Klaus remained perfectly still, watching his mother. The silence that followed her revelation—that the ultimate dream of Reizhor Raikra, the Beast Emperor, was the conquest and unification of the entire Runiya Continent—was heavy, yet predictable.
He was not truly shocked. What monarch, what true emperor, did not dream of conquest? The ambition to transcend mere defense and to forge a singular, unyielding empire was the driving engine of history. The Beast Emperor's goal was not madness; it was the logical extreme of immense power.
"I see," Klaus finally said, his voice flat, revealing nothing of the strategic planning already churning in his mind.
Elisabeth leaned forward, her golden eyes—the same striking eyes Reizhor Raikra possessed—filled with a desperate kind of certainty. "Do not let this news concern you, Klaus. My father will not take part in this coming war. He will not join either side, not the Coalition, and certainly not the Rikxia Empire."
