Their romance storyline only begins on the second playthrough

The imperial capital—Iliad Imperial City.

The snowfall in the capital today has lessened considerably, and snowflakes are falling gently off the windows.

At this moment, a middle-aged man with long, blood-red hair, a knight-like physique, and an upright demeanor was sitting at a round table in the spacious wooden house, sipping his tea.

This man is Natalie's father, Victor Flora.

Like Ivina's father, he is one of the dukes of the Linlank Empire, and the area he governs is the Northern Plateau, which is also a region connected to the Dragon God Empire.

In the first playthrough, the northern border was naturally the first front to be destroyed, as the Dragon God Empire entered from the north and marched straight to the capital.

Fortunately, Natalie is luckier than Felicity.

Because after her father learned of the Star God's death, he moved his entire family to a safe place, leaving only himself to guard the Northern Border.

Even at the very end, he managed to avoid dying on the battlefield using a special method.

Now, this person in power, who carries the weight of a family with a glorious reputation and a long lineage, is experiencing immense inner turmoil.

"Thank you, Victor. It is thanks to your efforts in pushing forward the [Divine Sacrifice] at the Central Conference that the Divine Sacrifice was finally decided." At this moment, a cold-looking girl with snow-white eyes and a black hood spoke softly.

“I just want my home to be safe and secure.” Victor clenched his fists, his eyes fixed on the wooden table before him, lost in thought.

Several days ago, this Dragon-Head level powerhouse from the Dragon God Empire found him and began negotiations with him through a contract.

The content of the contract is very simple, it is nothing more than:

[The Dragon God Empire will not launch any offensive against the Linlank Empire in the next six months, nor will it interfere with the security of the Northern Territory.]

In contrast, as Duke of the North, Victor needs to ensure the convening of the Empire's sacred rites.

For Victor, this was a flawless contract.

Because he understood very well that if the result of the divine sacrifice was the fall of the gods, then it meant that the empire would not have lasted more than half a year anyway.

At least, the fact that the Dragon God Empire will not advance for another six months is already considered a consolidation measure.

If the gods have not fallen, the empire will naturally continue peacefully, and there will be no need to worry.

Therefore, from these two perspectives, he had no reason to refuse.

Can……

What he truly found difficult to accept in this contract was another clause.

[At the same time, Victor needs to help us kill any two people from the following list within the Empire.]

【I. Rod Chivenlance】

II. Cecilia Elman

【III. Felicity Calder】

[IV. Shirley Chivenlance]

[5. Natalie Flora]

Yes.

He must help the Dragon God Empire kill two of the five at random.

He did not understand the Dragon God Empire's intentions.

After all, there is only one truly important person here, and the only one who cannot be killed—Rod Chivenlance.

If Rhodes were to die in the Linlank Empire, it would be a devastating disaster.

But apart from Rhodes, the other four of these five people should have no influence at the national level, so why would they kill them?

Most importantly... his daughter was among them.

Or rather, of these five people, apart from Xia Li whom he didn't know, the others were all juniors he had met and treated kindly before...

Clearly, exchanging the lives of a few younger generations for half a year of peace for an empire was, from a rational perspective, an absolutely correct choice for him.

The only problem is that he has to choose two people from these five, which makes it difficult for him to think calmly.

"Have you made your choice? Which two people are you going to kill?"

“Rhodes cannot be killed,” Victor said without hesitation.

"Hmm, and then?"

“...My choices are Cecilia Elman and Shirley Chivenlance.”

It is only natural.

Although the latter's surname was Chivenlans, after investigating, he couldn't find any prominent person in the Melanie Empire with that name.

Cecilia's reason for choosing this path was simpler: Cecilia had already fallen into demonic possession, and killing her would be a way of freeing her.

"Oh, not bad~ But we have no idea where Shirley is. Are you sure you can do it?"

“Try your best.” Victor paused. “To put it bluntly, what are you thinking, killing someone whose whereabouts are completely unknown?”

"This is God's instruction," the silver-eyed girl said calmly. "God said to kill them at all costs, but I don't know the reason."

However, she paused briefly, then smiled and looked in the other direction—

Only when the gaze passes through can one finally see the person hidden in the darkness.

It was a person wearing a huge purple witch's cloak, her legs crossed, and her purple eyes bore a striking resemblance to Rhodes'.

Night Owl Witch.

Indeed, this meeting brought together the forces of three parties.

Each of the three parties has its own needs.

The witch needs to trigger the divine sacrifice to obtain a large amount of energy.

The Dragon God Empire wants to kill five people.

Victor, on the other hand, is responsible for maintaining the safety of the empire.

Although there are lies involved in these three interests to some extent—for example, the witch's real goal is the fragments of the Demon God, and the Dragon God Empire's goal is not just to kill these five people—it is also true that the Dragon God Empire's goal is not just to kill these five people.

Ultimately, the three forces, with their differing stances and interests, still gathered at the table to discuss the topic.

"You're probably not satisfied with Lord Victor's chosen plan, are you, Night Owl Witch?"

"Affirmative or negative," Night Owl said with a smile.

Then, she looked at Victor and continued:

“Victor, no matter how I look at it, replacing our Cecilia with Natalie is the right thing to do, isn’t it? Our Cecilia is the powerful force that will lead our development in the future, but what is Natalie?”

"She's just one of your daughters."

"A saintess of a church, not even the Pope."

"Besides, you probably don't know how difficult it is to kill Cecilia, do you? Even I can't say for sure that I can kill her."

"And your daughter? I could easily kill her if I just lured her home. Don't you understand that?"

"Most importantly, time is limited, and we need to kill both people on the list. We'll handle that Lily, and you can handle Natalie. Wouldn't that be faster?"

“…I could never kill Natalie.” Victor’s eyes sharpened even more.

"Don't forget, you're just a saint, you're not qualified to discuss things with me." Night Owl's smile gradually faded.

"If you don't kill her, then we'll kill her for you first. Then you can kill that Lily one."

Chapter 146 Cecilia's Birthday Date

The moment the power of the Eternal Sage manifested, a terrifying aura of oppression instantly swept over him, causing Victor to lose control of his body.

Victor remained silent.

He also understood that compared to killing a special witch who had been promoted five times and possessed endless abilities, killing his own daughter was incredibly easy.

If he kills Natalie directly, he can remove his part from the commission and then hand over the rest of Shirley to the witch.

But Natalie is his daughter.

If it's absolutely not too late at the last minute... he would never do that, and he absolutely cannot do that.

To put it bluntly, he was foolish when he actually chose to sacrifice his daughter's life to save his territory and the empire.

He is a coward; he has always believed that he is.

Or rather, he didn't have any grand sense of righteousness in his heart; all he wanted was the comfort of living in seclusion.

He was more selfish than public-spirited, and cared more about his family.

He cannot die, and his family cannot die either.

But in that instant,

With a mere wave of her arm, the silver-eyed woman in the black cloak stripped the Night Owl Witch's power from Victor.

Her silver pupils always conveyed her inviolability, especially when a white light appeared on her body, this feeling was even more pronounced.

“Victor is a friend, there’s no point in hurting him.” The silver-eyed girl shook her head.

The Night Owl Witch paused, then, feeling bored, withdrew all her power and finally stood up.

"First of all, we are friends, you and me, you and him. I and him are not friends."

"Firstly, he's too weak to be my friend, and secondly, we're adversaries."

“Aside from the fact that we are jointly promoting the divine sacrifice, my goal is to destroy the empire, while his goal is to protect the empire.”

"It's just that I can't make a move because the contract hasn't been completed yet, and we're still in a state of 'binding' each other."

“But… after I kill the people on your Dragon God Empire’s list, he will definitely be the first one I kill.”

At the same time, a strange smile appeared on her face:

"However, at least for now we are still in a cooperative relationship. We still need to kill two people, so I will consider Victor's ideas."

"Then let's leave it at that, and put Shirley last."

"Let's see who killed our Cecilia first, or who killed your daughter first. Wouldn't that settle things?"

Victor froze and fell silent.