My wife is an immortal black snake.

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"...Of course I know. So what does this have to do with what you call living space...wait a minute?"

"It's just what you thought. The things within your imperial ruins have started to move slowly, and if nothing unexpected happens, it should be a circular expansion centered on the Gallic Empire—I'm not interested in how other countries will change, but at least I have to hold onto Ursus, Kazimir, and Kazdel."

"If I may ask, I understand that you need to protect Ursus, but what do you have to do with Kazimir and Kazdel?"

"You're asking too many questions."

Yes—Ms. Norson knew she was asking too many questions, but asking too many questions was one of her tests.

If Mr. Yang Hao is the type to answer every question asked... then Ms. Norsen is genuinely worried about Margarita's future. Such people often let slip crucial information, leading to the collapse of their careers. But so far, he's doing quite well.

That's a bonus. She nodded, acknowledging her "overstepping," and then took a sip of her drink—Oh?

This is... blood? She examined the chilled blood in her glass, then glanced at the chilled wine on Yang Hao's table opposite her. She raised an eyebrow, her opinion of this polite man rising even higher.

Therefore, this question should no longer be asked. So, what other questions are there?

After considering for a moment and taking another sip of her drink, Ms. Northumberon realized that what she cared about most was indeed the policy being implemented in Ursus...

What kind of ridiculous policies are being implemented in the Duchy of Koschei? Infected people enjoy the same rights as citizens outside the duchy, except they can't leave their own districts freely. Sarkaz people aren't discriminated against and have citizenship rights. And the weirdest thing is—basic education? What the hell? Are you guys just using this as an excuse to gather the kids together and make them pick cotton or work in factories?

Ms. Norson was genuinely curious about these things! So she had to take this opportunity to ask, since she might not have another chance.

"A few final questions—what policies are you implementing in your territory? I find them all rather strange, even to the merchants outside."

"Huh? What exactly are you talking about?"

"It's that thing—it looks like some kind of basic education that brings kids together to work in factories, and there are also infected and Sarkaz clusters."

"Oh, you mean those things?"

Mr. Yang Hao, who had looked utterly bewildered as if wondering "Did I do something wrong?", suddenly realized something. He chuckled several times, suggesting that perhaps the policies in Ursus seemed too progressive to outsiders, and this excessive progress made them appear out of step with the outside world, leading to the problem.

"Simply put, our basic education here is indeed intended to teach children to read and write, so that they can eventually become highly skilled individuals—and the Sarkaz and infected communities are indeed the residential areas we advertised. It's just that there have been too many people coming recently, so we have to consider whether we should expand our facilities."

"Hmm... I can understand you giving benefits to the Sarkaz, but why are you so concerned about the Infected?"

"It's very simple. They are all my people, whether they are infected or not, they are all my people, and I am their father. As their lord, I should take fundamental responsibility for their livelihood."

I can watch a lazy person starve to death because of his own laziness, for it is his own fault. But I should not let my people freeze to death in the snow in winter because of a lack of housing, for I must at least provide them with shelter.

I can accept the inequality in medical conditions between rural and urban areas, but I should not allow remote settlements to be without a single doctor—as a lord, I must at least provide my people with medical care so that they do not face life-or-death situations due to minor illnesses like the common cold.

I can accept that no matter how hard someone tries, they can't improve their limited knowledge and can only be a factory laborer for their entire life. But I must at least give them a chance to try. Perhaps they will indeed remain a grain of sand throughout their lives, but at least I must give them a chance, give their children a possibility of receiving an education and seizing opportunities, even if they might fail for three generations, I want to give them the fourth, fifth, or even tenth generation a chance to succeed—this is also my responsibility as a lord.

There's much more... but generally speaking, I believe that as a government, we shouldn't just collect money—we should take from the people and use it for the people, so that my territory can become stronger.

So, can you understand that?"

"...I can't understand it."

Ms. Northumbers shook her head. She truly couldn't understand it; after all, even the once most powerful Gallo-Pacific Empire had never had such an administrative system...

“I think we’ll have a lot of time to talk about these things so you can understand—but to put it simply, all you need to know is that in my wife’s and my eyes, whether they are infected or healthy, they are all our people.”

Faced with Ms. Norson's lack of understanding, Mr. Yang Hao simply smiled.

He knew his ideas were ahead of their time, but he also knew they were good—it was just that the surrounding countries were so backward that his administrative methods seemed too unusual.

Just do your own thing. That's what he thought. And Yang Hao did indeed have something to consider.

This is a major event—limiting one's emotions to the object of one's attention.

Chapter Ninety-Four

The idea of ​​limiting his emotions was something Yang Hao had considered before. After all, the more time passed, the more he understood that he couldn't possibly spread all his energy across many people or things that were irrelevant to him—so he had to consider confining his emotions to a limited range.

For example, Yang Hao might be willing to worry about the birth, aging, illness, and death of a citizen in his own territory, but he would never have any emotional fluctuations over the life and death of the people in the neighboring Yan Kingdom.

For example, Yang Hao might declare war on Victoria for the death of an Ursus, but he would never consider how the Victoria people decimated the Rembitoids—unless the Rembitoids became his vassals.

Etc., etc.

Yang Hao was considering when he should start limiting his emotions to his own affairs. After all, he was already feeling somewhat...suffocated.

But definitely not now. Right now, I should have a good chat with Margarita's teacher—and then again...

"But then again, Miss Northon, don't you know that our duchy also has a special internment zone for the Gauls?"

"what?"

"Ah, didn't you see those knights in Gallic armor wielding Gallic greatswords on the landship? Those are the Gauls from our territory."

"Uh, we came directly from the elevator, didn't we? We didn't run into the guy you mentioned in the camp either."

"Then you can chat with them when you go down later, right? I think you're both Gauls, so you should have something in common..."

"I'm over six hundred years old, and I don't have anything in common with these young people, so I'll pass."

"...hiss."

"You little brat, while I do have a subjective prejudice against you for being a pervert who preys on babies under 30 who haven't even been weaned yet, isn't the way you're looking at me a bit too biased?"

"No, nothing. I was just remarking that I seem to know quite a lot of older women."

"Oh?"

this--

Another woman of grandmotherly age.

Yang Hao's hand, which was gently stroking the back of the sleeping Margarita in his arms, froze at this moment: after all, thinking about it carefully, he seemed to know a lot of women who looked young but were actually quite old when you looked closely.

Koschke is one of them—a thousand years old, she eats people without spitting out the bones, and sooner or later she will eat me to the bone, leaving nothing but ashes. There's nothing more to say.

Sonia's mom is also—oh, Mom, could you please stop looking at me so dangerously? I swear, I just feel a fortress-like sense of security about your age... if a typical centenarian woman feels as secure as a wooden wall...

And then—I heard that Ms. Therese from the Kazdel region is quite old, being a Sarkaz.

And then what? Hmm...

Miss Elegy?

I wonder how old you are this year...

And then there's Ms. Kal'tsit, she's at least a hundred years old!

Sigh! Although Yang Hao feels very secure about this, he really needs to think carefully about his future...

But forget it now.

Yang Hao patted Margarita's hair. He knew the little bat in his arms was about to wake up.

Is this considered understanding? Anyway, Yang Hao knew that Margarita's breathing would always be erratic for a while before she woke up. At those times, all he had to do was gently stroke her head, and she would wake up after a while.

And indeed, that was the case—under the helpless gaze of Yang Hao and Ms. Norsen, who had reached their first consensus, Margarita, whose eyes were red from crying and nestled in Yang Hao's arms, slowly opened her eyes, then looked up at Yang Hao, who had said "Good morning" to her, and after a long while of staring at each other... she made a faint, mosquito-like sound:

"Um...did I...did I fall asleep?"

Margarita blushed and turned her face away, but she still held Yang Hao tightly, not wanting to be separated at all.

"Just like usual, I just want to sleep when I get home."

"Woo..."

"Alright, alright. There's no bathroom here to help you take a bath... Sigh. Margarita? Speaking of which, where's your pet?"

"Um, Sanae's gotten so big lately..."

......

Ms. Norson sat across from them, watching her apprentice interact with the person she liked. She felt utterly out of place. "Will you do something even more radical if I leave?" she wondered.

She scrutinized Yang Hao and Margarita's every move. She observed the mixture of joy and shyness, along with a hint of regret and reluctance, on Margarita's face. She knew Margarita probably wouldn't just go back to Ursus with that man—but then again, Mr. Yang Hao, why did you hug Margarita so skillfully?

I mean, I can understand that practiced head-patting you did when you were taking care of Margarita. But why do you always try to rub Margarita's non-existent cat ears and then just randomly stroke the air with your hand? No...

Mr. Northumberland's heart skipped a beat—she recalled that Mr. Yang Hao's "Duke of Corsice" seemed to be just a film...

Are you hugging Margarita the way you hug your wife?! Isn't she your wife?!

Ms. Norson glared angrily—at least wait until she's finished rating him, and has a chance to test him out before you two start messing around! You're already getting handsy now, what will happen after you get married?!

Ms. Northumbers felt she should at least remind him of the occasion—but just as she coughed twice, preparing to say something, the hallway door behind her opened.

Everyone in the room looked toward the door that had been opened from the outside by a tiny hand. The owner of that tiny hand slipped in after opening the door and then closed it. Sonia's mother, standing to the side, sighed helplessly and stepped forward to hug the little princess in her arms.

"—Hela, what's wrong now?"

Everyone could hear the gentle guard's voice.

"Sisters Karina and Theresa are too busy! I didn't want to bother them, so I came back first~"

"Is that so? Hmm, then be a good girl, Mr. Yang Hao is entertaining guests."

"Eh~"

The little girl, known as Hela, then noticed that there were quite a few outsiders in the room.

She observed the guests with curiosity, finally casting an even more curious glance at Margarita, who was nestled in Yang Hao's arms and staring at her intently—then she looked up and flashed Yang Hao a radiant smile:

"Dad! Who are they?"

"...what?"

"......Eh?"

The master and apprentice both uttered bewildered sounds, then turned around simultaneously, staring intently at Mr. Yang Hao, who was inexplicably sweating profusely.

Chapter Ninety-Five

"Waaah—Yang Hao? This child is...wow..."

"...Um, I think I can explain. So, Margarita? Um, don't cry..."

Looking at Margarita, who was suddenly in his arms with teary eyes, wanting to cry but unable to, Yang Hao wiped the cold sweat from his brow with his sleeve. He quickly forced a laugh and comforted Margarita, then, under the scrutinizing and angry, or pitiful and tearful, gazes of the two bat ladies, he explained:

"Hela is not human."

"Eh?"

His words stunned the two bat women. Then, they turned around at the same time to look at Hela, who was being held in Sonia's arms and looking at them curiously. With Yang Hao's explanation, they gradually understood what was going on.

"Hela is... a living doll that I... created. So, it's normal that she's my child, isn't it?"

"Doll?"

"Huh... what does this mean...?"

Ms. Northumbria frowned, while Margarita remained teary-eyed and bewildered. Yang Hao, left with no other option, said to them, "If you don't believe me, you can try using the Blood Demon's ability to examine Hela's blood to see her condition."

They did as instructed. The inexperienced Margarita still couldn't figure out why Hela's small body contained only a small amount of "fluid," while Ms. Northum, after studying it for a while with a frown, directly concluded that what flowed in Hela's body was not blood at all—just as Yang Hao had said, she was manufactured.

“Man-made beauty can be seen in so many places… Sigh. Margarita? Calm down—don’t scare yourself, okay?”

"Um..."

.......

With Yang Hao's explanation and Ms. Norsen's guidance and judgment, Margarita has, for the time being, recovered from the shock of Yang Hao having a biological daughter. She jumped down from Yang Hao's arms and tried to approach Hela to get to know her, but after realizing that Hela was looking at her strangely, the shy little bat became timid and hesitant again.

Even Ms. Norsen couldn't bear to watch any longer. She sighed heavily, walked behind her apprentice, and forcefully pushed the panicked girl forward, finally placing Margarita in front of Mother Sonia so that she could talk to Hela, who was being held in Sonia's arms.

......

Margarita was quietly getting to know Hela, who was younger than her but seemed more outgoing for some reason.

On the other side, Yang Hao, who was sweating profusely, was discussing serious business with Ms. Norsen.

"So, you didn't bring us here just to see Margarita, did you? If you ask me, you can always bring your own people over quietly, but there's no need for someone to invite us."

“That’s true, but I really do want to see Margarita…” Yang Hao glanced at Margarita, who seemed a little more relaxed and able to chat normally with Hela—though her mood was starting to get down again as they talked. He shook his head helplessly and said, “But you’re right—I do have something important to say. For the upcoming military operations, I need you to stay as far away from the front lines as possible. On one hand, I don’t want you to get hurt in the upcoming war; on the other hand, I also need your help with the operations within the Grand Knights’ territory.”

"Oh?" Ms. Northum raised an eyebrow, adding another point to the man's score. She then took out her cigar, hesitated for a moment, and then pulled out a second one as well: "How about it?"

"Cigars? I don't smoke. But I'll bring some with me."

"Okay. Then tell me in detail."

Simply put...

Yang Hao explained his next plan to Ms. Norson. He needed Margarita, or more precisely, he needed her prophetic abilities—he needed Margarita to predict some key locations after the war's victory, and then he would try to change them.

For example, the Colombians might release nuclear gas there. For example, the location of the Colombians' next attack might be there—Margarita's prophetic abilities have been proven to be able to be altered, therefore Yang Hao needs her, but doesn't want her to take any risks.