Chapter 1076
Pillar God Isabel?
So, Prince Albert left Glass Island, and the Old Queen never sent anyone to retrieve him—perhaps Queen Sophia even worried that Prince Albert would corrupt Isabel.
Precisely because of this, with only three of her direct children remaining: Andrew, who had already taken over some of the political power; Prince Albert, who was traveling abroad; and Prince John, who was only two years old, she directly tacitly approved Isabel, who had only recently become an Extraordinary and was even on the Path of Beauty, to inherit the throne.
Janis, however, taught Isabel almost no “Inheritance” with Extraordinary Power, but instead focused on laying a foundation for her.
Before she came of age, she didn’t even teach her a single skill—even the Grand Guardian had taught his underage son many skills.
It was as if she was deliberately keeping Isabel in a state of being a blank slate with a solid foundation.
This was perhaps also why she wasn’t very anxious about the royal family being cursed, remaining so indifferent. But after a certain number of her children died, she couldn’t help but say that they could leave Glass Island, so the curse wouldn’t follow them—these were words from Isabel’s death diary.
The Old Queen probably saw some future.
She even handed the only necklace that could Resist Curse, “Isolde’s Tear,” to Isabel early on.
In that future, the Shadow of Avalon ritual was not corrupted. That was why she firmly believed that the Shadow of Avalon ritual, which had never been performed, could run normally and bring her the desired outcome.
Therefore, Lancelot successfully descended upon Avalon, and Isabel became…
“…a god.”
Sherlock whispered, “If one becomes a god, one doesn’t need any political acumen. In fact… if one understands too much of authoritarian thought, it can contaminate one’s mind…”
He glanced at Eivass, clearly thinking of the same thing as him.
Heavenly Envoys didn’t need to maintain the purity of their minds much. Although Heavenly Envoys, as Phantom Demons, could only possess the essence of one Path, they could simultaneously master the abilities of multiple Paths and naturally hold the thoughts of multiple Paths.
Only one being needed to maintain purity.
—The Pillar God.
And from this perspective…
Eivass said in a low voice, “Isabel was not exposed to any authoritarian education from childhood, thus stripping away the possibility of authoritarianism; she was the sole heir of the royal family and the future queen, so there was no room for her to surpass anyone.”
“Me…”
Isabel murmured.
Eivass nodded and turned to look at Isabel, “In another possibility of the World, the destruction of Avalon made you understand that nothing is eternal; during your escape, I was always by your side, so you didn’t have to worry about survival, and thus didn’t need to actively learn to adapt to the world.
“You also experienced the Disaster of Tree and Amber in the Church, thus understanding the essence of Devotion; you didn’t learn much cultural knowledge, and are not good at deduction and calculation, so Wisdom and Balance are not suitable for you.
“And you have a strong adaptability to the Path of Love—”
That’s why Prince Albert and Iniris only had one encounter that year. But that one encounter resulted in her becoming pregnant.
After Eivass’s first encounter with Isabel, she became pregnant.
In the world line of the Queen of Flowers, she sacrificed her “love,” lost the ability to love, and gained an extremely powerful… power that could contend with a Heavenly Envoy.
Originally, Eivass thought it was because Isabel’s Path of Love was inherently very strong. Therefore, after the sacrifice, she received such a generous reward… but looking at it now, it was actually the final step of the ritual.
Isabel was silently stripped of her adaptability to many Paths, achieving “Pure Beauty.”
—A purely single Path!
All the misfortunes that originally happened to Isabel were actually meant to gradually strip away her personality, thus allowing her to become a pure being.
Once this was realized, the traces of manipulation behind it became so obvious.
And as Eivass spoke, everyone present gradually reacted one by one. It wasn’t that they weren’t intelligent enough, but rather that each person knew different and incomplete information.
Queen Sophia was also just a pawn who was used.
“But… what was the purpose?”
Arsen couldn’t help but ask, “Was it still the Box of Nothingness…?”
He subconsciously thought of the terrifying enemy he had encountered early this morning.
The ability to rewrite minds and manipulate facts. Thus, making history develop in the direction one desired…
“Hmph,” Grand Duke Vendome sneered, “Do I even need to ask? Of course, it was to create a god.”
“Isn’t the Pillar God of the Path of Beauty the Twin Mirrors?”
Edward said uncertainly, “But I remember… the Bishop told me that Twin Mirrors is one of the original Pillar Gods.”
“What I heard was that the Pillar of Transcendence of the Eighth Path was about to be replaced…”
Annie also said this, looking at Eivass uncertainly.
“I have another question.”
Eivass didn’t answer this question but turned to Annie, “I hope you can give me an answer…”
“…You say, Eivass. I will do my best to answer.”
“—What I want to ask is, between you and my real mother, who is the Swamp Dweller? Who is the original?”
“Swamp Dweller…”
Annie said blankly, a flash of realization in her eyes—only then could she truly realize that Eivass had indeed known everything all along.
So, in her disappointment, she felt relieved and somewhat fortunate.
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“Swamp Dweller… you’re talking about Father… I mean, the technology developed by Mr. Jacob. It was indeed completed in the swamp…”
Annie said softly, “‘Soul Mirroring Ritual.’ To replicate a completely identical soul through a mirror, and then use his artificial human technology to create an identical body.
“…So, my answer to you is, I don’t know.”
“Why?” Eivass countered.
“Because,” Annie paused, “after completing that ritual, I looked at another me through a mirror-like window.
“…And in our hearts, we both thought we were the original. Or rather… Mr. Jacob didn’t tell me which one of us was the original prototype.
“My initial thought was to let the original stay and endure the curse of fate with Giulio. And let one of me go home to comfort Father. The peaceful resolution of the Ten-Day War was already fortunate. If I died in Avalon, or didn’t go back… Father would have really started a war.”
Hearing this, the old Duke snorted. But he clearly knew about this matter, so he said nothing.
And Annie bit her lip, “And… we couldn’t distinguish whether we were the original or the copy. Mr. Jacob was also unwilling to tell us this matter.
“He just let us discuss and decide for ourselves whether to stay or leave. And only after we had truly finished discussing did Mr. Jacob tell us why he did this.
“He said that even with completely mirrored, completely identical souls, there would still be imperceptible differences… that is, different destinies.
“Just like the Cavendish experiment, by amplifying multiple times to make the originally imperceptible force clear.
“He said, ‘Only between two individuals whose bodies and souls are completely identical will the subtle power of fate become apparent.’ Whoever decides to go back is suitable to go back; whoever decides to stay is suitable to stay.”
“And do you accept this destiny?”
Eivass asked softly.
“…Of course not.”
Annie shook her head slightly and sadly, “Countless times I woke up in the night, wondering what would happen if I stayed. I dreamed of my life with Giulio, I dreamed of giving birth to a cute boy, I dreamed of another possibility. Finally… I dreamed of our deaths. I dreamed of us being disemboweled, yet still holding each other.
“But from that day on, I stopped having such dreams. At that time, I vaguely realized something.
“…That day, I cried a lot.”
And hearing Annie’s words, Sherlock suddenly thought of something.
He widened his eyes and looked at Eivass, “Eivass, you’re asking these questions, are you implying—”
“Yes, I think… it’s possible that Jacob was the one who made the Queen see the wrong future, induced everything to happen… and manipulated fate.”
Eivass said in a low voice, “The devout Disciple of the Ring Heavenly Envoy… my grandfather Jacob… who knows the future, touches reincarnation, and understands fate…
“He is trying to create a new Pillar God. Or rather…”
…Or more than one.
(End of this chapter)
