When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 914: Chapter 284: Tombstone Number 14

Miss Aleister looked at Prince Xiyaldo with interest.

“Quite peculiar.”

With a smile, she began to speak: “If I remember correctly… wasn’t your mother, Queen Consort Louise, a Son of the Moon?”

At this remark from Miss Aleister, Prince Xiyaldo fell silent for a moment.

The Astrologer Fenrir subconsciously turned to look at the Prince’s expression—even so, the Prince did not become angry.

His fists that were placed on the table were not clenched, but instead, he fumbled to slowly raise the cup of red tea that had just been served by a maidservant. Yet, he gazed at the tea in the cup for a long while, though he had already lifted it to his lips, he then slowly put it down again.

“…That’s exactly why.”

After a prolonged silence, he said this.

Prince Xiyaldo did not elaborate on his actions, but Miss Aleister understood.

“You mean,” Miss Aleister, who had returned to her original form, leaned back in her chair and lifted her head to reveal her smooth, petite chin, “that when she gave birth to you, she wasn’t yet a Son of the Moon… right?”

Prince Xiyaldo did not respond.

However, the sorrowful look in his eyes as he gazed down at the cup of red tea had already revealed the entire truth.

Clearly, Valentine VII was convinced that his “resurrected Queen Consort” was still his beloved. Or rather, he believed that as long as Louise could be brought back to life, he could accept anything.

But as her child, Prince Xiyaldo keenly felt his mother’s changes.

The corners of Miss Aleister’s mouth curled up slightly, but then she became serious again. It was only now that she seriously took a good look at Prince Xiyaldo.

At this moment, Miss Aleister indeed looked like a young girl, merely thirteen or fourteen years old, frail to the point of being pitiable. The back of the chair behind her was even taller than her upper body.

However, she was dressed in Elven Style lavish attire—a floaty garment primarily in gold and red, adorned with many exquisite gold ornaments set with rubies and emeralds.

The grand aura exuded by the lavish garment had, at this moment, completely overwhelmed the fragile appearance brought by her youthful face. Although she was a guest, she inexplicably possessed the demeanor of a hostess.

“I see.”

Miss Aleister sighed gently: “You still miss your true mother from your childhood, yet you do not deny the love from ‘the mother who appeared later,’ hence, you do not see her as an enemy. In your perception, these are two completely different yet related individuals… based on this, they both exist within one person.

“…It’s quite rare to find someone who believes that the Son of the Moon and their former self coexist simultaneously. Even within the philosophical views of the Sons of the Moon, such a mindset would be a minority.”

Only with this kind of philosophy could there be actions like Prince Xiyaldo’s, who “cares about the image and identity of his former self and actively intervenes in the actions of the Son of the Moon.” To others, such behavior would seem naive… and considering his status, even somewhat ludicrous.

“There’s no need to analyze to that extent.”

Prince Xiyaldo took a sip of the red tea, saying indifferently: “Hasn’t someone told you that this can make people uncomfortable?”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you were so easily provoked…”

Miss Aleister didn’t mind Prince Xiyaldo’s subtly barbed yet seemingly powerless words, and simply asked with interest: “In your view, what am I to ‘her’? A thief who has stolen her identity and memories, an evolved being resurrected from death… or just a reborn individual with a different personality?”

“…A tombstone.”

After a long silence, Prince Xiyaldo gave a straightforward answer: “That’s how I see it.”

A tombstone, huh…

Upon hearing an answer beyond her expectations, Miss Aleister slightly widened her eyes.

Objects that are inscribed with the life of the deceased, worthy of respect and remembrance. They are not regarded as complete individuals, yet their existence is acknowledged, not dismissed as thieves or monsters.

Compared to Beyard, who once turned into a Shadow Demon, this seemed to be a more mature concept.

“…”

A slight smile formed at the corner of her mouth, her tone becoming gentler: “Good child.”

Regardless of which definition of Son of the Moon is correct—or if perhaps none of them are entirely correct—Miss Aleister could be sure that Prince Xiyaldo was at least a person with a tender soul.

“Perhaps you have been in the world for a long time, but there is no need to assert yourself as an elder in front of me.”

Prince Xiyaldo raised his head and said earnestly, “Everything I do, I do not for the praise of anyone. I do it because I want to.”

“Including your father?” Miss Aleister pursued.

“Of course, Miss Aleister.”

Prince Xiyaldo took a deep breath, looked at Miss Aleister, and said seriously, “I invited you here not solely because of Fenrir’s prophecy, nor just because I saw such an innocent and pure girl about to enter such a depraved and filthy place. It is also because I saw your soul—it is so pure, untainted by any sin.”

“My soul?”

Miss Aleister was somewhat surprised.

But she quickly thought of those glasses: “Can it even do this?”

“—Those were an alchemical creation personally made by Valentine I.”

Prince Xiyaldo spoke candidly, “And it does no harm to tell you… His Majesty in his youth also frequented such places.”

“Is it okay to tell such things to an outsider like me?”

Miss Aleister raised an eyebrow.

Prince Xiyaldo nodded slightly: “Of course, because it’s not a shameful scandal—His Majesty experienced the contradictions of the Sons of the Moon through that incident. He witnessed the degeneration of the Sons of the Moon, yet his best friend was also a Son of the Moon; he doubted his own previous prejudice—whether the Sons of the Moon’s indulgence in Blood Slaves as disposable goods, or the nobles’ evil deeds towards Blood Slaves, which was noble and which was base?”

“So in his confusion, he created these glasses that could ‘see into a person’s heart’. These glasses are blessed by the Gemini Mirror and can not only see whether another’s soul is pure and clear or ferocious and evil but can also see the killings they have committed…”

As he spoke, Prince Xiyaldo looked at Miss Aleister with a complex expression: “And I have never seen a Son of the Moon with such a pure soul. So I think… Miss Aleister, you must have just become a Son of the Moon not long ago, and she… is still young.”

—Nonsense, because I am truly newly born.

Miss Aleister thought to herself.

No wonder Prince Xiyaldo was so warmly flirtatious when he first saw her—despite not having an outgoing personality, he was rather a bottle holding everything in. Moreover, he had emphasized his own “nobility”, and even when she showed a killing intent in the carriage, he showed no wariness.

So it turned out he had seen her record of killings…

The previous incarnation was merely thirteen or fourteen years old, and now the karma on this body was clean.

Therefore, in Prince Xiyaldo’s view, she was either a “child who just replaced the previous one, not knowing how to show that she had become a Son of the Moon, so she used the Illusion Technique to disguise herself as an adult to enter the Son of the Moon’s exclusive buffet”; or a Son of the Moon who hadn’t killed anyone until now, hence he talked with her for so long and carelessly disclosed so many secrets—because he had already determined Miss Aleister’s “moral orientation”.

And at the same time…

“…Do you believe that I would be influenced by that strange ritual and thus commit killing?”

Miss Aleister asked in return.

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