Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 690: Being Praised, Moon Dragon Legacy

Even if her mother had cheated on the Emperor and had eventually been reduced to little more than a political figurehead, she still possessed immense political influence within her territory. Most awakeners and Lords would naturally be careful around someone like her, especially when that person had the power to make their lives considerably more difficult.

Isaac, however, had never been particularly good at worrying about things like that. He looked at Althea and continued, "You weren’t responsible for what your mother did, and you weren’t responsible for who your father was. Yet you were the one who had to grow up carrying the consequences of their choices. That’s why I said I what I said. The First Queen is piece of shit."

Althea’s expression changed slightly, and for the first time since they had started talking about the subject, she seemed to have difficulty maintaining her usual calm. She lowered her gaze for a moment before looking back at Isaac, as though she was trying to understand why his words affected her more than she expected.

Charlotta remained silent as well. She had clearly realized that this was no longer something she should interrupt, especially since Isaac was not trying to insult Althea or make light of what had happened, but was instead saying something that perhaps nobody around the princess had dared to say before.

Isaac did not know whether his words had helped, but at least he felt better for saying them. Sometimes, a person did not need someone to solve their problems or explain why everything would eventually be fine, and perhaps what they needed most was simply for someone to acknowledge that what had happened to them was wrong.

After a short while, Althea finally spoke. "Thank you."

Her eyes remained lowered, but there was a faint relief in them that had not been there before, and Isaac could tell that his words had affected her more deeply than he had expected.

Isaac was surprised by her response. He had known that Althea could not have good feelings toward her mother, but he had not expected her to actually thank him for saying what he had. It made him want to find out what she was thinking at that moment.

For a brief moment, he almost wished his Inspect skill could work on her. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t work on her.

’Or maybe it would?’ Isaac wondered.

The system only seemed to ping him when a woman’s rating was above ninety-five, but that did not necessarily mean he could not use Inspect on someone whose rating was above eighty-five. He was curious enough to consider trying it, but he quickly decided against it because if the system actually worked on Althea, things would become rather awkward.

That would mean Althea was considered a potential partner by the system. Isaac did not want to deal with that possibility, especially when he did not even have any romantic feelings toward her.

The two of them did not speak much after that. The silence between them was not awkward, and neither seemed to feel the need to force another conversation, so they simply continued looking around and collecting whatever they thought might be useful.

Eventually, they finished searching the area and met up with the others outside. Everyone was already there, and Selene seemed to be paying attention to something in the distance while the others waited for her to decide where they should go next.

"Please follow me. I think I sensed something," Selene said as she turned toward another section of the ruins. Her tone was calm, but there was enough seriousness in it that nobody questioned her decision.

The group followed her as they moved through the ruins. Isaac was walking with the others when Celia suddenly slowed down and moved beside him, and judging from the suspicious look on her face, he already had a feeling that she was about to say something troublesome.

’What did you do to Althea?’ Celia asked through telepathy.

Isaac turned his head and gave her a confused look. His eyes said he had no idea what she was talking about, which only made Celia stare at him more suspiciously.

After watching him for a few moments, Celia’s expression changed as though she had finally understood something. ’It seems like you really don’t know what you did. Anyway, good job, Isaac. Keep doing things like this, and I’ll support you however I can.’

Isaac continued looking at her with a confused expression. Celia, apparently satisfied with whatever conclusion she had reached, simply moved ahead and began talking to Emily as though she had not just said something completely incomprehensible to him.

Isaac let out an inward sigh as he watched her leave. This devil was scary, and he genuinely wondered how she had managed to notice the change in the atmosphere between him and Althea so quickly.

He thought about Celia’s words for a while. Normally, he would have ignored a topic like this and pretended not to understand what she was trying to do, but this time he decided that it was better to face the problem directly.

’Celia is trying to do the same thing she did with Selene and me.’

Isaac sighed inwardly before looking toward Alice. Alice’s expression appeared as calm as ever, but he could tell that she was annoyed as she looked at Celia’s back.

’That gremlin actually thinks Alice won’t do anything to her just because she helped with Selene’s case. Ugh, she’s going to get herself into trouble and drag me down with her.’

Isaac shook his head slightly as he continued walking. Either way, he did not really have any feelings toward Althea beyond seeing her as a business partner and, to some extent, a friend.

If Alice really became angry, Isaac doubted she would have any difficulty realizing whether he actually had feelings for Althea. As for Celia, she was probably the one who would have to deal with Alice afterward.

The thought made Isaac smirk slightly. For once, he would actually be happy to watch that gremlin get grilled by Alice.

The group continued talking as they moved through the ruins, and after some time, they arrived at an open plaza. At first glance, there was nothing particularly unusual about the place, and Isaac was about to dismiss it as another empty section of the ruins.

"What did you sense here? There is nothing he—" Isaac began, but his words suddenly stopped.

His Sovereign of Land skill had sensed something enormous beneath them. Isaac immediately focused on the ground and extended his awareness farther down, and the more he sensed, the more difficult it became for him to determine the full size of whatever was buried below.

There was an enormous structure beneath the plaza. It was so large that Isaac could not immediately understand how something of that size had remained hidden underneath the ruins. The structure’s size was bigger than the Sky City. It made no sense.

Before Isaac could say anything, Selene stepped forward and placed her hand against the ground. A low whirring sound echoed through the plaza, and almost immediately, several runes began appearing across the surface.

The runes continued spreading outward from the place where Selene had placed her hand. Isaac raised an eyebrow as he watched the formation activate, and his attention became even more focused when he realized that Selene seemed to know exactly what she was doing.

If Selene could activate whatever was hidden beneath the plaza, then there was a good chance that the structure was related to the Moon Dragons. Isaac looked at the ground again, his expression becoming more serious as he sensed the enormous object beneath them beginning to move.