With some things, the more normal they were, the more abnormal they seemed.

After losing both her parents since she was young, and even getting abandoned by the royal family, Ibeiya should hate Rosas royalty as well as her own grandfather. The king did not seem to have cared for his granddaughter of mixed blood. If Xiao Lin had not told the king, the king would probably have never thought of Ibeiya.

Xiao Lin was sitting by the side, drinking some tea as he quietly listened on. The more he listened, the weirder it felt. Ibeiyas tone was very normal, no trace of excitement for seeing a relative, nor was there any trace of hatred or anger. The king seemed to be talking normally as well, asking Ibeiya about her life over the past years. His voice had no trace of regret or pity.

Ibeiya had wanted to see the king herself. Xiao Lin had been thinking about it on the way, but never found the answer. Ibeiya had not seen her grandfather for many years. Ibeiya absolutely would not have had the chance to enter the palace after she was chased out.

However, was Ibeiya just there to chat?

Xiao Lin could only listen patiently. Finally, the kings questions seemed to stop, and the two of them fell silent. After a few minutes Ibeiyas large eyes glinted as she used a cool tone to ask, Actually I asked Big Brother Xiao Lin to bring me over this time to ask you a question.

Is it about your mother? the king said.

No, I said it earlier. Im thankful to my mother for giving birth to me, but my only memory of her stops at a drawing at home. It was my father that brought me up, but regretfully he was killed by hunters five years ago.

After pausing, Ibeiyas tone went even colder, even having some killing intent. You should know, since the Rosa Kingdom allows the dark races to stay here, they do not allow hunters into the country as well. Why would hunters appear in my house five years ago? Those hunters had to be from the Sheikh Empire; that empires religion treats killing dark races as a form of glory!

What are you trying to say? The king narrowed his eyes.

Ibeiya took a deep breath, staring at the king before saying, Ive investigated it after. The church of the Sheikh Empire had a secret correspondence with you before, and after that, the Rosa Kingdom suddenly obtained a large amount of money from unknown sources. Even though I suspected whether Dawn Academy was a part of it, I understood after investigating in Dawn City that the academy has been clueless on the matter to this day. I have to say you are quite smart.

Xiao Lin finally put down his tea cup, looking at Ibeiya in surprise. The girl no longer had her calm face from earlier on. What she showed was dense hatred and anger.

Xiao Lin was starting to understand.

As a vassal of Dawn City, Rosas treasury would always be under the scrutiny of Dawn Academys embassy. Any use of the treasury would naturally be under intense scrutiny. Liang Taibai had said before that the king wanted to implement reforms that would circumvent Dawn Academys rule. Reforms need money, and any money moving out of the royal treasury would not have escaped the embassy. The only way would be to get it from outside sources, such as from that Sheikh Empire.

The Sheikh Empire was a large empire to the north of Planet Norma. It was a religious government. Xiao Lin did not know much about it; the most he knew was what Ibeiya had said. The empire hated the dark races, and their church had established an order of hunters. Anyone who brought in corpses from the dark races would be able to get certain rewards.

The more famous dark races would naturally be on the blacklist of the religion. Killing them would grant a lot of glory. The St. Claude had a large amount of history, existing since ancient times. It was no exaggeration to say that the St. Claude clans fall in just a few hundred years was probably because too many of the clan had been hunted, and they finally had to move to the Rosa Kingdom to hide.

He finally understood why Ibeiya wanted to go to Dawn City. The investigation was her true goal. Her mother had died since she was young, and even her father was killed. No one would be able to accept their parents being assassinated, especially when there was a plot behind it.

Ibeiya had chosen to investigate it all herself, and managed to find the truth. Xiao Lin looked at the king with shock. It was obvious that the old man had used the life and information of the father of his own granddaughter in exchange for money for his own reforms.

After finishing, Ibeiya looked at the king, slowly asking, Tell me, is everything I said true?

Thats right. I did it. The king surprisingly admitted it.

Ibeiya trembled, clenching her fists tightly. Xiao Lin moved quickly, and shot forward, placing a supportive hand on Ibeiyas shoulder while his other hand held Ibeiyas fist. Ibeiya tried to resist, but her strength could not compare to Xiao Lins. Her fingers were quickly pried apart by Xiao Lin.

In Ibeiyas white palm was a knife the size of a finger. The blade was very thin, but had a cold blue glow. It even had a shocking amount of energy circulating within. Xiao Lin estimated that the blade was at least Silver-ranked, or even higher than that.

Give it to me! Xiao Lin snatched the blade away. Hearing Ibeiyas words, he naturally knew that she was there for revenge.

Ibeiya stared at him, softly roaring, Big Brother, why are you stopping me!

Because he knows that, even if I deserve to die, its not the time, and I cant die in your hands. The one who answered was the king on the throne. The king had already gotten up and was walking down.

Xiao Lin pulled Ibeiya behind him, and suddenly rushed forward, smashing a fist into the Kings face. With his power at that moment, he sent the defenseless king flying back a dozen meters, even destroying the throne.

The servants outside immediately rushed over after hearing the commotion, but they looked at each other when they saw the scene, not daring to make a move on Xiao Lin, nor did they dare to leave the king just as he was. They did not know if Xiao Lin was planning on killing the king at that moment. If the king died, they would definitely end up joining him.

Im fine. The king stood up, waving his hands to command the servants to leave. The right side of the kings face had swelled up, and his lips were bloodied. Even speaking was hard.