Celia stood beside Aurelianne, frozen in place, her mouth agape, not daring to make a sound.

Was this... something she was allowed to hear?

Suddenly, as if remembering something, she hurriedly turned her head to look at the surrounding servants.

Such words must never be leaked!

Fortunately, those servants didn't even look this way, their expressions calm, completely acting as if they hadn't heard anything.

They were primarily pretending to be deaf and mute.

After all, Aurelianne was very kind to these servants, so they naturally wouldn't cause trouble for their mistress.

Celia blinked her eyes, only able to stammer in response:

"Y-Your Highness..."

"This servant... doesn't understand these things..."

Discussing such matters in the palace was already a great disrespect.

Even though Aurelianne was a princess, the emperor's favorite child.

But after all, Emperor Aubrey was still sitting on the throne.

Such outspoken statements were like declaring one's covetousness for the throne.

Even the two princes didn't dare to throw out such dangerous remarks.

In the minds of the vast majority, the throne was passed to males, not females.

From the founding of the empire until now, it had gone through eight emperors.

Every emperor had been male.

How could there be any reason for a princess to act as regent?

Not to mention... becoming an empress.

Unless the princess could become as powerful as the current emperor, or even more powerful than the current emperor.

Able to suppress all dissenting voices and actions with her own strength.

Celia absolutely dared not say more.

Aurelianne squinted her eyes, seeming to become a bit drowsy.

"Is that so..."

Celia beside her also didn't dare to say much, only quietly lowering her head, her body trembling slightly.

But soon, Celia could no longer hear Aurelianne's voice.

She slightly raised her head, secretly glancing at Aurelianne.

The princess was lying peacefully on that transparent, slowly flowing whirlwind, sleeping soundly.

Two faint blushes appeared on her face, and her slightly chubby cheeks looked very cute.

Celia quietly looked at her, her gaze extremely complex.

Setting aside Aurelianne's identity as a princess, Her Highness was just a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl.

She should have had a naive and romantic life.

But now, it seemed as if she was forcing herself to bear some extremely difficult burden.

...

"I won't!"

In the Kravina garden, a stubborn voice suddenly rang out from the flower bushes.

Cocotte was like a stubborn donkey, tilting her head, pursing her lips, sitting firmly on the cloud like a great Buddha statue, immovable no matter what others said.

She looked at the man in front of her very dissatisfied, shouting loudly:

"You said before that as long as I helped you, I wouldn't have to work anymore!"

"This is coercion! I'm going to report you to Aubrey!"

Viktor stood with his hands in his pockets, expressionless, calmly looking at the former lazy councilor in front of him.

"I'll say it again, as an employee of the Kravina family, you have an obligation to work for me."

"Moreover, the person you're following and protecting this time is the emperor's daughter herself."

"Simply put, this time you're not just working for me, but also for the emperor."

The implication was, go ahead and report if you want.

You see whether the emperor thinks his daughter is more important, or your sleep is more important.

Cocotte gritted her teeth, one hand crossing in front of her body, frowning, looking at Viktor like a food-guarding puppy.

"You!"

"You think this will make me agree to you?!"

"I'm telling you, I absolutely refuse!"

But Viktor still spoke calmly.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"If you don't listen, I'll send you back home."

"Wuwuwu, I'll agree to you, okay?"

Today's debate victory and defeat, Cocotte — defeated.

After dealing with this stubborn donkey, Lia slowly walked over from the side and said to Viktor:

"Those demi-humans have all gathered... so, what exactly do you want to do?"

"Take them on a long trip."

Viktor replied indifferently.

Hearing Viktor's brief answer, Lia showed a helpless expression, holding her forehead and sighing:

"Leaving again? How many days do you plan to be gone this time?"

Viktor turned his head to look at Lia, speaking unhurriedly:

"If you miss me, just use this."

Viktor reached out a hand and lightly tapped on Lia's glove.

Lia didn't avoid Viktor's outstretched hand, but her body leaned back slightly as if a bit disgusted.

Her cheeks were like lightly ripe apples, somewhat flushed, as she gently turned her head away.

"How old are you now, would I still miss you?"

"I'm not that sentimental."

Viktor nodded, not continuing to reply to his tsundere sister.

But Lia seemed to think of something, secretly glancing at Viktor, and lightly coughed.

"Ahem, by the way, does Henie know you're leaving?"

"I've seen that her state hasn't been too good lately."

Viktor seemed not worried at all, responding unhurriedly:

"I've already given her advance notice."

Henie's state was within his expectations.

After learning the fact that she wasn't human, Henie naturally needed some time for self-doubt.

When she could fully accept the fact of her identity, she would slowly emerge from the internal consumption of self-doubt.

She would also become stronger than before.

Moreover, Viktor had already returned the overstuffed Leighton to Henie.

This time when he left, he would take Cocotte along.

If anything unexpected happened at home, there was still that guy Leighton to guard against.

A gust of black wind rose hovering in the sky, and Viktor slowly raised his head, looking towards the horizon.

A black crow slowly flew over from the sky.

It circled a few times, steadily landing on Viktor's shoulder.

The crow's mysterious and profound single eye gathered a barely perceptible gleam of light, its beak pressed against Viktor's ear, opening and closing, speaking in a voice that only the two of them could communicate with.

"Everything's ready."

"However, I don't quite understand your motive."

Viktor walked silently towards the outside of the garden with his hands in his pockets.

As he walked, he responded to Vega:

"Demi-humans are easy to control, you should know that."

Vega nodded affirmatively.

The basic element needed to become a believer is sincerity in the heart, completely and truly believing in a deity.

And Vega, as a... crow that only eats and sleeps, and reads erotic books every day.

No one knew its divine name.

Habika's true name was so rare that no country could find its history.

After all, this ancient deity was no pushover.

Even if someone knew, they would definitely not include it in history for people to understand.

Naturally, it would be very difficult for anyone to sincerely believe in Vega.

After all, they didn't even know what kind of god Vega was.

So, Viktor could only find another way.

Therefore...

"Demi-humans became the best choice."

After remembering that the empire still had demi-human slaves, Viktor immediately realized that these creatures, similar to humans but different from humans.

They also possessed wisdom and thoughts, but compared to the various complex relationships of humans, they were simpler.

In the world of demi-humans, they only had 'survival'.

Survival was their only purpose, and for this, they would grasp any hope of staying alive.

This point applied equally to demi-human slaves.

And once a powerful deity appeared.

Just by believing in Him, the demi-humans could live better.

The demi-humans would willingly dedicate their faith.

They had no reason not to make their lives better.

In Vega's eyes, a blue light flashed, symbolizing wisdom.

"No wonder."

"From the moment you saw those demi-human slaves, you had already started formulating such a plan, right?"

Becoming enemies with the Reiser family, and threatening them, threatening this merchant family that dealt most severely in demi-human slaves.

Obtaining a large number of weapons, equipment and funds from them, and then completely bringing the legion composed of demi-humans into the open.

"But will the empire allow it?"

"Whether they allow it or not isn't important, what's important is how the future emperor will think."

Viktor's calm yet indisputable tone sounded faintly.

Vega slightly widened its single eye.

"Subverting the founding political power of a strong country? Interesting."

"Viktor, you're even crazier than I imagined."

So what would Vega do?

"Choosing you was the most correct choice I've ever made."

As the words gradually fell, Vega's gaze also seemed to gain a bit more madness.

Since humans couldn't be relied upon, why not change to another race?

For Vega, it didn't matter who its believers were.

What mattered was that it only needed to have these believers.

"It's time to go."

Viktor's coat behind him swayed slightly in the air, but after just a moment, the coat changed from swaying to frenzied dancing.

"We should go pick up people."

The moment the words fell.

The breeze seemed to transform into a violent beast, its entire body rising from the ground.

Stirring up a strong storm, constantly blowing the dust rolling and rotating on the ground, and spiraling upwards towards the sky.

The sky was gathered with dense dark clouds, as if blocking out the radiance of the sun.

The thick clouds were rolled by the fierce wind into a huge vortex of air, constantly twisting, as if transformed into a giant eye, adding a few hints of eeriness.

Lia and Cocotte stood behind Viktor, feeling the constantly blowing gloomy wind.

The violent air kept playing with their collars, and facing the strong storm, they couldn't help but stare blankly at Viktor's back.

Behind Viktor, there seemed to be an extremely black and ghostly crow shadow, constantly trembling under the sky.

It grew bigger and bigger until it completely stabilized its form, pulling out a sinister smile, looking towards the sky.

Arrogance, contempt, pride...

Those emotions seemed to pour into that wicked smile all at once, filling the stuffy air.

At this moment, the sky over the capital became darker than ever before.