Editor: Areth Kyntaul

The atmosphere at tonight's family dinner was extremely awkward.

'Their relations.h.i.+p has always been bad… no, that's not quite right. Their relations.h.i.+p isn't bad, it is at 'either you die or I die, we're not going to be breathing the same air' level… Ah… well, not that resolute either.'

'Sorry, sorry. Please allow me to rephrase that. Here's a better description; the two, no… The four, which were seated together at dinner, were friendly and close to each other until it comes to a particular topic. At which point they will not hesitate to draw their blades and cut each other.'

I sat at the master-seat. On my left-hand side were Elizabeth and Nier. On my right-hand side were Vyvyan and Lucia.

Food was currently laid out in front of them. However, on one side were human dishes, while on the other, were elven.

When I looked at the food, I felt that the elven dishes looked sumptuous and suited to my palate. Most of the human dishes were simple dishes.

But the food in front of me right now, in other words, the dishes on two sides… were dishes prepared by Lucia and Nier today…

Wait, no. Lucia's wasn't even made by her! I'm absolutely positive Mom made them. I can recognise her dishes with a single glance. Lucia doesn't know how to cook!

Honestly, the two of them really caught me by surprise. I always thought the reverse.

Nier should be the one who can't cook, yet she is surprisingly a good cook. On the other hand, Lucia can't cook at all. I could tell by the way Lucia held a kitchen knife.

While I'm at it let me remind you. Please do not hold a kitchen knife like a sabre. The two of them are very different things.

The atmosphere on both sides was extremely awkward. While both of my moms were cutting their food up with smiles, they were just temporarily not violent.

Lucia and Nier, on the other hand, were very hostile to each other.

Nier gently placed her fork and knife down and then asked, "Your Majesty, how do the dishes I prepared for you taste?"

I nodded and replied, "They're very good."

"It's just that the elven dishes are so poor that it must have downgraded your experience tonight. I apologise for that. I wasn't able to stop that elf, who doesn't know how to cook at all." Nier shot a glare at Lucia.

Lucia angrily placed her fork and knife down. She looked at Nier and rebuffed, "Humanity's dishes are just as poor. You've only got those few dishes. They're so simple that they're a laughing matter. Elven dishes suit His Highness' palate better. Eating such crude and bad food will harm his stomach."

"But these dishes weren't even made by you. I really wonder how you're going to fulfil your duties as a wife when you can't even cook for your husband. Fortunately, I'm His Majesty's favourite wife. Otherwise, His Majesty would starve with you."

"What are you acting so stuck up for? You're just a bodyguard. You can't always be by His Highness' side. Fufu, I saw your laughable uniform today."

"I can cheerfully hug His Highness's arm when I'm with him, but you're just a mere bodyguard. You don't even have the right to get close to His Highness!"

Nier clenched her teeth angrily.

Lucia was right about that.

Nier still wasn't officially my wife, so her public ident.i.ty was still my bodyguard. As such, Nier must maintain formality by my side, as she did in the past.

Lucia's public ident.i.ty, on the other hand, was my soon-to-be elven wife, so she could wrap her arm around mine and cheerfully skip through the streets.

I really want to know how Nier feels when she watches Lucia wrap her arm around mine and walk around all giddily. But it looks like I won't get a chance to know. I'll be sleeping with Lucia tonight because I haven't seen her in a while. At the same time, I'll take it as a chance to take a break.

G.o.d knows how Nier is going to relieve herself tonight. But it has nothing to do with me!

Nier couldn't argue with Lucia's remark. She gritted her teeth and then asked the empress next to her, "Your Majesty, my wedding with His Majesty…"

Mommy Elizabeth sliced a piece of meat and answered with a smile, "There's no need to rush, Nier. Soon. However, I don't know if my son wants to marry you. That will be all on him."

"What?!" Nier was frightened to the point she almost stood up.

I quickly waved my hand and said, "Nier, relax. I never said I wouldn't marry you. It's just that I don't have time to get married right now because of the current circ.u.mstances… you understand, don't you? It seems that the residents here still question the power of royalty. If we get married now, I won't have any energy to deal with the matters here. Don't worry, Nier. I will never abandon you or Lucia. Don't worry."

Nier nodded. Though she was somewhat reluctant to accept it, Nier would now not question my decision.

Vyvyan placed a pie into her mouth and then asked, "Son, do you have any problems with this domain? Is it related to the scene we saw when we arrived today?"

"Uhm." I nodded and then explained the entire problem from beginning to end.

After I had wrapped up my explanation, Mommy Elizabeth raised her cup of wine and pursed her lips into a smile.

"That Freya sure is interesting. I must say, she's no less than Castell in terms of intelligence, and she's younger, too. I think Freya will do well. As long as she is loyal, I won't have to worry about your policies." she said.

"Except, your business is dark as can be." Vyvyan smiled mischievously and then continued, "I must say Elizabeth, it appears that your rule isn't anything good for your people. You established such a large empire, yet your ministers and people don't seem to care about the prosperity of your empire. Are you positive your officials are loyal?"

"Have they got anything to do with me?" Elizabeth waved her hand with annoyance and continued, "Of course, your little nation, that has hardly any inhabitants, has simple folk. Your prestige as a demiG.o.d can rule over that teeny-weeny territory of yours, but my empire is far too vast. I don't have the spare energy to manage everything in my empire. I don't care how the money came to be. I just care if there is enough or not. I can have as many people as I please, isn't that right?"

I frankly don't really agree with that way of evaluating the worth of things. As the saying goes, the slums are an empire's grave. Empires are always destroyed by the sea of people. But the Rosvenor Empire is at its peak right now. The people living on the frontier and suffering can't cause any trouble at the moment.

Further, I believe that the empress's army can easily subdue a rebellion.

However, even Vyvyan has declined to comment. She smiled, raised up her cup of wine and said, "Son, what are you going to do, then? You have only solved some of the problems. However, the fundamental problem still stands. So how do you intend to resolve it?"

"I don't have any plan either. I don't know what to say before I see the land… If it really won't work then, I plan to transform this city. If it can't sustain itself through agriculture, I plan to sustain this city with industrial products and business. There is food from the south and the elven lands as well. I believe that we can import food through business."

"That will work." Elizabeth placed her cup of wine down and continued, "If that's the only option, you can buy food from me, Son. I will get Castell's company to deliver the food to you. You can decide on the price. I don't want interest from you or anything. I can even send you food for free."

"The same goes for us elves. If you need food, just let Mommy know, and Mommy will organise a team to deliver the food to you. However, we elves don't produce food, so we will have to charge you a bit." Vyvyan looked at me with a smile. She then squinted and added, "Of course, if you really need food, I can create a spell to deliver things to you. That way, supplies can be delivered without the expense of any food."

"Those elven tricks are so annoying."

"You humans don't lack so-called tricks, either."

My two moms exchanged glances and smiled. My two moms' relations.h.i.+p in the past was way better than my two wives relations.h.i.+p…

   l