Morals? They got me playing a game of ‘Would You Rather?’ but with lives on the line?!

The more this system ‘speaks,’ the better burning for eternity sounds. She stabbed at the cold steak multiple times. It didn’t help that she was starving but this ‘Trailblazer’ skill is making things difficult for her.

The system was sweating hard at the woman stabbing at the steak with ill intent. Its eyes lit up and a lightbulb appeared on the screen. It gave the hangry princess a message.

Announcement!

How about setting the food on fire? Not only should it make the food be at your preferred temperature, but the blue fire would be hot enough to purify it!

Snap your fingers to make your gear visible and say your phrase to activate ‘Ignition’ while pointing at whatever you want to be purified!

You’ll have to use the ‘Fireball’ active skill! Since it’s only Rank F, the flame won’t be too big and you can shoot it at your preferred target!

Veronica had stopped stabbing at the steak. If this could help alleviate her massive cravings then she was willing to give it a try.

I guess I’ll eat flaming charcoal if this doesn't work.

She snapped her fingers, making her gear visible, and pointed at the steak, “It’s lit.”

A small blue flame appeared concentrated on her fingertip, “Fireball.”

The flame spat from her fingertip and landed on the steak. It slowly engulfed in its blue fury, letting out a small fog of smoke ascending into the air and vanishing. The steak stayed the way it was, still burning, but not burning up.

Another message from the system appeared.

Announcement!

Congratulations! You’ve learned a new spell!

Combining ‘Ignition’ with ‘Fireball’ to purify your food has landed you with a new active skill, ‘Flames of Purification!’

This skill allows you to purify any poison in a person, place, or object.

Any poison…? Huh.

It’s a pretty neat skill. She can eat something poisonous and simply purify herself. If something is poisonous and she already knows before consuming it, she could just purify the object. But to purify a place with poison? What does that even mean?

Thinking too hard will only make her hangrier. Not bothering with etiquette, Veronica took a big bite out of the flaming, purified steak. Her eyes went wide, a river formed instantaneously from her eyeballs as she chewed on the delectable meal.

Is…this what heaven tastes like? Veronica thought, almost sniffling. Is this the same relief those men experienced when they entered through the golden gates?

Before she even knew it, her plate was wiped clean. You would’ve assumed that she licked up the rest.

Seeing as how the new skill caused her to go through euphoria for the first time in a while, she purified the rest of the food and snacks and went to town. She wasn’t going to stop shoving food into her mouth until every last morsel past her lips.

The skinny Genevieve will bloat like a pufferfish. Veronica will make sure of it.

—

Emperor Isaac had just got done dealing with his paperwork. It was only thirty minutes ago that Genevieve had left his office. He only hoped that the girl was being served something to eat. He wasn’t comfortable seeing her collarbone all sunken.

She should focus on filling out her training outfit before trying to sweat in it. He thought, rubbing his forehead. What if she passes out while running?

He flinched. The same strong magic from earlier came back. This time, it lingered much longer.

And then there’s this problem… Whoever this is, they’re running amok in my own home.

He thought about sending a few of his knights to look for the threat, but if this mage is able to manipulate their mana despite the amount of anti-magic sigils around the palace, then this being is no average mage. The strongest in his order are Ephraim and Nate. The strongest in the royal family, second to Emperor Isaac, are Dominic and Winslow, but they’ll sooner fight each other than work to combat said threat.

Maybe I should strengthen the sigils. No one in the empire—nay, the entire world—has reached past twenty rubies. He sighed. No one except Angelica…

The thought of his late wife made his eyes droop. A sudden onset of sadness waved over Isaac as he closed his eyes.

Our daughter is alive, Angie. I’ll keep it that way.

He mentally apologized to his late wife. If it weren’t for him dealing with the greedy nobility, he wouldn’t have to worry about setting up Genevieve’s funeral in the first place. The poor girl was always sick in bed, per Empress Delilah, and was too weak to do anything. Sometimes, she would outright refuse to even go on walks just to get her strength up.

Isaac didn’t mean to leave her lonely up until her death. Now, Genevieve prances about, taking matters into her own hands. Almost as though the only person she can trust is herself.

It bothered him to think that she couldn’t rely on him. That’s why he wanted to give her a bigger allowance, just to prove that he would always be there for her despite not being there physically.

“Focus… What am I going to do about this intruder?” Isaac shook his head, thinking for a bit. “This is the second time I’ve felt strong magic on her floor.”

The only other person he could think of was a retired veteran knight, who was also Isaac’s mentor in the past, by the name of Duke Conrad Alistar. He was formidable with twenty rubies before he finally hit the ceiling with his mana. He came from a long lineage that specialized in wind magic and passed it down to his son, Alexander Alistar. It was a miracle for his son to hold nearly the same amount of rubies as his father, despite having a mana-less mother.

The issue was that the Alistar Ducal is notoriously neutral. Even though Emperor Isaac was Duke Alistar’s pupil, he became the strongest mage in the empire. It didn’t help that Isaac came from a lineage of ancient fire-breathing beasts, whose magical affinity was otherworldly.

Conrad witnessed firsthand the future emperor’s magical capabilities when he was only ten years old with twenty-five rubies. He simply taught Isaac how to concentrate and manipulate his mana for spell-casting. The result, every year Isaac would add three extra rubies to his person so as not to cause a mana explosion and accidentally wipe out the empire.

It was at nineteen years old when his mana finally reached the ceiling. He placed one more ruby on his person and got to fifty; fifteen more rubies than his father, the previous emperor. It was a historic day for the Ulrich Empire, for the imperial family’s heir had a monstrous amount of mana.

Conrad stopped tutoring Isaac after he reached his ceiling and became the Crown Prince. He retired when his wife, Tatianna Alistar, was pregnant with his child. She didn’t have mana, so the birth of their child could spell disaster for her body in the aftermath. He decided to stay back and keep a close eye on her to make sure the birth went well.

In his absence, an obscene amount of nobles from the anti-royalist party chastised the Duke for training the Crown Prince into a walking glass cannon. The entire empire is aware of the imperial family on the paternal side being descendents of ancient dragons, therefore it was understandable for offsprings to have nearly as many rubies as their parents. Isaac was an outlier who surpassed his father, so they pinned blame on the third strongest mage in the order.

Either way, Duke Alistar chose to live in isolation, fearing that his family could be in danger of the anti-royalist party and needing to stay back and keep an eye on things, besides the very birth of his son. It led to a lot of distancing from the imperial family, up to the point of declaring total neutrality. He couldn’t risk putting his wife in danger due to his pride.

But now that there might be a threat in the palace, Emperor Isaac couldn’t help but think of his old teacher. Conrad may not be in his prime, but his son is. It’s even confirmed that Alexander hasn’t reached the ceiling with his mana quite yet.

“Would he even entertain the idea of having his son stand guard by the princess…?” The emperor mumbled under his breath. “...Let alone come to the palace?”

Duke Alistar wouldn’t be pleased if his son was forcibly summoned to the palace. He’ll just have to send a letter and hope for a reply. Until then, Emperor Isaac will have a few knights stationed on Princess Genevieve’s floor. If the presence of ruby-holding mages could deter them from springing action against his daughter, then maybe it was for the best until he gets an answer.

He pulled out a paper and quill, “I might as well send one now…”