Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem-Chapter 433: Visitor

When Zach finally received a visitor, it was someone he both had hoped and expected to visit him sooner than she did.

"Can I come in?" The Empress Dowager asked after already opening the door, entering, and closing it behind her, stopping her guards from accompanying her. The rumors about Zach’s bare-handed strength had spread, and the Imperial Knights were reluctant to leave The Empress Dowager alone with him since she didn’t have any such rumors floating around.

But the Empress Dowager wasn’t even close to being in danger, even if she was alone with Zach for a few minutes.

"Sure looks like it," Zach said and gestured for Ursula to take a seat while he prepared a kettle and two cups of tea.

"My granddaughter says you lost your tongue in the Labyrinth," Ursula commented when Zach actually talked to her.

"Your granddaughter also thinks I’m a filthy traitor, so…" Zach shrugged and sat down opposite Ursula.

"You’re not?"

"No." Zach’s answer was immediate.

"So, you had no idea what your family was planning?" She asked gently.

Zach sighed.

"I don’t even know what they’ve done. How am I supposed to know what they were planning to do? The last time I talked to any of them was when Lexi visited the Academy. I haven’t even managed to exchange any letters after that," he explained with a tired voice. He loved his family and he thought they loved him, but he had been busy, and he had just assumed his family had been too.

"I see…" Ursula said, stirring the sugar into her tea. For a few moments, the wispy sound of the metal spoon brushing against the porcelain cup was all that could be heard in the room.

"Your family, Zach, handed over the East to the barbarians. They packed up and just disappeared with a significant portion of their servants and soldiers. We got word of it almost instantly…But we didn’t manage to save all the inhabitants of the region. The barbarians got word of it at around the same time but they live a little closer," Ursula explained with a low voice, looking intently at Zach’s face.

Shock flashed on his face for a moment before he frowned deeply and lowered his gaze to look into his tea.

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It was supposed to be black tea. So, why was it reddish-brown?

"...That doesn’t make any sense," Zach said after a minute.

Ursula shrugged lightly.

"My family has devoted themselves for generations to protect the Eastern border. They have trained and fought with their lives on the line—many of my ancestors have died protecting the border! None of my siblings and my parents definitely wouldn’t do what you’re saying they did." Zach shook his head. "I refuse to believe it!"

Zach stood up and slammed the cup into the table without breaking it.

Ursula sighed as Zach walked off and slammed the door to his bedroom shut behind him.

He could be faking his reaction to feign innocence.

An imperial investigator would have likely assumed as much and continued pressing for information about his family, what they had done, and why they had done it.

An imperial investigator wouldn’t know that Zach doesn’t lie about things like this. He does lie or hide the truth on occasion but more often than not, he does the opposite. He speaks the truth and says what’s on his mind even when it might not be the most appropriate. As such, it becomes quite obvious when he lies, especially for someone like Ursula.

He did not know anything about his family’s plans. For whatever reason, he had been left completely in the dark.

Ursula cleaned away the tea. It had been deliciously brewed. She sighed as she left his cell.

’So, this is why that unruly son of mine wanted me to be the one to ask,’ she thought while leaving. Whatever was going on, there was more to it than the Evandiel family simply turning traitor. And her son, the Emperor, knew something.

Ursula sighed again and massaged her forehead.

’Ah, this is why I should have retired…!’ She lamented silently on her way to tell the Emperor about the results of her talk with Zach.

Zach sat on his bed and held Vidri’s Medallion in his hand as he thought about what Ursula had just said. It was unbelievable. But why would Ursula lie to him about something like this? Zach couldn’t come up with a single reason for her to lie.

Sure, he didn’t know everything that was going on in her head or outside his cell. But he liked to think that he had at least gotten to know Ursula a little during his time in the capital before he graduated.

If he couldn’t consider it possible for her to lie to him about this, it could only mean that she hadn’t lied. Either she thought she was telling the truth or she was telling the truth.

Ursula wasn’t easy to fool, so she was most likely not lying.

But that meant the Evandiel family had committed an atrocious crime against the Empire and its people. They had gone against everything they stood for and believed in for seemingly no reason.

Zach couldn’t understand. He wasn’t sure he wanted to understand.

But he had to do something. He couldn’t just sit here and do nothing while his family’s reputation was either being tarnished or they were tarnishing it themself.

As the last innocent Evandiel, he had to do something about it, even if it meant finding and bringing his family to justice. Or, if they could somehow explain themselves, help them.

According to Ursula, his family’s actions had led to the deaths of many of the East’s residents. That was not something Zach could just gloss over.

They were the people his family had a duty to protect.

He loved his family for who they were. If they did something like this, they wouldn’t be themselves. They wouldn’t be his family.

Zach looked toward the door with a determined expression.

He had to get out of here.