Chapter 187: The Way to Change You Is to Marry Rast

As the sun set in the west, the lonely surface of the sea was cloaked in a dusky hue.

Atop the scattered rocky shore, the two items left behind by Rast were also bathed in a faint golden glow under the afterglow of the setting sun.

A heavy revolver engraved with the mark of the Iron-Marked Moon, and a pitch-black memory crystal, as dark as the night itself.

This was the final question Rast had left for Ingrid before his departure—

A single-choice question with only one option.

Was it to end her life, just as Ingrid had envisioned earlier, putting an end to everything once and for all?

Or was it to choose to live on, to become the companion of that black-haired youth, to swear allegiance to him… and to use the rest of her life to follow him, to reclaim the honor and glory that Ingrid had once forgotten.

Ingrid's gaze lingered on the revolver for a long time, trapped in hesitation.

However, after a long silence, she ultimately reached toward that pitch-black crystal.

Ingrid was not one to be indecisive. Once she decided on something, she would see it through… Her background left her with far fewer avenues of retreat than others of her age.

To Ingrid, every choice was a gamble. She would never leave herself an escape route and could only move forward without hesitation.

However—

The words Rast had spoken earlier had indeed left a mark on her mind.

Since that was the case, she might as well see what exactly Rast had left behind.

With such thoughts in mind, Ingrid picked up the night-like memory crystal.

Extraordinary beings of Fifth Tier and above, who had also made progress in the cultivation of Spiritual Power, possessed the ability to carve out fragments of their own Spiritual Power and memories, manifesting them into tangible memory crystals to present to others… As a former Surveillance Bureau Chief of the military, Ingrid was no stranger to this.

She cleared her mind, synchronizing her spirit with the soul fluctuations of the memory crystal, and slowly injected her consciousness into it.

In the next instant, countless fragmented memories and images surged in like a tidal wave… causing Ingrid's delicate body to tremble slightly.

Back when interrogating enemy spies, Ingrid had also used similar techniques such as "Soul Probing" with the assistance of her subordinates, so she was quite practiced in reading others' memories.

And as a former Surveillance Bureau Chief of the military, Ingrid was nothing if not well-versed in all things — black, white, and grey… She had truly risen from the most humble, the lowest origins among the extraordinary, and along her life journey, she had long seen through the myriad facets of the world and the fickleness of human relationships.

Yet even so—Ingrid had never witnessed such memories, ones that shook her spirit and nearly shattered her soul.

Just what kind of Mental Image was this…

That Deep Blue Port, polluted by the Plague of the Evil God, shattered overnight and transformed into a living hell.

The same day repeating over and over, a life that never advanced.

Being devoured inch by inch by the Iron Cross Clan, blown to pieces in the harbor district by an exploding steam boiler, bursting apart from overdosing on beast stimulants, and feeling body and mind slowly burn away in molten steel…

These deaths, terrifying even to imagine for the average person, had already been experienced by that youth hundreds, thousands of times.

What Rast had said was not wrong.

The same day repeating endlessly, never able to move forward — to a human, that was no different from hell… and perhaps only a "Demon" could return from hell.

The mind weathered in endless time, and the soul cracked with fissures.

Even memories began to fade, with recollections of the past growing increasingly blurry.

The only constant—

Was that ideal named "Shoreguards", existing even in ruin and decay.

…

When Ingrid finally awoke from the tide-like memories that had surged into her mind, the sun had fully set.

The afterglow of the sunset vanished without a trace, leaving only the curtain of Eternal Night to fall and obscure the sky.

In her hand, the memory crystal silently shattered, dissolving into countless scattered fragments that floated silently into the night.

Yet within Ingrid’s eyes, the shock from earlier still lingered, difficult to shake off.

Back then, the words she had spoken when refusing Shiltina’s help were not lies.

From the depths of her heart, Ingrid both despised and envied Shiltina—

Shiltina was seen by countless people of the Empire as a beacon of hope, dazzling like the sun… But Shiltina, born with everything, had never experienced what it felt like to be the weakest, the most helpless. So she could never truly empathize with Ingrid.

The radiance that belonged to Shiltina could not illuminate her own darkness.

That was why, back in the ruins of the nuclear power plant, when Shiltina had tried to rescue her, Ingrid had resolutely slashed out with that blade, so decisively.

However—

What about Rast?

She had mocked Shiltina, saying that she had never experienced the despair of those below, that taste of being weak and insignificant… Yet the circumstances Rast had faced within those memories, in Deep Blue Port, were far more despairing than anything Ingrid herself had ever endured.

A plague that engulfed an entire city, beasts wearing human skin yet knowing only cruelty, pollution and corruption from an Evil God, and the half-body of an Evil God that descended the moment the time limit was reached—

And at that time, within Deep Blue Port, Rast had been nothing more than an ordinary person, utterly powerless.

Yet in such a hopeless situation, Rast had forcibly endured three hundred years, cycling through a hundred thousand loops, and from a one-in-ten-thousand chance, had found the sole path to salvation.

Compared to Rast, her own rise from humble origins, and those achievements she had once taken pride in, suddenly seemed utterly insignificant.

Ingrid remained silent for a long, long time.

After a long while, she slightly lifted her gaze and looked toward the distant end of the sky—

That was the direction of Starfall University.

“Rast—”

“Can you really… light up the darkness that belongs to me?”

…

Rast walked through the student dormitory district of Starfall University, bathed in the light of the setting sun.

Over the past few months, he had focused all his mind and energy on Ingrid, just as he had told her about "Eagle Taming"… To subdue Ingrid, this had been a prolonged tug-of-war.

Therefore, this was also the first time in over three months that Rast had returned to the academy.

However, just as Rast was about to reach his dormitory, he heard the faint sound of voices—perhaps an argument—carried across the dim sky.

Rast’s mind stirred slightly, and he stopped walking.

One of the arguing voices was unfamiliar to him, seemingly a middle-aged noblewoman whose speech carried an unmistakable air of elegance and grace.

The other voice, however, Rast knew well—it was Shiltina.

“Fool!”

Suddenly, one of the voices sharply raised its tone.

In the silent dormitory district under the setting sun, that stern rebuke rang clearly in Rast’s ears.

“You must return, and you must change that stubborn, rotten temper of yours—”

“You are the eldest daughter of the royal family, the only one who can and must become this Empire’s successor!”

Though still agitated, the middle-aged noblewoman lowered her voice.

“If becoming the Empire’s heir, the future ruler… means becoming as cold and heartless as my father, sacrificing the innocent before me for the sake of so-called judgment and choices, even abandoning his own wife without hesitation, then I would rather not be this royal daughter. I will not be this Empress.”

That was Shiltina’s voice, firm and unwavering: “I will only walk my own path.”

“Walk your own path? Then where do you expect us, the entire Empire, me, your father, and Ophelia to go!”

“Do you know how much your father has sacrificed for you, how heavy his love is for you? The Holy Sword’s Scabbard was supposed to be held by successive Emperors of the Empire, yet the moment he ascended to the throne, he buried that scabbard within your young body.”

“If not for that Holy Sword’s Scabbard within you—able to heal wounds, soothe pain, and protect the bearer from all calamities and disasters with its undying nature… with that stubborn and headstrong temper of yours, how could you possibly have escaped death in the Nightworld so many times? Do you truly think it was merely luck?”

“With your reckless, death-defying combat style, plunging yourself time and again into life-threatening dangers, if it weren’t for the protection of the Holy Sword’s Scabbard, you would’ve died countless times over!”

“And since you bear the Holy Sword’s Scabbard, you must also bear the corresponding duty—to become the Empress of the Empire.”

Facing the noblewoman’s suddenly raised voice, Shiltina remained silent for a moment.

“This is something I only recently learned… but you’re right. Without that scabbard, I might have long perished in the Nightworld, becoming just another star engraved upon the Starfall Obelisk.”

Her voice paused slightly: “Since that’s the case, then let Father extract the Holy Sword’s Scabbard from within me and give it to someone more suitable—like Ophelia…”

“I swear upon the name of the ‘Forest Ranger’ family—Ingrit, that I alone shall bear all the risks of the Sacred Relic transplant surgery. Even if I die upon the operating table because of it, I shall have no regrets.”

“You clearly know your father would never allow such a thing! He once watched your mother die before his eyes; there is no way he would let his daughter die before him again!”

The noblewoman’s voice carried a hint of pain as she looked at the girl before her. “Now I finally see things clearly. All these years, you have never had any feelings for me! You’ve never truly regarded me as your mother—not even as her substitute!”

“No. If I felt nothing for you, then I wouldn’t still be here now.”

Ingrid’s voice was calm, like the breeze blowing through the academy beneath the afterglow of the setting sun:

“When my mother died, I was only four or five. At that age, how much could I possibly remember… Even now, all I have left of her memory is the image of her back. I can’t even recall her face clearly.”

“And I know you’ve treated me well. Though we are bound by a stepmother’s relationship, you are completely unlike those wicked stepmothers in fairytales… You’ve truly cared for me as if I were your own daughter.”

“Often, you’d rather let Ophelia suffer losses than treat me unfairly.”

So, the one currently speaking with Shiltina—was her stepmother?

In other words, the biological mother of the second princess Ophelia, and the current Empress of the Granwell Kingdom?

Rast’s mind stirred slightly.

“Since that’s the case, then why do you still treat me this way?!”

A sharp scream pierced the calm of the academy beneath the sunset, so clear even the drop of a pin would be heard.

“All because of that so-called ideal of being an Ally of Justice left behind by that person? That so-called ‘Forest Ranger’ creed?”

The noblewoman’s voice rose once more. “That’s clearly a falsehood, something borrowed from someone else!”

“That’s not even your true belief—just hypocritical self-satisfaction! She’s already been dead for so many years!”

“Shiltina, why do you insist on holding on so tightly to something left behind by the dead?!”

Before the words had fully fallen, the noblewoman seemed to regret them. Her voice trembled slightly. “Forgive me, Shiltina. I didn’t mean to speak ill of your mother. I misspoke in the heat of the moment…”

“I understand. You don’t need to blame yourself over a moment of anger—”

Shiltina’s tone remained calm, untouched by even the slightest ripple. “As for what you just said—it’s not wrong either—”

“Perhaps it really is like that. Fake compassion, false saintliness, born from self-gratification and self-sentimentality—meaningless hypocrisy… But this is my justice. If one day I were to betray it, then Shiltina Ingrit would cease to exist.”

“Before the identity of princess, before anything else—” Shiltina’s words stood like a rock in a raging storm, utterly unshaken:

“I am first and foremost, myself.”

Starfall University under the sunset fell into a long silence.

The noblewoman remained silent, while Shiltina’s stance was firm. Thus began a long stalemate.

“Perhaps, coming to speak with you this time really was nothing more than a self-indulgent whim.”

After a long while, the noblewoman sighed softly. “Your father clearly already proposed another method. A way for you to shed your edges and learn to compromise.”

Shiltina said nothing.

“In truth, I came to Starfall University not just to visit you, Shiltina, but also to see the one your father spoke of.”

“But it seems he’s not currently in the academy. It was a wasted trip.”

The woman rose and left, her final words drifting farther and farther away, dissolving into the twilight.

“Your father said that this new student named Rast is your only weakness—the only one you are willing to compromise for.”

“If the royal family were to propose an engagement between you and him… then after your marriage, one day, you will shed your sharp edges, draw back your stubbornness and brilliance—”

“And then, become a suitable heir to the throne, the Empire’s future Empress.”

…

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