Divine Kingship

Chapter 564 Fake Ellie and Fake Fake Ellie
Because Rand and Lysa were in cahoots.

Berlan was mistaken for Ellie and was given a day off.

Ryza, in a triumphant manner, went out with Rand, even though today was theoretically Ryza's day anyway.

Berlan sat quietly in his chair.

Think about what happened before.

Actually, taking a day off is a good thing. Berlan made a lot of preparations in advance to figure out how to deal with Lysa.

During this period, Berlan also assisted Rand in many tasks as his wife.

These past few days I've also been accompanying Rand on inspections of production in the territory, which has been quite arduous.

Taking a day off is a good thing. Lysa took Rand away, so she doesn't have to face this troublesome person directly, which is obviously a good thing.

But something just doesn't feel right.
As a queen, as the embodiment of winter, she had never been so frustrated, and now, it seemed she had been tricked out of her husband by a fake.

Although she is also a fake wife, the body she is currently using is real.

Should she really admit defeat like this?
Berlan wasn't a particularly competitive person, and she couldn't make decisions for Ellie on her own, which made her somewhat hesitant about how to proceed.

……

As for Rand, who is now out with Lysa, he has become accustomed to Lysa's strange ideas from time to time.

And he already has a mature solution.

In fact, this is how Rand handled things when he first met Lysa.

He doesn't have a sadistic streak, but he wouldn't mind accompanying a beautiful woman if she invited him.

After all, as a modern person, he has some understanding of many things. Although he has not experienced them, he has seen or heard about them to some extent, so he is quite tolerant.

Therefore, what was a mind-blowing experience for Berlan was merely a slight surprise for Rand.

Although there were awkward moments when Rand was initially with Lysa, he is now quite adept at it.

Just like now.

Isn't this obviously a modern short drama script?
The real heiress and the fake heiress, oh no, now it's the real wife and the fake wife.

If we go back further, we could say it's the story of the real and fake Monkey Kings.

This is nothing, Rand said he could handle it easily.

Lysa linked arms with Rand.

She walks with Ellie's gait, her chest brushing against Rand's arm almost imperceptibly.

However, Rand was not distracted by this.

What he needs to do now is take Lysa to find Ayesha.

There is still an important thing to do, which is to further enhance Ryza's disguise.

If Lysa's disguise is easily seen through, then everyone will think that Rand is up to some kind of trick.

This would damage his reputation as a lord, although Rand wasn't afraid of gaining any evil reputation.

Even if he were an evil lord who demanded that all the girls in his territory give up their virginity, he would still gain the support of his territory and his allies.

However, Rand would never do that. In Rand's view, the lords in his previous life were just using the right of first night to collect taxes in disguise. To actually exercise such a right... Anyway, Rand couldn't bring himself to do it. Most of the villagers in the territories of this era did not bathe, and they were malnourished, resulting in pale and thin faces. Their food contained stones, which caused them to have rotten teeth.

As a result, ordinary villagers... are really hard to look at. No matter how good their potential is, they will never become beauties if they are not nurtured.

But if Lysa's disguise is hard to see through.

So in the eyes of the public, it was just the Rands going out to work, and it didn't affect Rand's reputation.

Lysa also wanted to make her disguise as a fake lady even more perfect.

and so.

The two of them then stood before Ayesha.

Ayesha is the chief alchemist of the Sanctuary and the head of the alchemy workshop.

His hobby is making and selling perfumes.

Ayesha was very good at makeup, and every time Rand met Ayesha, he would see some rather peculiar and beautiful makeup.

At this moment, Ayesha looked at Rand and Lysa in silence.

As a member of the upper echelons of the Holy Domain forces, and also a veteran of the Holy Domain forces, she has a better understanding of the situation of the high-ranking members of the Holy Domain forces than others.

She could vaguely guess that the noble, aloof, and arrogant Lysa had some strange relationship with Grand Duke Rand.

But is it really okay to help Lysa impersonate Ellie now?
Ayesha remained silent, looking at Rand.

Rand nodded and said that this was the way to go, and he would take responsibility for any problems that arose.

Ayesha squinted at Rand, then stopped crossing her arms, and as she loosened her grip, her chest heaved slightly.

Her great figure certainly attracted attention, and Rand, not being a gentleman, glanced at her a couple more times.

Ayesha led Lysa into the house.

After taking out a series of makeup materials, he had Lysa face the mirror.

Then, just as Rand patiently tapped the ground for the 432nd time with his boots, the fully-formed fake Ellie appeared before Rand's eyes.

Now it really looks like it.

Unlike a crude disguise prepared in one night.

After Ayesha's careful dressing-up, Lysa looked even more like the real Lady Ellie in every detail.

Ayesha thoughtfully provided Lysa with a sun hat, which would cover her pointed ears, a characteristic of elves, thus reducing any potential flaws.

Lysa looked at herself in the mirror for a while.

She nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Ayesha: "Well done, I will reward you as the lady of the lord."

Ayesha was somewhat inclined to decline the so-called reward; she hoped even more that Lysa and Rand wouldn't tell anyone that she had dressed Lysa up like that.

It's understandable that the lords and high-ranking officials of the Holy Land want to do some strange things.

But someone like her, a middle-level worker, wasn't really interested in participating in this kind of game.

Rather than becoming part of Rand's lover's game, she would rather go on vacation to Crescent Harbor or develop a new perfume.

Actually, what she's doing now is already somewhat risky. If Lady Ellie holds her accountable, a mere alchemist like her can't afford the consequences...

Although Ayesha knew that she couldn't be punished for such a thing because of her status, and that Mrs. Ellie wouldn't do something so cruel, that didn't stop her from finding excuses for herself not to participate in such strange things.

Rand left Ayesha's workplace with a fully disguised Lysa.

The inspection of the industrial zone is complete; the next step is to inspect agriculture and infrastructure, as well as the crucial aspect of population intake. For RAND, population is the most difficult resource to acquire.

After defeating Grand Prince Vladimir, the Wisteria Kingdom was defeated by the Northern Allied Forces. Although many twists and turns occurred due to the high proportion of gilded population, the remaining forces of the Wisteria Kingdom were generally not able to put up much resistance.

Over the next ten years, Rand will slowly acquire his spoils, namely 20 people, along with the wealth and resources that come with them.

The first batch is about to be delivered, a total of 10,000 people, one-twentieth of the total quota, which is also about one-fifth of the current population of the Rand Territory.

These people traveled by ship from the north to Crescent Moon Harbor, and then landed to serve Rand as part of its population.

As evening fell, Land, who had arrived at Crescent Moon Harbor, saw many large ships docking, and a large number of villagers who originally belonged to the Wisteria Kingdom were being driven off the ships in a daze.

As the sun set, the crests of the waves shimmered with orange-red fragments of light, reflecting off the masts of dozens of moored sailboats. Clumps of white salt crystals sprouted from the crevices of the dock stones, tinged pale pink by the twilight, while the salty sea breeze carried the acrid scent of northern pine resin.

On the nearby rocks, several black-crowned herons were pecking at the silverfish left behind by fishermen, their wings leaving long ripples as they skimmed the water's surface.

The clanging of rusted iron chains against wooden stakes pierced the twilight, the cabin hatch was flung open with a crash, and the villagers of Zifang stumbled onto the gangplank. Most of them were barefoot, their coarse cloth shirts still stained with bits of northern black soil. Women wrapped their crying infants in headscarves, and the old men clutched their family heirloom copper kettles, their knuckles white. Guards from the Land Territory, wielding rattan whips, drove them away from both sides, the cold glint of their silver armor flashing across the villagers' bewildered faces.

Forced migration is certainly not a happy thing. Even though these villagers were taken advantage of by the nobles in the Wisteria Kingdom, they were even less willing to travel across the ocean to this unknown land.

The first thing many villagers did after disembarking was to vomit.

"Left! Form ranks in batches!" the sergeant shouted under the coconut tree, the parchment roll trembling in his hand. Several burly men in shackles were pulled out of the ranks one by one; their forearms were tattooed with the emblem of the Wisteria Kingdom's army, and they were cursing something in a Common Tongue with a mixed northern accent.

"Is there any sign of the plague?" Rand called over a petty officer who was on board the ship.

"No, Lord Rand." The sergeant trembled slightly as he faced Rand's question. Not everyone had the courage to confront Rand, the god of war who had accomplished so many great feats in the North.

Even though Rand's appearance was harmless and his expression was gentle.

“Very good, but those who disembark still need to be quarantined for a period of time for observation. Give me the roster, and my people will make the arrangements,” Rand said to the sergeant.

The sergeant nodded, but did not leave.

"Is there anything else?" It wasn't Rand who spoke, but the thoughtful and gentle "Mrs. Ellie".

Rand covered his face; Lysa's gentle tone made him very uncomfortable.

The sergeant glanced at Rand again. He didn't dare to look up at the great Duchess of Rand, but her gentle words calmed him down a bit.

Rand nodded, letting the sergeant continue.

"We were attacked by the Kingdom of Bolun's fleet on our way here, and we lost some of our people." The officer was trembling with fear as he delivered this bad news.

Rand frowned: "How much was lost?"

“Around a thousand,” the sergeant replied. “That includes those who couldn’t adapt to the sea environment, died from dehydration or illness.”

"I understand, you may leave." Rand added another entry to the list of the Kingdom of Bolen.

As for the possibility that the sergeant was deceiving himself—for example, that the population loss was actually due to mismanagement or something…

Rand wasn't worried about that. The fleet was being looked after by people arranged by the White King "Berland," and any special news would be reported to him.

If we truly deceive ourselves, then many people will become part of the population.

“Let’s go, gentle Lady Ellie,” Rand said to Lysa beside him, no longer watching the villagers disembark.

Lysa seemed to notice something interesting and whispered, "He seems to be a little different."

Rand followed Lysa forward. As the Grand Duke and Duchess approached, the soldiers nervously drove away the villagers, lest the filthy and lowly villagers offend the noble Grand Duke's eyes.

Lysa precisely pulled a dirty, brown-haired girl out of the crowd.

The slightly taller young man standing to the side clenched his fists.

Lysa pinched the little girl's chin, forcing her to look up at her, then chuckled and said, "The royal family of the Wisteria Kingdom, I wonder if they infiltrated here, or if it was arranged by someone?"

After Lysa grabbed her chin, the brown-haired girl's hair gradually turned back to its original purple, a mark of her royal lineage.

Lysa has always had excellent eyesight; her eyes, which seem to be cast in gold, must truly possess many special abilities.

Rand walked up to the purple-haired girl, then looked at the person protecting him... who was probably a knight?

Ordinary adult villagers wouldn't have the same good physique as this young man.

Rand could already imagine a convoluted story.

An eternal vow within the palace.

They escaped the palace at great cost, only to find flames raging in the sky.

Under a dark cloud, they broke through the encirclement of countless enemies, chose a village to hide their identities, but were captured and decided to be sent to the Duchy of the Moon to become part of the population of Rand.

The epic saga is already enough to fill half a novel, and who knows, there might be even more extraordinary stories to come.

Unfortunately, Ryza saw through it at a glance.

Rand narrowed his eyes.

The royal bloodline of the Wisteria Kingdom is worthless, because Rand has no intention of helping the Wisteria Kingdom to restore its kingdom; to do so would be to slap the Northern Union in the face.

Moreover, the White Kingdom has already swallowed 2/5 of the Wisteria Kingdom's land. Is helping the Wisteria Kingdom to restore its kingdom just to make the White Kingdom give it back?

"Should we kill him?" Lysa asked.

"Keep them, they're still two people, they can at least do some work," Rand said somewhat cheerfully.

Being with Ryza always brings some interesting things, although often these interesting things come from Ryza herself.

Lysa glanced at Rand rather casually.

Lysa remembered Rand telling many stories about letting enemies go, and then the enemies growing into powerful warriors who would then take their revenge.

Rand often emphasized the need to exterminate enemies.

Now, what they say and what they do are different.

Rand, of course, noticed the look Lysa was deliberately giving him.

He said helplessly, "I could do that before, but now... I have too many enemies, I can't kill them all."

There are already a great many people in this world who have a grudge against Rand.

Rand simply didn't have the energy to kill them all.

Furthermore, if someone could truly grow up like the protagonist of the story and deliver a fatal blow to Rand, then according to the inertia of the story, Rand's pursuit and attempts to exterminate him would be ineffective.

"The war with the Kingdom of Bolen is about to begin. We've almost finished dealing with things here, so let's go back," Rand said, making some arrangements.

Lysa didn't pay much attention, took out a handkerchief to wipe her hands, and then returned to Rand's side.

In the summer of the year 338 of the Holy Calendar, the direct population of Rand's territory officially reached 6.

(End of this chapter)