Super Righteous Player
Chapter 82 - 81: Friend, Have You Heard of the Decaying Husband_1?

Chapter 82: Chapter 81: Friend, Have You Heard of the Decaying Husband_1?

"You are mistaken."

Old Alvin took a deep breath and slowly said, "I won’t choose either."

...Really?

Do you fall for that? Trying to show off an unyielding integrity?

Annan was startled for a moment, but then he became excited.

Seeing the strange light flickering in Annan’s eyes, Old Alvin hurriedly explained, "No, don’t get me wrong. Because I... am actually not a person of the Third Prince; I am but a mere nail by his side."

He sighed and looked into Annan’s eyes, saying slowly, word by word, "I’m not quite sure if you’ve put some kind of ’die if you lie’ Curse Binding on me... but I think you should be able to tell that what I’m saying now is all true. We can totally work together because, at least for now, we are not enemies."

While speaking, Old Alvin took a deep breath, his expression turning serious.

He showed an expression that was somewhat familiar to Annan, uttering a sentence that was also somewhat familiar to him:

"—Have you ever heard of the Rotten Husband?"

No, but have you heard of xx?

Annan really wanted to retort, but after some thought, he forced himself to hold it back.

It was quite uncomfortable to do so.

Annan pondered slightly, his face thoughtful, "You are saying..."

—He actually knew nothing.

"You guess right."

Old Alvin took a deep breath, "I am a follower of the Rotten Husband... no, don’t be hasty. Let me finish—though the esteemed grandmother does not have good relations with the Rotten Husband, we have a common goal now.

"Our immortal Rotten Husband is the god of eternal life and childlessness. Unlike the esteemed grandmother, we advocate for the individual’s eternity... If children are an extension of the parents’ life, then why would one need offspring to continue their life if the parents themselves could live forever? Whatever you want to do, whatever regrets you have left unfulfilled, instead of entrusting them to your descendants, why not do them yourself?

"So, you ask me, whether I support the Third Prince or support Winter... of course, I support neither."

Old Alvin spoke slowly, "Because I have always been loyal to His Majesty the King—

"There is no ritual more pleasing to the Rotten Husband than the royal family dying out.

"His Majesty the King has nine children in total, five daughters and four sons. Now there are three left alive... the Eldest Princess, the Third Prince, the Fourth Prince."

Old Viscount chuckled, "And this—naturally is our doing.

"Illness. Curses. Accidents. Our ultimate goal is simple, to cause the royal family to die out.

"In doing so, Henry VIII must beg for help from the Rotten Husband or the grandmother. Whether he desires to sire another son... or seeks to regain his youth and achieve immortality. Not to mention, His Majesty once waged war against the Winter Principality; even if the grandmother is willing to bless His Majesty, considering how old he has become now, can he bear to watch his child grow up again?

"Even if he really chooses that path... we can still kill his children once more. There’s no way to be on guard every single day, is there?

"Moreover, we are not asking him to kill his own children with his own hands. This most troublesome and cruelest step, we have already taken on behalf of His Majesty."

Old Alvin spoke slowly, "When His Majesty realizes the problem, all he needs to do is to make a choice. On one hand, to return to his youth and gain eternal life; on the other hand, to have his dynasty that has been passed down for generations fall into the hands of strangers for no reason..."

Annan understood.

From the very beginning, Henry VIII only had one choice.

—Eternal life.

How many people could resist its temptation?

Even if it meant continuously sacrificing the lives of their offspring?

Even if the King’s face showed disgust, his mouth reluctant, once he truly had to make that choice and actually regained his youth... wouldn’t he be pleased deep down?

And after he grew old again, could he really resist and not perform the ritual?

So, to be on the safe side.

If Henry VIII truly intended to use the ritual of the Rotten Husband, he would certainly first make the church of the Rotten Husband into a legal church within the Kingdom of Noah. This would not be difficult for him—if all his children were dead, the power scattered outside would return to his hands.

It was a blatant scheme. A genuinely blatant scheme.

All that was needed was to wait until Henry VIII grew old, so old that he couldn’t bear children, so old that he was close to dying... and then kill all his children smoothly.

Then Henry VIII would have no other choice.

...I don’t know if it’s an illusion.

Annan always felt that the False Gods of this world... seemed exceptionally enthusiastic?

Whether it was the Skeleton Lord or the Rotting Husband, both were like those salespeople who stop passersby on the street with, "Come, come, come, this is our new product, please have a taste." And then after you really had a taste and found it quite good, you felt embarrassed not to buy and just handed over the money...

——The most expensive things are those that come free.

Annan understood this principle very well.

But obviously... the people of this world seemed not to understand it very well.

"...If there’s blame to be assigned, it’s that mortals will ultimately grow old,"

said old Alvin with a light huff, sighing softly.

He curled up in his seat like a skeleton, appearing exceptionally frail.

"...That’s why you say you don’t side with the third prince, nor with our Winter Principality, huh."

Annan nodded, understanding old Alvin’s stance.

The divine duties of his grandmother involved inheritance, family, offspring, and authority, which clashed completely with the Rotting Husband’s. He could not possibly defect to the Winter Principality. Pretending to comply and then betraying later was worse than just being clear with Annan from the start.

On the other hand, he was just using the third prince. It was indeed the Geraint family that was his enemy... for a simple reason: the Geraint family had already chosen their side, supporting the Eldest Princess—the strongest contender favored by the current king.

What the Rotting Husband needed was to kill all the royal offspring before the king died. Both the third prince and the Eldest Princess were their enemies.

Since old Alvin was a spy planted by the third prince’s side, it meant that as long as he was alive, he would continue to weaken the royal power of the Noah Kingdom.

At least before the king completed the Rotting Husband’s ritual, the more members of the royal family that died, the happier the Winter Kingdom certainly would be.

So, Annan Winter wouldn’t kill him at this time.

At most he would report this back—trying to stop Henry VIII from gaining immortality at the last moment of the ritual. Or he might just stab the man himself... that was both the most cost-effective and the least effortful plan.

Assuming he really was "Annan Winter."

——You never thought the same mistake would be made twice by you.

Annan took a deep breath and showed a gentle smile.

However, he really did obtain some crucial information...

He felt somewhat fortunate that he hadn’t acted to kill old Alvin outright earlier. Otherwise, who knows when he would have learned about the existence of the "Rotting Husband" pulling the strings from behind, and would have mistaken it for a mere normal succession war...

"Very well, you’re honest. That’s commendable."

Annan smiled slightly, stepped back, and tucked the kitchen knife and hammer back into the bag, signaling that he had no hostile intentions.

"Oh, by the way,"

Annan said as if he just thought of it, "Later, have someone... take me to your study. Your letters and documents should be there, right?"

"Do you want to verify them?"

Viscount Barber frowned slightly, but he still nodded candidly: "Yes. That is the sincerity of my cooperation with you... What do you think?"

"Naturally, our cooperation is pleasing. Since you have the Rotting Husband behind you, you’ll have a chance to lift the Curse Binding on yourself once your plans succeed. We can simply terminate our cooperation then."

Annan smiled slightly. "Would you like to send someone to bring my entourage over? You can discuss the details of the cooperation with them—"

He was quite certain that Viscount Barber would agree.

Given Viscount Barber’s character, he was very likely to perceive Annan’s great advantage gained in front of him as the blessing brought by the power of a "Transcendent."

Consequently, he would certainly agree to meet Annan’s "entourage." The purpose was to pry information from them—as they were discussing cooperation, they were bound to show some of their cards. The old Viscount certainly didn’t believe that every one of Annan’s followers could be as clever as he was.

Of course, Annan didn’t believe it either.

But he didn’t need them to discuss cooperation at all...

The condition for the Curse Binding Annan placed on Alvin was triggered when he was "preparing to reveal Annan’s identity to someone else," causing him to forget what he was about to say while suffering from cardiac paralysis.

——But old Alvin surely wouldn’t guess that.

Annan’s subordinates... were those "other people."

They didn’t even know Annan’s true identity!

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