Chapter 526: Grand Duke Flamecrest’s Suspicion
A month ago, Aldrery received a summons from the imperial palace, which puzzled him at the time, as it was not a common occurrence. He felt he had done nothing to warrant such attention from the imperial family, but of course, he obeyed the order.
However, once he met the emperor in his private study and the topic turned to Aldrian—and how the emperor knew about him being Aldrian’s father—he was immediately struck with fear. His face turned pale, and countless negative thoughts about the emperor’s possible opinions filled his mind.
He couldn’t help thinking that way, given his and Irene’s family history, and the fact that they were from different empires.
Yet, to his surprise, the emperor seemed entirely unbothered by it. He even expressed support, going so far as to laugh and thank him for his great merit, simply because he was Aldrian’s father.
He was then told that the emperor of the Doria Empire, Emperor Durand, also already knew about Aldrian’s origin—something he had already known because Aldrian had told him.
Now it became clearer why Emperor Herman did not seem to mind that Aldrian had been born from a woman of another empire, even one from a rival family.
In the end, Emperor Herman clearly had his own interests, and they were not far from the benefit of keeping Aldrian on the empire’s side. He could already imagine that the emperor did not want to lose Aldrian to the Doria Empire by letting him side with his mother’s family and choose to inherit from them.
Because of that, Emperor Herman was actively prioritizing the Flamecrest family to show goodwill toward Aldrian.
On several occasions, the imperial family also deliberately brought up Aldrian in front of the grand duke and himself. It was an effort to let the Grand Duke of Flamecrest better understand Aldrian’s character and qualities beyond just his powerful strength.
They then always portrayed Aldrey as a remarkable son who had brought great benefit to the empire by drawing Aldrian and the imperial family closer.
Aldrey sighed as he looked at how far the emperor was going to show his support for him and his family, all so that Aldrian might choose his father’s side if he decided to inherit. Even the emperor himself had come to this battlefield—something that made the situation truly out of the ordinary, even with the appearance of the Gluttony Devil.