(Heartfelt thanks to 'God of Heitai' for the 1,176 reward, and to 'Kaede no Chōrei' and 'Luo Feng' for their rewards.)
A member of the Phil Empire's royal collateral line!
The moment those words were spoken, Hinagiku, Mikoto, Ikaros, Yekusaya, Yuzuru, and the other girls immediately understood!
So Divin was the mastermind behind the plot to usurp the throne—the one who had disregarded the Phil Empire's critical moment of life and death, secretly ordered the old man in black to assassinate Kaya, and attempted to let the collateral line seize the imperial throne!
And the pale-faced man standing beside Divin, constantly eyeing the girls with filthy eyes and looking utterly wretched, was Divin's biological son—Darachi!
Speaking of which, Divin was Via's younger brother. Though they had different mothers, they were still related by blood. Divin's son, Darachi, could also be considered Kaya's cousin.
However, this father and son pair were rather tragic.
Back then, Via and Divin had both been princes of the Phil Empire. While the previous emperor was still alive, their relationship had already been exceptionally poor.
The reason was simple. Divin was a genius capable of reaching the Seventh Order Peak before the age of twenty, while Via was a super genius capable of reaching the eighth order before twenty!
Whether it was strength, talent, appearance, bearing, lofty ambitions, or wisdom, his half-brother Via had always surpassed Divin by a level. Divin had been jealous of his brother from beginning to end—jealous to the point of madness.
Later, Divin trained desperately and finally reached the Peak Eighth Order at around forty-five. He believed he had finally caught up with Via, but who would have thought that Via seemed fated to stay one step ahead of him? At the very moment Divin reached the Peak Eighth Order, Via