Chapter 2602: No Middle Ground

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Southern Capital

Listening to Madam Art threaten to detain them for the crime of blasphemy against the Royal Family, the two dogs of the Masters could not hide the joy flickering in their eyes. After all, she had unwittingly found a way for them to complete their mission without dying.

If Madam Art detained them while they were carrying out their duties as officials of the central government, the central government would gain the justification it needed, while they themselves could keep their necks and live to face death another day.

Yet the one in charge of the pair could not help but wonder: what if the Southern Royal Family chose to release them and even issue an apology? In that case, their mission would be deemed a failure, and a fate worse than death would surely await them.

Still, if one of them were to die in detention while under the custody of the Southern Royal Family, everything would change. At least the other would be allowed to live. And why could the one who survived not be him?

He knew that if they fought now, both of them would die. There was no escape. After all, they had been sent here to die. But if they were detained by Madam Art, he could finally set his plan in motion and claw his way out of here alive.

"Detain us? You dare?" the demigod roared. "Have you ungrateful mongrels forgotten your place? The Southern Region is an affiliated region under the central government. While the Southern Royal Family maintains sovereignty over the Southern Region, it has pledged multiple obligations to the central government. How dare you forget them? Do you want us to dig up your ancestors’ graves and have them remind you?"

His thunderous outburst was cut short when Madam Art slapped him across the face. The strike was sharp and precise, knocking every tooth from his mouth in a single blow.

For a brief second, I sensed an unfathomable power radiating from her. It was the Art family bloodline at work, carrying the effect of subtle reality distortion. I had studied it before, back when I was searching for a way to help Aria with her condition. She bore both the Art family and the Royal Family bloodlines, the two clashing within her. As a result, despite possessing an unparalleled lineage, she was unable to shine in an equally unparalleled manner. That was why I set out to devise a method to make the two bloodlines complement one another instead.

"How dare you? You are obstructing official business. Don’t blame me for being cruel," the demigod snarled as his shattered teeth regrew. Fixing her with a cold stare, he continued, "What’s with that look? Do you want to kill us, servants of the central government? Is the Southern Royal Family planning to rebel against the central government? Are you prepared for the consequences?"

"Shut up. Just shut up," Madam Aria thundered, irritation lacing every word as she invoked her bloodline ability to augment her voice, amplifying it, adding crushing authority and intimidating to it. When the demigod finally fell silent, she issued a final warning.

"Just because you are servants of the central government does not give you permission to commit blasphemy against the Southern Royal Family. This is your last warning. If you dare utter one more word about the Southern Royal Family, I will take action against you."

I could see it in Madam Aria’s eyes. She wanted nothing more than to tear those two dogs of the Masters into a million tiny pieces for everything they had said about the Southern Royal Family. Yet she restrained herself, forcing down her raging emotions and stretching her waning patience as far as it would go. She understood that they were here for something far greater than merely burying me under a mountain of false charges and making preposterous claims over what’s mine.

She did not want to become the spark that allowed them to set their schemes in motion, nor did she intend to be anything less than an iron wall standing in the way of their conspiracies.

What she did not realize was how grave the situation truly was. It was far worse than anything she could imagine. It was not just me who was in danger. The entire Southern Region stood on the brink of being slowly choked to death by the Masters, unless the Southern Royal Family surrendered me.

The last time I had ever considered the possibility of my enemies targeting the Southern Royal Family and the Southern Region was when I handed over the production, distribution, and sales rights of Silver Milk Powder to the Southern Royal Family. Given the circumstances at the time, I knew that neither I nor the Southern Royal Family could stomach and digest the full weight of the profits from that venture. That was precisely why, after securing my royalties and a respectable percentage of the shares, I dumped all the operational burden onto the Royal Family.

Back then, I was not particularly worried. I believed the Heatsend Royal Family would distribute their share of Silver Milk Powder’s production, distribution, and sales to the other royal families and the central government, while extracting additional political concessions in return. In my mind, it would settle into a neat, win–win arrangement.

However, this time was different. The Masters were not here to negotiate for profits, but to ensure their own survival. Because of that, there was no middle ground, no compromise to be reached. Either the Southern Royal Family surrendered me to them, or they would destroy the Royal family and the entire Southern Region along with me.

After being punished by the divine retribution of the Card World’s will for actions they had carried out unchallenged for nearly a millennium, they finally understood that this time, their opponent was different. I was not like the countless geniuses they had suppressed or slain with a casual flick of the hand during their long reign over the five regions.

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