Chapter 243: After 9 years (3)
The husband is henpecked, and the wife is the strongest woman who can’t stand hearing her husband being insulted, so who would dare to badmouth this couple?
Furthermore, if one knew about their hidden power, the Empire would probably have to add modifiers like “fearful” or “suffocating” before their names.
Lucy suddenly remembered that part.
“Is the Intelligence Bureau doing well these days?”
“Well, so-so. Nothing’s different from usual. They’re bored lately because there’s no resistance to speak of.”
“They should be gone by now. Was it a bit tough 4 years ago?”
“It was a bit bothersome. I didn’t have much time to see Aila. I didn’t want to get my hands dirty after giving birth, but what could I do? There were people who needed to be dealt with.”
Levidian answered instead of Lucy and made an unpleasant expression as she recalled the past.
Remnants of the old Empire still existed throughout the continent. These people, referred to as the “Resistance Army” by the new Empire, had carried out various acts of terrorism against the new Imperial government for the restoration of the Anopuri Empire.
In truth, their numbers were small, and with the Imperial bloodline extinguished, they were literally a gathering of defeated soldiers with nothing to rely on, not even legitimacy.
Neither Risel nor the Imperial Intelligence Bureau paid much attention to them, but due to a certain incident, they ended up eradicating the entire force. That was the attempted kidnapping of Princess Sermaila.
The fact that the Emperor and Empress were exceptionally devoted to their daughter was already well-known throughout the continent, so it was only natural that the Resistance Army would target the young three-year-old girl.
However, they just didn’t know that the special agents incorporated into the Imperial Intelligence Bureau were former top-class assassins. And even more so, they were unaware that their leader was the Empress, who devoted herself to supporting her husband in the Imperial Palace.
In the end, Levidian, enraged to the core, led her former assassins from the “Black New Moon” and spent six months crushing the Resistance Army scattered throughout the Empire, down to their smallest cells.
At the time, Risel issued an official statement saying, “The mother, who almost had her child kidnapped, is in great shock and is staying in seclusion at a detached palace.” And the people thought it was understandable.
Since then, there hasn’t been much news about the Resistance Army. So the people of the Empire are quite pleased that it could be this quiet even after a new country was established on the foundations of the old one.
Lucy, too, had to suffer for a few days under Levidian’s pressure back then, trying to locate the Resistance Army. He shrugged and said,
“Well, even a wounded beast avoids a mother with her cubs. The best assassins and the Intelligence Bureau with the best information network on the continent…… No one would believe it even if we told them.”
“Our Intelligence Bureau is a dual structure. It’s top secret, except for the Director of Intelligence, the Prime Minister, and a very select few. The work we do is like that too. External espionage and assassination missions…… It would be a big problem if it was revealed to the outside world.”
Risel made a bitter expression. Every country has internal means that are extremely confidential, in addition to the external means of running the country.
Running a nation isn’t as simple as it seems on the surface. It can only function properly when both the light and dark sides are taken care of. Risel knows this well, and that’s why he acts, even if it means breaking the law.
What comforts him is that the number of assassinations is so small that there’s barely one a year. Espionage is something that other countries do as well, so there’s no particular reason for him to feel guilty.
He doesn’t go out of his way to create an honest country. However, when using dark powers, he exercises restraint to the limit, and if necessary, mobilizes only the minimum required to achieve the maximum effect. This was Risel’s theory of dark politics.
“No matter how you try to rule with benevolence, being the Emperor is a position that requires you to rot in a cesspool. I pity you. Kihihi!”
“Ibi, I’m thinking of making you the first Imperial Court Mage to be killed by the Emperor’s hand. What do you think?”
“Let’s make it the Emperor and Empress.”
Ibi said, pulling out a dagger from her sleeve. It was large enough to easily dismantle a wild boar. Most people are completely unaware that she carries twelve daggers on her body.
Lucy just smiled faintly with a pale face. Then, as if feeling wronged, he exclaimed,
“Ahahaha……! W-well, I’m not wrong!”
“Yes, of course you’re not wrong. Why do you think I ran away from the Emperor’s throne? Everyone knows that the Emperor is the filthiest profession in the world, the one that needs to be in the cesspool. But the laughter that followed could be considered treasonous enough for immediate execution.”
“No, I, I can’t even laugh freely?!”
“Try laughing freely. You are always responsible for the consequences of your actions.”
Levidian slowly approached Lucy with the dagger in hand, and Lucy looked at Risel in a fluster. However, the Emperor of the Empire was making the current Court Mage nervous with his expression of serious contemplation about the next Court Mage.
At that moment, what saved him was a woman who came in carrying Aila, who had run away earlier.
“Excuse me. Oh my? Are you trying to kill my husband?”
“I’d like to, but would you allow me?”
“No, I can’t. If he needs to be killed, I’ll do it myself.”
“H-honey!”
Len, Lucy’s wife, smiled brightly and patted the back of Aila, who was looking at her mother with frightened eyes. Levidian sighed and put the dagger back in its place.
Aila’s eyes widened as she watched the dagger disappear into the sleeve as if by magic.
“Mom, how many are there in total?”
“Don’t worry about that. So, you went to Len?”
“Yes. I met her in the garden.”
“Is that so? Thank you, Len. I was worried because I didn’t know where she went.”
“No problem. By the way, I heard my dear husband said something unnecessary again.”
The woman with long, deep indigo hair glared at her childish husband.
Although she was the largest person in the room, Lucy had to shrink under the gaze of Len, who was the smallest except for Aila.
A lame excuse flowed from his mouth.
“No, well, honey, you know, it was just an old story.”
“Oh, is that so? Then can I also tell you a story about my time with you?”
She put Aila down and crossed her arms, staring intently at Lucy. A slight glint seemed to flash in her deep indigo eyes.
The gaze of Len, the snake, looking at Lucy, the frog. Lucy, in the position of relative weakness, lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Good to know.”
Len smiled triumphantly. To Risel and Levidian, it was a mysterious law of nature no matter how many times they saw it. Seeing someone who could control Lucy meant that the world was trying to maintain a certain level of fairness.
Levidian spread her arms toward Aila, who was tilting her head back and forth, unsure of where to go.
“Aila, come here.”
“No. You have a knife.”
Aila turned her head away primly, and it reminded Levidian of another Aila in her memory. Since she never intended to raise her daughter like that, she spoke again with a different look in her eyes than before.
“Come here.”
“H-hic! Y-yes.”
Seeing his daughter half-frightened as she rushed into his wife’s arms, Risel shook his head in disbelief.
“How can you scare a child like that, your own child?”
Risel shook his head. Aila was nestled in Levidian’s arms like a shivering kitten. When Risel opened his arms, Aila quickly snuggled into them and giggled.
“Hehe. Daddy-!”
“Yes, yes, my lovely daughter.”
Seeing the affectionate father and daughter rubbing their faces together, Levidian pouted.
“That’s why I’m worried about marrying her off later.”
“No! I’m not getting married! I’ll live with Daddy!”
At Aila’s desperate cry, Risel burst into hearty laughter.
Len, who was smiling at Levidian’s even more sulky expression, spoke to her.
“Unni, by the way, a new perfume has been presented as a tribute.”
“Really? What’s it like?”
“It has a refreshing scent that I like. Want to go see it?”
“Shall we?”
Risel, thinking it was going to be another women’s conversation, put Aila down.
“Aila, go play with Mommy and Aunt Len.”
“Yes, Dad!”
Aila went out of the room, holding hands with Len and Levidian amicably. Risel, who was watching the scene warmly, unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and said,
“Whew, they’re gone. So, Lucy. What’s the matter?”
“Ah, right. What you wanted is finished. Will you go see it?”
Originally, Lucy came to find Risel and ended up playing with Aila. Risel, who was on his way back from work, had just enjoyed the everyday pleasure as seen earlier.
After thinking for a moment, Risel nodded.
“Let’s see.”
Lucy could read the complex emotions mixed in his expression, but he didn’t say anything. There’s a kind of friendship where you understand the other person’s feelings but choose not to speak.
Lucy’s private space is located in the basement of the main Imperial Palace. This basement is connected to the 6th floor of the main palace, a place accessible only to the Imperial family and a select few.
When you descend the long spiral staircase and reach the bottom, the first thing you see are two poles with crystal balls hanging from them, which distinguish intruders. Unauthorized individuals cannot pass between them.
Of course, Lucy, the owner, and Risel, Lucy’s friend, passed between them without a problem.
Then a giant iron door appeared. On the surface, it looked like two iron plates standing side by side, but inside, numerous devices formed a locking mechanism sealed with magic.
Lucy stood in front of it, raised his staff, and uttered words of unknown meaning. Then the iron door slowly opened inward.
No matter how many times he saw it, Risel thought the difference between the inside and outside was comparable to the old Orknesia and Grenoian.
It was located in the basement of the Imperial Palace, and the iron door they had just passed through was about 5 meters high. Therefore, this place should also have a 5-meter ceiling, but what Risel saw was a completely different world with a sky that seemed to stretch endlessly.
Various lush green grasses swayed in the wind outside the wooden fence. As if synchronized with the time outside, the sun here was also tilting slightly from its zenith.
Outside the fence to the right, various vegetables, including strawberries, watermelons, tomatoes, and Korean melons that looked as if they were overflowing with sweet juice, as well as cucumbers, cabbages, peppers, and lettuce, were bearing abundant fruit regardless of the season.
Upon closer inspection, numerous seasonal herbs could be seen among the grasses.
On the left was an orchard that looked like a mixture of various fruit trees, with apple, peach, grape, pear, and persimmon trees, as well as palm and banana trees, scattered around.
In front of the multipurpose orchard and vegetable garden, a pasture stretched out, where a herd of sheep could be seen moving in a group, followed by cows and bulls leisurely grazing.
Looking further, a herd of wild horses could be seen galloping vigorously across the slightly barren land. In the mud created by the river winding below the plains where the wild horses were running, a family of wild boars was diligently taking a mud bath.
Chickens, ducks, and geese were leisurely foraging for food by the river, clucking and quacking.
On a hillside, where a scene that could be generously called a rural landscape unfolded, albeit a bit strangely, stood a tower that could be called Lucy’s house.
The stone tower, which was only about 15 meters tall, exuded an antique charm that anyone would say was at least 100 years old, and with ivy and various other vines entangled haphazardly, it looked like a thick tree trunk standing tall at first glance.
“This place is truly amazing, no matter how many times I come here.”
“Heheh. Everyone would be shocked if they knew that the Grand Anti-Magic Barrier surrounding the Imperial Palace actually originates from a place that’s not even part of the palace.”
At the top of the tower, there was a protrusion that could be seen by those with keen eyesight. The protrusion, made of a mixture of crystal, gold, silver, and several other jewels and magic metals, was scattering faint shimmering dust towards the sky.
This was the Court Mage’s laboratory, living space, and at the same time, the core of the Grand Anti-Magic Barrier that blocked any magic directed towards the Imperial Palace.
Risel shrugged and voiced what he had always thought.
“Just the food produced here alone could prevent famine in the Empire. Don’t you have any grains?”
“Look over there.”
Lucy proudly stretched out his hand and pointed to the golden waves rippling to the horizon. A vast expanse of land planted with various grains, including wheat, barley, rice, oats, millet, and corn, stretched endlessly.
Risel nodded at the achievement of the mage who had reached the pinnacle of spatial magic, a mage who would not be out of place being called an Archmage in the future, and who held a position among the Eight Strongest of the continent.
This place was a space created by Lucy, a space that belonged to this world yet did not.
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