I Woke Up from Hibernation and Found a Husband - Chapter 100

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 100
In a secret chamber beneath the Basement of House Temper, Gregory and Bianca sat facing each other.
“Surely you’re aware that if Prince Elliott were to disappear at this juncture, it could actually prove detrimental to the Crown Prince?”
“Of course. As a mother, would I not have considered even that much?”
Gregory barely suppressed a laugh at Bianca’s resolute demeanor. Having composed his expression, he spoke.
“Seizing Berus’s power is no trivial matter. The Master of Arcadia is bound to Berus through a contract with the Imperial Family.”
Sio could not directly harm those of Berus’s bloodline without his consent, and the same held true for Tenel, whose fate was intertwined with his.
This was why Umbra made use of Bianca—a woman who had become part of the Imperial Family through marriage, who bore a child without Berus’s power. Though she possessed the status of the Imperial Family, her sense of belonging to Berus was weak, allowing darkness to work patiently and carve out fissures.
With Bianca’s ambition for greater power granting permission for intervention, the darkness began to quietly and swiftly infiltrate the Imperial Palace.
“Are you saying it cannot be done? Then what was my reason for supporting the Market all this while, allowing you to run rampant!”
Her eyes were bloodshot with fury. Yet Gregory remained unmoved, speaking with measured calm despite her violent rage.
“It is not entirely impossible. However, we would require a power strong enough to shake, even momentarily, the contract bound to Berus’s abilities.”
“A power strong enough?”
“Yes.”
Gregory leaned forward toward the table as though sharing a secret, and whispered.
“A power rivaling Berus itself. We would need the abilities of at least one of the Four Great Houses.”
“Ha! And how am I to obtain the power of one of the Four Great Houses at this late hour? Both House Voltier and House Everitt are places we cannot touch hastily.”
Moreover, the two houses had come to regard each other favorably following the incident at the ball, making them all the more difficult to approach. Bianca irritably swept her hair back.
‘If only Umbra had not wasted time on needless schemes!’
As discontent and resentment scattered in all directions, the beautiful woman’s face twisted into something increasingly grotesque.
Gregory gazed at Bianca with dark, unwavering pupils before speaking bluntly.
“Is there not one more among the Four Great Houses?”
“What?”
Gregory fell silent, but Bianca understood what he meant to convey.
‘Temper.’
Her own house.
‘In this generation, only I and Father have manifested the power of crimson flame.’
Bianca’s expression darkened as she fell into thought. Her mind worked frantically through the calculations, yet she did not notice that her own pupils had turned as dark as Gregory’s.
“The choice, as always, rests with the Empress.”
His voice was disturbingly tender.
* * *
It was Sio who sent Kenneth to House Voltier.
‘Umbra, Tenel—their intentions are beginning to reveal themselves.’
Before the cornerstone was discovered at House Voltier, Sio’s separate unit had already found another. Its location was positioned directly opposite to House Voltier, with the Convent as the reference point.
As Sio conducted a precise analysis of the one situated in the Western Gorge, he discerned what lay within the cornerstone.
‘The remains of the Imber Hardliners who had vanished. Among them, the upper half of the leader who had first stood against Berus.’
The coordinates attached to the cornerstone synchronized with the map, the artifact’s true form. Sio drew a line connecting the cornerstones discovered thus far with the ballroom where the tragedy had occurred.
An orbital alignment matching the astronomical phenomenon of planets arranged in a line. The region at the opposite end of the line fell within House Voltier’s territory.
‘Go down at once and verify the location marked on the map.’
At Sio’s command, Kenneth moved immediately. By utilizing his wind ability, the travel time was dramatically reduced, and reaching House Voltier was swift.
“So that’s why you came. I see you’ve already found the cornerstone.”
Those who had returned after washing away the High Orc’s blood confirmed that the area Kenneth mentioned matched the cornerstone they had observed during the day.
‘Then the remaining half of the remains is contained within this?’
Upon realizing that the coffin-like shape was no mere illusion, Claire felt her skin prickle with dread.
“What are they planning to do with it?”
Kenneth answered Ludwig’s question.
“The Master said to think of it as a sort of keyhole.”
“A keyhole?”
‘To open a sealed door, one needs both a key and its matching keyhole.’
“Opening a door. What an apt metaphor.”
A line drawn as if traversing the entire Empire. If it were to split open, what would emerge from within?
“The Gate of the Underworld. That’s what the Master called it.”
‘The location of the palace where the ballroom stood was originally the center of the Imber Holy Site. Vengeful spirits trapped there long ago. What they desire is obvious.’
“They plan to use the accumulated spiritual energy of the dead to topple the Empire and reclaim the Holy Site.”
“The Holy Site.”
Ludwig, who had learned the full details through Claire and Theodore, swallowed hard.
‘I thought punishing Gregory would end this, but how far has it already spread?’
Claire and Theodore fell into contemplation as well. Whether to depart for hibernation was no longer the pressing concern—if they failed to prevent this calamity, they would simply sleep eternally in their graves.
Seeing the three of them grow grave, Kenneth forced a smile and attempted to lighten the atmosphere.
“Now, the situation isn’t entirely without hope. Every curse has a countermeasure….”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A rhythmic notification sound. The device issued to him as an official envoy of Sio for receiving urgent communications was ringing.
“It’s an urgent message from the Master. Allow me a moment to check the contents.”
He unrolled the small scroll-like object and examined what was written inside. As Kenneth read through the characters, his eyes grew progressively wider.
“What’s happened?”
When Claire asked, Kenneth lowered the note and exhaled a long breath before speaking.
“Marquis Temper is dead.”
* * *
Iris understood the sorrow of the powerless better than anyone. A humble merchant family of modest standing. Elevated to the unwanted position of Empress through the Emperor’s notice.
The cold gaze Bianca had cast upon her when she became pregnant with Elliott—even now, more than twenty years later, the memory chilled her to the bone.
In the Imperial Palace where she had no allies, Iris would beseech the moon every night.
‘Please, let me at least protect the child within me.’
The powers of Berus, the position of future Emperor—none of it held any meaning for her. Her sole wish was for her child to grow safely until adulthood, then leave the Imperial Palace to live freely.
Yet it seemed the heavens turned a deaf ear even to this modest prayer, for on Elliott’s fifth birthday, he faced poisoning at the hands of the Governess.
‘If you cannot do this, who else can possibly detoxify this poison!’
‘I beg your forgiveness, Your Majesty.’
The virulent poison that even the Imperial physician could not cure was, cruelly, the kind that did not end life swiftly but prolonged suffering, withering the victim slowly to death.
Though Iris had her suspicions about the culprit, she possessed no proof. All she could do was watch her child waste away in that terrible despair.
Then he appeared.
‘Would it be alright if I examined Prince Elliott for a moment?’
Ian Lloyd, possessing the ability to heal.
At first, I had harbored nothing but suspicion toward his kindness, even as he served as Aaron’s personal physician. Even after he freed Elliott from that terrible poison, I firmly believed he must be seeking something in return.
But then.
“This is a gift. I pray that Elliott remains in good health.”
On the day Ian Lloyd last visited the Imperial Palace, he presented Elliott with an artifact imbued with his healing power. The look in his eyes—as though to say it would be desperately needed—left me unable to refuse.
“I shall repay this kindness without fail, someday.”
At those words, Ian Lloyd departed with a smile. And years later, when Elliott awakened to the Imperial Family’s abilities, he narrowly escaped death countless times through frequent assassination attempts. Each time, it was the healing pendant Ian had left behind that saved his life.
Perhaps he truly was the final provision Heaven had sent for Elliott’s sake, I thought with complete sincerity. There could not possibly exist another soul so selflessly devoted in this world.
So when this crisis arrived in a world where even Ian Lloyd had vanished, it brought the Empress nothing but absolute despair.
“Elliott, no. No!”
Iris collapsed to the floor, her head cradled in her hands.
Elliott, the Second Prince, had disappeared. The only trace left behind was blood staining the space where he had last been.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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