The Shining Star Above The Heaven-Chapter 475: Talk Between the Session

"Even if you’re a merchant only driven by profit, I doubt you’d go so far as to help the devils. You must know the consequences of doing that. So I thought—this must be because of something else. They must have approached you, and you were tempted by their offer. Am I right?" Aldrian said, then turned to look at the others.

"The same goes for the rest of you. The devils must have offered something, and you accepted it. Tsk, tsk... You’re all so easy to read. That’s why people overwhelmed by negative emotions are easily manipulated by devils. They can use you like puppets without you even realizing it. Even now, I believe this coup was their suggestion—wasn’t it?" Aldrian asked, his eyes fixed on Wilmar.

Sensing the turbulence in Wilmar’s heart, Aldrian knew he was right—and he couldn’t help but smile widely. He then turned his gaze to Grand Duke Donovan.

"And you," he said, "you had a separate deal with the devils—one that Wilmar didn’t know about, right? Something like... seizing power while Wilmar and I killed each other. You tried to play the oriole while the mantis hunted the cicada. But when you saw that I couldn’t be defeated, you escaped and tried to stir chaos by releasing a beast through the devil’s summoning formation. Am I wrong?"

Grand Duke Donovan remained silent, but his heart tightened, and a chill spread through his chest—because everything Aldrian said was true. It left him wondering how Aldrian could possibly know all of it.

Then, Aldrian suddenly took out a staff from his storage ring. The moment it rested in his grasp and became visible to the Grand Duke, he stunned.

"You must recognize this staff," Aldrian said. "I took it from the Varuga—and I found it quite interesting."

The staff in Aldrian’s grasp was none other than the Devil’s Curse Domain Staff, the one he had taken from the mansion where Karl Donovan had stayed in Varuga. It was a peak heaven-grade artifact with terrifying effects.

"There’s no way the devils would hand over an artifact this powerful without some hidden agenda, even if it’s a single-use item, I can guess it was something you planned to use on Wilmar—once the civil war was over."

Wilmar, upon hearing Aldrian’s explanation and seeing the staff for himself, froze and turned to glance at Grand Duke Donovan. A deep sense of betrayal struck him, but after a few seconds, he lowered his head.

It no longer mattered whether what Aldrian said was true or not. Now that they had all been caught, there was no point in confronting the Grand Duke about it.

Grand Duke Donovan’s eyes trembled. He lowered his head, unable to refute anything Aldrian had said.

"Ahahaha! See? You’re all so easy to read and too easy to manipulate, even unaware that the devils have been pulling your strings this whole time. Wait, no—you might know you’ve been used, but don’t tell me—" Aldrian slightly widened his eyes.

"Don’t tell me—you actually thought you could stab the devils in the back once you were done using them?"

Still, no one spoke.

"Pfft. Ahahaha! What arrogant fools. Idiots beyond redemption. Do you really think the devils didn’t consider that possibility? That beings so sensitive to negative energy and emotion would ignore your greed and fail to take precautions? Please—give me a break."

Carlson trembled slightly and lowered his head, while the Grand Duke glared at Aldrian with fierce eyes.

"You don’t know anything! This continent will fall into darkness, and I’m just trying to choose the winning side! I want to survive and protect my family’s legacy. You ignorant bastard, like a frog in a well, will never understand the horrors the devils will bring upon this land!"

"If we force ourselves to fight them directly without taking a step back, we’ll lose everything—without even a chance to survive!" Grand Duke Donovan shouted.

Aldrian looked at the Grand Duke and could see that he was genuinely angry this time. From his reaction, it seemed like this man—no, these three—had shared the same experience as some of the people who helped the devils. The devils must have already shown them their version of the future.

Still wearing a smile, Aldrian spoke to the Grand Duke.

"Frog in a well, huh? I don’t think I want to hear that from someone like you—someone who chose to serve the devils after seeing their version of the future. I know you’ve seen what’s coming from the devils’ perspective, and when combined with the prophecy of the church, you grew scared and decided to help them, right?"

Grand Duke Donovan’s eyes widened.

"How did you—"

"You surrendered to the devils because you believed there was no hope in the prophecy—a time when we would be unable to fight the devils. You thought it was impossible to face such power descending on this land. You believed fate had already been sealed, which is why I think you’re the one who’s the frog in a well," Aldrian said, his gaze turning toward another direction.

His expression held a sense of wisdom and serenity, as if he saw the future not as an unchangeable fate, but as something still uncertain.

Grand Duke Donovan gritted his teeth.

"What do you mean?" the Grand Duke asked, but Aldrian didn’t answer. Instead, his thoughts drifted to his past and the people who had believed in him—those who waited for his return to his rightful ’place.’ They were people he had never met in this life, yet they were the souls of the past, still waiting for him, even now.

They believed in him. And because of that belief, they could do anything, even wait for him, no matter how long it took. They waited for him to come, for there seemed to be a greater problem beyond the prophecy and stronger enemies out there, beside the devils.

But how could he face something that even the powerhouses and gods from the upper heavens seemed to have difficulty confronting? It wasn’t something that could be explained by common sense. They needed more than a miracle.

Yet, they still placed their hope in him, carving a path for his return to the top.

Even though they knew he was weak now, not like he once was in his past life, they still waited.

Even though he had forgotten about them, they still waited.

They did not give up their hope for the future.

They did not give up their hope in him.

They did not give up.

They never gave up.

Looking at how some people on this continent surrendered to the devils out of fear of powers beyond their comprehension and comparing that to the will of the many who waited for him, was nothing short of an insult to those people.

However, he couldn’t fully blame these people, because compared to those from his past, what the people of this continent lacked was hope itself. They couldn’t see hope, and because of that, some had chosen to side with the devils. This was very different from the people of his past, who had already seen him as their hope and believed in his return.

Still, he couldn’t forgive those who had made pacts with the devils. He also couldn’t entirely blame the lack of hope, as many of these people were consumed by their own greed and negative emotions. The bad things they had done were undeniable, and he doubted they ever thought about the future while carrying out those deeds.

"Anyway, I think that’s enough small talk. Let’s continue our journey, shall we? I have not yet tried some methods in my mind, and I hope you can feel them until the end," Aldrian said, his voice full of spirit, as if trying to lift the mood of those around him.

Wilmar and the others’ eyes trembled, and they couldn’t help but look at Aldrian with various expressions.

"Please—"

"You bastard—"

"No—"

All of them wanted to say something, but Aldrian had already used his spatial lock to freeze them.

"Shh, shh, shh, don’t talk too much. Just enjoy it as much as I enjoy it," Aldrian said.

For the next several hours, strange sounds echoed from one of the dungeon’s rooms. Sometimes, a loud cry of pain could be heard throughout the dungeon, at other times, the cries were silent.

Occasionally, pleas for mercy were heard, only to be abruptly silenced.

None of this reached the ears of anyone above the dungeon, as Aldrian had already blocked everything from leaking outside, including the sounds.

Only after the sun had almost sunk below the western horizon did Aldrian finally emerge from the dungeon. He walked outside calmly, showing no signs of anything unusual about him. His clothes were still clean and neat, as if he hadn’t done much inside.

The fifth finger, who had seen him come out, immediately appeared in front of him, not far from where he stood.

"Master," she said with a slight bow.

Aldrian nodded.

"Is there anything that I need to know?" He was too focused on those three and hadn’t really paid attention to anything outside the dungeon.

"Yes, Lady Sylphia looked for master earlier, but I told her you were busy in the dungeon, so she went back to the mansion to wait for master."

Hearing this, Aldrian’s eyes softened, and he nodded.

"Alright, thank you."

After that, the fifth finger disappeared.

Without wasting any time, Aldrian walked toward the mansion. It had already been almost two weeks since he had last seen her.