Vol 3. Chapter 68: Caution
Several dozen minutes earlier,
When Yumo left the imperial palace in an extremely foul mood and headed toward the imperial prison to see Karina, Xiao, the leader of the Black Rose Family, contacted Yumo using a communication magic stone.
Afterward, in order to appease Miss Yumo, Xiao put forward a proposal.
Upon hearing Xiao's words, Yumo, who was already halfway there, abruptly froze and stopped in her tracks in astonishment. With complicated emotions, she looked down at the communication magic stone in her palm, which was emitting a blue glow.
After a moment of silence,
Yumo spoke with a complicated expression,
"Xiao, you mean... have the Abyss Demons attack Skyvault?"
In fact, Yumo wasn't the only one. The members of the Black Rose Family beside her also revealed astonished expressions. Of course, that excluded a certain old butler who had maintained a meaningful expression from beginning to end...
Faced with Miss Yumo's shocked words,
Xiao, who was communicating with Yumo, sighed helplessly.
Then his voice once again traveled through the communication magic stone and entered Miss Yumo's ears,
"Lady Yumo, I believe this is the most appropriate method at present. As you know, in recent years, because the number of Abyss Demon invasions has rapidly declined, the various major powers on the Anqieka Continent have become increasingly less vigilant toward Abyss Demons. Many powers in the south have even nearly forgotten that Abyss Demons exist. We originally wanted to capture Garos Fortress to sound an alarm for all the major powers, reminding them not to forget the threat from the north, not to grow complacent, to cultivate properly, and to stop fighting among themselves. But what was the result? Because of the appearance of the Mana Fission Bomb, almost no one is paying attention to the Abyss Demons. Everyone has gone to pay attention to Xue Tianao's new weapons instead. These new weapons have actually made humanity look down on the Abyss Demons even more."
Listening to Xiao's words, Yumo temporarily fell silent, while the Black Rose Knights beside her, prompted by a look from Saiboke-Baniya, repeatedly voiced their agreement.
"That's right, Lady Yumo. The news over in Sadik is almost entirely about the Mana Fission Bomb and the genius inventor Xue Tianao."
"Most countries care more about the weapons and the threat posed by the Snow Night Empire."
"Mm, that's right, Lady Yumo. There are quite a few people in the Sadik Empire who believe that if they had a few dozen more Mana Fission Bombs, they could flatten the Great Winter Forest and completely eradicate the threat of the Abyss Demons..."
...
...
After the knights finished speaking, Xiao seized the right moment to speak again,
"Lady Yumo, if this continues, the human powers will still spend the next several decades primarily fighting among themselves. They won't be able to unite. Take the current situation, for example. The Crimson Leaf Empire and the Sadik Empire have both gathered troops in the central region, preparing to fight over Mana Stone mines."
"What? They're going to fight again?"
"Yes. They're fighting over the raw materials needed for Mana Fission Bombs, and the conflicts go far beyond just this... Sigh, judging from your conversation with Xue Tianao just now, it isn't difficult to see how arrogant this Child of Destiny has become after repelling Lady Karina and acquiring so many new weapons. If he continues maintaining such an overconfident attitude, then when he truly leads an army into the Great Winter Forest, what awaits him will be nothing but a devastating defeat. Not only will he die, everyone who comes with him will die as well. If even the Child of Destiny fails, I'm afraid no one on the continent will ever dare set foot in the Great Winter Forest again. Lady Yumo, you don't want to see that happen either, do you?"
"No..."
If that happened, the trial would fail...
Miss Yumo quietly added in her heart.
"So, you want to attack Skyvault in order to..."
"Mm, that's right. In order to make the humans on the continent unite again, we need to give them a sufficient sense of crisis. We need to make them understand that if they don't unite to resist the Abyss Demons, the only thing awaiting them is destruction! For that, destroying a small country is nowhere near enough. We need to crush a major nation! Right now, countless people across the continent have their eyes on Skyvault, watching the Child of Destiny's coronation ceremony. This is the perfect opportunity. Destroying Skyvault will make the people of the continent remember the terror of the Abyss Demons once again and realize just how powerless they truly are. Faced with an overwhelming crisis threatening their very survival, only then might these people finally unite properly and put an end to their endless and meaningless infighting. Furthermore, destroying Skyvault would also benefit the Child of Destiny."
"Benefit him?"
"Yes. Lady Yumo, the current Child of Destiny is far too arrogant. Just because he possesses some new weapons, he looks down on everyone. At the same time, he belittles his companions, treats human lives like weeds, and forcibly twists the wills of others. A Child of Destiny like this could never lead the humans of the continent to victory. He would only lead them to their own destruction. He needs to change. And I believe the way to change him is to inflict a crushing defeat upon his smooth and successful life, completely shatter his inner confidence, and force him to understand exactly what he's truly capable of."
"..."
Seeing that Yumo didn't reply, Xiao continued persuading her:
"Lady Yumo, if we attack Skyvault, we can also rescue Marquis Xiumu-Duke and his wife along the way—or rather, give them an opportunity to clear their names. We can rescue all those children being used to create 'Soul Pearls' as well. Furthermore, during the attack, we can eliminate those who know about your identity as 'Blood Butterfly.' Then, after teaching the Child of Destiny a lesson, we may also have an opportunity for Shuoyue to rewrite his memories..."
...
...
And just like that, Xiao continuously explained the advantages of his proposal to Yumo. Coupled with the agreement of Saiboke-Baniya and the others around her, Yumo gradually began to feel inclined to nod and agree.
However, when it came to directly dispatching Abyss Demons to attack the capital where the Child of Destiny was located, Yumo still had reservations.
Therefore, the girl did not immediately accept Xiao's proposal.
"I'll think about it some more."
After giving this reply, Yumo ended the communication and continued toward the imperial prison where Flame Prison was being held together with Saiboke-Baniya.
--
As for Lady Yumo not immediately agreeing with him, Xiao, who was thousands of miles away and currently strolling through a cave, didn't care.
Or rather, he had already prepared a corresponding contingency plan.
'She didn't agree immediately, huh?'
Lady Yumo must have some reservations about the forces currently inside Skyvault. All these years, Lady Yumo had constantly been thinking about improving the combat strength of humanity's forces. Now, after much difficulty, the Royal Knights and Imperial Guards in Skyvault had finally gained some strength.
Naturally, Lady Yumo would be reluctant to severely cripple them, much less wipe them out. On top of that, there were people from other powers inside the city, as well as the Child of Destiny. Lady Yumo probably didn't want them to get caught up in the attack either.
Seriously,
Lady Yumo, things would be so much easier if you could just be a little more ruthless.
Thinking this, Xiao couldn't help shaking his head helplessly.
Hmm,
Forget it. Better not make her that ruthless. We prefer Lady Yumo the way she is now.
It didn't matter that Lady Yumo hadn't agreed.
That was only temporary.
'Lady Yumo will agree sooner or later.'
Xiao couldn't help revealing a smile brimming with confidence.
Unlike Xue Tianao's **confidence, Xiao's confidence had a basis.
Ever since his father had been killed by the previous emperor of the Sadik Empire because of his carelessness, Xiao had engraved the word 'caution' into his DNA.
Since he dared to propose this plan to Lady Yumo, Xiao had naturally made ample preparations.
No matter what, Xue Tianao was the Child of Destiny, the existence Lady Yumo had waited hundreds of years for. If Xiao wanted to convince Lady Yumo to take action against him, he first needed to completely destroy whatever favorable impression Lady Yumo had of the Child of Destiny and lower it as much as possible.
For that purpose, Xiao had deliberately arranged for Xizhi to collect evidence of Xue Tianao's crimes.
As for the things Xue Tianao had actually done, they embellished them considerably.
As for the things Xue Tianao hadn't done, as long as something bad had happened within the Snow Night Empire, they pinned all of it on Xue Tianao!
There was absolutely no need to worry about evidence. Fabricating evidence was the Nightingale Organization's specialty.
In addition to preparing all sorts of evidence against him, Xiao had done many other things to ensure that absolutely nothing went wrong, including but not limited to coercing Moxiao into feeding Xue Tianao false information, making Xue Tianao continuously lower Lady Yumo's favorable impression of him with every word and action; ensuring that Marquis Xiumu-Duke and his wife were successfully captured and brought to Skyvault; guiding Lady Yumo into coincidentally encountering the little boy who had nearly been turned into a 'Soul Pearl'; deliberately spreading rumors among the public about the relationship between Mengxi and Xue Tianao, as well as Xue Tianao's romantic affairs with the five women in his harem, in order to make Lady Yumo unhappy...
...
Apart from all that, the most important thing was naturally having Karina pretend to be defeated and imprisoned within the imperial prison.
Given Lady Yumo's personality, no matter how much hope she placed in Xue Tianao, once she learned that Xue Tianao had hurt her daughter, there was an eighty or ninety percent chance that she wouldn't give him a pleasant look.
And once Lady Yumo personally witnessed Lady Karina's 'miserable condition,' she would undoubtedly agree to his plan.
The facts,
turned out exactly as Xiao had predicted.
After hearing Karina's aggrieved sobbing, the powder keg inside Yumo's heart completely exploded.
A moment later,
As expected, the communication magic stone in Xiao's palm began emitting a faint blue glow.
Then, that familiar yet slightly icy voice came from the magic stone,
"Xiao."
"What are your orders, Lady Yumo?"
"That plan you proposed earlier. I agree."
Hearing those words, the corners of Xiao's lips rose slightly.