736 The Cover Up
"Thank you for what you did…though it ended up creating this mess," Sia said as she handed Varian a coffee cup through her power.
Varian sipped the coffee and responded to her words with a wry smile. "It's my recklessness. But we'll get over this, somehow."
"And how are you so sure? Maybe Mirage Queen won't be distracted by our actions and she'll find out the truth?" Sia asked as she crossed her legs and propped her head on her palm.
Varian gave it a serious thought and shrugged. "We do everything we can and hope it succeeds."
Sia sighed lightly. "After Enigma destroyed Demon Abyss' Holy Altar, the security around those altars has gone up crazily. I'm pretty doubtful anything can be done."
Instead of frowning at the difficulty, Varian asked. "And how strong is this security?"
Sia thought for a moment and answered. "It depends on the situation. If the tensions with humans are high, there'd only be mid and low level 9s. Otherwise, it's high and mid level 9s. Either way, neither I nor Enigma can force our way through."
Varian's eyes flashed as a plan formulated in his mind. But it wasn't time yet. He needed to consider more things to implement it.
He said he'd cause the Mirage Queen to stay in the abyss by threatening the holy altar. But with the security around it, it seemed impossible.
'But if I do it right, it'll buy us a lot of time.'
Sia thought he was feeling pressure and said. "It's not like the plan needs to succeed. The officials of mars are doing their best to cover up."
Saying so, she turned on the news.
Varian sipped the coffee and watched the two news anchors in the hologram.
"The previous woman who claimed to be daughter is an imposter!" The news anchor bellowed as if he found his daughter was not his own.
"Sovereign Kreo is angry. The woman is strictly punished. And the lockdown of mars will go on. It'll only be stricter." The co-anchor crossed her arms and declared with a stoic face.
Varian clicked his tongue.
Since they made a big show that they found Kreo's daughter, they had no choice but to say it was fake.
Not only that, they did what the real Kreo would've done.
They made the lockdowns stricter.
Except for Kreo, not even the President had this power.
So, naturally, everyone would think it's naturally Kreo doing all this.
"Not bad." Varian nodded at their competence.
The whole upper command joined hands. It must've been hard, but they found a good excuse and executed it well.
"Not only that, the reward for finding Sovereign Kreo's daughter has increased tenfold! I repeat, tenfold!" The news anchor announced as he slammed the desk, causing it to break down.
"Dead or Alive." The female anchor added.
Sia raised a brow at the addition. "So, she's a suspect for killing her father."
Varian shrugged. "And they must be trying to capture her and if she doesn't cooperate, they'll kill her. They fear her revealing that she killed Sovereign Kreo. If that happens, then everything is over."
Sia nodded.
Even though Kristine's mental condition wasn't stable, they didn't want even the slightest instability.
Suppose Kristine did say those things and Mirage Queen took it seriously, then what?
So, they'd rather capture or kill her.
"Even though capture is an option, I believe most people would try to kill her," Sia said and shook her head. "Even though Kreo is disgusting, he protected the people. But once he's dead, they're merciless against his daughter."
Varian put down the coffee and stretched his arms. "It's a cold-blooded decision. But a rational one."
Sia sighed at his reaction.
'You're really putting yourself into the role, huh.'
Varian agreed with their decision from an objective standpoint, but personally, he did something else.
'Kristine will never know…'
*** ***
"You can open your eyes." Kristine's eyelashes fluttered and her eyes slowly opened.
Feeling the ache from her back, she frowned and sat on the bed. Clutching her head, she glanced at the gloomy room.
Kristine felt weird.
She shouldn't be in a place like this.
She was grieving the death of her father who performed a dangerous mission to get a cure for her mental condition.
Then…
Then she lost consciousness.
'And where am I?' Kristine's eyes suddenly paused on a woman in black clothes.
She didn't even notice the woman was there!
"Kristine."
"Y-Yes?"
"Look at your face." The woman pointed to the mirror by the side of the mirror.
Kristine leaned to the side and glanced at her reflection…before she froze up at the unfamiliar face.
"M-My face!" She touched her face and shuddered in fear.
She didn't want to lose her face. If she did, her own memories with her father would feel alien to her.
But…
"Huh?" Kristine felt a thin layer on her face. She gently pulled on it and looked into the mirror. It only showed her pinching her own cheek.
"No, you're not imagining things." The woman in black said. "You have a face mask on."
"Face mask?"
"It's a gift from someone who wishes you a happy life…" Rami sighed, as she tried to suppress the complicated emotions in her heart.
She took Kristine away from the castle and planned to escape Mars.
But she was unable to cheat her way out in the spaceports.
Even though the lockdown was lifted after Kreo's daughter was found, the security system was still tight.
So, Rami couldn't enter any spaceship and get Kristine out of mars.
But she also couldn't stay. Sooner or later, Kreo's death would be revealed. Then, they'd be searched for and exposed.
When she was deep in worry, a man in white appeared.
She took the utmost care to stay hidden, yet he knew where she was and who she was!
The man called Dreamer gave her a mask and helped her take Kristine away from Mars.
When she asked him why he was doing this, he said.
"I wish her a happy life."
