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Chapter 112: Odd Similarities

“They are fatally charming to the opposite gender, and they faced many relationship problems throughout their lives. Furthermore, all of them went missing after setting out on a journey...”

Reading through the records of his ancestors, Roel found himself extremely confused.

Based on what he had read thus far, it would appear that both Winstor Ascart and Ro Ascart were outstanding men. He didn’t know what the two looked like, but it was clear that they were extremely popular with women.

Well, considering their noble birth and overwhelming strength, it was understandable why women fancied them. What was weird about it all was that the women they tended to get involved with were extremely formidable as well, ranging from the feared generals of the Austine Empire to esteemed scholars of Brolne.

As history had shown time and time again, it was only possible for peaceful harems to exist in wish-fulfillment novels. Both Winstor and Ro had plenty of headaches caused by all the women around them, and the fact that they were each engaged to a strong-willed fiancée with a powerful background did nothing to help either.

It was like trying to cook a pot of soup that was filled with ingredients that would never go together—it would just be filled with plenty of jarring and disharmonious flavors!

Ey, the two of them sure don’t know how to keep themselves in check. Why in the world are they messing with so many women—not to mention, monstrously powerful women at that! They have practically pushed themselves off the cliff!

Roel put down the record he was reading and sighed deeply in lamentation, but all of a sudden, he thought about himself.

Wait a moment!! Aren’t their circumstances...

“... different from mine!”

Roel began chuckling hysterically to himself.

Nora, as his protector, would never hurt him, and Alicia had little interest in transcendent ability at the moment too. Most importantly of all...

“... I don’t have a powerful fiancée like them!”

Roel patted his chest as he felt gladdened by how society had progressed since the olden days. If he really was involved in a political marriage, his fiancée was almost guaranteed to be a prominent noble as well, possibly even the leader of a faction too. If he were to try to shirk the engagement, the Ascart House would have to pay a heavy price for it, and it would lead to plenty of trouble too.

Ahhh, thank god my father is a believer in marrying out of true love! Long live true love marriages!

Roel smiled delightfully to himself, completely disregarding the fact that his father had unintentionally sold him out to the Xeclydes.

“But, speaking of which, does this mean that the key to developing my bloodline is to become a scumbag and get involved with all sorts of relationships? Am I destined to become a harem king? No, that can’t possibly be. If that’s what my ancestors did, they would have deserved to die a thousand times over.”

Roel shook his head, thinking that it was unlikely for the Crown Origin Attribute to work in such a manner. In the end, he had no choice but to turn his attention to the sector which he really didn’t want to get involved wit h—exploration of historical remnants. Other than their messy romance life, the other commonality between Winstor and Ro was that they were both famed archaeologists.

Without a doubt, this was definitely something suspicious. It was just that the records had once been damaged and were no longer complete, so the amount of information Roel could acquire was limited. Fortunately, there were other avenues that he could acquire information from—the Ascarts weren’t the only ones who kept records, after all— and the fact that he was currently in the Holy Capital only made things even more so convenient.

So, he took the book he was reading out of the archive with him before instructing Anna.

“Prepare the carriage. We’re heading to the Royal Library!”

...

In a gracefully adorned room, Roel lightly picked up his teacup and took a small sip as he browsed through the ancient record in his hand. It was so calming and peaceful that his worries seemed to evaporate into thin air.

The Holy Capital’s Royal Library.

This was one of the most magnificent buildings in the whole of Loren, and it had over a hundred years of history behind it. It was clear that a lot of effort had been put into its renovation. It wasn’t as resplendent as the Saint Faron Church, but it carried the same air of classiness that scholars tended to exude.

As for why it was named the Royal Library, it was not to mean that the library was exclusive to the royals but that the Xeclydes were the ones who forked out the money for its construction. They clearly had high hopes for this library, and their investment did pay off too. The Royal Library was currently one of the Three Great Libraries of the Sia Continent, and it had enjoyed its fair share of glory throughout the years ever since its construction.

The Saint Mesit Theocracy’s Royal Library, the Austine Empire’s Millennia Glory Repository, and Country of Scholars, Brolne’s, National Athenaeum of Wisdom—these were the famous Three Great Libraries of the Sia Continent.

All in all, they contained at least 60% of humanity’s historical records. One might even say that they were the very symbol of the Sia Continent’s culture.

The Theocracy’s Royal Library was established as the last amongst the three, and in truth, it was founded out of a fit of anger. The one who ordered the construction of the library was Holy Eminence Lukas, the father of the incumbent Holy Eminence, John. If what Nora said was true, Lukas was Wade’s son and Victoria’s adopted son.

Holy Eminence Lukas was probably one of the more interesting rulers of the Theocracy. Perhaps it was because he descended from the line of the incredibly ambitious Wade, or that Victoria had doted on him greatly out of guilt toward him, but Lukas was an extremely prideful ruler. He was the type that couldn’t tolerate even the slightest bit of humiliation.

This usually didn’t pose much of a problem, as he was from the line of the powerful Xeclyde House. There was hardly anyone in the world who would dare offend him, especially not within the Theocracy. Nevertheless, there was no one who could truly escape from the frustrations of society, and this applied to the lofty Holy Eminence Lukas too.

The Eastern Sia Border Defense Agreement.

This was an important agreement that had to be ratified every 30 years in order to confirm the areas around mankind’s borders that each country would protect, as well as the military forces they would be deploying there.

The purpose of this agreement was to protect humanity from the threat of the deviants so as to ensure peace and prosperity.

As for why the agreement only lasted 30 years each time, there was actually a very practical reason for that. Most minor countries had a short lifespan. They tended to be internally unstable, with uprisings occuring fairly frequently. When such internal crises occurred, their monarchs had a tendency to ‘dissolve’ their countries, thereby escaping from the defense agreement. That would allow them to redeploy the troops they had stationed at the eastern border back to their country in order to deal with the rebels. Such incidents would occur once every decade or so.

That being said, holding an international conference to renew the Eastern Sia Border Defense Agreement every decade was far too inconvenient. One must know that this was a world where transportation was highly inconvenient and inefficient; a trip from the Theocracy to the Austine Empire could easily take several months. On top of that, negotiating the terms was even more exhausting. Eventually, the major powers came to an agreement to renew the defense agreement once every 30 years.

The international conference for the renewal of the defense agreement during Holy Eminence Lukas’ was held in the capital of the Austine Empire, Siaus. That international conference was much tougher than usual, and the disagreements amongst the major countries were far more rife than usual.

Needless to say, the Austine Empire, as the old nemesis of the Theocracy, didn’t give Lukas a good time either.

An international conference amongst the leaders of various countries wasn’t like company meetings, where everyone was shut in an enclosed room and forced to talk until they finally came to a conclusion.

No, their negotiations occurred only once every 10 to 15 days, and the time in between was usually spent visiting one another to build relations or to tour various places that the host country had planned for them.

The place where the Austine Empire had chosen to bring Lukas to was their prided Millennia Glory Repository. While its name sounded fairly pretentious, the library did live up to the hype, having inherited the culture from the Second Epoch’s Ancient Austine Empire.

The Austine Empire had implemented a fairly interesting system of organizing the books in this library. They sorted the thousand years of historical records of the Sia Continent chronologically, and they made sure to bold the shelf label of the year the Theocracy was founded. Placed on that very shelf was the dark history behind the establishment of the Theocracy, elaborated extensively with analyses by the Austine scholars.

How can we allow your precious history to disappear from the face of the world? I recall that you don’t have any large libraries at your place, right? No problem! We’re all one big family anyway, so I’ll store them on your behalf!

Ah, there’s nothing about the Theocracy on the shelves further ahead anymore. It’s all the history of our Austine Empire from this point onward. I doubt that it will be meaningful for you to look through the rest of our library. Shall we just call it a day here?

All of the flaunting and taunting that were shoved right into Lukas’ face made him so angry that some said that he was nearly sent into Sia’s embrace that very day. To make things worse, despite how frustrated he was, he was unable to refute any of those words, leaving him no choice but to grit his teeth and tolerate it.

When had Lukas ever been embarrassed like that?

Even after returning from that international conference, he continued fuming over this matter every time he thought about it. So, the following year, he issued an order to gather all of the distinguished architects, scholars, and historians, and instructed them to construct a prestigious library that surpassed even the Millennia Glory Repository. After its construction, he stuffed all of the dark history of the Austine Empire inside and made sure to invite all of the top brass of all countries over to have a look.

While the purpose behind Lukas’ action was petty vengeance, there was no doubt that the construction of the Royal Library had contributed greatly to the furthering of the Theocracy’s culture.

Stroking the pages of the well-preserved ancient record in his hand, Roel couldn’t help but ponder about the necessity of libraries to humankind.

The Royal Library was open to everyone, regardless of their social standing. That might not be very significant for Roel, due to his privileged background, but to those who sought to study but couldn’t afford to buy books, this library was no different from a land of treasure.

That being said, nobles like Roel still had some additional privileges in public facilities like this as compared to the commoners. He didn’t need to pay a deposit to borrow books, and he could freely access the historical records with over 300 years of history, which were usually not open to outsiders. On top of that, the head librarian even personally greeted him too.

“Young master Roel, how are you finding our VIP Reading Lounge? If it’s not spacious enough, you may head over to my place. I believe that it would be a comfortable environment for you to browse your books.”

“Thanks for your hospitality, head librarian. I do like the environment of the VIP Reading Lounge; it’s comfortable and quiet. It’s just that... if I recall correctly, the section I’m in is exclusive to the royal family, isn’t it?”

Roel breathed in the invigorating Wurs fragrance and relished in the soft and fluffy mat beneath his feet. The wooden chair he was sitting on was made out of incredibly high-quality material that made it steady yet comfortable. It was a room less than 20 square meters large, but its extravagance was enough to awe any commoner.

Indeed, he was in the poshest area of the library, a special area exclusive only to members of the royal family. High nobles could enter as well if they had received prior permission from the royal family, but Roel didn’t even know of its existence beforehand. In fact, he was invited here from the ordinary reading area.

“Head librarian, no, Mister Carmen, I had forgotten to request permission prior to entering this reading lounge. I must have brought you quite a bit of trouble, didn’t I?”

“No, it’s no trouble at all, young master Roel. There’s no doubt that royal permission would have been given if you had requested it. This room is usually used by Her Highness, so there’s no one more suited to borrow the use of it than you!”

“Hm, Nora?”

The shocked Roel blurted out Nora’s name directly, which only made the smile on the plump head librarian, Carmen, deepen further.

This is a room that only the members of the royal family can use? What about it?

Just ask around town, there’s no one who doesn’t know that the sole son of the Ascart House, young master Roel, is already half a member of the royal family! There are countless people who are dying to meet him, but the Ascart House rejected their requests under the pretext that he’s still recovering from his injuries.

Carmen was extremely accustomed to politics in the Holy Capital, so as soon as he heard that young master Roel had actually visited the Royal Library, a shudder immediately ran through his body. This was an encounter that countless officials and nobles were dying to have, but he happened to bump into it just like that. There was no way he couldn’t have been overjoyed by this!

One must know that the head librarian of the Royal Library was assigned directly by the royal family, making it a proper official position. Had it been just a week ago, Carmen would still have to think twice about the authenticity of the rumors since there were always plenty of falsehoods going around.

However, just a few days ago, an explosive piece of news descended upon the Holy Capital. The sole successor of the royal family, Her Highness Nora, was going to become the protector of the young master of the Ascart House, and the ceremony would be held a few days later. It immediately caused a huge stir. Even fools could immediately figure out that there was something happening between the two of them!

In other words, there was a good chance that young master Roel could become a prince consort in the near future, making the latter Carmen’s direct superior. If he could get on the good side of young master Roel right now, his position would be secured!

“If this room is reserved for Her Highness Nora’s use, it should be fine for me to borrow it for the time being. I’ll follow up with the proper requesting procedure later on.”

“You’re being too polite here. There’s no need for that. That would be too much trou... Hm?”

Halfway through Carmen’s words, he suddenly widened his eyes as he realized that there was something more to what he had just heard.

If young master Roel intends to follow up with the requesting procedure, he would have to visit the royal palace... Wouldn’t that be an opportunity to meet Her Highness Nora?

Ah, I see! I was still wondering why young master Roel would suddenly pay a visit to our library, but it turns out that he has other plans in mind! Indeed, with such a reason, he would have a legitimate reason to enter the royal palace and have a secret rendezvous with Her Highness Nora.

O’ great Sia, what great ingenuity this is! As expected of someone who is in line to become our next prince consort!

(Affection Points +100!)

Green light glowed from Carmen’s head as his respect for Roel soared to new heights. Before Roel’s confused gaze, he swiftly changed his words and continued.

“Young master Roel, I understand. Please do go ahead and follow up with the requesting procedure. I’ll make sure to have the documents prepared whenever you come by, so there’s no need to worry about those. Please feel free to do so as many times as needed for you to meet Her Highness Nora!”

“Ah? N-no, that’s not it. That’s not what I mean...”

“Young master Roel, you need not explain. I understand it all. Don’t worry, I’ll be able to take any pressure from above, so please go ahead and do whatever you need to!”

???

What do you understand? I feel like what you’re getting at is different from whatever I’m saying.

Carmen patted his chest, putting on the face of a reliable wingman who would do anything to bring two lovebirds together. Seeing this, Roel shook his head helplessly.

He felt that he would face a lot more similar situations in the future, so he couldn’t be bothered to explain anymore.

Ey, forget it. I should just focus my attention on reading the records of my ancestors! The date of the protector ceremony is coming close, and I’m certain that it’ll be yet another headache to deal with. I should just focus my effort on looking for clues for now!

Roel shook his head as he tossed this matter to the back of his mind.