Chapter 60: Flam: Unable to Comprehend Human Operations

Fram brought Iluvia to an unexpected place.

The Imperial Palace.

Strictly speaking, the secret passage beneath the Imperial Palace.

For Iluvia, this secret passage was far from unfamiliar.

Since no one wanted to or dared to play with her when she was a child, she had no choice but to rely on her own initiative.

Although holing up in her room reading various books was nice enough, exploring the imperial palace was also one of her few hobbies.

One of the entrances to this tunnel was a trapdoor she had accidentally discovered in a palace corridor when she was little.

Back when she was small, she used to play here quite often, and she was very familiar with every corner of this secret passage.

Iluvia gently stroked the wall on one side of the passage. There were still some graffiti she had carved with a small knife in her childhood—they were still there.

This escape tunnel, built after the first siege of the capital, was a place where no one else would ever come.

And precisely because no one else would come here, she could regard it as her own secret base, an amusement park that belonged only to her.

Even though it contained nothing but damp air and everlasting bonfires lit by arcane arts that seemed as though they would never go out.

Sometimes, she would walk aimlessly down this secret passage for a long time, simply wishing to see what lay at the very end.

Unfortunately, by the time she grew up and lost interest in this childhood playground, she had still never succeeded in walking all the way out of the passage.

Although this time Fram had brought her into the passage using unconventional methods, she could still easily tell where she was.

"Lady Fram, why have you brought me here?"

"Well, you seem awfully familiar with this place," Fram said, looking somewhat surprised. "That fellow Salah told me that only successive emperors and heirs to the throne knew about it."

"Well... but since he treated you so well, I suppose he might have decided to make you his heir long ago."

"Even the purging of the military department was left for you to handle."

Hearing the mention of the military purge, Iluvia instantly grew tense. Though she tried her best to maintain a calm expression, her hands, instinctively clenched together, betrayed her true emotions at that moment.

"You... you knew after all."

"Of course I knew. Although I wasn't in the capital for some of those years, that Salah boy was quite fond of writing to me."

Fram still wore her puzzled expression. "Why are you so nervous? I'm not going to eat you."

"...Lady Fram, can you please not mention this to Roland?"

"Which thing? The military department?" Fram tilted her head, still looking completely baffled. "Why?"

"I, I..."

"Oh~~ You're afraid Roland will distance himself from you because of this, aren't you?"

"Ugh!"

Caught right in the middle of her deepest anxieties by Fram, Iluvia snapped her head up, her emotional control completely failing her and giving Fram the answer she needed.

"It really is that way," Fram sighed. "Roland trusts you so much, yet you aren't willing to trust him even a little?"

"I don't mistrust him!" Iluvia instinctively retorted.

"No? Yet you're not even willing to believe he wouldn't distance himself from you over a few rumors."

"Because these aren't rumors... they are facts."

With that, Iluvia pressed her lips into a thin line and actively changed the subject. "Lady Fram, let's talk about business."

"You didn't bring me here just to pry into my personal affairs, did you?"

Fram sighed as well.

As expected, she could never understand the emotional world of human beings.

In a situation like this, wouldn't it be best to just make a direct move?

That Roland boy looked like a hypocritical prude. Dealing with someone like that called for the most direct approach.

She had no idea why Iluvia kept hesitating and worrying about this and that.

Had she known her opponent was all bark and no bite, she wouldn't have been in such a rush to urge Kalia to make a move.

Tsk, she wondered how far that child had progressed lately.

"Fine then, let's talk business. Follow me."

Fram dropped the subject and led Iluvia deeper into the secret passage while continuously counting under her breath.

"One, two, three..."

"Eleven, twelve, thirteen..."

"Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen."

"We've arrived."

Fram stopped in front of the eighteenth bonfire with a bewildered Iluvia in tow, then raised the staff in her hand and tapped a brick beneath the torch.

A moment later, the sound of gears turning echoed from behind the wall, which then began to rotate, revealing a spiral staircase leading further down right before their eyes.

A dim beam of light rose from the center of the spiral staircase, illuminating the steps.

"Let's go." Fram turned back and beckoned to Iluvia.

Even Iluvia, who had previously thought she knew this secret passage inside and out, couldn't help but freeze at the sight before her.

"What... what is this place?"

"The imperial family's legacy chamber. Originally, Salah should have been the one to bring you here."

"But you know his current physical condition, so he entrusted it to me instead."

Fram stepped onto the staircase and continued speaking. "Actually, this deviates somewhat from Salah's plan."

"When his mind was still relatively clear, he wanted me to take the key to open the legacy chamber, retrieve the items inside, and hold onto them until the situation in the capital stabilized and you ascended the throne, at which point I would return them to you."

"That was the agreement between him and me."

"Only..."

"Just before he fell into a complete coma, he seemed to realize something, and he asked me to give you this letter and the key at the appropriate time."

"Alright, hurry down. Once you retrieve the items, my mission will be complete."

Fram wore the relaxed expression of someone whose task was about to finish successfully.

There was even a hint of excitement on her face.

Although the second half of the agreement stated that if Iluvia failed in the struggle for the throne and her life was threatened, Fram was obligated to protect her and take her beyond the empire's borders.

Still, Fram felt that such a scenario was unlikely to happen now.

Listening to Fram's explanation, Iluvia was somewhat surprised. "Are all of these my father's arrangements?"

"But why would he... change the plan?"

Iluvia found it baffling. Clearly, Salah and Fram's original plan had been foolproof.

From her perspective, rather than handing everything over to her right now, it would be far safer for Fram to execute the original plan.

That would undoubtedly be much more secure.

"I wouldn't know about that. Perhaps he had other plans."

"Perhaps it has something to do with what's inside the chamber."

"As for what's inside, however, I have no idea."

"Ever since the descendant of the Knight King inherited the throne with the assistance of the first Iron Duke and established this legacy chamber,"

"Only the reigning emperor and the designated heir have ever been permitted to enter."

Chatting along the way, the two descended the spiral staircase all the way to the bottom.

An antique door made of lapis lazuli appeared before them.

Clearly, beyond that door lay the royal family's legacy chamber.

And right in front of the chamber, Fram spotted something that surprised her.

It was the Hero's sword.