My wife is an immortal black snake.

It really was the terrible thing I imagined.

Yang Hao sighed heavily, then, after holding Hela in his arms, he smiled wryly at the silent Sonia:

"Sonia, I'm in trouble today... Have dinner here before you go back. I... I need to think of something too."

“Hmm.” Sonia nodded, then said, “But perhaps I don’t need to go back. My child—this morning, Head Maid Monica invited me to stay at the Duke’s mansion, and she has already prepared a room for me.”

"what..."

"Are you not welcoming me?" She blinked, looking somewhat lonely.

"No, not really... I'm just a little surprised. But let's leave it at that. How about we go take a look together after dinner?"

"hehe."

After quickly packing their things, they left the courtyard.

Then time fast forward to dinner time.

Because there were quite a few people having dinner today, everyone gathered at a private restaurant not far from Yang Hao and Kosiché's bedroom.

His Majesty the Emperor, whose belly was growing larger each day, was also present. During the meal, everyone began to discuss matters that required attention.

"I've received news that a civilian humanitarian convoy was attacked in the dense forest less than 2 kilometers from the border in Kazimir." Because of his pregnancy, which prevented him from frequently holding office duties, His Majesty, while enjoying food tailored to his physical condition and nutritional needs, gently said to Yang Hao, "It seems your plan has succeeded. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, tomorrow will be the first and last time I publicly condemn a country while heavily pregnant—what do you need me to do?"

“Condemn the knights of Kazimir, sow discord between them and the people, and then use evidence to blackmail them into opening the border. That should be enough.”

"Alright then, I might need to draft a speech tonight... Oh, and don't forget to remind me of the details. After all, I'm not entirely clear on the specifics of what happened over there."

"I will."

Yang Hao nodded, and that concluded the first family topic at tonight's dinner.

Besides that, there's the second one.

"I was planning to support my spymaster as Grand Duchess in Kazimierz, so... Monica? Could you please stop looking at me like that...?"

"...snort."

"Oh dear? Did you upset Monica again? It's not that I want to say anything, but at least consider how hard Monica works for this family, try not to upset her too much, okay?"

“Heh, I think so too. The Duke of Kosiché’s head maid is indeed very loyal and dutiful—it’s just that my lord is not so honest.”

"Your Majesty, that is my husband."

"..."

Sonia's mother stared blankly at His Majesty the Emperor and Duke Koschche at the dining table, their tension suddenly rising. After a long while, she decided not to utter the words, "That's my child."

After a pointless debate between Kosicze and Her Majesty Catherine, the decision to make Theresa Grand Duchess of Casimir in Poland was settled smoothly.

Then came the third thing, which Yang Hao considered the most important thing today.

"Then there's the matter of Karina... Koschei, it's a very dangerous sign, so—"

"...Darling, let's talk about the outcome first. Do you think I need to give up on Karina, or should we keep trying to find a solution? I believe in you."

Kosiche nodded and interjected to Yang Hao. She needed a result, not a lengthy process—although she would try to understand the process, she really needed a result first to prepare.

Facing everyone's gaze, Yang Hao rubbed Hela's hair in his arms.

He pondered what Karina truly meant to him—was she merely Koschei's new body? Or a friend? Or something more intimate?

He was pondering Karina's thoughts about him, and also wondering if, in his eyes, Karina truly deserved to be a member of Libra.

Finally, he recalled his promise—to remember the promise of every successor to Kosich.

He smiled, and then answered without hesitation:

"Keep thinking of ways. Karina... even just in terms of pure value, she's worth our efforts to keep her."

“...You’re talking about value.” Kosic said, taking a sip of red wine and looking at Yang Hao.

“I don’t deny that I have my own selfish motives, Kosiché. But I’ll figure something out.”

"Then I believe you." She smiled, believing that Yang Hao could bring her a good result—and of course, she would work hard for it.

......

Dinner lasted only a short time.

After dinner, Her Majesty the Emperor went to rest first—she had been very sleepy lately, and no one knew whether it was because the little heir in her belly was absorbing too much nutrition or what, but the fact that Her Majesty Catherine needed to rest for a longer time had long been a consensus among all the high-ranking officials of the Duke of Koschche's mansion.

After having dinner, and as promised, having inspected Sonia's new room with her mother, and urgently ordering royal furniture from the Royal Furniture Factory of Saint-Germain that was both of high quality and extremely comfortable, Yang Hao left in Sonia's mother's gentle embrace and farewell.

But he didn't rush back to his room. He stood in the corridor for a while, gazing at the night view of the courtyard outside, before finally sighing.

“Well done,” he said to the shadows in the corridor. “Put the camera data in Mr. Joseph’s office—that meticulous old man knows how to handle it.”

"...Hiss...Whoosh."

"Oh, right, remember to knock on the door when you go over."

"..."

The guards left. After looking at their movements on the puppet stage map, Yang Hao returned to his own palace.

After a long time, he and Koschich, who was already prepared, took a bath together in the bathroom—a bath undisturbed by Hela. Soaking in the hot water, he thought about how long it had been since Margarita had contacted him via communicator, and his mind wandered, thinking about how to rescue Miss Karina from that abnormal situation.

"What do you think?"

"...Hela said she's obsessed. I need to bring her back to the beauty of reality before she becomes the next Duke Nikolai...but I also need to go there myself to find out the details—and Koschei, I...I don't know if I should say this, but if my only remaining method might allow Karina to escape your control and not be inherited by you..."

"I won't blame you, so what are you worried about?"

His wife, nestled in his arms, darted her tail out of the hot water and playfully rubbed it against the tip of his pen. Koschke's trust and doting on Yang Hao were genuine—unless she was as subtle as Sonia; she was always very direct.

"But your new body..."

"A new body, sigh, a new body is indeed troublesome, especially if it has to be nurtured from childhood—but darling, I can't let any of my future heirs face this risk. That would not only be irresponsible to myself, but it would also exacerbate your already heavy workload. So you don't need to think too much about my new body, understand?"

"...Sigh, if only I could make a body for you right now."

"Let's get this straight, I don't want someone who can't get pregnant. And even if we immortals are lacking in normal ethics and morality, aren't you fast-forwarding a bit too fast?"

She slapped Yang Hao's wrist in an annoyance, thinking to herself, "So, in the end, their child in name only will be me?"

How could Kosichrie accept this?! She'd rather accept that Kazdel bumpkin from who-knows-where whispering sweet nothings with her husband behind her back than accept the fact that she would one day become "her" daughter...

While it might be possible in an extremely urgent situation, Koschke normally refuses that kind of thing...

This was an ethically far-fetched issue, even for immortals... Koschke truly couldn't understand why her husband would think this way.

But forget it.

"Hela said she's coming over to sleep tonight."

"Um..."

"So... before that, let's get intimate for a bit, shall we?"

"Koschche...please let me go..."

"hehe."

Faced with her husband's pleas, Koschche just grinned and said, "Instead of struggling with your current body, you might as well ascend to heaven quickly."

Chapter 35

April 9st morning.

His Majesty the Emperor of the Ursus Empire issued a public statement condemning the current regime of Qazimir for its attacks on Ursus Empire's civilian caravans, and stating that the resources originally intended to support Qazimir refugees have now been plundered by Qazimir's conquering knights.

The Knights of Casimir either have to give back those resources now, or they will face a new war—a war that will be fought on two fronts while Colombia is still making steady progress in Casimir. Let's see who can seize more territory between Ursus and Colombia.

but--

Kazimir is innocent! Especially those knights who fought in the war; they had no idea what happened! This sudden condemnation from Ursus—can you produce any evidence? You certainly can't. This is just an excuse you're using to start a war! Citizens of Kazimir, don't believe the slander of those Ursus people!

That caravan wasn't loaded with bread and toilet paper; it was teeming with elite warriors and shield guards! They're here to start a war, so don't believe them—

...

Before the indignant Kazimierz regime and the representatives of the Knights of Conquest could even deliver a powerful statement of condemnation and questioning in three minutes—the Ursus presented the evidence directly to their faces.

They even used extremely expensive Originium communication equipment and a large number of Cataclysmic Messengers to spread the evidence to Kazimierz, to Yan Kingdom, and to cities and villages in various countries surrounding Ursus—spreading the evidence everywhere of the Kazimierz knights' brutal killing of Ursus merchants and looting of the flour and tools loaded in their wagons.

It seems that Photoshop or video editing technology didn't exist in this era, and even if it did, it wouldn't matter—because when the Ursus Empire presented the evidence, they even sent out the coordinates of the attack location directly.

The direct result of this was that the civilian hunters of Kazimir arrived at the scene of the attack even faster than the conquering knights, and there they found the corpses of the conquering knights killed by powerful beasts—look at them! Almost all of these conquering knights were ambushed and killed by wild beasts while looting!

You are warrior knights!

Fueled by indignation and anger that their rightful aid had been intercepted by their own country's army, the already unsettled people of Kazimir began to plot their rebellion...

......

“It seems our plan is working.” Sitting on the throne in the audience hall, Kosiché turned to look at her husband, who had become like a living Buddha, devoid of worldly desires, and smiled at him. “The knights of Kazimir are already under immense pressure. They must do something before the people drag them down from their positions—but I personally feel they certainly won’t just suffer in silence. Perhaps we still won’t be able to get our regular army stationed in Kazimir.”

"But we don't need to move in. We just need to be good people and give alms to the refugees in Kazimir to win their hearts. And if they open the border, we can supply those remnants, put pressure on Kazimir to accept the Sarkaz mercenaries' funding, and give Kazdel, whom we support, a chance to benefit."

"Hehe. Then I know what to do—you go and get some rest, I'll handle these important political matters."

"So I'll focus on dealing with Karina's matter then?"

"And don't forget to take care of the kids, and remember to apologize to Monica—although I don't know exactly how you made Monica angry, at least apologize properly for the sake of this family, okay?"

"Ah ha ha..."

If you knew that Monica was angry because I was having sex with Teresa while you were at work, you probably wouldn't be speaking so gently right now...

Yang Hao wiped the cold sweat from his brow, and after responding calmly a few times, he recalled his conversation with Miss Wange last night after falling asleep...

...

Last night, around midnight.

The House of Elegy was bathed in an eerie purple light today. Miss Elegy didn't follow her desires and force Yang Hao into a chair to do anything; instead, she smiled and said, "I still know when to do what and when not to do it," while adding that Yang Hao's current situation was far from optimistic.

"Not looking good? You mean, Karina?"

"Hmm. You know what? Although Miss Karina isn't an Apostle—she's someone with exceptional potential, you know? She's like a lump of clay that can be molded at will. The Crimson Cup adores her, and her self-taught Path of Revelation allowed her to traverse the Woodlands of Mansu... She's someone brimming with potential. But Mr. Yang Hao, she also faces many of the problems that Ascended beings must confront."

"what is that?"

"Completely engrossed."

"...Enchanted?"

“She felt her mind was clearer than ever. The higher she rose, the more she saw. But this was just an illusion—if things continued this way, Miss Karina would become the next Duke Nikolai. She would lose her way on the path to ascension, eventually becoming a madwoman, or perhaps your enemy.”

"...Can't we make her...stop?" Yang Hao hesitated for a long time before finally sighing helplessly.

"Unfortunately, it's like trying to make a poor person who has never seen happiness feel joy—people always want to be better. You have no right to stop Miss Karina from becoming a better person, but at the very least, you can guide her so that she doesn't make mistakes, just as I guided you."

"Guide? But... how should I do that?"

You can have Yang Hao guide Karina into politics and make her the empress of a country—that's definitely no problem, it just takes a little more work.

But you want Yang Hao to guide Karina towards ascension? That's a bit too strange, isn't it? Yang Hao himself is still just a mortal! It would be one thing if he had the materials to help Monica become the girl in the mirror and ascend directly, but to guide her towards ascension on her own?

This sounds so weird, doesn't it? It's like your single roommate giving advice to a guy who's had countless casual sex experiences on how to date and get married?

Faced with Yang Hao's confusion and bewilderment, Miss Elegy simply smiled.

She said it's not necessary to go to that level yet.

All we need to do is bring Miss Karina out of her reverie and create a beautiful memory for her.

As for ascension and such, we can talk about that later.

"So, you can go back now."

"...Ugh."

He sighed, realizing in the end that he still had to work harder!

Chapter 36

On the afternoon of the 22th.

Under the triple pressure of public opinion, international pressure, and the immense pressure of a potential two-front war, the Kazimir government was forced to publicly apologize to the Ursus Empire.

It's not just about apologizing—their war knights also did indeed massacre a civilian caravan in Ursus. Faced with pressure from the upcoming referendum held by the Ursus Emperor on whether to retaliate against Qazimir, and under pressure from protests already underway by their own people, especially those who have become refugees due to the failures of Qazimir's military policies, the current Qazimir government has no choice but to offer greater compensation to the Ursus Empire to avoid the worst possible outcome.