From Secret Clan to the Divine Dynasty

Carol is a Vallere citizen.

Vallere is the westernmost country among the Eastern Four Kingdoms. The root of their national tragedy lies in their geographical adjacency to the massive and powerful Lorne Empire, which dominated them many years ago.

The ten noble families of the Eastern Four Kingdoms were all losers a hundred years ago, driven to the east by the Lorne citizens from the central continent. The Lorne Empire officially rose to prominence a hundred years prior and became undoubtedly the strongest empire in the Claud World within a short century.

In the past few decades, the last beloved King of Vallere mysteriously disappeared, and the remaining members of the Vallere Royal Family also met with enigmatic deaths in succession.

The current King of Vallere is from another family, a complete puppet who obediently follows every command of the Lorne citizens!

Although the Lorne citizens have brought Vallere many new buildings and facilities, enabling rapid development of the whole nation, they have also unabashedly seized the chance to firmly grasp many of Vallere's industries and resources, creating a terrifying monopoly and infiltrating and controlling the upper echelons of Vallere society as their puppet group.

Many insightful people in Vallere were unwilling to be conquered by the Lorne Empire and thus formed a secret force, the "Vallere Restoration Army". Under the leadership of a Monarch powerful expert, they began to assassinate puppet figures remotely controlled by Lorne people everywhere.

A few years ago, Carol was one of the members of the "Vallere Restoration Army".

Her siblings were suddenly captured by a Lorne Monarch powerful expert during an assassination operation, and her colleagues and superiors were all interrogated and killed by the Lorne people without exception.

After Carol narrowly escaped, she had no choice but to flee the country under the cover of night. She intended to escape to the strongest of the northern four countries, Carnia, but instead, she ended up arriving at Cyart in the south by coincidence, dodging the pursuit of the Lorne citizens.

"The Lorne people are indeed too powerful; they will one day unify the entire continent. One might even say that if it weren't for the restraint from the Seven Stars and the Church, the Eastern Four Kingdoms would have completely fallen a long time ago..."

She was very grateful to the Emperor of the Seven Stars Empire. Without the substantial help of the Qi Yao People, the Vallere Restoration Army wouldn't have been able to resist any of the Lorne people's schemes.

Lorne and Seven Stars are archenemies. As long as one can cause unhappiness to the other, they would go to great lengths to do so.

However, no matter how desperately the Vallere Restoration Army struggled, they were ultimately nothing more than an insignificant chess piece in the multi-layered power games of the two great empires.

After several weeks of deep contemplation, Carol's fears had completely taken over her heart, and she had no desire to return to her homeland.

She decided to completely give up the idea of restoring her country and live undercover in Cyart. But to survive, she needed a lot of money, so she began looking for ways to earn it.

Finally, by a stroke of fate, Carol learned of the existence of the Black Tide and subsequently became a member.

She had no idea that her chance arrival in Cyart might have been influenced by some mysterious factors.

Karl found it intriguing when he noted that Carol's past life had been Grandma Narda.

He had previously speculated about the phenomenon of reincarnation of souls in the Claud World, but actually seeing an example still felt quite interesting. Discover more stories at empire

"Moreover, it seems that those marked by me will gradually draw closer to me again..."

"As if there is some mysterious force of attraction..."

He could understand this kind of thing, as the souls that were devout in their past lives would naturally come closer to him after reincarnation.

But this made Karl more and more amused.

"Perhaps this is what mortals often refer to as 'fate'..."

"Because of destiny, their souls will ultimately follow me again."

——

"Is it that dream again?"

In the dimly lit room, Carol slowly opened her eyes, feeling mentally exhausted as she crawled out of bed.

Her head was a bit heavy; she got out of bed to drink a glass of water.

"What on earth is going on?"

Sitting on the bed, Carol pondered deeply. Ever since coming to Nasir, she had always dreamed of a place similar to Nasir.

Yet, the Nasir in her dreams seemed different from the current one.

In that dream, Carol also saw His Excellency Bain and Lord Chris in their younger days, which she found completely absurd deep inside.

"I don't know His Excellency Bain and Lord Chris of the Fischer family at all, so why would I dream about them?

"And at that time, I probably wasn't even born yet, so how could I have been to this place?"

She shook her head, muttering to herself:

"That dream is just too absurd and unbelievable."

At that moment, Carol suddenly heard noises coming from outside the door.

It sounded like someone was calling her name!

Her expression tensed up, and she took a deep breath, fearful that it might be the Lorne pursuers arriving.

Only after a long while did she cautiously open the door to find that a letter had been placed on the floor.

After picking up the letter, she learned that she was soon going to meet a truly influential figure.

"A truly influential figure?"

Carol felt a bit stunned and then noticed the Black Tide's insignia on the envelope, which prompted many thoughts in her mind.

"Isn't the 'Tide Master' already a big shot? Is there someone else behind the secret organization, the Black Tide?"

"What's going on?"

She did not know the truth, but felt a terrifying sense of envelopment and subconsciously started swallowing her saliva.

The next day, Carol once again met the young woman who had brought her into the Black Tide.

"Hello, Madam Carol."

The young woman nodded; she was a member of a minor noble family born in the land of the Four Towns, inherently an ordinary person without extraordinary power, seduced and recruited by Lilian years ago to join the Dawn Church.

"Hello..."

Before Carol could continue speaking, the young woman took her away, and they silently made their way to a ship at Nasir Port.

"Get on the boat; there's a VIP waiting for you."

After hearing the young woman's words, Carol nodded nervously and boarded the ship.

She soon met a big shot!

It was Mr. Theo from the Fischer family, the butler!

Though he was not a noble, his status on the East Coast Province was still revered, with even several viscounts treating Mr. Theo with great respect.

After all, the old man was the butler of that powerful family.

"Hello, Mr. Theo, may I know why you have summoned me?"

Mr. Theo said calmly, "No, the person you are to meet is not me... What kind of VIP would I be?"

Carol's heart skipped a beat; she found it hard to imagine someone bigger than Mr. Theo.

Soon, she heard a voice coming from not too far away.

"You are Carol, right?"

It was a woman's voice; Carol nodded repeatedly, curious about who the other party could be.

"Hmm... His command is never wrong and is the first truth that we absolutely cannot violate, so, Carol, make your choice. After hearing what comes next, you must become one of us."

Carol was stunned, and then listened as the woman revealed many terrifying things!

Originally, Carol, who should have gone through years of observation and three years of trials, was fast-tracked to become a Proselyte within a few months.

She learned about the existence of the great Lord of the Lost.

And then, she became a Proselyte.

The reason Carol was fast-tracked to become a Proselyte in such a short time was simple; the great Lord of the Lost himself had personally issued a divine decree to Lilian.

Since the great Lord of the Lost had issued a divine decree, all those observations and trials, undoubtedly, became unnecessary.

Even if Carol tried to run away, Lilian would activate the entire Dawn Church to capture her and force her to join the Church.

Of course, if Carol harbored any thoughts of betrayal, she would still be exterminated by Karl.

In fact, Karl wanted to conduct an experiment to grant the soul—once Narda, now Carol—access to the God Pantheon stairway on the Path of Divine Sacrifice again.

Indeed, after observing her retaking the path of the divine, he discovered that Carol's grasp of the Power of Consecution came quickly, certainly much faster than in her previous life.

"It seems like every time she wakes up from a dream, the Power of Consecution is somewhat digested, I see..."

Karl quickly realized the reason; the essence of the Power of Consecution was the power of the soul, unlike the power of Bloodline that followed the physical body.

Since their souls remained unchanged, the understanding of that part of the Power of Consecution theoretically wasn't lost after reincarnation.

"It's only after death when the carried Spiritual Power was absorbed by me, and after reincarnation, the feeling of grasping the Power of Consecution is 'forgotten'..."

"So those reincarnations, as long as they recall more of their past through dreams, can grasp the Power of Consecution more quickly."

Through a series of research on Carol, Karl basically figured out the mechanism of reincarnates.

It seemed indeed beneficial to believe in him, and those who were reincarnates had a "special number" that allowed them to catch up quickly after "rebooting."

"Interesting world."

"Can the new life born from the cycle of the soul really be considered the same person as their past life?"

"And how do all these rules operate so precisely?"

He couldn't help but ponder an inconceivable thought.

"In this world full of mysterious existences, is there a 'god of death'?"

What would it taste like?