System vs Rebirth

The third princess remained silent for a moment, as if she were contemplating something. "If we make our move right now, we won\'t be able to do anything. The marshal is still in their hands. Can you handle the marshal?"

"…" Duke Lorelei fell silent. No matter how strong he was, it was impossible. Just like how Noel, who noticed his transcendent path, fought against the Ancient Demon Spider, the result would ultimately be his defeat.

The third princess said, "What we need is one swift sweep. We can\'t do this half-heartedly because they are going to hide if we make our move. In addition, we need the marshal to fend off the demons. Is the information you provide correct, Duke Lorelei?"

Duke Lorelei nodded. "Although I have no way of confirming it, the one providing that information was Noel Ardagan himself."

"In other words, the demons are going to attack us, the Supreme Devil Organization is going around to turn people into demonic humans, and the central government has been infested." The third princess closed her eyes.

"But if we wait, Noel Ardagan won\'t be able to hold out. If he can\'t, the demonic humans will destroy this kingdom before we can do anything." Duke Lorelei explained. He wasn\'t supporting Noel to become the strongest influence in this kingdom, he just wanted to clean up this kingdom.

However, the third princess actually said, "You are underestimating him, Duke. He will be able to hold out for a long time, unless the demons come crashing down right now. Well, it doesn\'t change the fact that I need some time."

"Time?" Duke Lorelei raised his eyebrows.

The third princess tossed a letter to Duke Lorelei. "Take a look at it."

Duke Lorelei opened the letter that surprisingly contained several names. Countess Christina took a peek at the names.

"This is…" Duke Lorelei gasped. "Your highness…"

"If what Marquis Ardagan said regarding the demonic human is true, those are the people who had a change of method during their reign. Duke Raymond has retired after being beaten by the late Count Ardagan.

"However, he has changed his method from dealing on the surface to controlling the shadow all of a sudden. He has influenced the king to crush the Ardagan family.

"My father has thought about taking the Ardagan family as his own because of their heritage and wealth, but he has changed his opinion. From that point onward, he is so adamant in destroying the Ardagan family, which is a bit weird. There are also a few nobles who have changed their method all of a sudden.

I want to believe they have an epiphany, but it doesn\'t seem likely for all those people to get it within a short period of time."

"!!!" Duke Lorelei sucked a cold breath. "Are you saying…"

"I\'m afraid they have been turned into demonic humans. After that day, my father hasn\'t gotten any single concubine into his chamber. And if you take a look at other names, they\'re all pretty old, which might not be surprising for them not to get another child, but there are names like Count Duvan and Marquis Elezkiel, who are known for their lecherous nature. Don\'t you think it\'s strange?"

Duke Lorelei trembled. He had never thought that the third princess was able to find all this information by herself. In fact, she had been working under the disguise of a doll princess, which was more amazing.

Duke Lorelei wanted to let out some tears, knowing that this was the sovereign they needed to lead the Muivell Kingdom.

"Are we going to strike them?" Duke Lorelei asked.

"Not yet. As I said, we need a perfect time to eliminate all of them at once. At the same time, we\'ll regain control over the marshall and repel the demon.

"Unfortunately, we don\'t have the manpower to do it just yet." She explained. "And there is one more terrifying potential. The demonic human looks dumb in the beginning, but look at them right now. They are able to come up with a tactic to pressure Marquis Ardagan by using the Tower Association.

"In other words, they are improving at high speed. If we let them be like this, they might even outsmart us too hard and crush us. No matter what, we have to cooperate with the Ardagan family."

"What if the Ardagan family becomes too hard for you to control?" Duke Lorelei asked.

"Isn\'t it obvious? I\'ll let them control me. At the very least, the kingdom will remain intact. I\'m already used to being a puppet, but for the next generation, I can\'t say. How about his children? His grandchildren?

His great grandchildren? It can be an arranged marriage or whatever. Once the marquis is gone, it\'s over. The kingdom has been corrupted by the demons, so we\'ll have to do this.

"However, I\'ll do my best to limit it to only my generation. It\'s fine if I\'m the only one who needs to be the puppet. I just hope that the future generations can regain control over the kingdom and bring the kingdom back to its greatness."

"For now, just maintain our neutrality in the center area."

Duke Lorelei and Countess Christina closed their eyes with a pained look. "Understood."

…

Golden Dawn City.

"So that\'s what my grandfather said…" Noel crossed his arms, looking up and down as if trying to understand the request. "Hmm…"

Seeing Noel have a hard time to figure it out, Anna couldn\'t help but ask, "Does he not know about our strength?"

Noel shook his head. "No. He has known our strength. Even though he is not a spirit transcendence, he is at the same level as Duke Lorelei. So he could sense our strength.

"If he wants to stay aggressive, I need to know the reason and the goal. The reason is probably because the Tower Association is going to pressure us soon."

Anna frowned. "If they attack us, we\'ll be occupied on all fronts. Does that mean he wants us to remain aggressive so that we keep our initiative?"

"No. We probably need a bait—a big enough bait to kill several of them. And after that, we\'ll end up exposing our strength." Noel sighed. "Maybe there is another way to do it…"

"Noel!" Rose suddenly slammed open the door while bringing the letter they got from the Beast Kingdom. "I mean, my lord… the letter, the letter has been recovered."