A Happy Ending with My Nemesis

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 The Man in Black Robes

It's unbearably hot.

Burke reached out and unbuttoned a few more buttons on his uniform, as if he wanted to expose his belly.

The once heavily guarded Royal Palace now has only him standing guard at the gate.

Burke was very unhappy with the transfer order and his work attitude was far from enthusiastic. There were hardly any able-bodied people left in the entire empire; even the bandits were trapped in nutrient tanks, living a life of decadence. They had no interest in raiding palaces.

Burke fanned himself with his uniform hood, trying to take a nap, but the moment he leaned against the metal wall in front of the palace gate, he was jolted awake by the heat, and all his sleepiness vanished instantly.

Damn it, when will it finally rain?

Burke cursed the climate of the capital planet again.

Before, with the intelligent weather layer on, it was fantastic. Now, everything controlled by the mainframe has come to a standstill, leaving only this planet's pitiful atmosphere struggling to hold on.

The sun's rays strike the ground almost without obstruction. If you were to accidentally fall to the ground, you'd probably be like meat on a grill, sizzling and crackling.

Burke pinched the fat on his belly and thought to himself, "Roasted fatty pork belly smells pretty good."

In short, Burke believed that even if there were living people, they wouldn't go out at this time.

Unless he is sick.

Before long, Burke felt like he was going to faint from the sun.

A black dot appeared in his field of vision, slowly approaching.

Burke narrowed his eyes and realized that it was a person walking towards him.

This man seemed to have the ultimate goal of dying from the heat. Not only did he go out in this weather, but he also wore all black clothes, with his hood pulled up tightly. Just looking at him made Burke want to faint for him.

He bet that this crazy guy would collapse from the heat before he could even take ten steps.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The newcomer walked steadily towards Burke.

Burke then realized that his mentally ill brother wasn't wearing black clothes, but rather a black robe.

"You're still alive and kicking??" Burke exclaimed. He suddenly realized the man looked familiar, and then asked, "What are you doing here again?"

The man in black robes wasn't deterred by Burke's death salutation. He raised his head and said, "I want to see Levy."

The voice was cold, as if it had been chilled to the bone, and its clarity was terrifying in this kind of weather.

His hood was pulled down so low that Burke couldn't see the man's features clearly. A normal person wearing that robe probably couldn't even see where they were going, let alone a face.

These robes are a product of a lost civilization in interstellar space. They offer no insulation against heat or cold; their sole function is to block mental attacks. However, they are extremely expensive to produce. These robes have long been obsolete, now only found on the black markets of various planets as a tool to swindle the wealthy.

The man in the black robe wasn't tall; even standing upright, he only reached Burke's chest. Usually, someone that height belonged to either a young boy who hadn't grown up yet or a hunched old man.

But judging from the glimpse of his fair chin peeking out from under his hood, and his walking posture, he was clearly the former.

Burke had seen the man in black once before.

About a week ago, when he was first transferred to guard the gate, this man was already standing far outside the gates of Roy Palace.

Burke remembers that scene very clearly.

The sky was dark, with faint rumbles of thunder in the clouds. The iron pine forest outside Roy Palace, lacking proper maintenance, had fallen its withered needles, carpeting the ground. A young man in a black robe stood amidst the fallen needles and asked him a question.

It just so happened to be an unusually overcast day, so Burke wasn't too surprised by his attire.

Although Burke didn't see his face clearly at the time, there aren't many people wandering around in such antique robes these days, so it must be the same person.

Burke was deeply impressed by him, not only because there were very few living people who could go out at that time, but also because the man in black asked him two questions.

The first question is: "Is Levy awake?"

Burke, who had just been given the important task of guarding the gate, was very impatient and shouted back, "Wake up my ass, I'm sleeping in the nutrient tank!"

Knowing that this suddenly appearing crown prince is named Levy is no simple matter. Although Burke appeared very impatient, he carefully told a little lie during this special period.

In fact, the crown prince had already woken up, but this was not announced to the public.

To Burke's surprise, the black-robed man, whose face was not even shown, did not linger. He nodded and turned to leave.

Before leaving, he looked back one last time.

Burke instinctively felt that the man in black wasn't looking at Roy Palace, but at him.

The man in black robes uttered a single word: "You..."

This was the second sentence. As soon as the subject appeared, the person shut his mouth, said nothing, and quickly disappeared into the dark sky.

Upon seeing this person reappear, still targeting the Crown Prince, Burke immediately became wary.

"Don't wake up so quickly. Most people in the Empire are asleep. Kid, you should go home and cool off too." He chuckled, but his hand was on the energy gun at his waist.

Upon hearing Burke's words, the man in the black robe seemed to look up at him.

He didn't utter a word in rebuttal, nor did he leave as swiftly as before; instead, he raised his hand.

Burke then noticed that the man was hiding a piece of paper under his oversized sleeves.

This was a classically styled paper notice, printed with intricate patterns representing the imperial family, and bearing the elegant cursive script: "To celebrate His Highness the Crown Prince's awakening, the Royal Palace of Roy is inviting now-awakened entertainers to perform..."

The lie was exposed on the spot, but thanks to his thick skin, Burke felt no discomfort.

"You brat, you already know, yet you still ask me? It's no use being awake; our Highness doesn't see outsiders."

The man in black robes remained taciturn, but Burke noticed that when the word "boy" slipped out, the man seemed to glance at him again.

Burke felt something was off. He was about to push harder to drive the person away when he heard footsteps coming from behind him.

The person with gray hair came out of the corridor carrying a tray in both hands.

This is the old steward of the Royal Palace, who, at an average lifespan of two hundred years in the Empire, is already one hundred and sixty years old. According to Imperial law, he should have retired long ago.

That was indeed the case, but the current butler and most of the servants at Roy Palace were all trapped in the virtual world during the mastermind's rebellion. Ironically, it was him, the retired old man who had returned home to tend to his plants, who remained awake.

Some of the servants have now regained consciousness, but all positions at Roy Palace remain vacant, forcing the old butler to return to his post.

"Lieutenant General Burke, it's too hot. I've brought you some tea."

Before the old butler could finish speaking, Burke had already picked up the teapot with one hand. He didn't even use a teacup, but instead gulped down the tea in one go.

Halfway through pouring the tea, Burke put down the teapot, looked at the butler, and said with a complicated expression, "In this weather, you actually brought me hot water?"

The butler, whose court etiquette was ingrained in his very being, was clearly not used to Burke's guzzling manner and could only offer him a polite, fake smile: "I thought you at least knew how to pour water into a glass."

After mocking Burke, the butler noticed the man in black robes also standing in the sunlight and asked, "And this gentleman is?"

Burke leaned to the side and raised his chin: "Look at what he's holding."

Looking at the notice, the butler fell into deep thought.

Hiring performers was certainly not to celebrate the prince's awakening.

During this special period, the simpler the movement of people in the Royal Palace, the better. But His Highness the Crown Prince is causing trouble...

Just yesterday, this prince, having nothing better to do, suddenly laughed and threw out the word "boring".

This was just a very ordinary remark, but when the cabinet officials present heard it, they seemed to realize something and broke out in a cold sweat.

After the official returned, the cabinet apparently discussed it at length, and a notice was posted this morning.

Given the Empire's current state, even if notices were plastered all over the capital planet, probably no one would come. And even if someone did come, they would have to go through layers of vetting.

However, this kind of censorship work is also a waste of resources in today's population-scarce world.

It cannot be put in.

The old butler looked at the boy in the black robe and said gently, "Child, you don't need to perform. Give me this notice, and I'll have someone give you some living resources, enough for you to support yourself for a while."

People are now waking up from the virtual world, only to find that the entire empire has changed drastically, their relatives and friends are gone, and even the most basic necessities are not guaranteed.

Previously, some residents from the surrounding area had come to Roy Palace for help, and the old butler clearly thought that the man in black robes in front of him was the same.

The man in the black robe glanced at the butler, then at Burke.

Instead of handing the paper notice to the housekeeper, he rolled it up and put it away.

Then Burke and the butler heard a sneer coming from beneath the heavy black robes.

The man in black robes laughed, his voice still cold: "You refused his request without even asking for his opinion, and that's not a problem?"

Upon hearing this, and considering the "he" mentioned by the man in the black robe, both Burke and the butler turned pale for a moment.

Burke, looking utterly dedicated to his post and determined not to leave, said, "I'm not available right now. Why don't you go in and ask that guy if he knows this kid?"

The butler smiled at Burke: "Respecting the elderly and caring for the young is a traditional virtue of the empire."

The two looked at each other for a few seconds before deciding to let the man in black robes face the difficult Crown Prince himself.

“Come over and check.” Burke took out an old-fashioned detector and gestured for the man in black to come over.

This thing is extremely difficult to use; it took Burke a while to master its correct usage. But now that the entire Empire has cut off the StarNet, this is the only thing that works.

Burke scanned the man in black robes with the detector.

The black robe the man wore could not block the detection of weapons; the only thing it could block was the measurement of his appearance and mental energy.

Mental ripples, which are similar to fingerprints, need no further mention, but a human face can no longer be used as a representation in this day and age. Burke glanced at the man in the black robe and couldn't help but wonder how ugly he must be to go to such lengths to find a robe like this to cover his face.

"Let's register your identity information again." Burke took out an electronic recorder.

At this moment, the black-robed man, who had been cooperating all along, did not go over, but instead raised his head to look at Burke.

He seemed very uncomfortable with this posture of looking up at people, and his mood was also very bad: "If I wanted to register my information, would I still wear this kind of thing?"

He tugged at his robe, his tone cold and sarcastic, easily making listeners question their own intelligence.

Burke felt a sense of familiarity with the man in black again, but after a moment's thought, he realized he didn't recognize the short man and quickly dismissed the feeling.

Shrugging, Burke said, "It's just a formality. The system is currently down, and there's nobody in the household registration department. Even if you write it down, nobody's in the mood to check."

This time, the man in black did not refuse. He took the recorder and, as was his habit, wrote a short horizontal line, but quickly realized his mistake and erased it, writing a string of numerical code instead.

This string of numbers resembled the identity ID of some remote planets. While Burke was studying the numbers, the old butler had already led the man in black robes inside.

Author's Note:

This story won't feature the couple in every world; it's not a tragic ending for the romance. Instead, each world is like a separate instance, with the romance developing gradually within each instance. It's not a linear storyline; the overall narrative is linear.

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