Chapter 194: Hello, My Sister

Chapter 194: Chapter 194: Hello, My Sister

The assets Yusha left behind were more than Jeremy anticipated.

Factoring in long-term plans, he used the majority of this money for investments. The remainder he donated to destitute people who had never committed a crime, while simultaneously dispatching people to the slums and the black market to rescue a number of orphans and child slaves.

Those with magical talent would sign contracts and undergo centralized training.

Those without talent, based on their personal aptitudes, would be sent to various academies to sponsor their development.

The number of people was far larger than imagined.

But the thing Jeremy lacked least right now was exactly money.

After discussing it with his parents, they also all approved of his decision.

Cultivating a faction belonging exclusively to oneself, whether to him or to the family, carried no harm whatsoever.

Naturally, considering imperial authority, Jeremy ultimately only selected the top hundred with the best talent among the thousands, handing them over to the dedicated mages of the Ducal estate to personally train.

The rest were all sent into academies, under the guise of investment to protect the empire against the war that would descend in the future.

After handling all those matters, the three-day holiday only had exactly half a day left.

Jeremy glanced at the time. Only six hours remained until the appointed time with Evelyn to return to the academy.

Evelyn was now a princess. This holiday, she received an order summoning her so she had to return to the royal palace for a trip. The two left the school together for the capital, and before parting, still arranged to return together.

He wondered if things on her side went smoothly...

At the same time.

After leaving the main palace, Evelyn prepared to make a trip to the Azuria Palace, to meet the biological sister sharing the same father and mother whom she had never crossed paths with.

Regarding these so-called blood relatives, Evelyn had no special feelings.

From the moment she began forming memories, it was drilled into her head that she was the child of a murderer, abandoned and sold cheaply with reckless abandon.

Until she was saved by her adoptive father, she had always lived a life even more lowly than a slave. It wasn’t until she was eight that her adoptive father saved her life.

Her adoptive father was a beastman. After pulling her out of the hands of that beast, he originally intended to send her to the Divine Temple’s orphanage. But later, upon discovering she had magical talent, he extinguished that thought, taking her in as an adopted daughter.

Compared to that first beast who called himself her father, to her, her adoptive father could be considered a good person.

But at the same time, he was also a merchant. Everything placed personal interests above all else.

After marrying the daughter of a minor noble, the two also discussed raising her together.

But they also signed a contract with her.

For example... how much wealth she had to bring back to the family, how much she had to contribute, before she could pay off that contract of the debt of upbringing.

The way she interacted with her adoptive parents resembled superiors and subordinates, mutually beneficial, rather than resembling a family.

Perhaps there was affection. But Evelyn also didn’t know clearly if that thing ultimately counted as familial love or not.

Initially, all she needed to do was follow her adoptive parents’ orders: enroll smoothly, make connections and rely on nobles, bring honor to the family, and pay off all debts cleanly.

Now, from the adopted daughter of a declined noble — so poor they were worse off than commoners — she instantly transformed into an imperial princess. Furthermore, smoothly fulfilling her adoptive parents’ wishes, helping the family ascend a rank smoothly, and paying off all debts.

Originally, one should be overjoyed.

But currently to her, aside from shouldering a few more mandatory pressures, there seemed to be no other difference.

At the moment of meeting her biological father — who was also the reigning Emperor — at the Magic Tower, the innate power of her bloodline made her instantly understand: the person standing atop the pyramid of this empire was her flesh and blood.

Compared to excitement, what she wanted more was to escape.

The royal family, compared to ordinary families, was vastly more complex and cruel.

She wasn’t terrified and had never feared death. She merely didn’t want to exhaust her mind interacting with strangers she had never met under the guise of flesh and blood, then having to scheme and fight covertly for power.

That would be very exhausting.

Right from the start, she only wanted to smoothly graduate, pay off her debt to the family cleanly, repay her adoptive parents’ upbringing, then find some remote village, become a flower grower, and try living the life of an ordinary person.

But the situation at that time gave her no way to escape. It also completely extinguished that fantasy.

Most of the empire’s powerful figures were gathered in the meeting room. She didn’t have a single chance to slip away.

And most importantly, the Emperor... also clearly recognized her.

As expected, after the meeting, she was summoned privately.

The other party gave her no chance to choose. She was forced to return to the royal family.

Because the royal bloodline was not permitted to wander outside. And she happened to have followed her captain to become a person with outstanding contributions in bringing back the Mialans documents.

This event, if broadcast to the outside under the title of an imperial princess, would further solidify the hearts of the people. Therefore, the Emperor personally determined that he could not give her the freedom of choice.

Whether it was being kidnapped, being adopted by her adoptive parents, or acknowledging her ancestors and returning to her roots — all these matters, she had no right to choose.

She was just a dry leaf drifting with the current. A puppet letting others pull the strings.

Aside from a faint feeling of heavy melancholy welling up in her heart, there seemed to be no other feelings.

Upon stepping into the somewhat desolate palace, Evelyn pulled back her train of thought.

She lightly massaged her temples to soothe the headache, then began walking toward the main palace.

This palace was very secluded. There wasn’t even a single servant. The cobblestone path grew moss in its crevices, flanked by untrimmed bushes.

Clearly, just like the rumors, this younger sister of hers was not favored at all.

Rumor had it that she had been frail and sickly since childhood, and suffered from idiocy left as a lingering aftereffect, only surviving until now by relying on the care of a close maid. The suffering she had to endure, I fear ordinary people would find hard to imagine.

But if it was idiocy acquired as an aftereffect later on, then perhaps there was still a cure.

Strangely enough, the palace door in front wasn’t tightly shut, but left ajar with a gap just wide enough for one person to slip through.

The auras emitting from inside... didn’t resemble the rumor that there were only two people.

"..."

Evelyn’s expression remained unchanged, hiding her emotions. She didn’t rush closer but reached out to pull the doorbell.

"Come in." From inside rang out a clear, indifferent female voice.

A maid?

Or perhaps...

Evelyn stepped inside the palace.

Inside, aside from a bed and a lotus-shaped rocking chair, there was nothing else. So simple it didn’t look like the residence of a royal princess.

And inside the palace at this moment, besides her who had just entered, there were three more people.

Two people wearing black cloaks and masks. Based on physical characteristics, one male and one female could be discerned.

And currently, they were standing guard on the left and right, protecting a girl.

The young girl had her back turned to her, draped in a delicate and elegant long white dress, leaning back on the rocking chair, her face turned toward the pear blossom tree outside the window.

Her long hair cascaded all the way to the floor, resembling a ribbon of silk under the moonlight.

Evelyn glanced at the two black-cloaked figures who looked like guards. Just as she found her footing, she saw the young girl on the rocking chair gently stand up, carrying a very clear purpose as she turned around, casting her gaze toward her.

The power of bloodline is a very miraculous thing.

Evelyn had never met this princess forgotten by everyone.

But exactly in that moment, she instantly knew the young girl in front of her was exactly her biological younger sister sharing the same father and mother.

Perhaps because their mother was a foreigner, their hair color both transitioned from pale green to pale blue — rare in the empire.

As for eye color, she had green eyes, likely inherited from their mother who died early.

This person standing in front of her, although sharing the same hair color with her.

Her eye color, however, was glazed gold-red, symbolizing the most orthodox White Tiger bloodline of the royal family.

Her height was roughly equal to Captain Jeremy’s, but fragile and weak, resembling a willow branch in the wind, a withered flower unable to withstand half a speck of a storm.

Her long hair seemed to have never been trimmed, long enough to touch her ankles.

Although her visage was beautiful, her complexion was exactly as rumored — not seeing the sun all year round, as pale as someone bearing an illness.

However, in those eyes, there was not the numb emptiness of an idiot at all. Conversely, it carried an aloof distance like a cold moon, along with a tracing gaze that didn’t bother to hide.

"First time meeting. Hello, my... sister?"