Legacy of the Dark Sage

The owner of the voice was none other than Haylee, who emerged from the saferoom the Boyd family leaders escorted her to.

Going back a few minutes ago, after the Boyd family leaders left Haylee in the saferoom, she was supposed to rest. But after sensing the commotion outside, and the arrival of people with two familiar auras she left to take a look. She did not care much about the other aura because it was Osric's but the second aura somewhat gave her a bad feeling— the aura belonging to Tritus, the commander of the Templar Code.

Her bad feeling was soon realized after witnessing the battle between Osric and Tritus from afar. What was more, she could not see through Tritus's soul. It was as if there was a 'void' that prevented her from peaking at his soul.

Frankly, Haylee would not have let Osric handle Tritus by himself if she could see through the latter. Tritus was one of the few people she find somewhat troublesome to control. Apart from breaking through the Arch Magus realm, he was far more ambitious and sinister than Gael. Because the latter only had thoughts of taking full control of the Royal Army while 'threatening' the Royal Family, but never really had the guts to overthrow them completely, while Tritus was secretly nurturing several Exalted mages in preparation to take over not only the Ylfaen Empire but the other nations in the world. He planned to do this by forcefully advancing his people to Magus using a pill he was researching for years. Using the pill, it would appear like he had an army of Magus.

Anyway, the Royal Family was aware of Tritus's plans but kept mum because the latter had yet to show his true nature. Not to mention, they did not have any solid proof of his plans apart from research materials on the pill.

Nevertheless, Euan decided to keep an eye on the Templar Code's movements by ordering them to lead the Elite Team that was supposed to oversee the upgrades of every magic detector in the empire.

Tritus's appearance in the villa did not bode well for Haylee. Initially, she was worried that Tritus might have discovered the current situation regarding the Dark Sage and was planning to take advantage of it and put his plans into motion. But Haylee no longer thought this way after she failed to see through his soul.

In any case, her doubts were answered as soon as she noticed that person's arrival— the new Dark Sage, Kyran Regis.

The truth, Haylee did not sense his approach. If not for his magic sense sweeping through her as if someone was trying to spy on her everything, she would not have noticed him. Strangely, being spied on did not seem offensive to her. Rather, his magic sense felt nostalgic— making her feel excited.

This feeling surprised Haylee but only for a second. She immediately understood that the nostalgia she felt was due to the memories of the previous Soul Emperor stored in her Soul core. Now she was sure that her predecessor did value the previous Dark Sage and was not entirely indifferent to his feelings. At most, she felt the same but her plans were far more important to her.

Anyway, Haylee decided to show herself because she wanted to meet the new 'Dark Sage' personally. Besides, her father did want him to be her betrothed— further inciting her curiosity.

Haylee walked out of her hiding spot, not taking her eyes off Kyran who was also looking at her in midair.

Osric's scalp went numb with fear upon seeing Haylee. He immediately shouted, "Please, your Highness! Let me handle this for now. Retreat with the others."

Just like the rest of the Boyd family leaders, he was aware that Haylee was in a bad condition. It was actually quite obvious. Her pale complexion and the dark circles under her eyes were sure telltale signs.

Kyran might be a Regis who valued their moral code. But after what Haylee had done to his clan, there was no telling if he could still keep his moral code and take advantage of her condition.

Haylee simply raised her hand to silence Osric. With her eyes still focus on Kyran she said, "Kyran Regis. You may not know, but I am—."

"Haylee, the Crown Princess of the Ylfaen Empire. I already know who you are."

Haylee raised her brows in surprise. She was truly surprised that Kyran knew who she was. To be accurate, Kyran likely recognized her as the new 'Soul Emperor' but instead of calling her that, he outright said her name and her title.

It should be noted that no one knew what the Crown Princess looked like. Even her name was changed and hidden from the public to avoid being cursed by others.

"How did you—?"

"We already met, Princess," Kyran emphasized the last word and used the same tone as he did when he called her that while acting as Tyr.

Haylee felt as if someone doused her with cold water as she heard Kyran. She obviously did not miss the meaning behind his words and a myriad of emotions flashed through her.

The first emotion she felt was regret. She had just realized that the man she was likely interested in was actually the same person her father want to be her betrothed— the skinny and weak-looking boy.

Apart from this, she felt somewhat confused because she had just spoken to 'Tyr.' And all the information she had of him was definitely not made up. The ones who discovered Tyr's identity were people from the Boyd Family and it was impossible for them to make a mistake.

But then Haylee recalled that in their findings, they only found an old photo of the missing young lord from the west. His features were the same as 'Tyr,' thus, they believed he really was the same person. His arrogance and demeanour also convinced them that he was not a commoner but came from nobility.

Haylee shook her head and glared at Kyran.

"You are trying to confuse me!"

Kyran tilted his head to one side, feeling slightly amused. He did not intend to reveal his identity as Tyr at the get-go. But after discovering Neo's body was already in a precarious state, he wanted to divert the attention of the Boyd family members after him.

Apart from this, he was trying to get Styx, Dante, Owen, Hamish and the rest of the mercenaries to leave. So the more Boyd members he could attract, the better. He wanted to warp them away, like what he did to Tritus and the sea serpent, but they were too far from his range and could not do so.

"Why would I do that? Then again, I don't really care whether you believe me or not" Kyran said and shrugged— a rather signature action of 'Tyr,'

"You can't be him!" Haylee insisted with such zeal that it surprised her. "I just spoke to him and he even tried to—."

"Blow himself up?" Kyran interrupted as he landed on the ground in a rather leisurely way it made the Boyd family members nearby indignant.

Did he not realize that he was inside their territory? How could he act so calmly? And why was he trying to mess up the Crown Princess's mind?

These thoughts circled through Osric and the rest of the Boyd family members nearby. Because they did not know that 'Tyr' really tried to blow himself up when Haylee tried to 'change his mind' in accepting her offer.

Haylee could not help but tremble after hearing Kyran's words. She was still unconvinced of his claim, but if he was not telling the truth then how did he know about 'Tyr' trying to blow himself up?

Alas, it appeared Haylee never thought that the 'Tyr' they captured and she had spoken to was only a puppet. To her, he was as real as one could get.

Kyran let out a sigh and added, "Yeah, its decision to blow himself up is pretty ingenious. I'm impressed. But I think I'll have to delete that part in its system because I seriously don't want to lose a very good puppet."

The Boyd family members, especially Osric were shocked at Kyran's implication.

No. It was no longer an implication because he practically admitted what 'Tyr' was.

Haylee was also shocked. But unlike the others, she managed to retain her composure. Although, her complexion seemed to have turned even ghastlier.

Did she really have interacted with a puppet? No. That was not entirely correct. Kyran did say it was not the first time they had met. Meaning, at some point, they did meet— with Kyran pretending to be Tyr.

The more Haylee thought of this the more she was convinced that it was the truth. And the only time she interacted with the puppet Tyr was during the time Kyran went to Noser and made a scene.