Chapter 814 THE NEW COMMANDER
HANNA was pleasantly surprised when she returned to her mother's room.
She was expecting to find her mother in the same frenzied state that she was in ever since she was turned into a reanimated corpse.
However, it was the opposite.
Her mother was calm and almost asleep.
"What happened, Your Majesty?" Hanna asked the empress carefully. "Is my mother doing well?"
Empress Mona smiled and nodded. "Luckily, purifying has a calming effect on Amber."
"I see," she said, nodding. Then she knitted her eyebrows. "But why did Your Majesty's purifying ability work on Mother? Is it because Your Majesty's purifying ability is different from divine power?"
The empress shook her head. "I don't think that's the case since Ruto said that any kind of purifying power won't work on the reanimated corpses made from Absolute Darkness. However, I have a theory."
"May I know what it is, Your Majesty?"
"I believe the Darkness that was injected into Amber's body wasn't Absolute Darkness," the empress said in a serious tone. "But it may also have something to do with the fact that Amber is alive and not a corpse. Unfortunately, my purifying ability can't completely return Amber back to normal. All I can do for now is help Amber calm down. Hopefully, little by little, she regains her consciousness even in that state."
That was enough for her.
Hence, she didn't understand when the empress turned to her with an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry, Hanna," Empress Mona said. "This is the only thing I can do for your mother at the moment."
"It's more than enough, Your Majesty," Hanna said while smiling genuinely at the empress. "I'm sure Father will also be relieved to see Mother in a calm state. The thing that hurt us the most, aside from the fact that Mother has been turned into a reanimated corpse, was the thought that Mother might be in unbearable pain. Hence, seeing Mother in this state puts me at ease. Father will definitely feel relieved, too."
It was true.
Knowing that her mother's pain was lessened because of Empress Mona's purification was more than enough for Hanna and her father.
Moreover…
"I feel bad towards Your Majesty and Neoma," Hanna said, smiling sadly. "You're already helping my mother this much. But because of my family, Neoma will walk straight into Regina Crowell's trap. I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing, dear? None of us thinks that this is your fault," the empress consoled her. "And don't worry too much about Neoma. Even if she walks straight into a trap, I'm sure she'll come out unscathed."
Of course, she thought the same.
Even so, she was still worried about Neoma.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Hanna said, smiling in relief. "To be honest, I was afraid you'll be upset with my family because of this. I know Your Majesty isn't the type of person to do that. However, my guilt makes me think of negative things."
"Don't," Empress Mona said, holding her hand. "Hanna, your family has always been a family to us."
She was touched by what the empress said.
[I really got lucky with my in-laws.]
"Thank you for saying that, Your Majesty," Hanna said, then she changed the topic. "Your Majesty, can I ask for a favor."
"Of course. What is it?"
"I'm actually making an antidote for Lullaby."
"Oh," the empress said, obviously surprised by what she said. "You got a hold of Lullaby? Isn't it the poisonous plant that can harm the Silver Foxes? The previous emperor used that plant to subdue the Silver Fox Clan."
She nodded to confirm it. "I've made quite the connection to famous merchants selling rare plants. They're the ones who gave me the tip regarding the recent circulation of Lullaby in the market. I'm afraid the crows have already gotten their hands on the Lullaby in order to harm Lewis."
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to worry about that.
After all, everyone knew that Lewis was Neoma's Guardian Knight.
[Hence, it won't be a surprise if the crows target Lewis.]
"I want to make an antidote in case the crows use Lullaby to subdue Lewis," Hanna said. "Can Your Majesty help me with making the antidote?"
"Antidotes for Lullaby have already existed in the past."
"Then can we recreate it, Your Majesty?"
"We can– but there's a crucial ingredient that we need to make the antidote," Empress Moan said worriedly. "We need the tail of a female Silver Fox. But Lewis is the sole survivor of his clan, isn't he?"
"I think Lord Jasper Hawthorne mentioned before that they fought a female Silver Fox," Hanna said, her eyes widening a bit. "The crows have a female Silver Fox."
***
THE HEAVY presence of several gods gathered in the palace forced Trevor to come out of his lair.
He didn't care if the entire palace blew up.
But he had to grab Princess Neoma first and bring her to safety.
"Trevor, nice timing."
Hmm?
Trevor was delighted to see Princess Neoma greet him.
But he was more pleased to see Lewis on his knees while being crushed by the gods' presence. Even the Black Witch was in the same predicament.
Hah.
[Weak children~]
But, to be honest…
Trevor would probably be kneeling like Lewis and Dahlia if he didn't inherit the Ancient Devil's power, but he would rather die than admit it out loud.
[What's important is I'm now strong enough to deal with gods for my Moon Princess~]
"I missed you, Princess Neoma~" Trevor said, then he looked around the gods around them. "I was just gone for a few days and you've already attracted this many clients." He turned to Princess Neoma and smiled. "You're too capable, my Moon Princess~"
"Of course. Who do you think I am?" Princess Neoma scoffed, then she clapped her hands together while addressing the gods around them. "My precious clients, let's move to a different place." The Imperial Princess then turned to Lewis and Dahlia. "Can you stand up and follow us?"
Without a second thought, both Lewis and Dahlia stood up.
It was clear that the two used everything they got just to move.
[Impressive~]
No wonder Princess Neoma looked proud of the two.
And Trevor was proud of his Moon Princess for raising capable people by her side.
Hmm.
[I'll tell Princess Neoma about the problem with the vial from Lord Yule later.]
***
NIKOLAI smirked after seeing Ruto Solfrid finally wearing his uniform as the Commander of the White Lion Knights.
It had always wanted this young man to be the commander of his Order.
But, this time, he had another reason for making Ruto Solfrid take that position.
[Knights that belong to any of the Imperial Orders cannot be a part of the Imperial Family through marriage.]
In short, the law wouldn't permit Ruto to marry Neoma.
Nikolai nodded approvingly, congratulating himself for a job well done. "That uniform looks good on you, Commander Ruto."
Ruto let out a frustrated sigh. "Your Majesty, please don't forget that I'm only holding this position until the war is over."
Of course, he was aware that Ruto only accepted the position of the Commander of the White Lion Knights in order to have power over the royal knights.
Even so, Nikolai could always extend the contract, couldn't he?
[You shall be forever 'Commander Ruto' now, punk. Don't even think about marrying my precious daughter.]
"Just focus on your current task," Nikolai said. "What will be your first order as the new Commander of the White Lion Knights? Since the White Lions are under my direct order, I'm still your boss. You don't need my permission for the trivial things, but I need you to report to me for the important matters."
"Of course, Your Majesty."
"Do you have something else to tell me?"
Right now, only Nikolai and Ruto were in his office.
The young man kept looking at him as if he had something to say, so he asked.
"Your Majesty, do you not resent me?"
"For what?"
"For killing you in the first timeline."
Ah, so that was what the punk was worried about.
"I don't know about the Nikolai of the first timeline, but I definitely do not resent you for the choice you made back then to revive Neoma. In fact, I'm grateful that you did what you had to. At least, the Nikolai of the first timeline had some use to his daughter before his worthless life ended," Nikolai said bluntly. And, yes, he hated his past self for neglecting Neoma. Sacrificing his life to revive Neoma of the first timeline would never be enough to make up for all the shitty decisions he made back then. "Even if you ask me now to give up my life to extend Neoma's lifespan, I'll do it in a heartbeat."
"You can't say that as a newly married man, Your Majesty."
"I know," Nikolai admitted. "But didn't you say you needed Roseheart Blood back then, too? Do you think Mona would let you extract Nero's Roseheart Blood from him again?"
Ruto's eyes widened a bit. "Your Majesty, are you saying that both you and Empress Mona won't hesitate to sacrifice your lives for Neoma?"
[This punk really has the guts to call my daughter by her name in front of my face…]
But he didn't call Ruto out for it since Ruto would address Neoma formally in front of other people anyway.
"Mona and I haven't talked about it yet, but I know we're both ready to sacrifice our lives for our children," Nikolai said in response to Ruto's question earlier. "I know it will be tragic for Neoma and Nero. But I'm pretty sure that Mona and I would want to die together. We won't regret it if it's for our children."
"Then will it be okay to use your lives if I have to in order to extend Neoma's lifespan?"
Wow.
Look at this punk.
The way Ruto's dark purple eyes glowered could only mean he was serious.
Nikolai laughed, amused by Ruto's guts to disrespect him. He– the emperor of the Great Moonasterion Empire. "Gavin was rude to me as well when he was the Commander of the White Lion Knights. You really suit your position, Commander Ruto." He leaned against his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm giving you permission to take my life if you need it to extend Neoma's lifespan. However, don't even think about doing the same to Mona unless she gives you her consent."
Ruto's eyes returned to normal as if he was pleased by his response. "I'll keep that in mind, Your Majesty."
Nikolai didn't want to admit this, but he wasn't blind.
[This punk has fallen in love with Neoma all over again– and he's not even aware of it.]
And Nikolai wished it would stay that way.
***
[TSK.]
Nero clicked his tongue as soon as he saw Ruto wearing the uniform of the commander of the White Lion Knights.
He was glad that the bastard became the commander.
[Because it means he cannot marry Neoma.]
He was still annoyed, though.
[I just hate Ruto because he managed to seduce Neoma.]
"Prince Nero, they're here," Ruto said to him indifferently. "The treasures of the Hazelden Kingdom."
Ah, right.
He remembered why he was in the middle of a cold and snow-covered mountain with Ruto and the Griffiths Family.
They were there to welcome Delwyn and the treasures of Hazelden.
Ruto raised his head and saw at least thirty wyverns in the dark sky.
Frost Wyverns, to be precise.
[Yes, they're made of ice.]
Nero didn't want to say this out loud, but the blue crystal-like wyverns flying in the sky looked beautiful.
[But my ice phoenix is still more beautiful.]
"We need your ice power for our counterattack, Prince Nero," Ruto said formally. "Please lead the Frost Wyverns and follow my plan."
Nero glared at Ruto. "Don't boss me around. I'll do what I want."
"Neoma will have to ride with you on the back of your ice phoenix, Prince Nero."
"…"
Suddenly, Ruto's plan didn't sound so bad.
Ruto smiled at him, which was a creepy sight to see because this bastard had never smiled at him before. "Don't you think it would be exciting to fly with Neoma, Prince Nero? Imagine her hugging you from behind while you control the ice phoenix."
"…"
[This punk… knows my weakness.]
Nero avoided Ruto's gaze. "Fine, I'll cooperate with you."
***
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