Eternal Thief

However, when Freya told Ronan to disable that barrier in his mind, what came out of Ronan's mouth was entirely out of Ace and Freya's expectations.

He revealed with a depressed tone, "I-I can't break the Imperial Soul Seal on my Knowledge Sea."

"What Imperial Soul Seal?" Freya's squinted her eyes.

"When a member of the Imperial Demon Family is born, they are baptized in the Demon Temple. After that, we got the Deity Baphomet's blessing, and this Imperial Soul Seal was also placed within our minds by the Deity Baphomet.

"As long as someone tried to use soul search on us, they will be attacked by Divine Lightening of Deity Baphomet and turn into ashes. This is the blessing only Imperial Demon Family enjoy!" Ronan told one of the core secrets of the Imperial Demon Family!

Ace was astounded when he heard this unexpected answer, "So, you're saying that Baphomet is real?"

Although everyone knew that demons worshiped Baphomet and had its statues all over the continent, the Imperial Demon Family even used it as an imperial emblemed.

But no one had ever thought that Baphomet was genuine and could even interact with and bestow blessings on imperials.

"Answer him!" Freya also wanted to know since a Deity was involved.

Because in her mind, they were also getting help from a goddess, so it wasn't impossible for someone else to get it. She was even more interested in knowing if the Thief God was more powerful or the Demon Deity, Baphomet!

Ronan pulled a bitter expression as he replied, "I-I don't know if Baphomet is real or not since we were never allowed to enter the Demon Temple again. But according to Empress Mother, Baphomet is real, and it resides in the Demon Temple and blesses our race!"

Ace's heart turned cold when he heard this since it was too big of a shock because if it was true, he might as well just hand himself over to the demons instead of going into the temple to court death!

"Um… system, could there be a real god in this world?" Ace could only ask the system for confirmation because Ronan's reply was quite subtle, and he believed the system more than anything in this world.

"[Mortal Sky Heaven is Godless.]"

It was a simple static reply that made Ace considerably calm down and feel relieved since he didn't know what he would do if some goat face deity were living in the demon continent!

He might've even considered dropping everything and fleeing!

"It seemed the Demon Race had many secrets," Freya commented coldly, but there was fear in her voice because she had been planning her sweet revenge on the demon race for a long time.

But it appeared they were not easy to trifle with, and she now also knew the concept of God wasn't just a myth.

Ace's calm voice rang again, "So, as long as we don't try to search your soul, you could reveal anything?"

Since he got the system's confirmation, he wasn't worried anymore, and he mused it might be some sham place by the demon race to make others apprehensive of them.

Or they won't be NO.2 if they had a deity in their backyard.

"Yes!" Ronan replied in affirmation which made Ace relieved.

Although he couldn't get Ronan's memories, as long as Ronan told him everything, he wasn't worried much, and as an Evil Seed, he was ultimately in Freya's control!

"It seems I'll be here for quite some time." Freya giggled meaningfully since Ronan won't answer Ace's questions sincerely without her.

"Alright, I know you also wanted to know the Imperial Demon Family's secrets. I don't mind; you can have your way. Just collect everything and then tell me. It would be much easier for me as well." Ace agreed since he could easily hear everything in his thief's space, so it didn't matter if Freya was there or not.

Afterward, Ace sent Noa back to the thief's house at her own request because she wanted to enter seclusion and become strong. She felt pressured after watching the latecomers overtake her without even realizing it.

Ace had a vague idea about what Noa was thinking, but he didn't say anything. He knew it would only make her miserable if he said something he shouldn't.

However, Cyrus also joined Freya and Ronan on his own accord, he has never come in contact with anything, and he didn't even see Ace yet.

So, the little guy was quite curious, and Ace let him mingle with Freya and let her teach him their common language, so he doesn't have difficulty communicating the next time.

Freya quickly agreed because she was also curious about Cyrus since it could suppress them all, so she wanted to know how Ace got it and from where.

An hour passed when the dining room was finally opened, and Ronan walked out, giving the two henchmen a startle.

Nevertheless, they quickly greeted him. Albeit they didn't know what Ronan was doing in there for an hour, they didn't dare to distrust him again.

They both were core grade students from Poison Wood and Nightmare Demon Clans, and their names were Nathanael and Byron.

They were following Ronan from their first grade and had already reaped many benefits because of it.

Ronan was also quite cunning and took full advantage of his identity. He always had others sign a soul contract so others couldn't betray him, and that's how the Secret Supreme Alliance was born.

From Ronan, Ace discovered that every member of the Secret Supreme Alliance was loyal to him like a slave. There was a total of 14 members, and all of them were from Core Grade Classes!

But this fact didn't know to others, and those who knew about this alliance only thought of it as an institute alliance established by him, and neither did they dare to mess with him because of his identity.

Ace finally discovered why Archie was selected for the arrogant prince's alliance.

It turned out Ronan had no intention of accepting Archie because he was only subpar in his eyes; heck, he didn't even know who Archie was because he was only interested in core grade students who could become his secret force in the future.

Archie was arranged to enter by the Housemaster Bodach. The latter promised Ronan that as long as he gave Archie some help when he entered the imperial domain, he would support him in the institute.

Ronan's alliance was always fighting with his Fourth Imperial Brother, Cassius's Alliance, in the Soul Assassin House for resources. They always tried to suppress each other, and Cassius was a little stronger.

So, Ronan didn't let this chance slide by and accepted Bodach's offer to help Archie as much as he could in the imperial domain.

But the cunning prince couldn't just let Archie out of his grasp since Bodach asked him personally then. This means Archie was quite important to him. It became even more apparent when Jefferson, who was none other than Clouse, came into the picture.

So, he decided to make Archie his slave here and now so he could use him as a spy and even lure Clouse to his side.

But he was just too hastily, and since this method always worked, he decided to be done with it.

Alas, he encountered Ace instead, and now… he, himself, had become a slave!

Ace was quite stunned when he found Bodach and Clouse involved in this, and he felt even more strange because those two were just helping Archie, not harming him.

If they knew about Ronan's true colors, they might not even think of him to seek.

Ace guessed that they wanted Archie to become one of the core members of the soul assassin house since he had already experienced their 'care,' and now Winter will receive the rest of it.

Winter had also successfully fooled Clouse with Ace's help and was in Archie's student mansion right now.

Now, Ace was free to move on to the next step of his plan: to leave the royal demon institute and enter the Imperial Domain as Ronan!

Nathanael, who had a skinny physique and listless face, asked at this moment, "Your Highness, did it go well?"

Byron, who had a hefty build, looked at Ronan eagerly.

They both knew why Ronan sent Clouse out.

Clouse was once invited by Ronan to join his side but was rejected mercilessly, so those henchmen and Ronan didn't have a good impression of him.

That guy didn't even give them a face just because his status was higher than theirs in the institute.

This naturally made everyone, including Ronan, unhappy, yet they could do nothing since Clouse was too powerful for them and had Bodach's absolute support.

The Imperials were also not allowed to bring their guardians to the institute, or there would be no difference between them and the students. These fifty years were tempering for the imperials so they could rely little on their statuses.

Ronan's cold voice rang, "What do you think?"