Lin Gui was completely unaware of the current situation.
He had no idea that the Seventh Princess—who had confidently told him to find her if he ran into trouble when they entered the city—was currently deep in crisis.
After reassuring Theia and sending her back to the refugee district outpost, Lin Gui had gone straight to the Carter Royal Library located in the First Ring.
His purpose for this trip was clear.
He wanted to research the true history of the Carter Kingdom.
Although Elvia had adamantly claimed that the Carter Kingdom had never had a queen, Lin Gui had decided to search for clues in the history himself.
The scale of the Carter Royal Library was nothing short of magnificent.
The library itself was a massive white building built against a mountain.
Its towering arches and spires that pierced the clouds manifested the union of knowledge and royal power.
The internal space was startlingly vast.
At a glance, several floors of circular galleries surrounded a central atrium.
Densely packed bookshelves stood like a forest of steel, stretching to the very end of his vision.
The air was permeated with a special scent—a mixture of old paper, ink, and a faint hint of wood varnish.
The quantity and variety of the collection were immense.
It covered almost every field, including history, geography, magic, martial arts, and folklore.
The library was quite quiet, with only the occasional sound of flipping pages or low whispers.
Some richly dressed scholars, noble sons, and young ladies were sitting on soft chairs by the windows reading.
When Lin Gui walked in wearing his signature tattered mage robes, he immediately attracted several unabashedly disdainful glares.
However, when their gazes fell upon the Ice-Wolf Head Badge on his shoulder, that disdain instantly vanished.
It was replaced by surprise, scrutiny, and even a faint, nearly imperceptible trace of wariness.
Lin Gui ignored these looks.
He had a clear objective and went directly to the section containing the historical records of the Carter Kingdom.
He did not blindly flip through the books, but instead started from the lineage of the current King of Carter.
He traced back and examined the records layer by layer.
However, this process was more tedious and... ridiculous than he had expected.
The official history of the Carter royal family was whitewashed to the point of being tedious and overlong.
It was stuffed with deliberate, even outrageous, praise for the achievements of past kings.
"...His Majesty King Carter III, brilliant and martial, led his army on an eastern crusade to expand his territory, at one point occupying one-third of the central continent..."
When Lin Gui read this part, he couldn't help but complain internally.
Occupied one-third of the central continent?
During the Golden Age, the Carter Kingdom hadn't even occupied one-tenth of the borderlands.
This boasting was simply beyond all reason.
He flipped through quickly, focusing his search on records regarding the relocation of the capital.
However, he found nothing at all.
According to official records, the Carter Kingdom had seen a total of 367 kings in the borderlands.
Since its establishment by the first King of Carter among these mountains in the year 236 of the Golden Age, the Royal Capital had never been moved.
Except for the crisis of the Descent of the Demon God forty years ago that affected the entire continent, the Carter Kingdom seemed to have never experienced the "apocalyptic end of the nation" described in the Hero's testament.
What was even stranger was that not a single recorded Hero had ever been born in the entire history of the Carter Kingdom.
Could it be... that the era of the queen and the Hero is even older than the Golden Age, belonging to the Primeval Era? Lin Gui fell into thought.
That would be the distant past from over five thousand years ago.
It would be a full four thousand years before the period when the Carter Kingdom was established.
With such a massive time gap, a civilization could have practically been extinguished.
Just as he closed the heavy history book in his hand, intending to look for other miscellanies or local gazetteers that might record hidden histories, a familiar, deliberately lowered female voice came from beside him.
"It is futile for you to search for news of a queen's existence here."
Lin Gui shifted his gaze.
He saw a dressed-up Elvia already standing nearby at some point.
She wore a magnificently tailored princess dress.
Her golden hair was meticulously braided and adorned with simple yet elegant jewelry.
Under the soft light of the library, her entire being appeared radiant and incomparably beautiful.
However, Lin Gui's gaze did not linger on her for long.
He looked past her toward the entrance of the library and said in a flat tone, "So you've run into trouble and need a place to hide?"
A sweet and innocent smile bloomed on Elvia's face.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I just heard from the servants that they saw you coming to the library, so I specifically came to see my companion."
As she spoke, she moved closer to Lin Gui without making a sound.
She naturally took his arm, looking just like an intimate couple.
Before she could even breathe a sigh of relief in secret, Lin Gui's cold words directly pierced through her disguise.
"Solve your own troubles yourself. I'll be ditching you in a moment; please believe I have the ability to do so."
The smile on Elvia's face instantly froze.
She lowered her voice, sounding somewhat exasperated. "Hey! Can't you be a little less heartless? I'm your companion, after all! I'm your loyal servant!"
Lin Gui let out a low chuckle and started counting on his fingers.
"First, we have already reached the Royal Capital, and I no longer need you to guide me on any so-called 'Golden Route.'"
"Second, I am already at the Mid-tier High Rank; my rank will soon catch up to yours."
"Furthermore, on the way to Shield City, I have a team member much stronger than you to act as the front line."
"Lastly..."
He paused and looked at Elvia.
"You don't even have the most basic 'sense of belonging' as a team member."
"You might involve the team in trouble at any moment for your own interests."
"So, Elvia, tell me."
"Aside from not wanting me to waste the antidote for the Demon's Poisonous Kiss on you, what value do you still have to me?"
Elvia's face turned pale.
Lin Gui smiled and continued.
"Haven't you always wanted me to help you remove the poison from your body?"
"Help me find the Tomb of Catriona, or find the true reason why Roger went to Avalon."
"Regardless of which one you complete, I can immediately remove the poison from your body."
"Additionally, during this time, I will guarantee your safety."
"How about it, Princess Elvia?"
Elvia's eyes flickered.
"Aren't you... aren't you afraid that I'll reveal your secrets?"
Lin Gui smiled, but that smile made Elvia feel a chill.
"Go ahead and reveal them."
"If you aren't afraid of being 'remembered' forever after that by a mage who can completely hide and whom even a Legendary expert can't find."
A chill instantly shot up Elvia's spine.
She thought of Lin Gui's mysterious Shroud of the Gloomy Night and his style of never showing mercy to enemies.
She had no doubt that if she truly exposed his information, she would live the rest of her life in invisible fear.
"...Fine! It's a deal!" Elvia nodded with a smile.
"Very well. A pleasure doing business with you," Lin Gui nodded.
Elvia immediately struck while the iron was hot and said, "Then, as the first step of our cooperation, you come with me to the marriage registry."
Lin Gui: "???"
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