Across from the communication projection, Audrey was still dressed in male attire, with both hands wearing gloves supporting the edge of the balcony railing as if catching a cool breeze.
Her complexion was extremely grim, and she opened her mouth to say, “Jiang! Something has happened…”
After uttering these words, Audrey realized that Garcia was also nearby. Earlier, Jiang Jianming had already briefed her on the general causes and consequences, so she was not surprised. She merely lowered her head in a show of respect and said, “Your Highness.”
Garcia nodded in acknowledgment, his gaze frosty. “Tell him about your situation, keep it brief.”
“…Yes.” Audrey took a trembling breath, and both of them could clearly see a cold sweat drop from the corner of the temple of this young head of the Lance family who had been in power since childhood.
She pursed her lip and glanced around before speaking with a strained voice, “Jiang, you need to calmly listen to me. I don’t know who leaked out the rejection of the two proposals, but now most of the disabled humans in Aslan Star City… are stirring up trouble.”
Jiang Jianming’s expression changed. “What?”
“What’s even more troublesome is that it’s not known where the information came from, but there are rumors that Her Majesty the Emperor intends to…to designate me as the crown prince and cease the enfeoffment of new nobles from now on.”
Audrey clenched her teeth. “Those rumors suggest that our empire will gradually become like the old empire, completely valuing nobles and new crystal humans. Open the intelligence network and see for yourself.”
The night sky outside the window seemed to thicken invisibly. Jiang Jianming looked at Garcia with a serious expression. Garcia understood and reached over to open the virtual screen on the desk, pulling the light blue panel over.
Jiang Jianming was about to ask Audrey where to look, but he immediately knew there was no need to ask when he glanced at it.
On the intelligence network, large sections of entries were highlighted in red, and no matter which page or platform he clicked into, there would be fierce and frenzied exchanges of words.
[Had just returned from the His Excellency Prime Minister’s side, and in the blink of an eye, the sky seemed to be falling down…How could this happen?]
[Those without crystal bones deserve to be seen as inferior and defective products. Face reality bah, tsk.]
[Aren’t the treatment of the disabled humans much better now than decades ago? I don’t understand why you’re suddenly making a fuss.]
[Have you knelt for so long that you can’t stand up? Then crawl for me!]
With a click, countless new comments popped up in an instant.
[Today, our fellow non crystal humans were killed, and the next to be oppressed will be us powerless civilians! And the next after that will be the new nobles!! Until it’s just like that dark era!!]
[If the great emperor were still alive and saw this situation…..alas.]
[??? What mindless thing? Still worshiping the great emperor? Wake up, the Great Emperor Kaios himself was a tyrant, addicted to power, and drove the founding commander to his death. In the Holy War, how many soldiers have been killed due to excessive military warfare?”
[This country is also starting to rot, but it’s inevitable. Now all of humanity is under the rule of one empire… I dare not say more.]
“Nonsense.”
Jiang Jianming glanced at the screen and chuckled angrily, then turned off the screen. “If the Empire truly wanted to oppress them, would this kind of text appear on the intelligence network?”
People are easily swayed by rhetoric when they lose their rationality. A crowd in a frenzy was like an old, neglected gasoline factory that could explode into a huge blaze with just a spark.
Undoubtedly, the heat of this explosion had now reached a place very close to them.
Faint noise could be heard from outside the window. Garcia lifted his eyes and glanced down, “There are people gathering in the streets.”
Jiang Jianming shook his head and said in a disappointed low voice, “They shouldn’t be resorting to such chaos if they want to fight for their rights, especially when everything has been improving in recent years.”
As he said this, he suddenly paused.
Jiang Jianming slowly furrowed his brow, speaking to himself with uncertainty, “Yes, clearly…”
A strange sense of disconnect suddenly dawned on him. Yes, clearly… The Empire was indeed taking care of the disabled humans’ lives. So why was there such a disturbance?
Since the lives of the disabled humans were getting better each year, and even the upper ranks permitted and supported the establishment of the protection association, there was simply no reason to be so resolute and even ruthless in preventing the disabled humans from joining the military.
Thinking in reverse, if someone in the upper ranks really wanted to suppress the disabled humans and had the power to veto and intercept proposals like that…
Then at present, the atmosphere within Aslan Star City, which was quite friendly and improving year by year towards the disabled humans, should not have had a chance to develop in this way.
It shouldn’t have happened, it doesn’t make sense, it lacks logic.
It was like a jigsaw puzzle missing its most crucial piece, so the cause and effect couldn’t connect seamlessly.
Jiang Jianming pressed his temples, his expression solemn: No, no. It’s not the time to investigate the cause now.
No matter what the underlying reasons may be, the military’s decision has already been exploited by the enemy. If we don’t quickly quell this conflict, the consequences will be unimaginable.
“Jiang! Something’s not right with this situation. I feel like someone is stirring the waters, inciting the populace,” Audrey said calmly. “You mentioned during the day that there might be enemy forces lurking within the Empire. Could it be…”
“Perhaps it started long ago.”
Jiang Jianming slowly lowered his gaze, looking at his own hands. “Conspiracy… has been underway for some time.”
That night at his alma mater, Kaios Academy, he asked why the current atmosphere in the Empire was so turbulent.
Instructor Luo Hai’s speculation was that the uncertainty surrounding the heir to the throne had become the catalyst, leading to the emergence of contradictions within the Empire.
But what if, what if a third party was using this period of public unrest, to take advantage of the opportunity to fan the wind and ignite the fire…?
Flashes of what he had witnessed upon returning to the Empire played before his eyes: the arrogant and domineering Brandon Family as pawns, the passionate military academy students as pawns, the weeping crystal followers, and the cheering crowds for His Excellency the Prime Minister…
New crystal humans, disabled humans, nobles, commoners.
Inside this thriving empire, everyone who had dreamed of their future had become pawns manipulated from behind the scenes.
What would the final formation be?
What was about to happen?
Audrey lowered her head and caressed her wrist, saying softly, “Jiang, do you think… if they knew that the head of Lance Family is a disabled human, perhaps… it could stabilize people’s hearts?”
The glass door on the opposite balcony was pushed open, and Diana stood there timidly. Her long hair was tousled by the wind as she whispered, “Big brother…”
Jiang Jianming shook his head. “Don’t act impulsively. Since someone is manipulating things behind the scenes, it’s not something you can resolve by throwing yourself into the fire. I’ll go and inquire about the military’s intentions.”
He remembered Laurent’s benevolent facade in front of the public, and the deadly jewelry that Xie Yinxing had placed on his wrist, and added, “Tonight, be extremely cautious, stay at home, and don’t trust anyone easily.”
Audrey fell silent, and after a moment, she nodded bitterly, embracing her anxious sister. “I understand. I won’t act recklessly…after all, I still have Diana.”
“Gerhard Laurent’s banquet usually lasts until dawn every year, and on a night like this, he’s very likely to incite the populace to do something.”
Audrey pursed her lips and looked into the distance. “I’ve already had my people gather information. Now, we can only play it by ear. Jiang, please take care of yourself… I’m ending the call, but feel free to contact me anytime.”
The communication was disconnected, and the projection window disappeared into silence.
Jiang Jianming stood still in place for a few seconds. He took a deep breath and went to pour himself a glass of cold water.
When he turned around, Garcia was still leaning against the window, watching him with a mocking gaze, as if taunting his struggles.
Jiang Jianming had no choice but to give a bitter smile.
Garcia spoke in a low voice, “This Empire, is it really important to you?”
Jiang Jianming was about to reach out and make another communication but paused when he heard the question.
He turned his head to gaze deeply at Garcia, his calm eyebrows softened slightly under the light.
“…I don’t know, Your Highness.”
The glint in his eyes became vibrant, like a warm breeze in April sweeping across the land, causing the accumulated snow on the blackwood to melt into water droplets, rolling gently in the wind.
“But… perhaps, in life, there should always be a destination, a place that can be called home, carrying some memories and aspirations. A place that makes people willing to live for it or even die for it.”
“Ho..me.”Garcia repeated the word, letting this word run between his teeth.
Outside the window, the noise grew louder, and shouts of people could be heard inside the room. It seemed that more and more residents were running to the streets, not knowing where they were heading.
Crash——!
The sound of shattering glass was sharp and clear. Someone in a heightened emotional state had started smashing and cursing.
“Supposing, many, many years later, perhaps you will still remember.”
Jiang Jianming walked over to Garcia, stretching out his arms. “In the Aslan Star City of the First Galaxy, on a chaotic night like this…”
In the distance, it seemed like a streetlamp had been shattered by the enraged individual, and the resulting flames were reflected on the window glass. It flashed on Jiang Jianming’s eyebrows, and the crimson light shone deep into the pupils of the young disabled human.
His face was pale, but he smiled faintly. In the midst of such a precarious situation where the balance could tip at any moment, he still gave off the illusion of being completely at ease.
“I’ve held you like this before.”
Jiang Jianming hooked his arms around Garcia’s neck and pulled the man into his embrace.
He gently lowered his eyelashes and whispered, “Don’t worry, there’s nothing to be afraid of. I will solve all of this. Then we can celebrate the New Year together. You said you wanted to take me to a place, right?”
Garcia didn’t show much expression but rubbed against the thin shoulder of the disabled human and said softly, “…Hm.”
The snow along the window sill had not yet melted. In the darkness and flames, their entwined bodies formed a silhouette. When their chests pressed against each other, they could both feel the pulsating heartbeat of the other.
Garcia raised his hand, and his fingertips, which had just been wrapped in bandages, lightly touched Jiang Jianming’s waist, then stroked his spine all the way up.
The movements were rough, and the clothes became wrinkled. That hand seemed to be asserting its possession over the territory it touched.
“I have no home, and there’s no destination either.”
Garcia suddenly spoke, his voice becoming hoarse. When he looked up with his cold emerald eyes, there was a sense of unfocus in their depths.
The Empire wasn’t his country, the royal family wasn’t his kin. Even the snow-covered steel fortress all year round was merely a temporary abode.
So he still didn’t quite understand how these heroic souls, who have been fighting tirelessly for a piece of land since ancient times, hold such a passionate love for this home.
But…
“But I’ve met……you.”
But if there was anything in this cold and unforgiving universe that held some of his memories and aspirations, something that made him willing to live or die for it, it might just be the person in front of him.
Garcia released his hold on Jiang Jianming’s arm, thinking, perhaps this was the answer.
Even if it wasn’t this person in the end, it wouldn’t be anything else anymore.
“Though I still don’t know what your memories of Ryann Kaios look like. But… if, at this moment, you need a weapon to fight…”
Garcia lovingly caressed Jiang Jianming’s face and then spoke calmly, “Then use me.”
Outside the window, a sudden burst of flames illuminated the night for a moment and then withered and fell down, and then darkness made its comeback.
