Plundered

Such things were far from rare in their world.

Most commoners spent their entire lives enslaved. Everything they had was only temporarily theirs.

In the end, ownership would be stripped away by those above them, becoming the property of the upper class.

The same was true of nobles. They appeared to be slaveholders, yet they themselves were slaves.

Everything they painstakingly built could be easily taken away the moment the royal family took an interest in it.

Even their status as nobles could be stripped away or altered by the royal family.

Thus, for everyone beneath the royal family, life was painful most of the time, and all good things were fleeting.

When transience became the norm, their understanding naturally changed. At their core, they either began to pursue lasting stability or pursued momentary happiness with even greater madness.

As long as they could obtain something good, even for a single instant, it was worth it.

This way of thinking was widespread, so it was perfectly normal for nobles to know something was wrong yet still be willing to take such risks.

Even if he assassinated a royal family member, seized that member's position through forbidden secret arts, and was then killed by every faction, he would not care.

Since happiness was fleeting, having possessed it for even a moment was enough.

Only upon seeing this did Adrian suddenly realize something.

His thoughts and understanding had shaped this world, and the people living under its system would naturally undergo shifts in thinking because of those beliefs.

This world's system suppressed the lives within it, so the ideas naturally formed by those lives were resisting the world's rules.

And in this world, thought was power. A person's thoughts could only slightly change themselves, allowing them to embark upon the extraordinary path