Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Chapter 126: The chaos and the calm

The Ravenshade household was known for its discipline and decorum. It was a place where servants would be kicked out if they didn’t behave calmly and properly.

But today... that Ravenshade household was in complete chaos.

And it was all because of the news that had just arrived.

Standing in front of the mansion’s door, Seraphina stared at the girl standing in front of her with a broken, lifeless gaze.

Her pinkish-purple hair was messy and dirty, and she could easily notice several bruises over the girl’s entire body. Her gaze was unfocused, and her lips continued to tremble.

Normally, Seraphina would have instantly ordered the servants to tend to the girl. After all, Evangeline Florivelle was just that important.

But that thought didn’t even cross her mind right now.

"Are you sure?" She turned to the knight supporting the girl. "Are you absolutely sure about what you just told me?"

Her words sounded abnormally sharp, even to her ears.

The knight slowly nodded.

"I... am, My Lady. I am as sure as I can be."

Seraphina clenched her fists.

’No, that can’t happen. Absolutely not.’

A few hours ago, the knight who was assigned to protect the two children had hurriedly returned and reported that the carriage he was following—the one in which the children were traveling—was suddenly enveloped in light and vanished.

It had most certainly been teleported.

Seraphina had quickly arranged several groups of knights to search for a way to find where they had teleported.

And one of those groups had just returned with Evangeline Florivelle in this pitiful state.

But the news they had to share—the information they had extracted from the girl—was horrifying.

Seraphina hurriedly turned around and ordered the nearest servant she saw.

"Bring me a mass teleportation scroll, quickly! Go!"

At her command, all the servants rushed inside aside from a few, including Colette.

Seraphina waited quietly, but her impatience grew with every passing moment.

’If there is even a little chance... I have to act as fast as I can!’

Just then, a servant returned carrying several scrolls. Seraphina hurriedly snatched one of them before the servant could even speak.

While infusing her own mana into the scroll, she turned to the girl and spoke in a hurry.

"Infuse the scroll with your mana while visualizing the place the two of you had been teleported to."

The girl was only a Phase Two and thus didn’t have nearly enough mana to activate a scroll of a tier-seven spell. So Seraphina had to infuse most of the mana and leave just enough for Evangeline to activate it.

The girl barely responded to her words, still looking lost. But then she slowly placed her hands on the now glowing scroll and began channeling her mana into it.

Just then, Colette stepped closer and came to stand beside Seraphina. Moments later, Seraphina, Colette, and Evangeline, as well as all the knights present nearby, were enveloped in a blinding flash of light.

As her vision cleared and she could perceive her surroundings, Seraphina froze. It wasn’t just her; everyone froze as they perceived their surroundings.

They were standing near the center of an absurdly massive, charred-black crater. Lingering smoke and fire were still present in some places, and the ground beneath their feet was scorching hot.

There was no sign of life as far as her eyes could see, only charred black land.

’It can’t be...’

What she had feared had really come to pass.

Coming to her senses, she hurriedly turned to the knights and shouted.

"What are you all doing?! Search the area! Quick!"

Even though she gave that order, she knew that it was pointless. Just a simple look was enough to tell her that everything within the radius of the explosion would’ve been incinerated.

Her words brought the knights back to their senses, and they all scattered to search the area.

And after searching for half an hour, they only found two things.

A melted piece of metal, which was supposed to be the sword Adrian was carrying when they left the mansion.

And a jewel from an accessory that was attached to his clothes.

Looking at them, even the remaining light slowly faded from Evangeline’s eyes.

"A-ah... no..."

As if losing strength in her legs, she was about to fall, but Colette quickly reacted and caught the girl before her body could hit the ground.

The girl now looked completely and utterly broken.

But Seraphina had no attention to spare for her broken state; her eyes remained fixed on the melted piece of metal and the gem.

They had not found any trace of a body. But it would’ve been impossible to find it considering the intensity of the blast. The body would’ve likely turned to ash.

But finding his traces was enough proof that he hadn’t been able to escape the blast’s radius.

It was confirmed now. The first son of House Ravenshade, Adrian Caelis Ravenshade, was dead.

A seething fury boiled inside her, something she had not felt in a very long time.

Grinding her teeth, Seraphina swore.

’Whoever dared to do this will pay. For raising their blade against a Ravenshade, I will wipe out their entire bloodline and erase their every trace from the world!’

***

Sitting in the PC cafe within the mind world, Adrian let out a sigh.

’How am I still alive...?’

As his vision was blinded by the light of the explosion, Adrian found himself here the next moment.

But the thing was, he would enter the mind world like this when his body was either unconscious or he fell asleep. So was his body still alive and only unconscious?

After all, it wouldn’t make sense otherwise.

Adrian glanced at the analog wristwatch on his hand and let out another sigh.

He was tempted to increase the time discrepancy between the mind world and the real world, which would allow him to simply skip ahead to the point where his body wakes up.

But...

’I probably shouldn’t.’

Even if the blast hadn’t directly killed him, it would’ve at least left his body in a state it wouldn’t be able to recover from. And even disregarding the blast itself, his body was already in a ruined state with all those glowing blue cracks.

No, his body was already in a state it wouldn’t be able to recover from, even before the blast.

Which meant that even if he hadn’t died yet, he was unlikely to survive for much longer. These moments in the mind world would probably be his last moments.

Adrian stood up from the chair and left the PC cafe. Walking with unhurried steps, he reached the tallest building he could find nearby. Entering the lift, he waited for a while before the lift’s door opened once again.

Walking out, he climbed a few sets of stairs and then arrived at the building’s rooftop.

A gentle breeze was blowing, and the sky was clear as the sun slowly peeked from beyond the horizon.

Walking forward, he sat at the edge of the rooftop with his legs hanging below.

The view from that height was amazing, making the vast world below look tiny. This mind world... It was a world of stillness, a world of quiet. With nobody besides Adrian present here, nothing about this world ever changed. So it was an unchanging world.

’...The immutable world... Yes, that sounds fitting.’

Calling it a "mind world" or "mindscape" felt lacking and wrong. So Adrian decided that he would at least give this place a proper name.

But then, his eyelids suddenly grew heavy, and a sudden drowsiness enveloped him, causing him to lose his balance and fall over, plummeting down from the rooftop.

But his eyes closed before his body could even hit the ground.

And in the real world, Adrian slowly opened his eyes.