At the negotiating table, there was a void-like silence.
Guilliman's azure pupils, like two frozen oceans, reflected Leticia's calm and ripple-less face.
He asked the question that would determine the fate of the galaxy.
"Do you... wish to save this riddled Empire?"
The question was as heavy as a mountain.
It carried the ten-thousand-year exhaustion of a Primarch and the final Hope of a crumbling civilization.
Calgar held his breath, his burly frame leaning forward slightly with excitement.
Even Angronia, who had been resting with her eyes closed on the other side of the platform, slowly opened them, a hint of scrutiny flashing in her amber pupils.
Everyone's gaze converged on Leticia.
Waiting for her answer.
Leticia's response was as simple as a breeze, yet it stirred a storm powerful enough to subvert the sea of stars.
"No."
She shook her head gently.
"I have no intention of saving the Empire."
Boom—!
This answer was more destructive than any previous explosion.
It detonated a cyclone torpedo directly within the mental worlds of Guilliman and Calgar.
"What did you say?!"
Calgar's roar was like that of an enraged giant bear, and the power fist at his waist let out an overburdened hum.
"You possess such formidable power! You have displayed miracles comparable to a god! Yet you say... you have no intention of saving humanity?!"
His voice was filled with extreme disappointment and rage.
"Then why have you done all this?!"
"For power? To overthrow my father's rule and sit upon the Golden Throne yourself?!"
Robert Guilliman did not roar.
The slight warmth that had just risen on his face due to the prospect of cooperation vanished instantly, turning back into ten-thousand-year-old ice.
The look he gave Leticia was full of disappointment.
A cold disappointment of having seen through yet another careerist.
In ten thousand years, he had seen too many such beings.
They operated under various banners, shouting noble slogans, but in the end, it was all to satisfy their own pathetic, infinitely inflating desires.
He thought she would be different.
"Selfish."
Guilliman's voice was colder than the surrounding vacuum.
"Possessing power enough to change the landscape of the galaxy, yet focusing only on oneself."
"This is an extreme form of selfishness."
"In my view, this selfishness is even more dangerous than Chaos's desire for destruction."
"Because the chaos of Chaos still follows a logic."
"But your power has no goal, no order; it will only become a new, unpredictable source of disaster!"
His words were forceful and resonant.
This was the final judgment of an Imperial ruler, the logical conclusion of a guardian of the galaxy toward anything 'not of our kind'.
The philosophies of both sides, at this moment, produced the most fundamental and violent clash.
However, faced with an accusation that could shake any being to their core,
Leticia smiled.
She didn't even look at the enraged Calgar.
Her gaze swept past Guilliman's cold judgment with utter indifference.
She slowly turned around.
She looked behind her.
At those three distinct yet equally upright figures.
At the pure Battle Intent in Angronia's eyes.
At the proud smile on Fogremia's lips.
At the peaceful holy light beneath Sanguinia's wings.
The coldness and indifference in Leticia's eyes melted away at this moment.
Replacing it was an undisguised tenderness originating from the depths of her soul.
It was the kind of look one only has when gazing upon a treasure they personally created and protected.
She turned back to face Guilliman.
"Regent, you are mistaken."
"My purpose has been incredibly clear from beginning to end."
"And there is only one."
Her voice was calm and clear.
"To protect my family."
Leticia raised her hand, her fair fingertips slicing through the void, pointing gently toward the Sisters behind her.
"For them."
Her hand then pointed to herself.
"And for ourselves."
"To build a home far from the flames of war and intrigue, where we can live in peace."
"To ensure their faces can always wear smiles like the ones they have now."
"So they no longer have to bear curses, no longer be tortured by madness, and no longer have to burn themselves for illusory slogans."
"That is the entire meaning of my existence."
Leticia's voice paused. She looked at Guilliman's face, which had stiffened slightly from shock, and continued.
"As for what you said..."
"The survival of the universe, the rise and fall of the Empire, the future of humanity..."
"That has nothing to do with me."
Nothing to do with me.
Those words were light, yet they felt like four great mountains slamming into Guilliman's heart.
He opened his mouth, but found he couldn't say a single word.
Home?
Family?
What a small,'selfish' wish.
Compared to the grand blueprint of'saving billions of humans' in his chest, it was simply the difference between a firefly and the bright moon.
Yet this small, selfish wish, coming from the mouth of this woman with god-like power, carried a pure strength that he could not refute.
Because her gaze was incredibly sincere.
Because the peace and happiness on the faces of the three 'Sisters' behind her could not be faked by any lie.
Leticia looked at Guilliman, who was in the midst of a massive ideological shock. Her gaze became sharp again, like a scalpel intending to dissect the Imperial Regent's final logical barrier.
"Now, let me tell you my code of conduct, Regent."
"It is very simple."
Her voice, word by word, was like the striking of cold steel.
"If this crumbling Empire you protect stands in the way of me building my home,"
"I will destroy it without hesitation."
"I will use all my power to grind it into cosmic dust."
Calgar's breath hitched suddenly.
"However..."
Leticia changed her tone, and a hint of a player's cold calculation flashed in her pitch-black eyes.
"If this decaying Empire can serve as a shield for my home,"
"If it can draw fire from Chaos, from xenos, and from those unknown horrors for me,"
"And allow me and my family to gain precious time to grow and develop..."
"Then."
"I wouldn't mind utilizing it."
Silence.
The negotiating table fell into absolute silence once more.
The coldness, anger, and disappointment on Guilliman's face all froze at this moment.
Replacing them was an even deeper, indescribable shock.
His Primarch brain was working at a frantic pace.
He had imagined countless possibilities.
She might be a Greater Daemon of Chaos disguised as a deity.
She might be a usurper with endless ambition, wanting to take his place.
She might even be an irrational, pure nihilist.
But the one thing he didn't expect,
Was that the opponent was such a pure... realist.
A guardian of home with a clear goal, sharp logic, and terrifying honesty.
These extremely'selfish' yet incredibly honest words acted like a sedative, causing Guilliman's heart, which had been racing due to his subverted perception, to slowly calm down.
He suddenly realized a key point.
Compared to those careerists full of lies whose hearts were filled with desire and madness,
The woman before him...
Her actions were predictable.
Her logic was communicable.
Her goals could be utilized.
She was an opponent who could be placed on the chessboard for games and deals.
Rather than an incomprehensible 'heretic' that could only be eliminated.
This realization allowed Guilliman's nearly crushed nerves to find a long-lost fulcrum to lean on.
He looked at Leticia and at the 'Sisters' behind her, each with different expressions but all radiating a powerful aura.
A brand new, bold, and even 'blasphemous' idea slowly took shape in his mind.
Time seemed to pass for centuries.
Guilliman finally moved.
His massive blue power armor emitted a slight hydraulic sound.
The judgment and hostility in his eyes slowly faded.
Replacing them was the absolute gravity of a strategist.
He realized that perhaps he could never make this woman serve the Empire.
But perhaps... he could make a deal with her.
A deal concerning the survival of two worlds.
Guilliman spoke slowly, his voice no longer as cold as before, but carrying a hint of the raspy pragmatism of a strategist.
"It seems..."
"We have a common enemy—Chaos."
"Perhaps, on the matter of clearing out this trash entrenched in the galaxy..."
His gaze, sharp as a hawk's, locked onto Leticia.
"We can reach some... consensus."
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