Should I raise you too?

“Yes,” Eve agreed, turning and walking out of the bedroom.

When the clock on the bedside table struck 8, Elisa got up, took out a set of light clothes from the "Mirror of Mist," put on the "Thousand Faces," transformed into a short-haired mature woman, climbed out the window, and headed to the archipelago embassy.

After resting for a while inside the embassy, ​​she walked out again and ostentatiously boarded a carriage in front of the gate to head to the palace, a scene that left pedestrians on the street speechless with astonishment.

The old king has always been in poor health and rarely attends to state affairs, yet this time he actually received the envoys from the archipelago!

Even the palace soldiers were astonished and looked somewhat dazed.

Elisa saw their expressions and felt pleased. She thought to herself, "This is all thanks to the male servant."

This public audience was part of the agreement, requiring the king to demonstrate a friendly attitude towards the islands in public.

A court lady pushed open the heavy door, and Elisa saw the king on the throne, and Crown Prince Fred beside him.

The old king had gray hair, but was in excellent spirits with bright eyes, not at all like an elderly person in poor health.

On the contrary, Crown Prince Fred, though not gray-haired, looked tired and gloomy, like a man nearing the end of his life.

When meeting the king, one should at least kneel on one knee; only demigods have the right not to kneel.

Elisa did not kneel, but simply bowed to the old king.

“I need Alysander’s finger bone,” the old king said, looking Elisa up and down in her disguise.

Elisa took out four "finger bones" and placed them on the tray that Fred was holding.

Fred then handed the tray to the old king.

The old king gently stroked his knuckles with his wrinkled hands, smiled, and looked at Fred.

Fred took a scroll from his sleeve and handed it to Elisa. It contained a peace treaty between the kingdom and the archipelago.

"Let's go." The old king waved to Elisa, his eyes fixed on the finger bones.

Elisa, of course, did not want to leave; she still had questions to ask.

"What does Your Majesty intend to do with 'Alysander's finger bone'?" she began.

The old king raised his head, his voice indifferent: "The archipelago need not worry about that."

Elisa chuckled and said what she had prepared: "We just don't want to repeat what happened fifteen years ago."

The old king paused, and Crown Prince Fred also raised his face, both eyes fixed on Elisa.

After a long silence, the old king said, "Don't worry, I'm not that madman, Duke Scarlett."

A madman? You actually called my father a madman!

Elisa suppressed her anger and remained silent, waiting for the old king to continue.

“I have no intention of defying the Four Gods, nor have I secretly cultivated angels, nor do I plan to sacrifice the capital. What are you worried about?” The old king frowned, somewhat displeased.

Defying the Four Gods? Raising angels? Sacrificing the royal capital?

Elisa's heart sank.

Any one of these three offenses is a crime punishable by the extermination of an entire clan.

If this was what Father planned back then, then the Scarlett family itself was a conspiracy, and the forces that annihilated the Duke's mansion were the forces of justice.

She thought again: The old king said this so easily, which means that the higher-ups in the archipelago already knew, and so did the teacher, but they just didn't tell me.

Indeed, to tell a student you raised that your family was plotting an evil scheme and that's why they were wiped out... that's too cruel.

Elisa's mind went blank. In her imagination, revenge should be righteous and decisive, but now... what should she do? Raise the flag of rebellion against the Four Gods? Kill the murderer who protected the capital?

The old king smiled, then suddenly coughed. After the cough subsided, he said self-deprecatingly, "The only reason I was chosen as king is because I am not a schemer."

“Augustus is neither a madman nor a schemer,” Crown Prince Fred suddenly interjected, mentioning Elisa’s father’s name. “Is defying the Four Gods a sin? Is raising angels a sin?”

"What about the commoners who were sacrificed in the capital?" The old king turned to look at his eldest son.

“...That was the necessary price.” Fred’s words were firm.

The old king didn't comment on his eldest son's words, but turned to look at Elisa: "What do you think?"

Elisa never expected to witness the King and Crown Prince arguing. Her first thought was that the father and son were too unrestrained, not even bothering to hide their behavior in front of foreign envoys. Then she realized that they were doing it on purpose.

She suddenly realized: the old king, who had long been out of the political arena, and the crown prince, who had been ruling for a long time, were already deeply at odds. They were making their stance clear and wanted to see which side the archipelago supported.

Elisa wants to support the Crown Prince, so the controversy over sacrificing civilians can be put aside for the time being. Disobeying the four gods and raising angels is not a sin at all. Uncle Fred, who speaks up for his father, has indeed always been his father's best friend!

However, the interests of the archipelago rest on the old king's shoulders, and compared to the radical crown prince, the law-abiding old king is the best choice.

She did not answer in the end, bowed to the two men, and left the palace.

After handing the agreement documents to members of the island embassy, ​​Elisa returned to the estate, her mind in a daze on the way.

What did my father want to do fifteen years ago? What was the family plotting?

She tried hard to recall the past, using "spirituality" to hypnotize herself and dig into the depths of her memories.

All she remembered was that her father was always busy, and before the fire destroyed the Duke's mansion, he was nowhere to be seen for a long time; her mother was taken to the Southern Continent by her maternal grandfather at that time; and her sister, she only had a deep impression of her sister, whose temperament had become gloomy at that time, but who would still hug her gently.

She climbed out the window and back into bed, closed her eyes, and had a dream from her childhood.

……

Simon leaned against the wall, watching Elisa's location tracker return to the manor from the palace, and sighed.

Everything is ready. Once the old king uses the "finger bone" to prolong his life, fate will surge like a tidal wave.

It should take a few more days. Before that, we need to figure out a way to get the new activity funds from the Lighthouse organization and put them in our own pockets.

Elisa's teacher is surprisingly steadfast; I embezzled £25, and the archipelago has not removed Elisa from her position as head!

Since I still have the position, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it again. Perfect timing, I need some start-up capital to go to the Southern Continent.

However, it will be quite difficult to embezzle public funds this time, as other senior executives at Lighthouse are wary of me.

Simon began to think about it seriously.

Chapter 84 Best Sisters! (Thanks to Oscar Wilde, the Warrior of Love, for his support!)

On the third day after the "finger bone" was delivered, Elisa, Mabel, and Eleanor successfully put together a pajama party at Elisa's manor.

After dinner and a bath, the three young ladies, dressed in pajamas that matched their hair color, squeezed onto the bed in the master bedroom, shoulder to shoulder and arm to arm, chattering about their recent experiences. Their three pairs of jewel-like eyes sparkled, and their fair skin shone like porcelain under the kerosene lamp.

At Mabel's suggestion, they started playing the game that Elisa had contributed. They had played it many times this month, but they still couldn't get enough of it.

Elisa picked up a pen and paper and, together with her two companions, determined the rules of the game.

"To guess someone's identity, you can only ask three questions. The first question can be answered very specifically, but the remaining two questions can only be answered yes or no. The yes/no questions cannot be too broad."

Elisa picked up the paper and pen first and wrote with her back to Eleanor, while Mabel blindfolded Eleanor.

After writing it, she tore off the note and stuck it on Eleanor's forehead.

The game begins, and Elisa and Mabel look at Eleanor expectantly.

Eleanor pondered for a moment, then asked her first question: "What color is her hair?"

Mabel and Elisa exchanged a glance and said with a smile, "It's black."

Are her eyes black?

"Yes."

Is she very smart?

"Looks like it is."

Eleanor smiled and confidently ripped the note off her forehead: "The answer is the clever Miss Eleanor!"

Mabel and Elisa rolled around laughing together.

In Eleanor's hand, there was a note with one word written on it: €€€€ curly-haired baboon.

Eleanor blushed, pounced on Elisa, and pinched her cheek: "Weren't we supposed to be guessing identities? Why is there a baboon?! And the baboon's eyes aren't black, they're brown!"

Elisa begged for mercy, but Eleanor angrily picked up a pen and paper, quickly wrote something down, and stuck it on Elisa's head.

Elisa thought for a moment: "What color is her hair?"

"gold"

"Are the eyes red?"

"Yes."

"Huh? It's actually?" Elisa was surprised. She thought Eleanor had written about the Golden Retriever, since the male servant often called her the Golden Retriever and the Curly-haired Baboon, and the Curly-haired Baboon had already been written about.

Golden Retrievers don't have red eyes.

She thought for a moment and asked one last question: "Do we walk on two legs? That's not a very broad question!"

“Yes,” Eleanor answered quickly.

Elisa hesitated and scratched her head. Blonde hair, red eyes, and the ability to walk on two legs—no matter how she thought about it, it could only be herself.

"It's Alyssa...why is it a golden retriever?!" Alyssa couldn't accept it. "Golden retrievers don't walk on two legs!"

“With proper training, cats can walk on two legs,” Eleanor replied proudly.

“Golden Retrievers don’t have red eyes!” Elisa continued to protest.