Hearing Emistan's words, Faen was greatly shocked: "You can represent Noxus? Could it be that you are the Pale Lady, the mastermind controlling the shadow government behind Noxus?!"
Hearing Faen's words, a trace of solemnity also appeared in the eyes of Emistan, who was originally still full of solemnity and a political negotiation attitude—Pale Lady? How did he know this title? Could it be that what the Pale Lady asked me to investigate here is related to this guy named Faen?
Just as Emistan was still thinking, Riven on the side said hesitantly: "What Pale Lady shadow government? What exactly are you guys talking about?!"
Riven's question made Emistan wake up suddenly from her initial hesitation. Consequently, a trace of solemnity also appeared in her gaze—it was true that the Pale Lady thought highly of Riven, but in Emistan's view, Riven's swordsmanship and strength might indeed be outstanding, but her abilities in other aspects, especially in strategy and wisdom, were really hard to describe. Especially since the current Riven actually heard about the Pale Lady, she must find a way to skip this topic.
At least, don't continue discussing it in front of Riven—
And just as Emistan was still thinking this, Faen on the side said with a face full of smiles: "It's just an ancient illusion mage who has existed since the establishment of Noxus, and now is still bewitching your Emperor Darkwill to invade everywhere, creating various disasters for no reason."
Watching Faen say such words so easily, Emistan, who was originally still thinking about how to fool her way through, also fell into a brief silence. Even growing up in Noxian noble family conspiracies since childhood, Faen's series of words still made Emistan lose the ability to think briefly.
Because this series of things happened simply too fast, even Emistan couldn't come up with corresponding countermeasures to handle it for a moment.
And just as Emistan was still thinking, Riven's next remarks made Emistan understand everything at once.
Look, hearing Faen's words, after hesitating for a moment, the subsequent Riven also sneered and said: "Do you take me for a fool? Who would believe such ghost stories? Since His Majesty Darkwill ascended to the throne, he has made great efforts to govern well. If not for His Majesty Darkwill, I would have been sold to a noble's castle as a maid servant when I was still on the empire farm. Such a wise emperor should rule the entire Valoran continent. What shadow government Pale Lady, you might as well make up something more decent!"
Looking at Riven's sneering face, Emistan blinked, suddenly realizing her worries seemed completely superfluous.
And Faen on the side wasn't angry either, just rubbing his chin with a face full of interest.
Just as Riven said, the current Darkwill indeed still had quite a good reputation within Noxus.
As the youngest son of the emperor, his chance of becoming emperor was originally slim, but he forcibly became the sole emperor of the empire through various means—during this process, Darkwill's brothers, and even sisters who came to obstruct him, were all ruthlessly executed by Darkwill. Placed in other city-states or regions, Darkwill might be considered a very cruel and ruthless person. Let alone in an ordinary magic-less world; didn't you see the famous Heavenly Khan also suffered criticism for killing his brother and imprisoning his father?
Unfortunately, in a world where supernatural power truly exists, all rules are completely different. Especially since Noxus has been a place of four wars since ancient times; people are taught from birth to recognize any form of power. Even if it's cunning and vicious tricks, as long as you can win, it's a kind of power.
Precisely because of this, Darkwill's bloody ascension was seen by Noxians as a display of power, showing people that Noxus possessed a powerful emperor, making people from other city-states afraid to act rashly.
And after Darkwill ascended to the throne, Darkwill could indeed be considered to be making great efforts to govern well—one of the most obvious points was Noxus as a classical militaristic state with very serious internal problems.
A country combining separatist warlords, uprisings everywhere, years of war, and multiple fronts. After successively experiencing the disastrous defeat in Freljord where even the Hand of Noxus was tragically captured, and the disastrous defeat in Ionia where the Grand General Swain lost an arm—two painful wars where any single one could shake the foundation of the country—it still remained stable and stood tall. This was enough to show what Darkwill had managed Noxus into.
Of course, it was also possible not that Darkwill managed well, but because the warlords of Noxus had long been people of the Black Rose...
But no matter what, it seemed that under the circumstance where the Freljord War and the Ionian War hadn't officially started yet and two disastrous defeats hadn't been met successively, the current Noxus could completely be said to be cooking oil with raging fire, adding flowers to brocade. In the entire Runeterra, no country didn't know the prestige of Noxus, and few city-states could be exempted from Noxus's lewd might...
In general, before experiencing these two disastrous defeats, even if someone knew the truth, they were destined not to be recognized by people. Including Riven too—unless personally experiencing those future stories, otherwise, Riven would forever just be Captain Noxus, and not become the Exile.
Hmm, which is better, no one can say for sure. But Faen didn't have the thought of arguing with Riven either. After hearing Riven's words, he also nodded repeatedly as if deeply agreeing, then gave a thumbs up and said: "Mmhmm, yes yes yes, you are right."
Looking at Faen's appearance, Riven was so angry she felt her teeth itch. One must know, for the current Riven, Darkwill absolutely counted as a great philanthropist. Just the matter of personally granting her the runic giant sword allowed Riven to leap from a legion sword-captain with only small-range influence to become a soldier exemplar within the empire. And her reputation among female soldiers was catching up straight to the physical representative of Noxus, Darius, who possessed the highest honorary title of empire warriors, 'The Hand of Noxus'.
But seeing Faen had no intention of discussing with her, Riven just snorted heavily, then crossed her arms and stopped talking.
And seeing Faen didn't argue, Emistan also sighed in relief—if Faen really argued with Riven, putting aside what Riven thought, anyway Emistan didn't dare to listen. Because those people Emistan knew who inquired about the true identity of the Pale Lady all ended up disappearing silently at the bottom of the Immortal Bastion.