“Not bad… Ansel, did you bring your chef from home?”

“My mother knew I was coming back, so she had old Mof come to the manor early.”

“…Madam is truly attentive to you.”

Evora pursed her lips, adding a glossy sheen to her bright red lips. After finishing the steak, she withdrew her legs from Ansel’s and crossed them. “Now, let’s talk about something important.”

“About your pact head,” Evora half-closed her eyes, “what is her situation?”

“Your Highness is quite concerned about this?”

“I wasn’t originally.”

She looked at her long nails, a spark igniting in her eyes.

“But what that old fart said made me very concerned.”

“It’s not appropriate to address Her Majesty in that manner, Your Highness,” Ansel calmly cut the steak, “it damages your mother-daughter relationship.”

“Hah, do we even have a mother-daughter relationship? Ansel, not everyone is as fortunate as you to have such a normal predecessor.”

Evora sneered, “At the end of her days, instead of choosing to dedicate herself to the empire, she, like a rat, clings to life, hiding in the source flame all day, trying every means to prolong her useless existence.”

“Is such a waste worthy of being my mother?”

The Flamefeast Royal, the dragon race, the Tidecallers, and the Hydral.

Among these four divine races, only the Hydral always has a single descendant, while in each generation of the other three races, a bloodline with sixth-stage aptitude will randomly appear.

Like the Hydral, these sixth-stage bloodlines stand at the pinnacle of the extraordinary from birth, inherently possessing the sixth stage, but still need to fill up all the energy required from the first to the sixth.

Each of the four divine races has its own way of directly imparting all the energy of the current sixth stage to the next generation of sixth-stage bloodlines, usually done at the end of life. That is to say… this seamless inheritance ensures that a new sixth stage, who has devoured everything is born each time a sixth-stage dies.

This is also why… the young Ansel once said that the empire could never be destroyed by violence.

As the continuous inheritance of two sixth stages, the emperor and the Hydral, is enough to eliminate all unstable factors.

The Flamefeast Royal’s method of inheritance is very simple: the dying emperors throw them into the source fire of Anthicheg, extracts the energy, and injects it into the crown. When the next emperor puts on the crown, they instantly achieve the sixth stage.

However, in this generation… there have been some problems.

Ephesande of Flamefeast, the current empress, is… resisting decay.

Over the past decade of her reign, she has become increasingly fierce and indifferent to the empire itself, prompting the current Hydral, Flamelle, to develop elixirs by any means and secretly search for various methods to prolong life, or to say… method to survive from that chaos and madness.

However, the elder princess, Evora, is an inheritor with both ability and ambition. She has set her sights on the other end of the Celestial Path mountains, a vast land where the empire has never set foot… aspiring to firmly grasp the entire continent within her lifetime.

The empress, in the twilight of her reign, resisting the inevitability of death; the Princess, brimming with ambition, yearning for power.

The conflict between them is so intense, verging on irreconcilable.

Were it not for the fact that no other sixth-stage bloodline could be born after the birth of one, Ephesande might have directly killed Evora.

“At that time,” Evora said, her gaze burning into Ansel, “when you had a pact head capable of bearing the power of two rings… she was unusually excited and said something.”

“What did Her Majesty say?”

“She said, ‘The abyss is in your palm.'”

Ansel couldn’t help but laugh, “Her Majesty jests. Does she mean to say that I possess the power to control the abyss?”

The young Hydral spread his hands, “Your Highness, would you believe such a thing? The abyss, the essence of power, is this something I can control?”

“If I did control it, would I need any pact head?”

“Of course, I don’t believe it, so I think she’s on the verge of madness.”

Evora warned, “You should be careful. Although Flamelle is strong, his condition is getting worse. You should know this better than I do.”

“Moreover…” the woman paused, “Even if I don’t believe her words, I do think… there’s something fishy about your pact head.”

She tapped the table lightly with her index finger, “Becoming Hydral’s pact head means sharing a part of Hydral’s chaotic essence. If this essence is added to another, it’s not as simple as one plus one. Otherwise, how come there has never been a person who could bear the power of two pact heads in the history of the empire?”

Ansel smiled, “Seraphina is simply strong enough.”

“Simply… strong enough?” Evora glanced at him and chuckled, “Alright, if you don’t want to say, then I’ll take it as such.”

She lazily draped her leg over Ansel’s again, “The most important matter has been discussed. The rest can be talked about anytime. The recent matter… ah, yes, I heard that you and Ravenna had a falling out?”

“It’s just that she hasn’t recognized her own position.”

“Hah, isn’t it because you were too good to her three years ago?”

Evora laughed happily, “The mighty Hydral chasing after a mere sorceress with some talent… Although the facts proved you were not mistaken, I still can’t figure out… what were you thinking at that time.”

“Who knows, the me now can’t figure out what I was thinking three years ago.”

Ansel continued to eat leisurely, “Maybe I liked her a bit at that time.”

“Like?”

Evora raised an eyebrow, her soft foot began to move in a certain direction, gradually becoming hot.

“You like that type? No wonder you’re not interested in me.”

“It’s just because Hydral and Flamefeast, despite their closeness, still need to maintain a certain distance, Your Highness.”

“There’s never been such a rule.”

Evora scoffed, “It’s just the weak who fear chaos deceiving themselves.”

At this point, she paused, her tone becoming fervent:

“Ansel… after we ascend to the throne, won’t you consider having offspring with me?”

In the Elder Princess’s voice, there was anticipation, desire, fanaticism, and an almost tangible massive ambition, but there was not a shred of affection for Ansel.

—Similarly, there was no affection for the child that might be born.

“Offspring, for me and Your Highness, is the most important thing in life.”

Ansel, having finished his breakfast, wiped his mouth, “This matter, Your Highness, you should consider it carefully.”

“…Heh, never mind, there’s no rush. Rest assured, to keep you always thinking, I will preserve my virginity, which is meaningless to me.”

Seeing that Ansel had no reaction, her expression became slightly annoyed, but quickly returned to her nearly arrogant noble dignity.

Evora gave a kick and said to Ansel, “Assist me in donning my shoes.”

Ansel looked at Evora with a surprised expression, then grasped her ankle and sighed lightly, “Your Highness, you are no longer a child.”

Having said this, he stood up and bowed to Evora, “I have many matters to attend to. If Your Highness has no further requests, I will take my leave now, pardon me for not escorting you further.”

“Humph… Hahaha!”

Evora’s laughter was wild and unrestrained. Her figure disappeared in the rising flames, then reappeared in front of Ansel in an instant.

“Ansel, Ansel…”

She licked her lips, the fire of desire in her eyes almost enough to burn Ansel to ashes.

“You are indeed the thing I desire most in this world… apart from the world itself.”

“I am already looking forward to the pleasure I will derive when burning your chaos and pain.”

The Elder Princess laughed heartily, planted a deep kiss on Ansel’s throat, and then disappeared into the burning flames.

Ansel touched his throat, looking at the residual flames dissipating in the air of the dining room, and couldn’t help but shake his head.

If this ambitious Elder Princess, as fiery as the flames, knew how she would die in the future in such a pathetic and laughable way, and that the position she was supposed to inherit would be usurped by the person she despised the most… what would her reaction be?

“You are indeed capricious, but…”

Wicked Hydral chuckled, “It is precisely because of you, that I am looking forward to that moment.”

“I wonder… who will be able to save you then?”

In Ansel’s plan, the four heroines were of utmost importance, for they were the key to changing the world and overthrowing the empire.

However, in his grand scheme, there were many taming towards those… who were not key, but could have a significant impact.

After all, useful resources should not be wasted.

A qualified villain should use all means to gather all the chips of sufficient weight, shouldn’t they?

*