cold heart beat once more for it.

"Bologue, even now, I still find it difficult to describe my feelings at that time, like a blind person suddenly gaining sight, glimpsing the myriad forms of the world, no longer just monotonous gray and white.

And it was at that moment that I suddenly understood why my mother was always morose; once you’ve lived under the sunlight, you can’t tolerate a life in darkness anymore."

Olivia whispered, "I forgot my mother’s warnings and walked towards the sunshine. I wanted to step into that beautiful world, but once I crossed the Dark Iron Curtain, sunlight touched my skin, and for the first time, I felt such warmth... only for it to scorch my skin, erode my bones, ignite a raging fire upon me."

It was like the collapse of self-recognition; all along, Olivia never had a concrete concept for the Night Race, only when the flames devastated did she realize how ugly and evil she truly was.

"It was so miraculous, at that moment I recognized what the real world was like, and it was also at that moment I figured out what I, and the so-called Night Race, were."

...

"If it weren’t for the timely discovery, if Olivia wasn’t a Pure-blood Night Race, she would have almost perished under the blazing sun," Serey recalled with effort, "After repeated blood therapies, Olivia recovered quickly, but since then, she rarely smiled; when no one interacts with her, she just stared dumbly at the golden horizon."

"As the war advanced and age grew, she often slipped out of my sight, secretly sneaking to the edge of the Dark Iron Curtain, staying there for a whole day. Quietly, she was also seeking some Alchemy Armament that could evade sunlight... "

Serey felt a headache, pinching his nose forcefully, he felt very tired, like fighting a war; each sentence consumed a lot of his energy.

"I have seen all of this with my own eyes, and actually, I also understand Aisha’s words.

Decades ago, Aisha and I traveled the world, witnessed various beauties, and decades later, I led iron riders to systematically burn away those beauties...

I know, I am a coward who fears my father’s cowardice, even if I don’t want this, I dare not defy my father."

Serey murmured, "Aisha was utterly disappointed with me, until she had no more expectations, and then... that event happened."

Sai Zong speculated, "The event that caused you to overthrow the Night Race, transforming into such a form?"

"Something like that, Aisha met a wandering scholar," Serey squinted his eyes, "She commissioned that scholar to help her craft a weapon powerful enough to obliterate the Night Race."

Serey added, "Speaking of coincidence, I initially didn’t know about this, but at the end of the Dawn War, I also met that scholar; he took the initiative to explain it all to me. Later, he even testified the signing of the Dawn Oath."

To this day, Serey still remembers the scholar’s name, Wolfgang Gold.

"To get back to Aisha’s story, she was disappointed in my cowardice and was hopeless about the world ruled by the Eternal Night Empire. She didn’t allow the world she once loved to be shrouded by the Dark Iron Curtain, so she took up the weapon crafted by that scholar, a dagger named the Bloodthirsty Dagger..."

"What did she do?"

"Something I couldn’t even imagine; she was so brave that it was then I realized Aisha actually had such a tenacious side, like knowing her anew," Serey said softly, "No wonder it’s Aisha; I feel like I’ll never fully understand her."

No need for Serey’s explanation, Sai Zong already guessed what Aisha did.

Regicide.