Journey to Become the Zenith

The Seed of the Universal Emperor

So this was the person responsible for hiring the assassin.

Victor’s expression remained neutral.

He had already expected that someone connected to the Elmhart family was behind the incident.

Now the culprit had finally been brought before him.

Evelyne grabbed Fean.

The middle-aged man struggled for a moment, but Evelyne didn’t give him an opportunity to resist.

She tossed the angry Fean toward Victor.

Fean stumbled forward before catching himself.

Now he was directly in front of Victor.

Their eyes met.

The moment Victor looked directly into Fean’s eyes, that strange sensation became stronger.

His soul trembled again.

Victor’s pupils contracted slightly.

What the hell was this?

Fean’s glare was filled with hatred.

Yet beneath that hatred, Victor sensed something else.

Something he couldn’t identify.

It wasn’t simply anger.

There was a strange weight behind it.

For the briefest moment, Victor actually felt threatened by the man’s glare.

That shouldn’t have been possible.

Victor had faced people vastly stronger than this man without feeling such an inexplicable disturbance.

But this man—

Something was wrong.

Victor didn’t move.

Neither did Fean.

The two simply stared at each other.

Evelyne noticed Victor’s silence.

Diana noticed it too.

Both women exchanged a brief glance.

Then Evelyne spoke.

"Master, are you alright?"

Her voice contained genuine concern.

Diana also looked at him carefully.

"Victor, is everything okay?"

Victor heard both voices.

He slowly blinked.

Only then did he realize that he had been staring at Fean for quite some time.

Diana’s expression had changed slightly.

She wasn’t afraid.

She was worried about him.

Evelyne also looked uneasy.

Victor didn’t want either of them to become unnecessarily concerned.

His thoughts returned to the strange sensation.

Whatever this was, he couldn’t understand it right now.

Trying to force an answer without enough information would accomplish nothing.

Victor silently discarded the thought for the moment.

’No matter what it is, I’ll just deal with it when the time comes.’

That was enough.

If the strange feeling truly represented some hidden danger, then sooner or later its source would reveal itself.

And when that happened, Victor would deal with it.

There was no point wasting his energy worrying about something he couldn’t yet understand.

He finally turned his attention toward Evelyne and Diana.

"It’s nothing."

His voice was calm.

The concern in Evelyne’s expression didn’t completely disappear, but she accepted his answer.

Diana continued watching him for another moment before relaxing slightly.

Victor then once again focused on the man before him.

Fean Elmhart.

The man responsible for hiring the assassin.

Victor’s golden eyes settled upon him.

Whatever strange secret was hidden behind that furious gaze could wait.

Right now, there was a more immediate matter to settle.

Victor remained silent as he studied Fean, trying to understand the unsettling feeling that continued to linger deep within his soul.

"Why did you want to kill the Kirche family?"

Victor asked the question calmly.

There was no anger in his voice, nor any impatience. He simply stood before Fean Elmhart and waited for an answer.

The room had become unusually quiet.

The faint sounds from outside seemed distant now. Even the breeze passing through the nearby trees felt subdued, as though the atmosphere itself had sensed the tension gathering inside.

Fean didn’t answer.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

He remained on his knees, his head lowered slightly, but his eyes were still burning with resentment. His breathing was heavy, and every breath sounded as though it carried years of hatred with it.

Victor watched him for a few seconds.

Nothing.

Not even a single word.

Victor’s golden eyes narrowed.

"Answer me."

Fean continued to remain silent.

Victor’s patience finally ran thin.

His hand moved.

Smack!

The slap landed across Fean’s face with enough force to snap his head sideways. A thin line of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth, and his cheek immediately became red.

Diana’s red eyes remained fixed on Fean.

Evelyne stood nearby without interrupting.

She knew her Master well enough to understand that he wasn’t striking Fean simply out of anger. Victor wanted an answer, and Fean’s refusal to speak was only making the situation worse.

Victor looked at Fean again.

"Answer me!"

His voice was sharper this time.

Fean slowly turned his face back.

Blood trickled down his cheek.

Yet he still said nothing.

His eyes remained filled with hatred.

Victor stared at him for another moment.

Then—

Smack!

Another slap.

Fean’s head was thrown to the other side.

Smack!

Another.

Then another.

Victor deliberately controlled his strength. Every strike hurt, but none was powerful enough to kill Fean. He wanted the man conscious enough to answer.

The sound of each slap echoed through the room.

Fean’s breathing became increasingly ragged.

His face began to swell, and the blood at his lips became more noticeable, yet the middle-aged man stubbornly refused to speak.

Victor’s expression became colder.

"You seem determined to keep your mouth shut."

Fean clenched his teeth.

Victor raised his hand again.

Fean instinctively flinched.

The movement was small, almost imperceptible, but Victor noticed it.

So did Evelyne.

For the first time, the hatred in Fean’s eyes was accompanied by something else.

Not fear.

Desperation.

Victor lowered his hand slightly.

"Then tell me," he said quietly, "what are you protecting?"

Fean’s fingers trembled against the floor.

His shoulders rose and fell.

For several seconds, there was only silence.

Then Victor heard something.

A whisper.

"The Skyfall kingdom must fall..."

The words were so quiet that they almost disappeared beneath Fean’s breathing.

Victor’s expression changed slightly.

The name alone caught his attention.

Skyfall.

But before he could question Fean further, the man’s entire demeanor suddenly changed.

His head snapped upward.

The hatred in his eyes erupted into something far more violent.

"The Royals of this sh*tty kingdom should all die!"

His voice thundered through the room.

"They took everything from me!"

His body trembled violently as years of buried rage finally erupted.

"Their allies must all die!"

Fean’s voice cracked, but he didn’t stop.

"They took everything from me! They took my son and killed my wife for trying to take him back!"