Ch 181: The Tower Of My Childhood Remains The Same, But I’ve Grown Up

“…Again…we meet again.”

Heine scratched her head, kneeling before Bal like a child caught in mischief.

“How much of what we just said did you hear?”

Bal’s eyes turned icy; he would not permit his family to be threatened. Seeing Bal’s icy gaze, Heine frantically waved her hands.

“Don’t kill me, I…I didn’t hear anything.”

Phia walked to Bal’s side and patted his shoulder.

“Buck, don’t be hard on her. She doesn’t seem like the type to eavesdrop.”

Heine grabbed at this lifeline, frantically nodding and agreeing.

“Miss Phia is right!”

As soon as she said that, a spear and a long sword were immediately placed on Heine’s neck.

“It seems you heard quite a bit you shouldn’t have.”

Phia’s eyes also turned icy. She had only used a little entrapment, but she didn’t expect to catch such a big fish. Now Heine was in despair; she had just escaped from the Royal City, and now she wanted to ask Bal for help, but she inadvertently overheard Phia’s real name and was caught with two weapons at her neck.

“Please believe me! I truly didn’t intend to harm you!”

Heine knelt on the ground, her expression sincere, fearing that Bal and Phia would silence her. Fortunately, Nia saw something, and she walked between Bal and Phia.

“Alright, alright, stop scaring her. With your abilities, you should have known someone snuck in when she entered, right?”

Bal and Phia put away their weapons, exchanged a look, and then laughed. Heine was confused by the change in the two people in front of her, and it took her a while to understand.

“You were teasing me!”

“Haha, you finally figured it out.”

Bal helped Heine up, and after seating her, Phia continued.

“The moment you came in, I sensed you. I originally wanted to catch you directly, but he stopped me.”

Phia pointed at Bal, who smiled, baring his teeth.

“Then we deliberately said some sensitive things to test you. When they directly said my real name, I found that you weren’t very surprised, but when it came to the Royal City, your emotions fluctuated greatly. We figured you wouldn’t harm us, so we decided to tease you—a great reaction.”

Hearing Phia say this, Heine was speechless.

“I’ve truly been defeated by you two.”

After the joke, the group continued their discussion.

“Heine, tell us about your experiences in the Royal City. Judging by your appearance, you must have encountered quite a bit.”

Nia looked at Heine and asked. Heine thought for a moment and posed a question to everyone.

“If…if, let’s say. If you met someone who looked and sounded exactly like you, and had all the same things and abilities, what would you think?”

“I’d probably drink with that person, and then have a competition without caring about winning or losing.”

Bal stroked his chin, starting to imagine. Phia also started to daydream after listening.

“If it were me, I’d fight that person first. If they weren’t threatening, I’d befriend them. If they were threatening, I’d have to call for help and fight them together.”

“I’d discuss alchemy and romance with that person.”

Nia was very honest; her current hobbies were alchemy and Grey.

After hearing everyone’s thoughts, Heine continued.

“Just now, in the Royal City, I encountered this situation. There was a woman who looked and sounded exactly like me, and even possessed the same Sacred Artifact as me. That woman talked about revenge and her Father King, and wanted to embrace me.”

“Tell us more.”

Selena’s Gossip Soul was ignited, and she asked Heine to explain in detail what happened in the Royal City. Heine recalled and then spoke.

After hearing Heine’s experience and combining it with the merman’s statement, Nia began to piece together a series of events.

“In other words, you were swallowed by a Kraken summoned by the woman who looks just like you a long time ago using some unknown method. Then she lurked in the Royal City, waiting for the opportunity. After your Father King died, a Princess Consort usurped the throne. Those princes and princesses are the children of the Princess Consort, and then that woman appeared, poisoned those princes and princesses, and planned to take revenge on the Princess Consort? That’s too complicated. After lurking for so long, couldn’t she have secretly poisoned them and killed them? Why go through all this trouble? I don’t understand.”

After Nia said this, Heine also became suspicious.

“Right, why didn’t she act directly at first?”

Everyone sat together to discuss, but they couldn’t figure it out after thinking for a long time.

“We don’t have enough information now. Even if we rack our brains, we won’t be able to figure it out. Let’s have you stay here for now, and you can squeeze in with Xiaoyue and Xiaoguang. Tomorrow we’ll go and investigate the information. What do you think?”

Bal went to Heine and asked. Heine had no other choice at this point, so she agreed to Bal’s proposal.

But not long after Heine agreed, the shell that served as Bal’s room was knocked on.

“Open up, the guards are conducting a search.”

Hearing that it was guards, Heine became nervous. Bal signaled Heine not to make a sound, and he held his short sword and went to the shell seam.

“Soldier, what are you checking for? We just arrived here.”

“We received a notice that an assassin is hiding here. Open the door quickly so we can check, or we’ll arrest you as accomplices.”

Bal looked at Phia, using his eyes to signal her to hide Heine. Phia used magic to make Heine transparent. Then Bal put away his short sword, used a pearl to open the shell and let the guards into the room.

“Search.”

The guards didn’t say much; they started searching as soon as they entered the room.

“Soldier, are you mistaken? I brought my family here for sightseeing today, and we’ve just checked in; how could there be an assassin?”

As he spoke, Bal discreetly slipped two gold coins into the guard’s hand. The guard took the gold coins, flipped them, and said to Bal.

“You’re wise. Brothers, if there’s nothing suspicious, let’s go. That Princess Heine has been acting strange for days, it’s not worth worrying about.”

After the guards searched and didn’t find Heine, they went to the next room.

“What do you say?”

After Bal closed the shell, Phia went to Bal’s side and asked.

“We can’t stay here. That Heine in the Royal City probably has a way to know the whereabouts of the real Heine. We have to leave.”

“Where should we go? This is the seabed, and we don’t know our way around here. We don’t know where to go.”

Nia stood up and said. At this time, Heine spoke from the side.

“We can teleport back.”

Phia stepped forward.

“That…can you remove my invisibility magic first?”

“Oh right, I almost forgot about you.”

Phia removed Heine’s invisibility magic. After becoming visible, Heine continued.

“If you trust me, I know a good place to hide.”

“Huh? You mean?”

“It’s a secret base from my childhood. When I had something on my mind, I liked to go there, and no one could find me.”

“Let’s try it. Teleporting back and forth is troublesome.”

Selena didn’t seem to want to go back and forth. Phia looked at the Maid Sisters.

“Xiaoguang, Xiaoyue, what about you? You can take Philia back to Orton and wait for us to return.”

Before the Maid Sisters could answer, Philia walked to Phia’s side.

“Mama, Philia wants to stay with Papa and Mama.”

“Madam, we don’t want to leave either. We’ll take responsibility for Philia’s safety; we will protect Philia.”

“Okay then, Heine, you lead the way.”

Heine stood up, and she led everyone out of the inn through the back door. Bal went to the front desk to check out, and then followed the trail left by Phia.

Following Heine, the group left Atlantis and swam to a coral reef and stopped.

“『edola』”

Heine chanted three syllables; the coral reef parted to the left and right, and Heine went inside, gesturing for everyone to follow. After walking for a while, Heine brought everyone to a high tower.

“This is it.”

Bal looked at the tower and felt it was unreliable.

“This tower is so obvious; won’t it be discovered?”

“Haha, don’t worry. There seems to be a barrier here; no one can detect this place from the outside.”

“Indeed, I just tried it outside the coral reef, and I couldn’t detect anything inside. It feels like it’s a different dimension.”

Phia walked to Bal’s side and said this. Hearing Phia say this, Bal was also relieved.

Everyone followed Heine into the tower. The tower seemed small, but after entering, they found it was quite spacious inside. The Maid Sisters followed Philia to a place filled with toys; Nia, Selena, Ken, and Grey lay on a large bed; Bal and Phia went to the kitchen. Everyone rested in the tower for a while and then began to discuss their next plan.

————

“Did they go there? Whatever, as long as they don’t disturb my revenge.”

The woman who looked exactly like Heine sat in her room, looking at the crystal ball with gray and white stripes in front of her and sighing. At this time, someone knocked on her door.

“Princess Heine, the assassin wasn’t found.”

“It’s fine, the assassin didn’t cause any harm anyway.”

“By the way, Queen Hydra wants to see you.”

“I understand, I’ll go over there later.”

After the guard left, the woman stood up. She changed her clothes, took a dagger and hid it in her skirt, and then went out.

“Your Majesty, Heine is here to pay her respects.”

The woman waited at the door of Queen Hydra’s room, and a sound came from inside.

“Come in, Heine.”

After receiving permission to enter, the woman entered the room. Inside, an extremely luxuriously dressed woman sat on a chair. The golden crown on her head showed her identity: the current King of Atlantis, Queen Hydra. Hydra gestured for Heine to sit down, and the woman sat beside Hydra.

“Your Majesty, what is it?”

“I heard you were attacked by an assassin. As your King…as your mother, I always need to show concern for my daughter.”

Hydra’s expression looked very gentle. A trace of disgust flashed across the woman’s face, but it quickly disappeared.

“Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I’m fine. The assassin couldn’t harm me, who has Poseidon’s blessing. Your Majesty should pay attention to your health; you’ll get sick if you work too hard.”

“Hahaha, I understand. Then I’ll go and deal with state affairs first. I can’t sleep soundly until the murderer who poisoned your older brothers and sisters is caught. Alright, I won’t bother you.”

“Yes, your servant takes her leave.”

The woman left Hydra’s room and walked on her way back to her room.

“Damn usurper.”

Hydra sat in her room, clapped her hands, and a masked person knelt before her.

“Keep an eye on Heine.”

“Yes.”