All the intelligence pointed toward a dark and disturbing answer. Everyone who heard it unconsciously fell silent, while Hao Ren knew even more clearly that this information would soon no longer be a secret—the fact that Rudolf III had chosen to reveal it here, in the presence of not only a newly emerged Ancient Guardian but also an inexperienced Little Prince, meant that the news had probably already begun to spread.
"Within a month, the heirs of so many kingdoms have met with accidents, yet the news only came out recently," Grand Duke Rune broke the silence. "No kingdom wants word of unrest among its upper echelons to spread, so these matters only became known to the outside world when they could no longer be concealed. That, in turn, gave the Annihilation Cultists an opportunity."
Hao Ren pondered this, still feeling that many things remained unclear. He frowned. "Those cultists merely want to cause chaos and weaken the power of the various Order Kingdoms? Then they should have found easier ways to do it. Targeting royal heirs while remaining completely undetected must be more difficult than setting fire to a royal capital. More importantly, it seems that few of their operations actually succeeded—the heirs who were attacked mostly survived. Like Anya and the others, they merely fell seriously ill. It was nothing more than a false alarm."
"They don't merely want to cause chaos." Alfred, the Grand Scholar, spoke up. "Their target is the 'Keeper' Bloodline of the various royal families. Their ultimate goal is likely to weaken the suppression placed on Lockmadon and liberate the remnants of that evil giant's power."
Hao Ren was stunned. "The Keeper Bloodline?"
"The royal families of every kingdom are clans that received the inheritance of the 'Keeper,'" Veronica explained this time. She understood