Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

But moments later, the atmosphere around him returned to normal.

They were now very close to the inn where they were staying, so they slowed down their pace so that Ravian could deliver all the information.

Ravian continued.

"Oh, and you should also be wary of the princess’s fiancé, the heir of the Keldravon Ducal family. I have been compared to him in terms of talent a lot of times. Based ‌on the rumors, he and the crown princess have a rather good relationship."

"Hey, wait! Slow down," Evangeline suddenly chimed in. "You’re saying that someone other than me and Adi has also been engaged? And can you tell me more about these ducal families of the empire? I’m kinda out of the loop here."

Ravian looked at her with a silent question in his eyes.

"Miss Evangeline, most nobles our age are engaged. You two were engaged at quite a young age, but it was not too abnormal. Most noble children begin getting engaged from thirteen years of age. And entering the banquet hall on your fifteenth birthday with your fiancé was rather common. Even I myself will be getting engaged in a year or so."

’Is that so...?’

Suddenly, Evangeline began feeling rather strange.

Her life had changed greatly due to her engagement to Adrian. But after one point in time, she had simply stopped thinking about the engagement entirely. She thought of Adrian as nothing more than a cute little friend who was a bit dull and insensitive.

But thinking of him as her fiancé—someone she was going to marry in the future—felt extremely awkward.

As she was lost in thought, Ravian waved at them and began walking ahead.

"Well then, see you tomorrow. I have a few things I need to do as the heir of the Graveshroud family, so I will be going now."

But his steps came to a sudden pause just as he was about to walk away.

"Oh, right! Our discussion spiraled to the point that I totally forgot to tell you the most important news. The ones you should be most wary of aren’t those two Phase Three applicants. They can’t even compare to him."

’Him? Who is him?’

Adrian seemed to have the same question as her. Noticing that, Ravian smiled awkwardly.

"He was supposed to have enrolled in the academy last year. But for some unknown reason, he wasn’t able to appear in that examination that year. And so, the Second Immortal has applied for the entrance exam again this year as well."

Evangeline tilted her head.

"Second Immortal? Who is that?"

’And why do they have such a corny title?’

But as she asked that question, both Ravian and Adrian began looking at her strangely.

"You don’t know?" Adrian furrowed his brow. "How can you not know?"

"That’s right," Ravian added. "What sort of hole would one need to live in for them to not even know something like that? It’s something that has not only overturned the empire but also the entire world."

Evangeline tried to say something, but nothing came to mind.

"I need to go." Ravian turned to Adrian with a guilty look. "You can tell her all that since you already know. Well then, see you!"

Saying that, he walked away and disappeared into the distance, leaving Evangeline alone with Adrian on the crowded road of the academy city.

"So... are you going to explain to me or not?"

Adrian let out a tired sigh.

"I don’t know why Sir Avalon never told you about this, but here goes..."

After that, Adrian proceeded to tell her about how a boy from the slums of a viscount’s territory awakened an Origin ability that made him immortal. And how he was then adopted by the commander of an imperial knight order.

She didn’t know what to say. She felt like he was telling her the plot of some novel with the immortal boy as the protagonist. She thought Adrian would stop there, but then he began telling her about the immortal and the power of immortality itself.

It was fascinating and mysterious at the same time. Still, she thought that this was it. But Adrian didn’t stop there either. He proceeded to tell her about the legends of the immortal, which included the primordial gods, ancient civilizations, and whatever the hell more there was.

At this point, Evangeline felt as though her mind had malfunctioned with the sheer amount of information she had gained all at once.

She met Adrian’s eyes and grumbled with a pout.

"Adi, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?"

"I don’t know what you are talking about," Adrian replied flatly. "And didn’t you ask to know about the ducal families of the empire? Here, let me explain in detail..."

"No! Don’t! Please—!"

Sadly, he didn’t listen to her plea and began telling her about the three ducal families in the empire, overwhelming her with even more information.

Still, from what she understood, there were three ducal families within the empire. One was obviously House Ravenshade, and she knew all about how amazing and great it was. The other two were House Mythrien and House Keldravon.

Mythrien was the weakest of the three, and it was also the most secretive. Little was known about what went on in that household. Apparently, it was an ancient noble house, just like House Ravenshade.

Keldravon, meanwhile, was an imperial noble house. It was nothing compared to House Ravenshade, but it was still significantly more powerful than House Mythrien.

From what Adrian had apparently guessed, the Keldravon family was there because the imperial family wanted to keep the other two ducal houses in check.

Basically, that family was like a puppet family, totally under the imperial family’s control.

Evangeline suddenly furrowed her brow.

"Wait, if that’s the case, then why is the princess engaged to the heir of House Keldravon?"