Chapter 151: Duke Talulah (Patreon)

"This humble servant is Koschei."

"From this day forward, I shall relinquish my title as Duke of Ursus. All my power and wealth will pass to my adopted daughter, Talulah Artorius."

The above was the news that shook the entire Ursus Empire in June of Terran year 1088.

Duke Koschei — the man who had swallowed up most of Grand Duke Baikal's inheritance and now stood at the height of his power within the country — had suddenly announced he was passing his title to his stepdaughter, Talulah.

And it wasn't just the succession itself — the new Duchess's surname was also unsettlingly familiar.

For a time, the entire Ursus Empire held its breath, dreading that the undying Black Serpent was about to spring some other earth-shattering news on them.

But if anyone was truly the most bewildered person in all this, it was Talulah herself, right now eating lunch in the OMV Bifang's cafeteria.

"Little Tal, don't you feel like a lot of people are staring at us?"

Alina sat beside Talulah, leaning in to whisper the words in her ear.

"I... I guess that's true?"

It seemed that ever since this morning, wherever she went — whether in Vyshegrad or within Endfield — countless eyes had been following her.

Talulah glanced down at her uniform in confusion. Was something wrong with how she was dressed?

"Little Tal, I don't think it's the clothes."

Alina spoke up to ease her doubts. Talulah's fashion sense was, admittedly, hard to compliment — but that was certainly not why people were looking at her.

Just then, a red-haired figure passed by carrying a tray, glancing at Talulah as she went, her face carrying a look of confusion.

Seeing this, Alina quickly called out:

"Akekuri, mind if I borrow a moment?"

"Oh, of course! What's up, Teacher Alina?"

Akekuri plopped herself down across from them, tray in hand, with easy familiarity — this warmhearted girl rarely turned anyone down.

Alina then told her what they'd noticed, only for Akekuri to give them an equally puzzled look in return.

"Well, isn't it because the papers said you'd gone to Deity Grypherburg to inherit a title? That's why everyone's so surprised to see you here."

"What? A title?!"

Talulah slapped the table and shot to her feet in shock. The commotion drew more than a few glances from nearby tables, and she hastily apologized for the outburst.

Then she sat back down, turning to Akekuri with a dead-serious expression.

"Please. Tell me everything you know, from start to finish."

Akekuri was startled too, but once she realized Talulah genuinely had no idea what was going on, she hurried to forward the post that was practically setting Endfield's internal forum on fire.

[SHOCKING! Her True Identity Is ! A 10,000-Word Breakdown of the Secret Behind Duke Koschei's Abdication!]

...

After seeing that absurdly overblown headline, Talulah and Alina both fell silent — whether from sheer shock or simply having nothing to say, neither could tell.

"Th-thank you, Akekuri."

Talulah thanked her in a daze, all appetite gone. She wolfed down the rest of her food in a few bites and hurried out of the Operators' cafeteria.

She didn't even spare Alina a second glance.

"Teacher Alina, what's gotten into Talulah?"

"Probably just something on her mind."

Alina gave an awkward little laugh. She herself only knew bits and pieces of the story behind Little Tal and that Duke — she genuinely had no idea how to explain it.

Still, with Saito and the Administrator around, it probably wouldn't turn into too big a problem. Yeah... probably not.

[Operator Talulah requests a meeting]

Saito, who was in the middle of a video call with someone, suddenly saw a notification pop up in the corner of his screen.

"Ah, Talulah's asking to see me. Hold on a moment."

He said it casually to the person on the other end of the call, then approved Talulah's request.

The office door opened, and Talulah strode in hurriedly, coming to a stop in front of Saito.

"Talulah, what's going on?"

Saito asked with a knowing smile, already well aware of the answer. Talulah simply set the original news article down in front of him.

"Take a look at this."

Urgent as her feelings were, Talulah still kept her basic composure.

Saito gave it only a brief glance — in truth, aside from Koschei himself, he was probably the first person to have known about this.

"This has to be one of Koschei's schemes."

Talulah delivered the verdict with total certainty. After all this time dealing with that old Black Serpent, she knew him well enough — for that despicable man to suddenly pull a stunt like this, there had to be some unspeakable scheme behind it.

In truth, Talulah had no idea about Endfield's collaboration with Koschei, nor did she know that Koschei had poured no small amount of effort and resources into the Ursus Workers' Syndicate she now led.

The reason Saito and the others hadn't told her was twofold: first, they themselves hadn't yet figured out what Koschei really wanted; second, they hadn't wanted Talulah doing anything rash.

But now, with Talulah having spent so long at Endfield, it was probably time she learned some of the truth.

"Talulah, what I'm about to tell you might overturn some things you've always taken for granted."

"But this is only my side of it. Like you've always done, you're free to go find the real answer with your own eyes."

Something shifted in Talulah's eyes at his words. An inexplicable tension crept into her, as if she'd already guessed at something.

But even braced as she was, when the next words came, Talulah still couldn't hold her reaction in check.

"The truth is, Kashena is Koschei."

!!!

Talulah's shock was plain for anyone to see, but Saito simply went on, laying out everything he knew.

The Black Serpent's origins, Koschei's transformation, the collaboration with Endfield — Saito told her everything about the Black Serpent, exactly as it was.

The sheer weight of it all left Talulah speechless for a long moment.

"Sorry. I... think I need some time to process this."

Talulah pressed a hand to her head, clearly pained — the blow had clearly hit her harder than expected.

"It's all right. You still have time."

The transfer of a Duke's authority obviously wasn't something that could be finished so simply, even with the Snake Scales's help.

"If you've made your decision by next month, Cersi will arrange for someone to take you to Deity Grypherburg."

"Cersi?"

Talulah blurted out the question on reflex — the slightly unfamiliar name left her full of confusion.

"Oh, it's because the Administrator and I might be heading out on a long trip for a while."

"A long trip?"

"Yeah. We're planning to go to Kazdel."