It Seems Like The Infamous Trash Can is Right Here! - Chapter 93
Saving Serenia Solen alone might have been easy, but unfortunately, she was not the kind of person who could survive on her own, no matter how.
Just as the Count of Solen and Vaikal’s weakness was her, her weakness was also her father and brother.
‘What will it take to make the Imperial Family abandon Solen…?’
He would have to cut away the limbs of the Lubarque Imperial Family one by one while securing those who stood in opposition. And he needed justification. The secrets of the Imperial Family that only he knew… he had to forge undeniable evidence to prove them.
Even for Lionel, who had lived through countless cycles, this was no easy task.
Above all, the hardest and most important thing was ensuring that the Imperial Family never caught wind of his intentions, and never found an excuse to eliminate Luanax.
He had to act just mad enough.
Just enough to be a nuisance, but not enough to be worth eliminating. It was a delicate balance to maintain.
At times, he would pull off seemingly reckless acts that ultimately left the Imperial Family with small benefits. A well-fed pig grows lazy.
Lionel even attended the Academy, which he had deemed unnecessary in previous regressions. Because he needed to get closer to Vaikal Solen.
If Serenia was doing well, he had no way of finding out otherwise.
No matter what reason he came up with to visit Solen, the girl introduced as their youngest daughter was always a fake.
Yet, befriending Vaikal proved far more difficult than expected.
He tried acting like a polite junior, pretended to be a model student, but Vaikal never let his guard down.
‘Is it because of my reputation?’
To take full control of Luanax, Lionel had used rather extreme methods, such as crushing foolish noble houses through territorial war.
Perhaps that had backfired, as Vaikal persistently avoided him.
‘And yet, he gets along just fine with Dantère Ortatum.’
The thought irked him slightly, but Lionel still persisted in maintaining a connection, even if it was small. He acquired Vaikal’s schedule, took the same classes, and even moved into the dormitory room next to his.
Unfortunately, all of Lionel’s efforts crumbled in an instant.
One day, in casual conversation, he asked about Vaikal’s family.
That very day, Vaikal withdrew from the Academy.
With no reason to stay, Lionel also dropped out early.
That same year, Solen vanished from the Empire.
‘Why all of a sudden…?’
In all his lives, this had never happened before.
For the first time, Lionel felt helpless. Serenia Solen had disappeared, and there was no way to find her.
The one hope he had to end this cursed cycle of regresison… was gone.
Like a madman, Lionel searched the entire continent.
He did everything in his power to find Serenia.
The only lead he had was that Serenia had once been a Saintess, but no matter how much time passed, the temple’s registry of Saint-marked individuals never updated.
Ironically, it was easier to track down the Count of Solen and Vaikal than Serenia.
Three years.
That was how long it took Lionel to find Serenia. And if luck hadn’t been on his side, he never would have.
The rumors spoke of a skilled healer in a small monastery on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Cloren. At the first whisper of it, Lionel crossed the border with his knights.
He seized the surrounding lands, cut off all exits, and laid siege to the monastery, subjugated them, and finally, he met her.
When he saw Serenia Solen peek her head out from the abbey’s director’s office, his heart thundered in his chest. Was it the relief of finally finding her?
‘Greetings, Your Grace.’
He didn’t know how it had been in forgotten memories, but in this life, those were the first words she ever spoke to him. Lionel gazed into her gentle violet eyes and spoke.
‘Priestess.’
