Dragon Monarch System

Chapter 1212: Chapter 1212:- 3rd Challenge – Find Location of Alen and Elena [II]

Rin followed the female servants and quickly disappeared from Aditya and Roy’s sight. Before separating, the three had already agreed to meet at a specific location once Rin had learned anything useful about where Aditya’s parents were being kept.

As for Aditya, he continued walking around the Imperial Royal Palace with Roy. However, sightseeing was not his true purpose.

Aditya deliberately used Roy’s presence to move closer to the outer walls of the Imperial Royal Palace without attracting suspicion. Whenever guards passed nearby, the two casually talked about the palace and its surroundings, making it appear as though Roy was simply showing his distant relative around.

Eventually, Aditya found the opportunity he had been waiting for. When no guards or servants were watching, he quietly crouched near one of the walls and swiftly dug a small hole in the ground. The opening was only about the size of his head, making it small enough to avoid attracting attention.

Aditya then took out a strange bead roughly the size of his fist. Without wasting even a second, he placed the bead inside the hole before covering it with the soil he had just dug out. He carefully restored the surface as much as possible so that anyone casually passing through the area would have no reason to notice that something had been buried there.

Once he finished, Aditya calmly stood up and continued walking beside Roy as though nothing had happened.

For the next several minutes, the two continued wandering through different areas of the Imperial Royal Palace. They occasionally stopped to look at certain buildings while casually discussing the palace.

At least, that was the impression they deliberately gave to everyone watching them. Patrolling guards regularly appeared and disappeared around them as they continued their routine patrols. Whenever they encountered Roy, they either greeted the former Prime Minister respectfully or simply acknowledged him before continuing on their way.

Nothing about Aditya and Roy’s behavior appeared suspicious. Around twenty-five minutes after separating from them, Rin finally returned. Judging from the expression on her face, she had brought very good news.

The moment Rin returned, she immediately approached Aditya and Roy. From the look on her face, Aditya already knew that she had managed to find something useful.

“I had to question a lot of people and put quite a few of them under my charm, but I finally found out where your parents are being kept.” Rin said in a low voice.

Aditya’s expression immediately became serious. At the same time, he was relieved that within 25 minutes his woman was able to accomplish this difficult task.

“They’re still inside their own bedroom.” Hearing this, Aditya felt slightly relieved. At the very least, his parents had not been moved into some hidden underground prison or another secret location within the Imperial Royal Palace.

However, Rin was not finished. “But there is a problem. No ordinary servant is allowed to enter their bedroom. There is only one servant who is permitted to personally bring their daily meals inside, and she was specifically chosen by your cousin.”

“She isn’t merely a servant either. She also acts as their guard. She remains stationed directly outside the bedroom door twenty-four hours a day. From what I learned, she practically never leaves her position.”

“Twenty-four hours?” Roy asked with a frown.

Rin nodded. “Once every week, someone else comes to replace her. Only then does she leave and take a few days of rest before returning. This arrangement has apparently been in place for months, ever since Ren became the Emperor.”

Rin paused briefly before adding another important detail. “And it isn’t only their bedroom that is restricted. No other servants are even allowed to approach the main residence where your parents are staying. The entire area is essentially isolated from the rest of the Imperial Royal Palace.”

Aditya became silent as he processed everything she had learned.

This confirmed two important things. His parents were exactly where he had originally suspected they might be, but reaching them would be far more difficult than simply walking to their bedroom.

“So getting inside won’t be easy. Even with Uncle Roy here, I doubt we would have the authorisation or clearance necessary to enter that residence, much less walk directly into your parents’ bedroom.” Roy slowly nodded in agreement. His reputation could get them through many places inside the Imperial Royal Palace. But that did not mean it could get them everywhere.

“Did you manage to find anything else about the current state of the Imperial Royal Palace?” Aditya asked after a moment of silence. This was another important piece of information that he needed before making his next move.

Under normal circumstances, the Imperial Royal Palace would have been protected by far more guards, including many powerful cultivators. However, the ongoing civil war had created a rare weakness in its defences. Around half of the cultivators responsible for protecting the palace had been taken to the battlefield by Ren, with many of them serving as part of his personal protection force.

This was one of the main reasons Aditya had chosen this exact moment to infiltrate the Imperial Royal Palace. Once the civil war began, Ren would be forced to take a significant portion of the Capital’s strongest forces with him. There would probably never be another opportunity when the security of the Imperial Royal Palace was this weakened.

“I did ask several questions about the palace’s defences. From what I managed to learn, before your cousin left the Capital for the battlefield, he personally placed three National Treasures in charge of protecting the Imperial Royal Palace.”

Even if they had declared themselves neutral in the civil war, Ren had clearly taken precautions to ensure that the Imperial Royal Palace remained protected in his absence with three National Treasures.

“All three National Treasures are currently staying inside their respective residences within the Imperial Royal Palace. Other than that, just as you already noticed, around half of the palace guards and troops were taken to the battlefield. Many of them are apparently serving as Ren’s personal guards.”

Rin shook her head slightly. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t learn anything beyond that. The ordinary servants simply don’t know much about the deeper layers of the palace’s defenses.”

“That is already enough.” Aditya replied.

Roy, however, had been silently listening to everything with an increasingly troubled expression. “This is going to be the most difficult part.” Roy finally said.

He looked directly at Aditya. “Even if you somehow deal with that maid guarding your parents’ bedroom, what comes afterward? Taking your parents out of the Imperial Royal Palace is going to be a freaking nightmare.”

Roy rubbed his forehead just thinking about it. “I cannot even begin to wrap my head around how you intend to get two of the most heavily guarded people in the entire Empire out of this place. The moment someone discovers that Alen and Elena are missing, the entire Imperial Royal Palace will go into lockdown.”

Yet unlike Roy, Aditya did not appear worried in the slightest. He had not come here expecting everything to go smoothly. Aditya had known from the beginning that finding his parents would only be half the problem. The real challenge had always been getting them out.

Fortunately, he had come prepared for exactly this kind of situation. Aditya looked at Roy before a confident grin slowly appeared on his face. “Uncle Roy, I came here prepared for this kind of situation.”

Roy stared at him suspiciously. Aditya’s grin widened slightly. “So just watch and see how I do things.”

Roy stared at Aditya in silence for a few moments before eventually letting out a helpless sigh. “Alright! Do whatever you want, brat. Just don’t get yourself killed.” Roy said.

His expression then became more serious as he added, “I hope to live long enough to see the day when you rule the Celestial Dragon Empire and bring about a new golden age.”

Aditya nodded with a confident grin. He had no intention of dying either.

If his will had been weak enough to break under pressure, then he would never have survived the Heavenly Tribulation he had faced less than two hours ago. Compared to the six Heavenly Thunder strikes that had nearly destroyed his body and pushed him to the edge of death, the danger awaiting him inside the Imperial Royal Palace was not enough to make him hesitate.

“Now, I need to find a believable excuse to leave the Imperial Royal Palace.” Roy said while glancing around. He had already done far more than he originally intended.

Before coming here, Roy had promised his granddaughter that he would not involve himself in the civil war. Yet despite that promise, he had returned to the Capital, entered the Imperial Royal Palace, and personally helped Aditya infiltrate one of the most heavily protected places in the entire Empire.

If something went wrong and Roy was somehow connected to Aditya’s actions, he could very easily pay for it with his life.

Ren was notoriously cruel toward those he considered enemies or those who made mistakes under his rule. Within only a few months of becoming Emperor, thousands of people had already been executed under his orders.

Roy had no desire to become another name added to that list. He had already brought Aditya and Rin inside. From this point onward, the rest was up to them.

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