The Emperor’s Angel of Death

The immense pressure from Erda was no less than the image Soshjan had seen of the Vanus when he last met them in their enraged manifestation, and perhaps even stronger, but Soshjan remained seated, fearlessly gazing at the furious goddess.

"Lady Erda, I respect you because you are the Emperor's consort, the mother of the Primarchs, but right is right, and wrong is wrong. Your momentary impulse has already led to a great tragedy. I hope you can understand that love is not blind, nor is it indulgence. Lee is doing something wrong; he is entering a dangerous game, which may lead to his eternal damnation. I believe he still listens to you, so I hope you can persuade him. As for the past, I can let bygones be bygones."

Erda's eyes flickered slightly, then suddenly returned to their original state, and the dolls resumed their cheerful play.

She nodded, her tone suddenly becoming very gentle.

"When he returns, he will convince Little Two. They have a very good relationship; this will not be a problem."

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The 'he' Erda mentioned should be Xerxes. Soshjan narrowed his eyes.

"Lady Erda, do you think Xerxes and Lee have a good relationship?"

"I am his mother; I understand him and them better than you do."

"What about the other Primarchs?"

"They will rally around their brother to build a new empire, greater than the current decaying corpse."

"Rally around? So, you think Xerxes should become the new Emperor?"

"That old donkey has no need to remain in the mortal realm; it will only lead to endless troubles. The empire can be left to the children."

Erda spoke casually, but Soshjan's heart sank to the bottom.

"So, Lady Erda, in your mind, the empire belongs to Xerxes, correct?"

"Isn't that only natural?"

"So, you have never regarded the other Primarchs, including Lee, as true children, your children. All along, it has only been Xerxes, or rather, Manneleek, as you call him. You think you understand Lee, so surely Lee understands you as well. Can't he feel it?"

Exposed by Soshjan, Erda snorted softly, flicked her sleeve, picked up a piece of candy from a golden plate held by a doll, and covered her face with her sleeve as she put it into her mouth, seemingly to alleviate her inner displeasure.

Soshjan sighed softly.

"Lady Erda, are you so sure Xerxes will return?"

"Of course."

Erda smiled once again, and it seemed very sincere.

"You are before me, so naturally he is before me as well. I am speaking to you, and I am also speaking to him."

Soshjan raised an eyebrow and calmly replied:

"I am not him."

"Why not?"

"I am me, Soshjan Alexey. Xerxes' consciousness may now exist within my consciousness, but that does not mean I am him. I have my own experiences, my own parents, my own lover."

Erda once again wore the dismissive expression that Soshjan saw and disliked very much.

"That is not a problem; they are just memories. When a person possesses all of another person's memories, what is the difference between them?"

"There is, there must be."

Soshjan said very firmly.

"If I become Xerxes, what about my wife?"

The words Erda spoke almost made Soshjan jump to his feet.

"That is also not a problem. Since you two are already one, then Veronica is naturally his wife, and Viletz, including their children, are naturally his children as well."

"Are you insane!"

Soshjan's fist slammed heavily on the ground, and anger climbed onto his face.

"They love me! Not Xerxes!"

But Erda still wore that infuriating smile.

"Yes, they love you, but when there is no longer any difference between you and him, their love will not change."

Soshjan looked at Erda. At that moment, if he had a weapon in his hand, he might not have been able to resist killing her, but he was still trying to restrain himself, no matter how disgusting she was.

"So, you manipulated Viletz to come to my side, not for her sake, but for your son. Elena is still alive. Do you know that? She is Xerxes' wife."

Hearing Elena's name, Erda sighed and shook her head.

"Some of her actions disappointed me. She is no longer worthy. Perhaps it would have been right to let her die in the first place. This was a mistake caused by my mercy."

"You!"

Soshjan reached out, pointing at her with two fingers.

"Erda, you are no different from the Emperor! You two are truly a match made in heaven!"

Erda still wore that calm expression, saying slowly:

"Don't be agitated, Soshjan. I also regard you as my child. You cannot understand my good intentions now, so I do not blame you. You just need to remember to stay away from that old donkey."

Soshjan took a few deep breaths, then forced himself to calm down. Now, whether it was to accuse or curse her, it was meaningless. The most important thing now was to obtain as much useful information as possible from her.

So, he sat down again and said coldly:

"Lady Erda, since you keep saying that you love Xerxes, then why did you throw him into Ctesiphon? I once saw a painting called 'The Child-Eating God' at Vanus' place. Is it related to that prophecy? For example, Macardo believed that the one who would overthrow the God-King would be the child hidden by his mother."

Hearing Soshjan raise this question, Erda's face darkened. After a long while, she pursed her lips and said softly:

"It wasn't like this at first. After giving birth to Xerxes, I told Him that we no longer needed gene-seed Primarchs. Warriors created using our child as a gene-seed template could also conquer the stars—I thought He would do that, but I underestimated His stubbornness. As the Primarchs were being created, I showed Him how dangerous they were. They were not as pure as Xerxes; they were not even human. I told Him that He should kill these creations, but a part of Him must still have had feelings for them."

Hearing this, Soshjan was really speechless. This Erda kept saying how much she loved the gene-seed Primarchs, but at the same time, she was encouraging the Emperor to kill all the gene-seed Primarchs and only leave their own child.

Soshjan couldn't help but wonder if she was really a mentally normal person at that time? Or did her thinking undergo some kind of pathological change after giving birth to Xerxes??

"Even so, I still tried to adapt to the role of Primarch mother, putting Xerxes and those brothers together at His request. I was learning and considering how to educate them, how to shape them in their brief childhood, so that they would become generals, scholars, and ministers serving the king in the future, and how to assist their father and brother."

Soshjan couldn't help but mutter to himself that if it were really like this, it would probably be the root of another great rebellion. When the Primarchs knew the difference between being manufactured and their parents' biological brother, the ending would probably be like countless power tragedies in human history.