Chapter 3: Dream

Soon, the Head Maid took out a strange purple vial from her leather pouch, opened the baby’s mouth using her forefinger, and poured a few drops of strange liquid into his mouth.

‘No! What are you feeding him?’ Athena got anxious and shouted. But the Head Maid didn’t seem to have heard her shout and continued to feed the strange liquid.

Then, she hurriedly placed the baby next to Athena’s mother and left the room with fast steps.

On the other hand, Athena saw the young baby started crying sooner and even started to vomit the purple liquid. But she soon noticed that the baby began to enter the sleepy state.

No! As the seconds passed, she noticed that Raven wasn’t even breathing!

‘NOOOO!’ Her eyes turned bloodshot as she screamed and soon saw the whole reality itself shattered into multiple particles like a broken mirror. Although she also saw her aunt Shirley running into the room in a panic, everything turned pitch black in mere moments.

At the same time, she opened her eyes and noticed that she was still sleeping in her room.

“W-Was that a dream?” But she felt it was way too realistic to call that a dream.

At the same time, she recalled the young baby’s final cry and sat up.

Without hesitation, she left the bed and dashed out of her room. The hallway was shrouded in darkness, and she almost stumbled forward. Thankfully, she adjusted to the dark and fastened her footsteps towards the nearby room.

Once she arrived at the wooden door, she raised her hands and pushed open the door.

Her gaze was soon drawn to her mother and the baby.

‘He is still breathing.’ She also noticed no trace of any purple liquid on his cheeks and breathed a sigh of relief.

Only then did she notice the room looked cleaner.

Unlike before, all the blood traces were cleaned, and the room appeared better.

After looking at her mother, she stepped forward and walked closer to the young baby, sleeping soundlessly. She also saw a cup and a milk bottle placed on the nearby table and thought her aunt must have fed the baby.

‘But what was that earlier dream?’

She looked at the moon through the window and guessed it must be close to midnight.

“Maybe, it’s not a dream but a future? Will she really kill Raven?” She bit her lips in frustration and slowly took the sleeping child in her arms.

“Should I take him away and go to somewhere far away?” A strange thought popped up in her mind.

At the same time, she looked at her mother and quivered.

“What should I do, mama? Wake up!” Her voice turned hoarse as tear droplets fell slowly. Although she didn’t understand if that dream was true or false, she knew one thing for sure.

‘If Raven stay in this Palace, he will definitely die.’ She took a deep breath and whispered in Jeanne’s ears.

“Mama, I don’t have any other choice but to take him away. I’ll take care of him from now on and will come back one day to see you. Please wait for us until then.”

“But how are you going to survive alone?” A familiar voice came from the entrance, causing her body to stiffen.

“Aunt Shirley?” She slowly turned around and stared at her warily.

‘W-What happened? What made her to be even wary of her own aunt?’ For a second, Shirley felt this young child had grown a lot.

Surprised, she raised her hands and spoke in a solemn tone.

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“Don’t get wary of your own aunt, Athena. But are you really sure about your decision? Once you decided, there will be no turning back.”

“I am!” There was not even a hint of hesitation in her eyes.

“Follow me then,” Shirley grabbed Athena’s hand and left the room first. Then, they both walked on the hallway stealthily and soon moved to the balcony at the end.

“Let’s jump down.” Shirley took the baby from Athena carefully and jumped from the balcony. Soon, she casually stepped in mid-air, controlling her body weight perfectly, and landed on the grassy yard.

Even though it was a moment, Athena noticed that her aunt's strength appeared to have far surpassed a normal human.

‘Aunt is an Official Knight?!’ Shocked, Athena also leaped into the mid-air and fell incredibly fast.

But as she was about to crash on the grassy yard, Shirley moved her other hand and caught her using her shirt collar.

“Athena, you have to cover your right hand from now on and never attract any noble’s attention.” Shirley whispered and fastened her footsteps towards the compound wall.

But as she observed the surroundings, she couldn’t help but get suspicious. In truth, she was planning on using a stealth artifact to escape with the child but was little baffled by the current situation.

“Why there are no guards in the courtyard?” She mumbled inwardly and subconsciously turned her gaze towards the white palace building.

For a moment, she felt an invisible force gripped her whole body and slowly dissipated, causing her face to turn pale.

She instantly knew that the mere force was enough to squash her body hundred or even thousand times and felt an uncontrollable fear.

"W-What happened, Aunt?" Athena asked as she saw her aunt's pale face and looked around cautiously.

Two seconds later, Shirley finally managed to calm down and came to a realization.

"It seems like they are letting us go voluntarily." After all, she knew that even the normal Royal Guard's strength should be way above Radiant Walker and let out a bitter smile.

"It's better for us to go very far away and live in some rural town."

She only hesitated momentarily before grabbing Athena’s hand and walking towards the compound gate. Soon, both jumped to the other side and disappeared from there.

...

Palace Bedroom,

At that moment, two people sat on the silk-covered luxurious bed and gazed in the direction where Athena and Shirley disappeared. One was a beautiful red-haired woman with amber eyes, while the other was a blonde-haired man. The beautiful woman only wore a transparent white robe and possessed a charming body that could even turn the Emperor into a small kid.

She was none other than the Empress of the Zenith Empire, Elise Sillalus Jorvot.

“That Athena child has a great potential in Swordsmanship. Although her darkness affinity is only ‘high’ rank, her sword affinity is 'genius' rank. If she enters the Crows’ Misery academy and become wizard Allen’s disciple, she would’ve a great future. What a letdown.” Emperor Ian said with a trace of disappointment.

“Great future?” A frown appeared on that woman’s face.

“The people of this Ivory Continent had been cast out for who knows how long and been isolated from the rest of the world. The only reason those scheming wizards returned to this island is mainly because of the presence of human resources. From the looks of it, they seem to be preparing for a large scale war and need potential seeds to fight for that.” The red-haired woman named Elise said coldly. She was none other than the Empress of the Zenith Empire.

A chuckle escaped out of Emperor Ian’s mouth.

“You are mistaken about something, my darling. In truth, my father and few others made a deal with Wizard Alliance when the Wizards arrived at this Ivory Island a millennium ago.” Emperor Ian’s words caused Elise to furrow.

“Deal? Why hadn’t I heard of this from your mouth until now?” Her voice contained a trace of curiosity.

“That’s because you never expressed your distrust towards the Wizards this openly before. And I also never feel any need to explain this matter to you.” Emperor Ian paused for a moment and then added.

“Unlike this place, the outside world has been improving drastically through battle and advancing to the new age for a long time. Ground breaking discoveries like Rune Pistol, Airships, Railways, Communication artifacts, and many more are happening every minute, causing the lifestyle of the mainland people to become more modern. On the other hand, we are far from even achieving anything on our own. When the wizards came, the Ivory Island was bathed in blood constantly. Even a small misunderstanding led to wars for years, resulting in deaths of millions.”

“I know that much. But nothing changes now too, right? Even now, there is always been unrest all over the Ivory Continent.” Elise said.

“That’s where you are wrong. After the Wizards arrival, the first good thing happened to this land was social revolution. Thanks to their intervention, slavery was abolished, and even every men and woman has the right to vote and elect the leader through voting system. That’s how Gavin got his position as the Prime Minister of Zenith Empire. Although the noble hierarchy system is still there, most of the official positions are vacant for everyone. And a commoner also has many ways to climb up the rank and become a true noble unlike before.”

“Although Wizards’ arrival and their new technology changed revolution in medicine, alchemy, science, rune study, and so on, the strength of the Ivory Island is still far inferior. Even a single Magical Beast invasion to our territory will be result in a big issue. That’s why my father and the rulers of the other three Empires formed a pact with the Wizard Alliance to protect this place for two thousand years and create a new hope for this land. Furthermore, Wizard Alliance also promised us that they will take Royal children to become disciples of High Ranked Wizards and nurture them to be powerful enough to become the main pillar of the four empires. In return for this promise, we gave up some of our right to rule the people.” The Emperor’s voice turned solemn.