Divine Emperor of Death

Chapter 5015  Zenova's Past

The same day, her imperial father came to her and revealed that the world wasn't what she thought it was, as though to intentionally teach her that she had no allies.

Initially, she thought her father did it to isolate her, but only in the future did she know he was preparing her for her to be abandoned by everyone since she had been born a Divergent.

Naturally, she was aware that she was a Divergent from a young age, but she had been living with no trouble or crisis since she was a princess and remained by her imperial father's side most of the time.

Who else was stronger than her imperial father in their region?

As such, she was able to grow freely until she thought she could inherit the throne honorably and was able to prove herself worthy time and time again in all the competitions and trials, even inheriting a kirin inheritance, which made her power and popularity instantly soar.

She felt that she was fast-tracked to becoming the next ruler, the Empress of the Artoria Family, which excited her.

However, she couldn't be any more wrong.

In the end, her imperial father also suddenly changed, saying he was the only ruler of the Artoria Family for eternity. The person who was the closest abruptly changed and tried to kill her, ambushing her when she was at her weakest, her first Coming of Age Ceremony. She was heartbroken and shattered, but only her father's words resounded in her mind.

What she perceived wasn't necessarily reality, with everyone's thoughts hidden until the right moment.

But was that truly the case?

He could've killed her in the crib, but he didn't.

He could've killed her as she was a teen, but he didn't.

Why make a move when she was near to ascending the throne?

She thought he had wanted to kill her because she was a Divergent. After all, her imperial father was ultimately from the righteous path, even if he was a despot. However, this guess turned out to be wrong.

Her father mostly focused on gaining power, so it was understandable that he would try to keep his power when his position was threatened, but in that case, she felt her imperial father wouldn't have changed because of this reason. She guessed her divergence and ascension would implicate the empire and, in turn, cause ruin, which also turned out to be wrong.

It wasn't until she drove a sword into his chest and killed him on the eve of her ascension that she understood that he had always been protecting, teaching, and giving her enough power to defend herself before he made the move, wanting to install a ruler who would be unshaken by anything and carve a path out of destruction.

[My daughter, remember this: the heavens have no affection, yet it governs all. The sun does not weep for those it burns, nor does the moon mourn the drowned. If you wish to sit upon the throne of eternity, you must learn to look upon the world as the heavens do, with eyes that see all, and a heart that spares none. That is the essence of a Divergent, the inverted ruler of the heaven and earth, the bringer of calamities.]

These words were emitted by the Blood Realm Calamity, which had brought back all the memories she had buried or ignored, but it was first said by her imperial father after she drove a sword into his heart.

At that time, she had no words to say and could only silently cry as she watched his life fade away, but to the Blood Realm Calamity, she had given her response.

]You're wrong… imperial father… Your aspirations were merely illusions. You died a miserable death chasing your rabid dreams, which you tried to attain using me, but in the end, I won. I killed you, buried you, put you to rest, and mourned for you. Don't you dare appear before me and act like I'm still a naive little princess who needs to be moved like a puppet.]

By rabid dreams, she meant his intention to have his descendant rule the wider world or even possibly overthrow the heavens.

To that end, he had decided to nurture a Divergent and place all the burden on her, but his care and love were always there. She refused to believe his fatherly affection was fake.

After ending her imperial father's life, even as she ascended the throne as the Empress, there was no excitement in her eyes, only a silent heart.

Then, one after another, people started rebelling against her even as the empire was on the brink of destruction from the invasion of outside forces.

At the very least, she wanted to protect her siblings, so she forcefully abused them to the point of being cursed and hated, but as long as they were kept alive, it didn't matter. Even for those who tried to assassinate her before she became the Empress, she still protected them until they served their purpose, managing to destroy her enemies and lead the empire into prosperity before growing even larger, until she could challenge greater powers and remain standing tall.

Later, she had ascended to the First Haven World along with Bloodcloud, her imperial father's slave.

She had even established a sect and modified the cultivation manual so that she could keep them under control while safeguarding them after she woke up.

Only then did she finally leave for the Candidacy and get sealed in the Heavenly Stasis Ice Valley, but when she came back to the Fifty-Two Territories, it was laughable that there was no sign of the Artoria Family that she painstakingly developed.

She had expected it.

They were thoroughly gone. Not a single ruin remained except the mausoleum, all devoured by other powers. In that place stood the Alstreim Family, but she bore no grudge against them since she could tell that there were numerous powers before them who had devoured the Artoria Family.

In the end, she felt that her karma as a Divergent ruined the empire completely, further imbuing the thought process that she had to cause more suffering to her people without leaving them in order to keep them safe.

This didn't change until Davis showed her another way, or at the very least, his presence seemed to keep these bad things from happening, giving her hope to live in another way.

"…"

Mingzhi remained silent even after Zenova finished narrating her story.

This… was something grander than she expected.

"In the end, my imperial father was a tyrant, despot, absolute ruler, and wouldn't tolerate disrespect to his face. My princely brothers, who raised a rebellion after hearing that I would become the Empress and watching my rise, didn't die because imperial father was caring. However, they all got arrested and cuckolded as imperial father spent three hundred and sixty days with their wives, even birthing more siblings for us-"

"Hey, hey, hey, I just gained a good impression on your imperial father, so don't go ruining it…!"

Mingzhi immediately stopped Zenova from going into detail.

Sleeping with daughter-in-laws even if they were the conquests of his sons? This was insane.

Zenova smiled teasingly, "What I meant to say was that to the daughters, he was kind and patient, but to me- he was the best father I could've gotten. I wish I could've called him papa like our Emperor's children call him, but alas, I ended him myself because I was weak."

"…" Mingzhi's gaze turned complicated.

Zenova now appeared more complex than ever in her eyes, her experience far more vivid and treacherous than the easy lives they had led in their childhood. It would be surprising if someone didn't turn insane in that kind of environment, but Zenova's mental fortitude had always been strong.

No wonder Davis had said Zenova's Will was stronger than most supreme geniuses he had come across.

Mingzhi was also convinced as she waved her hand, "No wonder you could relate to my emotions regarding my father. Maybe you need to face your Heart Demon, too."

"Ridiculous." Zenova uttered with disdain, "Dying in my hands was my imperial father's secret wish so that he would perfect me as his infallible descendant who will come to rule the world, bringing glory to the Artoria Family. I respect his wishes, and my burden was also relieved when I responded to the Blood Realm Calamity, which was in my imperial father's appearance. As I told you, I would never let darkness consume me."

"Ehh?" Mingzhi looked clueless. "It didn't seem like that when Davis hoodwinked you. He told me you looked like you wanted to die as you were left without reaching a peak."

"You-"

Zenova went speechless as she pointed at Mingzhi.

She had never been humiliated like that, so of course, she had been despondent until Davis promised that she had become his thirty-second wife.

Mingzhi grinned, looking smug.

"Mmph~ I also know you had committed a crime by sleeping with a young Davis during his reincarnation cycles. Shall we take it up to the Law Enforcement? Oh, right, I forgot I'm sitting in front of the Law Enforcement. What a good Law Enforcement!~ The Head of the Law Enforcement seemed to have thoroughly investigated the Emperor's young body and found nothing incriminating~"

"You-!"

Mingzhi fumed as she blushed while Zenova looked smug now.

This woman knew too many secrets! Damn that Blood Realm Calamity for exposing everything!

As much as Mingzhi wanted to tease Zenova and vice versa, it seemed like they were both hard-pressed to gain the upper hand.