But once a member of the royal family committed treason, the Imperial Guards wouldn't be so indifferent.
Although the Prince had let him off the hook,
the Prince had already backed himself into a corner.
The Prince had his weakness in the Prince's grasp, yet could do nothing about him.
The battle for the throne hadn't even begun, and the Prince had already lost half the fight.
Of course,
there was still someone who could turn this situation around.
That someone was Hela.
Because Hela also knew one of the Prince's secrets.
Just like the Prince,
the Prince had committed a crime that violated the iron laws of Order.
The Prince had colluded with the Evil Dragon and even openly accepted her blessing.
If Hela was willing to tell the Prince about this, then the Prince could turn the tables and be back on equal footing with the Prince.
You had dirt on me, and I had dirt on you. That meant we could pretend none of it had happened.
Hela considered her options...
After the Prince and the Prince had made their moves,
it seemed Hela had become the one who would reap the rewards.
So...
What should Hela do?
At the moment, inside the Spatial Rift, her three little troublemakers were so captivated by Rhine's sweet promises that they were completely under his spell.
As demigod puppets, these three were already less resistant to the Nether Realm's corruption than the orthodox Imperial Guards. Under the Prince's bewitching influence, they were even more susceptible.
The Prince had only needed to correctly say their names to make all three puppet girls beam with delight.
If Hela chose to work with the Prince against Rhine, the three little troublemakers might tear her house down.
But the problem was...
If Hela wanted to side with the Prince, could the Prince offer a deal that met her expectations?
"Lady Hela."
Rhine's voice brought Hela out of her thoughts.
He smiled at her. "Like my uncle, I have a gift I'd like to give you."
"Oh?"
Hela raised an eyebrow. "His Highness is feeling generous too?"
Rhine nodded. "Let's talk as we walk."
Rhine led Hela toward the Imperial Palace.
"Lady Hela knows that, compared to my uncle, I'm hardly wealthy. I'm afraid I don't have any treasures that would satisfy you."
Rhine continued, "So, like my uncle, I plan to pass along something I got from someone else."
"How thoughtful of you, Your Highness. So what exactly are you planning to give me?"
Hela didn't take Rhine's gift very seriously.
She didn't think he could offer anything more tempting than a cave full of gold.
Still, it didn't matter. As long as the Prince didn't leave her out of pocket, she wouldn't mind favoring him a little more in the palace's political struggles from then on.
The children liked him, after all.
However,
what the Prince said next nearly made Hela explode on the spot.
"We can discuss this in private. You know that I made some deals with the Evil Dragon Olivia. Well, yesterday, I persuaded Olivia to help me remove an Ancient Dragon's immortality."
Rhine asked with a cheerful smile,
"Lady Hela, would you be interested in joining me to hunt an Ancient Dragon? Afterward, I'll only take two of the treasures. The rest will all be yours."
"Pfft—"
Hela abruptly froze in place and spat out a mouthful of blood.
At that moment,
her mind went blank.
The Order's Most Dedicated Employee
Rhine's proposal had utterly stunned Hela.
She stared at him, dumbfounded, unable to get a word out.
Removing an Ancient Dragon's immortality made hunting one possible.
It was something utterly unimaginable in the mortal world.
Ancient Dragons were an ancient and rare race. Because of their long lifespans, every one of them held a vital place in their society.
The loss of any Ancient Dragon would send shockwaves through the entire race.
And they were also protected by an immensely powerful deity.
The result was that, after Olivia ascended to become an Evil God, she had simply waved her hand and granted every one of her kin immortality.
As long as Olivia remained unharmed, the entire Ancient Dragon race could share in her eternal glory.
Of course,
that didn't include the rebellious turncoats.
Hela was astonished by the Evil Dragon Olivia's generosity. She was actually willing to offer up one of her own kind to make a deal with Rhine.
She couldn't even imagine how big a deal the boy had made with the Evil Dragon...
But as someone who stood to benefit, Hela decided to ignore that detail.
What Hela didn't know, of course, was that Rhine had practically gotten the Ancient Dragon Princess for free.
One of the hidden perks Rhine had anticipated when he made his contract with Olivia was the opportunity to loot a few Ancient Dragon lairs.
Now, Rhine had decided to use one of those lairs to upgrade Constance's equipment, then hand the remaining junk to Hela to improve her opinion of him.
Rhine wasn't willing to leave the task of hunting the Ancient Dragon to Constance.
Constance's equipment was poor, and many of her other advantages weren't yet available to her. Making her deal with an Ancient Dragon would be too much to ask.
But Hela, an orthodox member of the Imperial Guard, had been like a busy little bee since taking office, going around extorting and plundering wealth, then exchanging it for high-quality equipment perfectly suited to her style.
Her equipment setup was already complete. She was a high-quality tool.
However,
even Hela, with her equipment fully upgraded,
could only manage a strained smile at the prospect of hunting an Ancient Dragon.
Hela could hardly believe it. Did His Highness Rhine really think that she alone could take down an Ancient Dragon?
Wasn't he overestimating her?
In theory, the Imperial Guards were the strongest units in mortal warfare.
But the mortal world still held countless beings powerful enough to bring about the end of the world.
Elven demigods and Ancient Dragons were among them.
The problem with both was that, despite their strength, certain circumstances meant they posed no threat to humanity.
Just look at how badly the elves had been screwed over by their own goddess. That made it easy to see the danger posed by mythic creatures with hostile intentions.
Yet the other mythic creatures scattered throughout the hidden corners of the mortal world all happened to ignore most civilizations and generally avoided conflict with them.
They existed, but for one reason or another, they all steered clear of civilized lands and lived in seclusion.
It was almost as if someone had deliberately arranged all these coincidences.
And in fact,
that was exactly what had happened.
The balance of the entire mortal world was regulated by Order.
Even the demigods had been created by Order herself.
To suppress the elves, Order had driven the noble race with the greatest hope of unifying the mortal world into a brutal plight, hunted down by their own goddess.
And it was precisely because of that that humanity had gotten its chance to rise.
Under the Crystal Goddess's will, support and suppression, restraint and destruction had made the mortal world chaotic yet orderly, ravaged by war yet full of life.
All the flourishing and fading, all the birth and death, together formed this ever-renewing mortal world.
As a goddess, Order was not only dedicated but professional.
And so,
as the daughter of the Goddess of Order, the Imperial Guards weren't supposed to disrupt the carefully arranged ecological balance by attacking harmless mythic creatures.
But,
if there was money to be made, who cared about that?!
After a brief internal struggle,
Hela quickly came around.
"So Your Highness wants me to kill the Ancient Dragon and then share its hoard?" Hela asked.
"What do you think?" Rhine replied.
"I wouldn't call that a gift, Your Highness."
Hela smiled. "That's a reward from you."
Beaming, she stepped closer to Rhine and affectionately took his hand. "As your loyal Imperial Guard, it's my greatest honor to serve the future Emperor!"
Visiting the Empress
Once Hela learned that following Rhine meant there was money to be made, her attitude changed completely.
She took Rhine's hand, her eyes already full of sincerity and warmth.
Miss Hela
was a woman with a strong service ethic.
As long as there was money to be made, this cold-blooded, ruthless demigod could display astonishing loyalty and enthusiasm once she got into work mode.
The Prince's gold was certainly tempting,
but the Ancient Dragon's treasure could obviously blow it out of the water.
At that moment,
Hela gazed eagerly at Rhine, a clear goal forming in her mind.
She was going to stick with him!
"However, Your Highness, I can't beat an Ancient Dragon by myself, you know?"
Rhine was full of confidence. "Don't worry. We'll go together. We're guaranteed to win."
Before you continue