Anne's response had not surprised Angel.
Back during the Pirate Conference, when the Five Kings gathered, Nast, the King of the Five Seas, had declared his dream of establishing a new order at sea, founding a new kingdom, and becoming a true Black Emperor. Anne had greeted it with an icy expression.
Because of this pathway's characteristics, unless a new Sequence 0 emerged, the original Black Emperor would always retain a chance of resurrection. Even if Nast had no intention of opposing Roselle Gustav, his ascension to Black Emperor would, by its very nature, throw the last handful of earth onto Roselle's grave.
At that thought, Angel frowned and cautiously asked:
"Speaking of which, can you confirm that Emperor Roselle is still alive? It's been 152 years since he was assassinated at the White Maple Palace. Suppose... he really did become the Black Emperor before his death, and his mausoleums weren't completely destroyed. Then he should have resurrected using the surviving mausoleums by now, shouldn't he? It shouldn't have taken this long."
She had wanted to phrase it more gently, to avoid upsetting the two women before her, who looked quite young but actually shared close ties with Roselle. Yet without clarifying this crucial issue, there could be no further discussion of exploring the Mirror World or the Ghost Empire, so she had no choice but to ask more pointedly.
"No, I can't be certain," Bernadette answered first. That rare uncertainty, which had no place on the face of a high-sequence Beyonder, appeared again. "My sequence is Clairvoyant. It grants me the ability to receive revelations and glimpse how things will end, but that doesn't extend to his fate... whether the outcome is good or bad, I receive no answer. But I can sense that he hasn't fallen completely."
*So