Yu Lian's eyes flickered. He couldn't help looking beyond the fortress. His gaze pierced through hundreds of cabins, corridors, and armored bulkheads, reaching out into the distant starfield.
He looked toward the far side of the deep, endless heavens. That was the direction of the Celestial Domain, where the Emperor's Dragon's Approach Palace stood. At this moment, everything was focused there.
Would this be the end of it all?
Heh. So his old master had already arrived there.
Yu Lian withdrew his gaze and looked at Duchess Garuibian as if she were some astonishing spectacle.
The news that the Emperor had been gravely wounded didn't surprise him at all. He'd already sensed something was up when he lost contact with his old master and heard that the Empire was launching a massive purge in the Celestial Domain, arresting progressives among the nobility and academia.
What was astonishing was that Duchess Garuibian was the one telling him this.
She had once come within a step of the throne of Sorein. In theory, she could even have become Empress. Despite suffering several serious setbacks that had derailed her prospects, she was still the new head of the Starrealm Knights, an Imperial Marshal, and a Privy Council minister.
From every angle, this woman was firmly part of the Empire's ruling class.
Her fate should have been bound to the Galactic Empire from the start. There was no way she could even become a Tirillo traitor. Wasn't this level of candor a bit much, even if it was just to keep me from retaliating?
Duchess Garuibian naturally sensed Yu Lian's scrutinizing gaze. She took a step back, placed a hand over her chest, and said solemnly, "I swear by the Spirit of the Universe that I have never betrayed the Empire."
The Empire, not