The distant Hedan Royal Palace.
Hokele stared sternly at the grinning Achilles. "Achilles, do you know what you’re doing? How can you fool around like this!"
"Your Majesty, calm down, calm down," Achilles said with a smile. "You know my little sister’s temperant better than I do. She looks gentle and easy to talk to, but once she’s made up her mind, it’s impossible to change it. She said this is the last ti she’ll be willful. We can’t keep her locked up forever, and in any case we can’t lock her up."
"How can we not? Hasn’t it always been like this?" Hokele said angrily.
"Little sister said if we push her again, she’ll go to the Monastery and be a Nun for life." Achilles spread his hands and gave a wry smile. "We can’t push her onto a dead end no matter what, and the Church Court wouldn’t agree either. Rather than making things irreparable, it’s better I play the villain this ti."
Hokele fixed his burning gaze on Achilles. He knew Estella would really do it, and if Estella truly entered the Withered Wood Monastery, no one could do anything. The Church Court wouldn’t be able to interfere either, and that would be bad news both for the Kingdom and the Church Court.
Hokele’s expression gradually eased. Achilles seized the mont. "Your Majesty, you also know my little sister’s temperant. Once you let her be capricious this ti, she’ll definitely be obedient when she cos back. She’s not unreasonable."
Hokele nodded slowly. "What I’m worried about is her safety. Though our relationship with Li Long is decent, her situation is special. Once she leaves Hedan, she’ll easily be targeted by other Hidden Power."
"I’ll arrange for a maid to impersonate her. No news will leak. This ti she’s following the George Family’s fleet to Dragon Capital to take over the Zheng Family’s channels. There shouldn’t be too much risk. Besides, Chris and Keli are carefree, and I’ve assigned two people to follow them. She also has the disguise suit for protection, and my little sister is very clever. There won’t be a problem." Achilles said.
"You are to take full responsibility for this. If anything goes wrong, it’s on you!" Hokele said.
"Yes, yes, I’ll shoulder it," Achilles said with a smile. "I’ll go to Mother later."
Hokele’s expression improved slightly. After pondering for a while, he sighed. "Don’t bla for being ruthless. Being King is a responsibility. I’m under a lot of pressure. As for little sister’s marriage partner, we can now rule out looking dostically. What’s most beneficial to the Kingdom is the Crown Prince of the Black teor Empire. Only such a status is worthy of her. She’s still young and doesn’t understand how important a proper match is. It’s just that they haven’t decided the winner over there yet, so we can still watch the situation. After she cos back this ti, she must settle down. The responsibility of persuading her falls on you."
Achilles could only agree with a bitter smile. Walking out of the Royal Palace, Achilles looked at the path leading to his mother’s palace, his mouth full of bitterness. There was still another hurdle to overco. Of course, he still had to deal with Mother sohow.
...
At this mont, out on the vast sea, a large fleet composed of seventy-eight great ships was sailing. The fleet was ford of rchant ships and warships, and the George Family attached exceptional importance to this operation.
This was also a preparation before the expedition to the Shadowy Sea Area. Your Majesty intended to form the most powerful expeditionary fleet in history to head for Moselle, as a demonstration of foreign power upon his accession. With the appearance of the Wish Book, the Shadowy Sea Area was now extrely chaotic, so they needed to appear in their full glory.
This ti they were going to Dragon Capital to purchase a batch of Hex-Tech equipnt to retrofit onto their warships.
On the deck, Celestia was chatting with a handso man in splendid clothes. A snow-white cat was in Celestia’s arms, staring sowhat unwillingly at the man, but it didn’t want to squat on the ground. Chris was freely circling in the sky and had long since flown off sowhere to play.
At this mont Keli wished so much that she could fly. She hated the sea, the constant swaying back and forth.
The whole fleet knew that this young Count Ella was the apple of Miss Celestia’s eye. This voyage was also ant to cultivate their feelings before the two families’ alliance by marriage.
"Ella, I’ve paid such a huge price for you. If I can’t get married in the future, you’ll have to take responsibility," Celestia said with a laugh.
"Thank you," Estella said a bit apologetically. To make her identity reasonable, they had co up with this plan, which allowed her to take part in everything and made it all seem natural.
"See, you’re taking it seriously again. I was just joking. I don’t care what others say. My life is mine to live. As long as I can get out, they can say I’m carrying eight children for all I care." Celestia’s short hair fluttered in the sea breeze as she spread her arms wide. "Freedom, how I adore you. We’re about to arrive at the free Dragon Capital. I want to see whether Simmons has been bragging or not."
Estella gazed at the brave, fiery, reckless Celestia with deep envy. Her courage knew no hesitation; she was very clear about what she wanted.
"This disguise suit of yours is truly lifelike. You can’t feel any difference at all." Celestia stroked Estella’s face. In the sailors’ eyes, this was just a passionate young couple.
"Second Brother gave it to , but I can’t wear it for too long, and if I’m attacked it’s easy to reveal flaws." Estella said. The one from the Monastery had been given to Mr. Gemini. Only after hearing from Second Brother did she learn that if you wore a disguise suit too long, you’d be affected by its settings; both your body and mind would change. Top-grade disguise suits could limit the side effects. Now Estella only wore this one when she went out for air every day. She avoided wearing it when she could. Fortunately, on the deck she lived on, there were only her and Celestia, their maids, Keli, Chris, and Achilles’s two guards at the entrance. Around them were also the George Family’s guards.
"They say Dragon Capital is unlike any other city, completely transford by Luthor. I’ve wanted to see it for a long ti. Freedom of belief—what a terrifying statent. In the past, if anyone dared say that in Hedan, they’d be burned directly." Celestia said.
"Yes, I can’t fathom how Luthor managed it, that the Moon God’s Court actually agreed—but he did." Estella said.
Because of the Celestial Principle School, they had spent a lot of ti studying Luthor and Hex-Tech, as well as so completely new ideas. Even though these had been promoted for a long ti, the Hedan people did not allow any sort of freedom of belief. Even immigrants had to act low-key.
"We’ve received word that Dragon Capital is building ironclads—iron ships that can sail on the sea. It’s truly unbelievable. One of our goals this ti is to verify whether this news is true."
"Ironclads?"
"Yes. On the Dao Yuan Eastern Continent, in terms of naval power, our Moncalleta is the strongest. There’s no need to worry too much. Even if Hex-Tech works miracles, I think at most it’ll be like the Hex Airship—slow and leisurely—or it’ll have many other flaws. Still, what we should know, we have to know," Celestia said with a smile. "Mainly I just want to satisfy my curiosity."
Estella didn’t really understand these things. Mainly, her mind wasn’t on this. Her resolute decision to travel this ti was an act of willful courage. Rather than moping in the Royal Palace, it was better to see the world. Perhaps there would be no such opportunity in the future. Fortunately, Second Brother still felt for her.
Mr. Gemini and Mr. Cancer were in Dragon Capital. She wanted to see what their realm looked like.
"Ella, there’s a question that’s been weighing on my heart for a long ti. Are you very close with Li Xin?" Celestia asked.
Estella looked at the sea, a faint smile appearing on her face. "Yes, we’re good friends and comrades-in-arms."
"Oh? Princess and Knight?"
Estella shook her head. "He’s not a Knight. I don’t like the endings of Knights in stories."
" neither." Celestia braced both hands on the ship’s rail.
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