Published at 21st of November 2020 09:15:02 PM
Sponsored Content
“According to the records, Empress Victoria did get married, but the truth is that it was a fake marriage . Her husband, William, was actually one of her close maids cross-dressing . ”
“Ah? Is such a thing possible?”
Roel was shocked by Nora’s words . He had always thought that the royal family was filled with prim and proper individuals, dignified to their very bones . Yet, it turned out that they played all sorts of nifty tricks like this…
Nora could understand Roel’s astonishment too . She was even more shocked than him when she first learned of this matter .
“Wait a moment . Could it be that Empress Victoria faked her marriage in order to…”
“Correct . One the reasons is because she needed to have a spouse in order for her to legitimately take Wade’s offspring as her own and raise them to become successors of the throne, and the other is due to Mister Ponte . ”
Roel could somewhat understand Victoria’s decision . The culture in the Theocracy back then was far more conservative than at present . It would be a huge scandal if the empress of the Theocracy was found committing adultery with a married noble . The honor of the royal family would be sullied, and she would risk turning all of the noblewomen against her .
Noblemen cheating on their wives had always been a sore spot for noblewomen, so this was an issue that they felt strongly about .
It was probably out of consideration of this that Ponte chose to reject Victoria after careful consideration . He couldn’t allow Victoria to put so much on the line for him . It was just that he would have never imagined that Victoria’s feelings for him weren’t just at the level of a short-term infatuation—she truly loved him and wanted to be with him, no matter how long it would take .
So, Victoria set her eyes on a long-term plan instead . Through adopting Wade’s offspring, she was able to seal the mouths of her subjects who constantly raised complaints about the lack of a successor . Following that, she began biding her time for Ponte, waiting two whole decades till Ponte’s wife finally passed away .
Ponte’s wife was not a transcendent, and she could be considered to be one of the poor victims of the circle of nobility’s great tradition of political marriages . After bearing Ponte’s child, the two of them spent the rest of their life estranged from one another, with neither side interfering with the affairs of the other . In the end, she passed away in her forties .
By then, Ponte was already in his fifties, and Victoria was also nearing her forties too . The two of them were old by mortal standards, but neither of them were mortals . For powerful transcendents like them, they were still very much in their prime then, making it the golden age for marriage .
“In other words, they managed to get together in the end? If I recall correctly, Victoria’s rule lasted for around 40 years, and she eventually passed away from illness . In other words, they were together with one another for around 20 years?”
Sponsored Content
Faced with Roel’s question, Nora’s expression suddenly grew a little bizarre . She hesitated for a brief moment before finally posing a fairly interesting question of her own .
“After all we have talked about, do you still believe the history in the records?”
“… That’s true . What’s your take on the matter?”
“It’s all my deduction from this point onward . I believe that Victoria faked her death and passed the crown onto the next generation before eloping with Ponte . ”
“Oh? Is there any basis behind your deduction?”
This dramlike twist left Roel completely flabbergasted . It was so shocking that he couldn’t help but feel skeptical about the matter . In response, Nora began sharing her analysis .
“The basis of my deduction is that the royal mausoleum didn’t open during that period of time…”
“Alright, you need not say anymore . I trust you . ”
Roel rubbed his temples to calm himself down a little . For an empress who was lauded as a wise ruler by the masses, it didn’t make sense for Victoria not to be buried in the royal mausoleum when she passed away . It was likely that she wasn’t even dead in the first place .
In fact, it was already rather improbable for a high-level transcendent like Victoria to die to an illness . There were many academics who proposed conspiracy theories regarding this matter .
“Several years after Empress Victoria passed away, Marquess Ponte also mysteriously vanished . He left behind a letter saying that he was going to investigate the fates of the preceding patriarchs of the Ascart House who had gone missing in history . Ever since then, there had been no news on him . ”
“I see . I understand now . ”
Roel nodded with a sigh . It was not a bad thing that Ponte got together with Victoria in the end . At the very least, there was a happy ending to one of the many missing patriarchs of the Ascart House . Still, it sure was ironic for him to actually go missing himself while searching for the other missing people .
Sponsored Content
“Wait a moment, aren’t the two of them high-level transcendents? It has been a hundred years since they went missing, but is it possible that…”
“Mm . It’s possible that they might still be alive . ”
Nora’s response astonished Roel . He turned to look at the pile of yellow diaries and he suddenly felt that he should just burn them to ashes .
Damn it! It’s one thing if Ponte is already dead and the diaries are the only memories of him left, but if he’s still alive, what use do I have for these perverted diaries?
“However, this is all just speculation right now . There is no concrete evidence to prove my deduction, and most of those who lived in that era have already passed away by now . ”
“True, it’s only a possibility . Speaking of which, what happened to Wade in the end?”
“… Wade spent his later years imprisoned, and he eventually passed away woefully in his early thirties . ”
Roel shook his head lamentably . As an Origin Level 3 transcendent, Wade should have been able to live for many years, but who would have thought that he would die such an early death . It looked like depression could really reduce one’s lifespan . For someone as ambitious as Wade to be forced to live his life meaninglessly imprisoned, it must really have been a living hell for him .
Nora’s mood also grew a little heavy talking about it . It was a long time before Roel thought of another question .
“Did the treatment of the heretics change in the end?”
“Several plans were put in the pipeline to resolve this issue, but they ended up not being executed . When news of Prince Wade’s death began spreading, the heretics immediately began fleeing the country out of fear of being purged . With the large-scale migration, the proportion of heretics in the Theocracy reduced greatly, minimizing the societal conflict arising from demographic differences . The situation remains that way even to this day…”
“I see…”
Roel looked out of the window as he thought about those heretic soldiers who fought fearlessly to demand equal rights for themselves and their offspring . He couldn’t speak for all of the heretics, but those who were in Wade’s allied armies were truly awe-inspiring . Their conviction and passion were rarely seen in any other army .
It was just a pity that they lost their leader and ended up scattering before they could accomplish their ambition . Dreams and ideals that used to resonate strongly in the hearts of so many people vanished with hardly a trace left, becoming no more than the dust of history . The thought that he would be like them one day made him feel insignificant in the world .