Above Your Head

Chapter 71: Advent of the God of War (2)

"Cheong Won, you're thinking of robbing the body of the newly born Imperial descendent, aren't you?"

Everyone's face froze at my decisive remark. That was how serious that remark was; also, that presumption was quite persuasive. Needless to say, Cheong Won did not panic, nor did he spout any nonsense in this situation.

"What an absurd thing to say. Do you think it's possible that I, a Saint, would give up everything to steal the body of a human child?"

At least on the surface, he responded calmly to the assumption I made. It was a matter of course. He had lived for such a long life, so naturally, he wouldn't clumsily reveal his inner thoughts. However, I wasn't even agitated, because it didn't matter.

'There's no need for any confession or proof.'

That's right. There was no need for such things. Because I was not trying to fight him in court. The important thing here was persuasion, and I simply needed to spread this truth. From my point of view, it was very fortunate because the Sixth Imperial Prince and the angel who was his consort-to-be were here at the right time, and Cheong Won couldn't touch a single hair on their body.

"That's right. You, a high-ranking Saint, wouldn't want to only take away an ordinary human's body."

Everyone's expressions changed weirdly upon hearing my explanation. This was because the Imperial family of the Leonhardt Empire inherited the blood of the Golden Lion God, and they were considered a kind of godly tribe. They knew how to handle the Golden Lion Aura, a special Aura before they were even 10 years old. Among them, those who were strongly endowed with the power of the bloodline were even capable of awakening several powers. Of course, the power of the bloodline they could bring forth wasn't at that level. It was hard to imagine that a transcendent who had the power to destroy an entire civilization and even blow up stars in a day's time would covet a power of that level.

"...The reason Cheong Won contracted with the first Imperial family was because of the strength that the first Leonhardt Emperor possessed. He was a true being of the Godly tribe, and they were even rarer than God."

I was startled by Celestia's explanation for she had been quiet all this while.

"Is there such a thing as real or fake in the Godly tribe?"

"Of course there is. God's blood may flow in our body, but... at the end of the day, we don't have that much power. We're a Godly tribe if you tried putting it nicely, but we are actually just a superior tribe that possessed some special abilities. That is all there is to it."

"Then what was Cheong Won doing?"

"...He wanted to recreate the Bloodline of God again just like the First Emperor with his mighty power and his insight that could foresee the future. A true Godly tribe greater than Noblesse and with the power of God from birth. Cheong Won obtained the authority from the Imperial family to decide the marriage or meeting of the Imperial family because of the contents of that mission."

That was what Cheong Won's title - Keeper of the Bloodline meant.

"Sixth Imperial Prince, how long will you continue listening to this stupid history lesson?" Cheong Won urged the Sixth Imperial Prince since he couldn't properly interfere with us as he was bound by all kinds of restrictions. However, the Sixth Imperial Prince shook his head; his bright blond hair was fluttering. Judging by his appearance, he looked like a cute boy, but the dark smile that appeared on his face made you wonder what he was thinking on the inside.

"Why not? It's interesting, so let's hear some more."

"…"

Cheong Won was staring at me with a hardened expression. Although he couldn't release his bloodlust due to the atmosphere, he was probably giving me a warning. It wouldn't be funny anymore if I continued blabbering away…

'What a load of bullshit.'

It was ludicrous. I already laid my life on the line so what nonsense was this? He seemed to think lightly of the fact that I had returned after being taken captive by the demi-humans. Yet, thanks to this bastard, I came back after going through all kinds of torture and adversity.

"You most probably felt it too that Cheong Won was moving forward without looking back. The more he cleverly distorted and avoided his mission, the restrictions imposed on him would become more and more intense; but he didn't care. That was why he was determined to hurt you even though he signed a contract with the Imperial family. He was in a hurry to support the Sixth Imperial Prince. It was as though nothing else mattered."

"Maybe he's pressed for time. I don't know what it is, but... Cheong Won possesses the Foresight ability, so I'm sure he's seen it."

"Yes. And I'm just taking a guess..."

I hesitated for a moment whether to mention this or not, but I made up my mind right away. There was no meaning in hiding what Cheong Won knew, as he was already considered an enemy.

But before I could even open my mouth to speak, Celestia said, "If you get involved, the vision gets twisted?"

"...You knew?"

"Of course, the fact that we survived without any huge injuries is proof of that. Being known as one of the most powerful Saint in the Universe, Cheong Won wouldn't have handled things like this."

Celestia said she couldn't 'read' me. That was why she approached me when we first met on Earth. That even applied to Cheong Won, a transcendent with the intermediate Status of God. He couldn't get a good grasp of me.

"Anyway, Cheong Won tried to dispose or put you out of the way. But because he couldn't do so, he hurriedly brought the Sixth Imperial Prince and the Prince Consort with him. He most probably sugar-coated the situation to win them over. He probably said something like 'I saw the future in which if the Imperial Princess Celestia survived, a great disaster would happen. I need your help to prevent that future from transpiring. In exchange, if you help me, I, Cheong Won, will give you my support.' Cheong Won has no choice but to support them anyways if he wanted to rob the Sixth Imperial Prince of his bloodline."

My words were directed to Celestia, but I was looking straight at Cheong Won and the Sixth Imperial Prince. It looked as though I was trying to pressure them, but in fact, I was looking at the title that was changing in real time to add various details to my explanation.

'Wow. I think I can do well even if I become a fraudster.' 

Of course, the hypotheses that I stated weren't lies. However, I was pretending to understand all of this through intuition alone, which was no different from a fraud. The truth was that I was just reciting the answer sheet, but I could feel that the crowd around me was seeing me as a person with amazing insight.

"...Wahh. Doesn't it feel like we are seeing this conversation from the side? But that's something that is absolutely impossible, so his insight is really amazing."

"Don't listen to these useless lies, Sixth Imperial Prince. My contract with the Imperial family is not lax enough for me to do such an outrageous thing." Cheong Won calmly responded, but the Sixth Imperial Prince smiled brightly and shook his head.

"No, after listening to it, it seems like it fits perfectly with everything that I've been suspicious about so far. I thought it was weird when you actively supported our love when the Imperial family didn't really welcome the piece of news. Also, the fact that you went out of your way to bring us here, and the fact that you promised us so much support, as well as the fact that you gave us five treasure islands, yet to be figured out by our Empire, securing us to an enormous amount of money. Ahh! So that's what it was."

The Sixth Imperial Prince clapped his hands together.

"Perhaps your goal is to ascend to the imperial throne as my son. Before that, you supported me to strengthen my position in the family, didn't you?"

"..."

I clenched my fist inwardly at the sight of Cheong Won's failure to give a response. It succeeded. It was a bit of a gamble, but I successfully broke the relationship between them.

No matter how much help the Sixth Imperial Prince received, he would never join hands with a monster who wanted to take away the body of his child. Having forced things to unfold in this manner for his one goal, Cheong Won would start to receive backlash from now on. I couldn't say for sure, but given that he was trying to keep it a secret, maybe some sort of disciplinary action would be imposed on him if this fact became known to the Saint Realm.

"That's not bad."

But I made one mistake.

"I also thought that it would be lame to do this just for an ordinary kid's body."

I didn't expect that the Sixth Imperial Prince would be someone like that.

"Wait... No, wait a minute. What? Elion, don't tell me you..." Celestia was watching quietly but then asked with a serious look.

The Sixth Imperial Prince ignored her as if she was invisible, and looked at Cheong Won, "I would like to have a daughter though, is it possible to manipulate it so that it will come to that?"

"...Sixth Imperial Prince?"

Even the bold Cheong Won was flustered and looked at the Sixth Imperial Prince. I, too, gazed at the cute-faced blonde Imperial Prince in astonishment.

No, what kind of crazy bastard is he? 

"Hmm. El, is this old man gonna be our son? Isn't he too ugly?"

"Even though he looks like this now, I think he'll be pretty cute since it would be an offspring of you and me."

"I don't like it, but... If El is okay with it, then I'm okay with it too." The angel with white wings and shiny silver hair was also calmly spouting a load of crazy nonsense despite her noble appearance. This gold and silver couple weren't in their right minds.

"Wait! Wait a minute! Elion, are you crazy!? You're going to hand over the body of your child to Cheong Won?"

"It doesn't matter if he lives as a member of the Imperial family. Well, of course..."

Beaming with a smile, the Sixth Imperial Prince's eyes glowed coldly for an instant.

"Of course, this truth can't be widely known."

"..."

It was a terrifying bloodlust. An unimaginably bloody Aura from that person with a good-looking face was weighing down on the surrounding air.

"Pfft, Pffthaha! Hahahaha!"

Cheong Won watched the events unfold before his eyes and burst into a crazy laughter. It was so funny to him that there were even tears around his eyes.

"Oh my God. I really wasted my years. I knew better than anyone that I shouldn't blindly have absolute faith in my insight and foresight, but…"

"So, is a daughter okay too?"

"Hahaha! Sure, why not? I'm going to fulfill my long-cherished desire, so what's the difference in gender going to make?" Cheong Won lightly waved his hand and a strange wave swept through the surroundings. I was speechless. I looked at Cheong Won and I could see him explaining something to the Sixth Imperial Prince.

"I have destroyed all the records. No one in the world will know about the conversation that transpired just now."

"What about those who've heard us directly?"

The Sixth Imperial Prince sneaked a peek at us, and Cheong Won replied, "I would have to request for you to settle those."

"Haha. What a bad boy. I can't believe you're already troubling your father," the Sixth Imperial Prince smiled innocently and turned around.

Cheong Won summoned talismans of light as if to say that there was no more business to see here.

Shiiiinggggg!

Just like that, their figures disappeared from the ship.

"What the? You're going back just like that?"

I let out a dumbfounded laugh. Because I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on with this situation. However, when I turned my head, I could see Celestia's stiff expression.

Then, she said, "They're trying to imply that… there's no need to say anything more to people who'll die soon."

"People who'll die soon? Us?"

"That's right. The fact that Elion came here means that..."

Krieeekkk--!

The floor vibrated at that moment. I flinched in surprise, but I heard Celestia mention a name that I was all too familiar with.

"It means that the Battleship of Annihilation, Rising Storm, came as well…"