Chapter 473: 471
The world of ALDNOAH.ZERO.
Deep within the royal palace of the Vers Empire lay a private chamber.
There was nothing lavish about it. Instead of magnificent decorations befitting an emperor, the room possessed an ancient, almost mysterious atmosphere.
An emaciated old man lay upon the bed.
He appeared to have been ill for many years, leaving him bedridden and barely able to move most of the time. Yet despite his frail body, his face still carried the natural authority of a ruler who inspired fear without ever raising his voice.
"Please focus on your recovery. I promise this visit to Earth will be completed successfully."
The blonde princess spoke reassuringly to her grandfather.
Another figure stood beside her, a young woman whose features bore some resemblance to her own. She was Asseylum's younger half sister, and she bowed alongside her as they prepared to leave.
"Wait."
"Is there something else, Grandfather?"
"Lemrina, you may leave first."
"Of course."
The girl named Lemrina obediently left the room, though a trace of resentment lingered deep within her eyes.
"Asseylum."
"Yes, Grandfather?"
Silence followed.
The Martian emperor said nothing more. He merely stared deeply into her eyes, and the pressure of his gaze made Asseylum tense.
It felt as though the man who had ruled Mars for decades could see straight through her heart.
"Are you... truly going there for peace?"
Asseylum's hands, folded neatly over her abdomen, tightened around each other.
She knew her grandfather must have noticed something suspicious about her recent actions.
After all, he held the highest level of authority over the Vers Empire's Aldnoah system. He might have examined the records of her recent Aldnoah activations and found something unusual.
More importantly, although the Martian Kataphrakt she had taken away had been returned, a careful investigation would reveal that it had briefly vanished. Even though it appeared to have been restored after reappearing, attempting to activate it would immediately expose the problem.
6O had reassembled the Kataphrakt after taking it apart, but she had been unable to restore it completely because she did not fully understand every aspect of its technology.
Her grandfather might already have discovered that anomaly.
Because of that, Asseylum had been debating whether to tell him the truth: the Orbital Knights stationed above Earth had long since stopped obeying the imperial family so readily.
The Orbital Knights had always plotted to conquer Earth completely. The only thing they lacked was a sufficiently legitimate justification.
In fact, the peace delegation had been quietly encouraged by those same Martian knights who supposedly hated Earth.
On the surface, they claimed to oppose the princess's visit out of concern for her safety. In reality, they could hardly wait for her to descend to Earth.
If something happened to her during the visit, they could launch a full-scale war under the righteous banner of avenging their princess and seize the planet.
Among the Orbital Knights, one man was more important than all the others. He was the one driving Mars and Earth toward their most extreme positions.
This Martian count did not seek war merely to conquer Earth. More than anything, he wanted revenge against the emperor.
Count Saazbaum was currently the most powerful count among the Orbital Knights. He was secretly exploiting their longing for Earth to drive both sides toward war.
He intended to use that war to destroy the Vers royal family, all to avenge the fiancée he had lost on Earth more than a decade ago.
She had not been killed by Terrans. The people of Earth had possessed no such power at the time.
She had died when the Hypergate on the Moon went out of control and exploded. An enormous amount of lunar debris had rained down upon the planet, engulfing those carrying out a mission on the surface.
Saazbaum's fiancée had been unable to escape in time and was killed by the falling debris.
That was why he had come to hate the royal family. The Hypergate's catastrophic failure had not been an accident. Someone had deliberately caused it.
By destroying the Hypergate, travel between Mars and the Orbital Knights' strongholds became far more difficult. Without hyperspatial transport, conventional voyages between Mars and Earth required a considerable amount of time.
That provided a legitimate reason to station military forces in Earth's orbit, allowing them to monitor the planet's every move.
If every force withdrew to Mars, they would be too far away to respond when something happened.
It appeared that the destruction of the lunar Hypergate had been secretly orchestrated by the second emperor, Asseylum's father, along with several Orbital Knights.
Her father had also died in the war brought about by that terrible crime.
But Saazbaum's hatred for the royal family had not diminished merely because her father was dead. The seed of vengeance had already taken root too deeply to ever be removed.
In his eyes, her grandfather, everyone carrying the emperor's blood, the Martian nobility, and even the people who had been incited into supporting the war were all targets of his revenge.
He wanted the Vers royal family exterminated.
He wanted the entire Vers Empire to collapse.
That was why Asseylum was considering whether she should reveal Saazbaum's conspiracy to her grandfather.
The problem was that she had no evidence.
Her grandfather already held little affection for Earth. He was unlikely to believe her, and he might even fear that her presence there would interfere with the conquest of the planet and forbid her from going.
"Yes."
Asseylum answered with absolute conviction, concealing the fact that her reasons were no longer the same as before.
At first, she had wanted to prove that people could understand one another without resorting to war.
Now, however, she might willingly participate in the coming conflict. She had already begun to regard the Orbital Knights as her enemies.
Her own hands would be stained with blood.
"Are you truly prepared to raise your hand against them?"
Asseylum's eyes widened. Every nerve in her body instantly drew taut.
What was her grandfather talking about?
"If there is no blood on your hands, you will never sit securely upon the throne."
After leaving her with those cryptic words, the emperor closed his eyes and spoke no further.
A long silence passed.
"I am prepared."
"Then go and do what must be done."
Asseylum bowed and withdrew from the room.
...
"Sister? Sister!"
"Huh?"
Asseylum finally emerged from her thoughts and realized that Lemrina had been calling to her.
Her mind had once again returned to the conversation in her grandfather's chamber before their departure.
When he had spoken of "them," had she understood him correctly?
Had her grandfather already seen through her true intentions?
"Look! We can see Earth!"
"Ah... yes. It truly is a beautiful planet. It is our ancestral home, after all."
It would have been even more beautiful without the scars of war.
Near the planet floated a shattered celestial body, the Moon that had accompanied Earth for billions of years.
Once, it had been a breathtaking sight when viewed from the planet's surface. Now it served only as a reminder of the nightmare humanity had endured.
Before long, they reached their destination.
"Your Highness, the transport is ready."
"Thank you, Count Cruhteo."
The man before her was the head of one of Mars's thirty-seven noble clans and an Orbital Knight. There was a strong possibility that he was one of those who knew nothing about the conspiracy.
Asseylum sincerely hoped she would not be forced to face him as an enemy.
"Lemrina, I'll have to ask you to remain aboard Count Cruhteo's Landing Castle for now."
In the end, Asseylum had secured the right to be the first princess to visit Earth, while her younger sister would remain aboard the Landing Castle.
This was also what many of the Orbital Knights wanted. They could not allow both princesses to descend together. If something happened to both of them, the Vers Empire would be left without an heir.
Even more of the counts had argued that Lemrina should go down first while Asseylum remained aboard the Landing Castle. Once Earth's safety had been confirmed and all necessary arrangements completed, the first princess could descend afterward.
But did most of the counts truly want her to remain safe?
Some of them were certainly saying one thing while thinking another.
Only the death of the first heir to the throne could provoke Mars into a sufficiently furious war.
Leaving Lemrina aboard Cruhteo's Landing Castle served another purpose as well. It would prevent the count from recklessly descending with the castle when the fighting began.
He had to protect an imperial heir, which meant he could not simply drop his Landing Castle onto Earth. It would also keep him from becoming involved in the conflict immediately.
Once Asseylum reached the surface, she would invite Mr. Kain to come at once.
But was he truly all right?
Something had suddenly happened to him after he finished dealing with the situation in Miss A2's world and returned.
Asseylum did not know exactly what had happened. She had already returned to her own world by then, and when she noticed that Kain had not started a livestream, she assumed nothing serious was going on.
She logged back in roughly three hours later and learned from Saeko Busujima that, about three hours after returning to his hotel, Kain had suddenly appeared beside Saeko and collapsed.
At the time, Saeko had been livestreaming herself clearing out zombies. Kain's emergency entry into her world had therefore been broadcast to everyone.
He had been gravely injured.
Although he later claimed there was nothing seriously wrong and that he had already recovered, even appearing on the livestream to prove it to them, Asseylum was still worried.
The thought of asking him for help when he had only recently recovered from such severe wounds filled her with intense guilt.
(End of Chapter)
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