The royal palace has not yet been completed, and the imperial city is continuously under expansion. That Your Majesty the Emperor does not seem to be in any hurry, nor does he seem to care about where he stays. So when Connor was taken to the Governor’s residence, he was still a bit doubtful about whether he had gone to the wrong place, after all, this place looked less refined than the Lars Family’s residence.
Lind had already received the news and was waiting inside with Lena’s family. As soon as Ruby saw that unfamiliar yet familiar figure, she could no longer contain herself and rushed forward, while Sean and Colin remained more composed. Sean was the first to greet the long-absent family member, saying, “Welcome back.”
Connor’s eyes no longer shone with brightness; he opened his mouth but could not make a sound. It felt as though something scalding was lodged in his throat.
“You’ve grown up; you’ve all grown up.”
Connor hugged Ruby tightly while nodding at Sean and Colin. Sean looked more mature than before, after all, managing the empire’s transportation meant he often had to work in the field, and he had rushed back quickly from the harbor in the Eastern Border after receiving the news, with even a trace of sea breeze on his face.
Connor wanted to say that Sean had a spirited demeanor like he did in his youth, but seeing the hint of fatigue and maturity on Sean’s face made him hold back the words. Connor understood that, aside from his family and Lena, Sean probably bore the greatest pressure after his disappearance, and Sean had always expected Connor to fulfill the role of the heir.
Colin, on the other hand, seemed a bit more irritable. Even in such a scene, he could not fully shake off his displeasure. However, seeing how Colin, who once behaved so aggressively, could now handle things on his own, Connor could only sigh quietly.
This could only be blamed on himself for leaving too early and not educating Colin properly.
“Father…”
Lena, with the maid’s assistance, performed an unrefined greeting towards her father. Lena was indeed pregnant, but Connor could still see that his daughter’s etiquette lessons were as messy as before, and the mistakes she made were just like in the past; one could not tell that she was now a queen.
Connor instinctively nodded silently at Lena, not because he had any objections towards her, but among the siblings, only Lena had changed the least. Aside from changing from a young girl into a married woman, there was not a trace of maturity to be seen.
If Lena were not showing signs of being a married woman and pregnant, Connor might even envision a time when he sighed while teaching her court etiquette.
The small changes did not refer to her appearance, but rather her lack of significant change in temperament; Lena remained, as she always had, naïve and innocent.
However, recalling what the Lady Saintess had said, that Lena once briefly controlled the entire Cape during the Emperor’s absence, Connor knew that his daughter, who had seemingly changed the least, might not be so simple.
Honestly, Connor was more interested in his son-in-law, who had unified two kingdoms.
How did he end up with Lena?
After shifting his gaze from Lena to Lind, Connor instinctively wanted to kneel and pay his respects but was subtly signaled by Lind not to. Quickly understanding, Connor gently stroked Ruby in his arms and spoke to the other children, “I’m back. I’m sorry; I’m back.”
A gentle breeze swept over everyone, as if composing a silent elegy for this long-awaited reunion, the scene was beautiful, reminiscent of a fairy tale ending.
Subsequently, Connor took the children to pay respects to his ancestors, and after that, he had a private conversation with Lind as his son-in-law.
Originally, Lena and a few other children were also present, but Connor wanted to talk privately with his son-in-law, so he asked the children to leave first. Not to mention Ruby, Colin was busy managing the court, and Sean had to go welcome the dragon from the Solun Continent. The children were actually all quite busy, and Connor could no longer have simple conversations with them as a father like before.
Connor had originally wanted to tease Lind about how the Emperor had chosen his unremarkable daughter, as Lind had not given off a very serious impression before and had even seemed somewhat warm.
However, after Lena left, Lind’s entire aura changed subtly; Connor, who had received heir training since childhood, keenly perceived this. The son-in-law in front of him became calm and rational after Lena’s departure, as if he were a decision-making machine. Even during their conversation, his tone unconsciously turned colder, a shift that even the Emperor himself failed to notice.
This reminded Connor of some rumors he had heard on the way regarding this son-in-law; the Emperor was indeed good, but unkind to the great nobles. Connor had even heard from Lars, who came to welcome him, that the Emperor intended to disband the Lars Family. Those from the Lars family hoped Connor could enlighten the Emperor from a father-in-law’s perspective.
The Lars family had always remained fiercely loyal to their family head, the Emperor, and would continue to be loyal to the empire.
Since Lena was now pregnant, it proved that both the Emperor and Empress were in good health, and the Emperor had adhered strictly to the Goddess’s monogamy rules amidst the many noble wives, showing no intentions of remarrying.
This meant that future heirs to the empire would only be chosen from Lena’s children, and those children belonged to the Lars family. There was absolutely no need for the Emperor to disband the Lars family.
Perhaps the son-in-law’s calm presence around his daughter had made those around him from the Lars family forget certain things, but Connor had seen many suspended corpses along the way.
It seemed the Emperor had deposited a shred of warmth and humanity with Lena, and once away from her, he turned into a human machine that allowed the empire to run more smoothly. Even the Emperor himself was unaware of this. Thus, Connor did not say much; he understood that Lena was no longer just his daughter but had become one half of the empire alongside the Emperor.
Lind’s disbandment of families primarily aimed to clean up those who had contributed nothing but exploited kinship to do harm, as well as to warn some of the Lars family who had begun to behave arrogantly. He had no real intention of completely dismantling the Lars family.
Therefore, after understanding this, Connor not only did not oppose it but chose to distance himself, opting not to become the so-called opinion leader of the Lars family. He had long been cultivated as an heir, and to put it harshly, the political instincts of the late Duke Lars might not be as sharp as Connor’s.
For this reason, Connor even quickly married Priima. Although this somewhat purposeful marriage made him feel somewhat sorry for Priima, she had no objections at all. Priima was quite calm, even not feeling like she was dreaming, after all, she had instantly become the empire’s mother-in-law, which Priima thought was too absurd to be a dream.
Though Connor chose to remove himself from political involvement, basic social interactions were still necessary, especially for Priima; the stepmother of the queen could come from humble beginnings, but she could not be merely a peasant. Although Priima claimed she would stay at home and not trouble Connor, he still prepared to teach her some basic social etiquette.
For this, Connor even specifically invited Ruby to guide Priima, as he had realized from before that he could not rely on Lena for etiquette, even though Lena was now an embodiment of it.
“Dad, how many years ago were these things from?”
Seeing her missing father pull out court etiquette that had been passed down for generations, even if it was his thoughtful little cotton-padded jacket, Ruby couldn’t help but comment.
In response to Ruby’s critique, Connor was somewhat mentally prepared; after all, for an empire, there had to be appropriate etiquette. He had even prepared for the subsequent etiquette rituals, because the Emperor would surely base the etiquette on Lena’s model—whatever made Lena comfortable was the way to go. And considering Lena’s etiquette level had been appallingly poor for so long, it could only be described as horrible.
Watching her nervous stepmother, Ruby pulled out a set of practice books from her little backpack and said, “Let’s start with some basic math.”
“?”
