NOVGO.NET Chapter 1669: Real Obsession
Chapter 1669: Real Obsession
Rex was at a loss for words.
He didn’t know whether he should be angry right now or not, as Althea was incredibly inconsistent.
It was hard to tell if she was teasing or outright mocking him.
One moment, she was asserting her dominance—and then she suddenly talked about wrinkles as if she were an insecure woman. Rex scratched the back of his head. I really do pity her husband… to handle a woman like that, must be tiring.
But once Althea left, he came to realize that April and Princess Davina were looking at him.
Both were looking at him with a peculiar gaze.
Rex didn’t quite know what was inside their minds, but it surely wasn’t anything good.
I need to leave.
Glancing to the side, he found his ticket to leave as he didn’t want to talk with either of them, who most certainly would ask him questions about Althea. He didn’t want to talk about that incident, at least not now when it was still fresh.
“Ekhmm, Ethan,” Rex called. “You said the legion needs me now, right?”
“No, it does—” Ethan halted his sentence when he saw Rex’s expression tensing—it was a help signal, and he could tell that he was going to be in trouble if he didn’t heed it. “R-Right, they wanted to talk about the wounded and also the rewards you were going to give them.”
“Okay then,” Rex gestured for him to lead, then turn to the side. “I’ll get going, the legion needs me.”
Before April and Princess Davina could answer, Rex and Ethan already scurried away.
“Everyone practically saw it,” Princess Davina muttered and clicked her tongue in displeasure, but she couldn’t vent her anger, as the culprit was already gone. With a grim expression, she walked away to where the other nobles were.
April was also the same. “Why are there so many women around him? Is he a magnet?”
She rolled her eyes and walked away with a sour mood.
Meanwhile, Rex was walking along the side of the main street, following Ethan back to where his legion was. He was also in a sour mood as during the confrontation, the old man managed to slip away—and disappear into thin air.
He was good at hiding; perhaps that’s his talent that made him survive to that old age.
Sigh… Those people came at the perfect time to ruin my chance. Now what am I going to do?
Rex massaged his forehead as he now didn’t have any lead as to what Haxel’s real motivation was.
“What are you doing there earlier, Sir Rex?” Ethan opened his mouth and asked curiously.
Since Ethan helped him go through that situation earlier, he was rather thankful and decided to trust this second captain. Rex looked at him and said, “I can tell that you’re not dense—so you must already realize that there’s a traitor among us.”
“Sir Haxel…” Ethan mumbled, brows dipping into a frown. “He’s the traitor.”
Most of the time, Ethan was commanding the legion in Rex’s stead and kept the soldiers in formation.
He hadn’t taken a direct hand in the main conflict; at most, he intercepted the boulders tumbling down the mountain’s steep slope. Beyond that, he remained largely idle, watching over the legion and ensuring he caught any trouble before it could arise.
But that was precisely why he could tell that Haxel was acting weirdly.
Being in the background, watching, it was easy to spot that Haxel was not on their side.
Rather than tackling the real problem, Haxel limited his efforts to aiding those nearest to him. It became apparent he only wanted to look useful to those who watched closely; move enough to avoid suspicion, without ever truly addressing the crisis.
“You don’t look surprised,” Rex commented.
Even though it was supposed to be a surprise that Haxel was the traitor, it didn’t seem to bother him.
“Nope, I always felt that something was wrong with him from the start; his aura.” Ethan shrugged. He already felt like something was going on with Haxel, and he decided to steer clear, and this was the very confirmation that showed he had made the right decision. “Besides, Her Majesty’s future hangs on this, so I already expected a traitor to emerge.”
“I should’ve known it was going to be Haxel,” He scoffed, shaking his head.
Hearing this, Rex raised a brow, “What do you mean?”
“I mean, the guy has already been punished twice for daring to flock around Her Majesty,” Ethan said, his voice low and edged with pity. “One more time and they’ll put him to death. I mean, I’d give up a long time ago if I were him.”
Ethan stopped and turned toward Rex, his face scrunching in confusion.
“Not because the punishment was hard, but because Her Majesty never entertained him. All he got from her are cold rejections, and yet he keeps trying. It will be an entirely different thing if she also wanted to be with him, like Momeo and Ruliet story, but she doesn’t.” He placed his hands on his hip, shaking his head in silent prayer for the poor guy. “He got lucky. If I were the emperor, I would have ended him long ago. How dare he creep so close to my wife?”
“You talk almost as if you’re really the emperor,” Rex shook his head and walked past him.
“I mean, think about it,” Ethan kept up his pace with Rex. “How desperate must he be to chase after her relentlessly like that. Now, he decided to follow the cliché of a dark romance story… sabotaging the empire for her.”
Despite looking composed outside, Rex was completely fuming inside.
His breaths were already shallow, so much so that he feared that Ethan would notice it.
You’re telling me he’s doing this not because he was sent here by the royal concubines—but because he was heartbroken? Rex clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. He’s getting in my way to save Nivellen for that kind of reason?!
It would be different if Empress Morgana were someone to him before.
But from what Ethan said, both of them weren’t anything before she became empress.
Haxel was only someone who took a liking to Empress Morgana, and that feeling turned into an obsession.
“Look, he’s doing it right now…”
At the three-way junction, Ethan pointed across the way—there stood Haxel, lingering only a few dozen meters from Empress Morgana. While she addressed the people, helping the wounded and easing the mind with her presence, he loitered at the gate, watching her with the unsettling stillness of a stalker.
Since the spot was not far from the Emerald Fortress, Haxel must’ve waited for Empress Morgana.
He waited patiently for her to finish her prayer.
“See? That guy has a screw loose. He’ll die if he is caught again, but he still keeps doing it!”
Ignoring Etha’s words, Rex’s eyes narrowed.
A bluish hue flickered in his eyes as he scanned Haxel.
He’s desperate and in sorrow… I don’t think it’s as Ethan said.
Even though there are people who could love someone so deeply when they had only seen the person once or had never met them at all. But Haxel was not that kind of man. He is a knight, bound to duty, always on the move from one place to the next.
Rex was quite sure that he had no problem in his love life, so this doesn’t make sense.
It doesn’t make sense for Haxel to be this obsessed with someone without a prior history.
I’m quite confident he knew Empress Morgana before she became empress.
Just then, with a deep inhale, Haxel braced himself and approached Empress Morgana.
He approached in hesitant steps and stopped behind her, silent—not out of restraint, but because he simply had no words. It was only when the people’s eyes shifted past her that Empress Morgana realized he was standing there.
Since the spot was not far from where the Emerald Fortress was
“Your Majesty,” Haxel said with a faint smile, “I came to report—that the soldiers have nearly finished restoring the city—and the bubble. Not a trace of the devastation remains, even the dents and cracks in the walls have been mended as though nothing ever happened.”
“Good work. Althea will inform you and the other knights when we will depart again.” She replied.
No warmth in her voice, and she didn’t waste more words than necessary.
Once she said that, Empress Morgana focused back on the people again.
She has nothing to say to Haxel, but he kept standing there, unwilling to leave just yet.
“How… How did the prayer go? Did it we—”
“If you don’t have anything important to say to me, please tend to your legion.”
Before Haxel could even finish his sentence, Empress Morgana already cut him short.
From his tone alone, she already knew she didn’t need to hear the rest—empty words, nothing more.
Casting a final glance over her shoulder, she fixed Haxel with an ice-cold look, “Haven’t you learned from your mistakes? We are worlds apart now. If you persist in this, in trying to act—like we’re friends or more, I’ll report you myself. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“M-Morgana, it’s me…” Haxel’s voice trembled as his smile froze and broke. “It’s me… Haxel.”
“Stop clinging to the past. Move on.” Empress Morgana said and walked away.
She left behind Haxel, who stood rooted on his spot, almost as if he was frozen in time.
As her figure vanished around the corner, Haxel’s head dropped—as he stared to the ground, shoulders shaking as if he was on the brink of tears. But when the tears were about to drop, he looked up and then walked away.
From where Haxel was standing to Rex was quite far away.
Nobody normal could hear what they were saying.
But Rex caught all of it from start to finish without even needing to approach closer.
As I expected, he has a history with Empress Morgana. It might be a real relationship. I’m curious… Is it that Empress Morgana is that kind of person who abandoned Haxel for someone better, or is there an unknown reason?
Regardless of which one she really was, this gave a clearer picture for Rex.
Now, he knew exactly what he needed to do in preparation for Haxel’s next attempt.
“Come on, let’s address the legion.”
Moments later.
Nobody knows exactly what the nobles did to stop the White Mask temporarily, but from the nobles who do comment, it was Empress Morgana who did it. But as expected, whatever she did couldn’t last long against the White Mask.
Soon enough, before the soldiers could recuperate properly, the voidal aura in the distance surged.
It came from the White Mask, and it was also the signal for them to move again.
Now, Rex, along with the soldier—who could still fight actively, surrounded the sleeping horde again, while the nobles went ahead to handle the White Mask. All of them still looked rough, even though the Seekers were mainly focused on healing them and replenishing their life energy.
Rex could only frown as he watched them fly away into the Black Rift.
Clearly, this was the perfect moment for Haxel to take some of them down, and he couldn’t allow that.
Turning to look at Haxel, Rex expected him to be smiling, but he wasn’t.
His face was stone-cold.
It was clear that his mind was still fixated on what had happened with Empress Morgana earlier.
Good. At least that’s one thing going well for me.
“Are you fine?”
Rex turned and saw that April was looking at him with a hint of confusion, but when she inspected him fully with her eyes, that confusion turned into surprise, “Your life energy was completely depleted earlier after the fight, so how come it’s half-full now…?” She asked.
Hearing this, Rex shrugged his shoulders, “I can regenerate quickly.”
Of course, this wasn’t his Werewolf bloodline working, as his bloodline only regenerates physical wounds, not energy exhaustion. Fortunately for him, Kraken was still inside him, and he could process voidal energy into life energy. “I adopted a monster, and he helped me regenerate.”
“Such a useful monster,” April marveled. “You’re basically inexhaustible.”
“Yeah, something like that.”