Chapter 491: Annan is Outside

"Just as I thought... did you really come to assassinate the princess?"

Of course, Ashe did not confess. It was not because he was particularly brave, facing Quinna's overwhelming presence with sudden courage. Rather, he simply could not confess.

Annan's contract prohibited them from voluntarily leaking information. Ashe could not even report to the Swordswoman that he had somehow adopted a daughter, so how could he possibly tell Quinna about her daughter's plan?

Still, whether Ashe confessed or not made little difference. Since Ashe was here, the others had to be nearby as well. Infiltrating the palace during the night of the imperial banquet meant they clearly were not here just for free food. It became painfully obvious that they were here for the princess.

So when Ashe turned the question around and asked, "Do you know about the Tower?" Quinna understood immediately. Her daughter had brought this group of companions here to challenge the Tower.

Since Quinna had already figured it out, Ashe could reveal a little more. "We are not assassinating the princess. We are only here to invalidate her ranking."

"The result is the same."

Quinna fell silent for a moment. "The Empress of Isa is definitely the Gospel's First. Without the Gospel's First, either the Empress of Isa will continue ruling for another fifty years, or the Isa Imperial Family will face extinction from this point onward. Once you succeed, the Gospel will experience a disturbance unseen for centuries."

Ashe attempted to downplay the danger of their actions. "Even without the Gospel's First, the Isa Imperial Family still has other bloodlines, right? They can simply let someone else inherit the throne. People will not rebel just because the ruler is no longer the Gospel's First, right?"

However, Quinna nodded. "They will."

Ashe froze.

Quinna continued, "Why do you think so many dynasties throughout history collapsed? Why do you think our various family conglomerates remain confined within our own cities?

"Why has the Six-Emblem never expanded into other cities? The Mermaid Weed Farm is an irreplaceable miracle on a grand scale, but do you really think we couldn't set up smaller, local white mist regions in other cities if we wanted to?

"Why has the Belldets' Spend Bel System never spread beyond Montphera? Is it because the system lacks appeal? Or because the Belldets lack ambition and do not want to rule the population?"

Ashe hesitated. "Because of the laws?"

Quinna shook her head. "Compared to the selfish nature of humanity filtered through countless years of evolution, laws are merely a naive social experiment. Expansion is the instinct of every organization. Families, conglomerates, corporations, they are all the same. Once an organization expands to a certain point, it must suppress and absorb other organizations. Then internal conflicts emerge. Hatred follows. From there comes corruption, decay, erosion, and eventually collapse.

"Right now, the major families and conglomerates are trapped within their own cities. They devote all their energy toward research, development, production, competing for rankings, and accumulating the Gospel's favor. They have no intention of expanding and rarely create conflicts with other factions.

"Do you know how the Isa Imperial Family maintained this perfect balance for seven hundred years?"

"How?"

"I don't know," Quinna shrugged. "I only know it involves the Gospel's First. Every dynasty not under the rule of the Gospel's First has already vanished into history."

The elf leader's voice gradually turned colder. "Your attempt on the princess will either accelerate the collapse of the Gospel, or at worst, push the world toward the future the top three rankings wove. Destroyed cities. Undead families. Schemes running rampant. The world moving toward the apocalypse, while the glory of the Gospel disappears."

She looked directly at him. "Ashe, tell me what you think I will do. Will I secretly try to stop you? Or will I report you directly?"

"I think your next move is to help us."

"Oh?"

"If you were truly as orderly and kind-hearted as you claim, you would have sent me to the capital a month ago to collect the bounty. You would have imprisoned Annan and fed her only one meal of Lala Fat a day. Instead, you allowed us freedom of movement, tried to persuade us to join the Senheisers, and even attempted to seize Annan's Dolan inheritance."

Quinna poked his chest with a finger. "I didn't expect things would become this serious back then. Am I not allowed to get scared now?"

"You won't be scared," Ashe retorted. "Your people belong in the white mist, immersed in dreams. You are drunkards intoxicated by endless pleasure, fanatics chasing whatever joy exists.

"Your kind did not even fear becoming nutrients for the Mermaid Weed Farm. How could you fear some disaster in the distant future? The Six-Emblems ignore reality because, compared to dreams, reality is simply far too dull. Rather than wasting time managing reality, they prefer leaving it to the family while wholeheartedly enjoying their dreams.

"Conversely, if they found something in reality offering even a fraction of that pleasure, then no matter how dangerous, members of the Six-Emblem families would not hesitate. In fact, after leaving Vanmura, I occasionally wondered...

"What was the real reason your Legendary necromancer ancestor created the white mist? He did not need the Mermaid Weed, and claiming he did it out of concern for his descendants is an exaggeration. Spending more time with Harvey made me realize something. Are people who abandon reality not essentially soldiers with no fear of death? Is a family dream built from endless fantasies not also the ultimate training ground?

"White mist provides powerful positive emotional feedback, making it the best stimulant and morale builder available. The Mermaid Weed Farm we saw is actually the Six-Emblems' 'power-saving mode.' Operating at full capacity, the Six-Emblems could send family members with their willpower at its absolute peak onto the battlefield. Once killed, their corpses would become high-quality undead materials, allowing them to immediately awaken and continue fighting for the family."

Ashe stared at Quinna. "Since the very beginning, the Six-Emblem families have been coveting the throne of the Isa Imperial Family."

Quinna replied calmly, "First of all, everything you said is an accusation without evidence. Secondly, even if they were true, those were my ancestors' ambitions. As for me, I am merely a young family leader living in a peaceful era."

"Young family leader..." Ashe spread his hands. "So be it. I have no objective proof of your true thoughts. As for a subjective reason, I have one."

"What is it?"

"You and Annan are mother and daughter. Annan was deeply influenced by you, and many of her actions take after yours. Since Annan can relentlessly chase a dangerous, impossible wish to become the Divine Lord... I refuse to believe you are truly just a conservative family leader willing to quietly protect your family."

Quinna stared at him. "First of all, protecting the family and being conservative are not the same thing. Even if I have ambitions, ultimately they are still for the future of the family. Secondly, I have not interacted with you for long. You say Annan's actions resemble mine, but which actions exactly?"

Ashe finally relaxed. "So you really do intend to help us?"

Quinna smiled. "The Isa Imperial Family has existed for too long. Long enough to become somewhat obstructive. The Senheisers would also like to see what lies at the peak of the Gospel. Besides, something as small as Vanmura cannot contain the Six-Emblem families."

The few casual words she spoke fully revealed her hidden ambition. Once Quinna made her decision, she did not hesitate. "What do you need me to do?"

Ashe explained, "We are currently bound by our work contracts and cannot leave the banquet hall. I need you to find a way to release us from our duty. Only then will we have a chance to find the Tower and take the princess away."

The two of them quickly discussed several possible plans, but all of them were filled with uncertainty and had low chances of success.

Quinna pondered for a moment before saying, "I am willing to help you bring down the Isa Imperial Family, but I cannot risk being discovered while assisting you. If anything unexpected happens, or if I feel the risk becomes too high, I will stop."

Ashe nodded. "That's completely reasonable. Just do what you can. I'll give it my all."

After further refining the details of their plan, Quinna suddenly asked, "Then what do you want?"

Ashe was taken aback.

"The Senheisers want to devour the remains of the Isa Imperial Family after their fall and seize the supreme throne amidst the coming chaos. Annan wants to obtain the wish of the Divine Lord... What about you?"

Ashe shrugged. "Because of the contract, I have no choice but to participate in this mission for Annan. It's not like I came here to chase after some dream of my own. But if the wish can be split into multiple parts and there is enough capacity, Annan will help me fulfill mine."

Quinna looked at him. "If those were your only reasons, there should be reluctance, fear, and anxiety in your eyes. Yet you have none of those negative emotions. Not only that, after I caught you, you still managed to calmly pull me onto your side."

"About that..." Ashe coughed twice, looking slightly embarrassed. "I just felt that you wouldn't hurt me..." ℴℴ𝘮

"Then that feeling of yours is wrong," Quinna said with a bluntness almost frightening. "I very much want to hurt you. And you're still avoiding my question."

Ashe fell silent for a moment. "I'm just curious. Curious about what would happen without the Gospel's First. Curious whether I can destroy the future the Gospel has woven."

"Do you not feel the weight of it? Keep in mind that even now, you are still the prime suspect responsible for triggering the apocalyptic future. Perhaps it happens precisely because you assassinated the princess and invalidated the Gospel's First."

Ashe replied, "If the world really ends because I invalidated the Gospel's First... I would feel incredibly unlucky, yet I would still do it without a single regret. Quinna, do you think I'm a very special person?"

"Yes."

Ashe shook his head. "No. I don't think I'm special at all. Without Ashe, there would be Sesh, Lesh, Resh, or whoever else. If I wasn't here, the culprit behind the future woven by the Gospel could just as easily be Iger, Harvey, or even Pankey. Ultimately, if one person alone can bring down an entire nation, does the problem lie with the person or with the nation? There is a saying that the world keeps turning without any single individual, meaning people just aren't that important. But if an individual is so important that the world collapses without them... Is that really a healthy world?"

Quinna nodded thoughtfully. "So you never believe you need to take responsibility for the future disaster you might cause, or for the women you have gotten involved with?"

Ashe responded, "At least half of that responsibility doesn't belong to me."

Quinna grew curious, sounding remarkably like her daughter. "What if the apocalypse truly happens because of you?"

Ashe rolled his eyes at her. "Then I'll drink red wine while watching the world burn."

After finishing their discussion, the two opened the door and left the restroom.

However, the moment the door opened, they saw a palace servant standing outside.

Despite the outstanding disguise the servant wore, Quinna immediately recognized her daughter. Up until then, they had been discussing serious matters, but whenever Quinna saw her daughter, she could never resist the urge to tease her. She lightly patted Ashe's shoulder. "Don't worry. I set up a soundproof barrier earlier. Even with you being that loud, she wouldn't have heard a thing."

"I wasn't worried about that—"

Ashe's words were cut short when Annan glared fiercely at Quinna, grabbed his sleeve, and dragged him away. "Back to work."

Quinna returned to the banquet hall and met up with Nona.

Nona looked at her strangely. "Where did you go just now?"

"The restroom."

"Why were you in there for so long?"

"Ashe Heath was inside."

Nona froze. "Then... I suppose that wasn't actually very long."

If there were not so many people around, Quinna would have loved to smack her on the butt just to wake her up.