Chapter 68：Plans and Secrets

The halls and especially the parlour of Maximinus palace were filled with drinks and laughter as the most influential officials and officers of the Imperium of Drussia enjoyed another flawless victory. Of course, the royal and imperial family of the Imperium, the Dunnwals themselves were present.

Even their parents, Cornelius Dunnwal and Maria Dunnwal who have 'retired' were also present, although they rarely interacted with the others. Instead they chose to stay at the palace's balcony and simply enjoyed the view, only occasionally ordering more wine.

In stark contrast to the senior Dunnwals who were enjoying a quiet and tranquil moment to themselves at the palace's balcony, the junior Dunnwals were off enjoying themselves in anything but a 'quiet' manner.

While Cromwell was off trying to get to the second base of another young noble lady, the remaining Dunnwal siblings remained at the palace's parlour. One of these siblings of course being, Keizwell. With a glass of wine in his hands, Keizwell only silently leaned on the windowsill.

While he would have typically enjoyed himself in these occasions by showing off his rare and expensive processions, a certain recent development has kept Keizwell from doing so. A recent development that was related to Sicilia who was currently enjoying the spotlight in the middle of the parlour.

In an action that was very uncharacteristic of her, Sicilia actually chose to actively sit next to her younger brother Maxwell as she told a story to everyone present.

"And you would never believe what she said next."

"No, please let me guess..."

However, the bigger surprise was the fact that Maxwell was not just here which is a rarity in of itself but he was also openly interacting with the others within the party. Especially since he just interacted with the person in the centre of attention which would have also placed him into the centre of attention.

In the previous banquets that celebrated their victories, even after the establishment of the Imperium and becoming the emperor, Maxwell would only linger at these kind of events for an hour or so before excusing himself. However, for this occasion, Maxwell has remained even after the sun has disappeared.

If Keizwell didn't personally witness Maxwell openly interact with Sicilia himself, he would not have believed it. With a glass of wine in his hands, Maxwell played along with Sicilia's story.

"Since you described her as one of those pretentious, self-righteous princesses, I bet she said something along the lines of 'I was born to win cause I was born royalty!' That's gotta be right? Right?"

Sicilia's only response to Maxwell was a short burst of laughter before she confirmed his answer.

"Ahahahaha yes! She was all like 'never compare to the power of my birthright!' and I was just like 'geez this bitch is crazy.' Didn't help her in the slightest though, she still died as pathetically as her contemporaries."

As the crowd burst into laughter, Keizwell silently chose this moment as his opportunity to move in on Sicilia. After easily manoeuvring his way through the crowds, Keizwell gently placed his hand on Sicilia's shoulder before he proceeded to 'whisper' a single sentence in her ear that was just loud enough for those close enough to hear.

"Sicilia I need to talk to you for a moment. Would you please follow me?"

Sicilia only nodded in response to Keizwell's request but didn't stand up. Instead she gave a quick glance to a person behind him.

Although Keizwell was confused by her actions, his confusion was quickly eliminated once the person Sicilia gave a glance at came into his view.

A person with grey hair and navy-blue eyes.

With a benevolent expression on her face, Sicilia made a single request to the grey-haired and blue-eyed person.

"Erika darling could you do me a favour and warm my seat while I attend to this private matter with Keizwell?"

[So there were ulterior motives after all huh? I gotta admit that was a smart move... the only question left is why is Sicilia doing such things for Erika.] As thoughts such as this ran through Keizwell's mind, Erika responded in kind to Sicilia's 'request.'

"As you wish my lady."

Before Erika took Sicilia's seat next to Maxwell.

When Keizwell took a glance at Maxwell, he found that the latter was rather unaffected by Erika and Sicilia's actions. He still kept that slight smile on his face as he leisurely laid back and relaxed on the furniture.

On the other hand, Erika sat with her back completely straight in a rigid and stern manner, her professional disposition still present despite her current circumstances. In a way, the two comically symbolised the very definition of the word 'opposite'.

However, Keizwell decided not to pay the two any more attention as he left the parlour with Sicilia. After walking around the palace for a few minutes, the two or rather Keizwell finally found an isolated and secluded place where they can speak in private.

Once the two were sure that no one else was nearby, Sicilia wasted no time in immediately cutting to the point.

"Alright, no one's around. Now what do you want?"

Keizwell held a rather serious expression on his face as he answered Sicilia's question.

"What I want is the answer to the real question. What have you been doing?"

Sicilia put on a fake expression of confusion and pouted as she replied to Keizwell.

"Whatever could I be doing? I apologise but I'm afraid that I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about."

"Oh please... I'm the treasurer of the Imperium and more importantly I'm your brother. Did you really believe that I haven't kept a few eyes on you?"

As Keizwell said this, he took a rolled up scroll detailing a copy of classified information before shoving it into Sicilia's chest.

"You quadrupled the funding for the Heisenberg Institute and the amount of 'research material' that they have been receiving has increased exponentially as well. Are you really going to tell me that you've only done that out of charity?"

Keizwell saw a look that appeared to be a mix of acceptance and annoyance in Sicilia's purple-violet eyes as she quietly stood in silence. That expression on her face made it seem as if she was contemplating whether she should kill Keizwell then and there or not.

However, as twisted as this may sound, as her older brother, Keizwell has already grown used to this look a long time ago. But that did not mean that he did not tolerate the time wasted from the silence.

"Well? Are you going to answer me? You know silence changes noth-"

"Immortality."

Keizwell was left utterly speechless when Sicilia interrupted him. On the other hand, when Sicilia saw that Keizwell was unable to react, she simply sighed before she proceeded to explain herself.

"The Heisenberg Institute is currently diverting some of its resources into the research of pseudo immortality. As such they require more resources if they want to continue their current pace of development while also researching the possibility of immortality."

Like before, Keizwell still didn't say a word as he listened to Sicilia. However, this time it was done out of his own volition, not because he was left speechless. Although Sicilia didn't seem to have noticed this as she sighed before she continued speaking.

"Well I understand if you don't belie-"

"I would like all details of their research in my office by tomorrow."

This time it was Sicilia's turn to be left speechless by Keizwell's interruption. When Keizwell saw this, he chuckled to himself before he shrugged.

"If you approved such research then that means that there must be some validity to it correct? The only problem right now is that the situation cannot allow for the full disclosure of information but the fact still remains... I'm interested..."

As Keizwell spoke, another realisation came across his mind prompting him to ask Sicilia another question.

"So I am I right to believe that Maxwell is currently unaware of this 'research?'"

"Of course he is."

Sicilia answered Keiwell's question in a matter of fact way with a slight look of irritation on her face.

"Why do you ask?"

"It's just that..."

Keizwell paused for a moment to think himself before he properly replied to Sicilia.

"It's just that I believe that for Maxwell's case, it would be better that he remains 'oblivious' to this research. From what I've seen, what appears to be his main drive is his belief that this is his only chance and life. It's at the point that you'd think that he already experienced death before."

Sicilia chuckled when she heard Keizwell's remark before she responded.

"Ahahahaha, that is true... but it would seem that we have to put this conversation on hold."

"What do you mean by that?

When Sicilia heard Keizwell's question, she simply shrugged in a similar nonchalant manner to Maxwell before she responded in a somewhat irritated tone. As if she was being forced to clean up someone else's mess.

"Someone is snooping in a place where they don't belong."

...

"My God... what the hell is all this?"

Katherine couldn't help muttering to herself as she skimmed through the classified files held within the War Room of Maximinus Palace, one of the two major War Rooms other than the war room of the I.M.T.A.C.

The reason she was even here in the first place was to discover the truth behind her brother's death.

Although she was told that he died heroically during the early stages of the crusader's incursion of Eastern Porrand, Katherine just could not believe what she was told. At the very least she had to confirm the stories herself.

And thus, she was lead to sneak into the War Room to look for answers during a banquet held by the Dunnwals.

However, what she instead discovered was something much more terrifying.

It was something called the 'Napoleon Project.'

A truly terrifying set of files and reports that detailed the Imperium's most secretive research which included weapons development but more importantly, details of inhuman human experimentation in order to research the 'depths of magic.'

Even more terrifying however, were the plans of invasion into the other neighbouring countries that were not allied to the Imperium.

Fance.

Hongary.

Ostria.

Espain.

Benice

There were plans of invasion for each and every 'hostile' nation within the Eurrelpeon continent.

Just before Katherine could go and look even further however-

"What do you think you're doing here?"

A sudden female voice caused all of Katherine's hairs to stand on end.

Just before she could react however, she felt a little 'prick' on the back of her neck.

Without even knowing it, Katherine felt the strength drain from her limbs before she fell limp onto the floor.

No, it would better to describe that Katherine couldn't even feel anything at all.

Not even her mouth obeyed her commands as her drool slowly started to leak out onto the cold floor.

The only thing that Katherine could do was continue to look around with her eyes and listen with her ears.

Soon, Katherine heard footsteps coming closer towards her which was then followed by the sound of a cold yet agitated voice.

"Tch, neither Erika nor Keizwell isn't going to let me hear the end of this. I guess I can just not tell them but they will probably find out in the end huh?.. Tch, So this is what happens when you get a little too careless is it? I guess Maxwell was right about there being a 'first time for everything' after all."

However, the owner of that cold voice chuckled in a cold manner as she slowly whispered into Katherine's ear.

"But none of that matters now. There is no need for you to worry. By the time this is over, you won't even remember a thing."