"What are you doing, St. Giles?"

“……”

"I'm washing my hands, Horus."

——————

"What do you do when you wash your hands?"

[Say goodbye to the old and welcome the new: Say goodbye to the old trouble, and usher in your new trouble. 】

Morgan's voice cooled, her fingers swirling in the waves of the fountain, and even the tips of her hair and nose were stained with a few hints of hazy moisture: now, among the artificial water features used to decorate the interior of the Terra Palace, all flowing were pure water that was warm and drinkable, and every drop of it was worth a fortune in this dry world.

But here, they only flow day and night in vain, and their only function is to keep this hive city standing at an altitude of 10,000 meters warm and moist in the dry wind and thin oxygen, which complements the dignity of the emperor.

“……”

"I don't think I'm a trouble now, sister, in this palace, there are more troublesome guys than me, just those brothers of ours, there are several guys who are enough to give you a headache."

The slender figure of the Midnight Ghost jumped up and down in the golden inner court of the palace like a black goat running freely in a golden wheat field, and one moment he stood like a reflection on the edge of the square, and the next he was already at the side of the Spider Queen, sitting on the edge of the fountain with his butt.

The narrow pupils narrowed, and Conrad soon noticed some clues: at the top of Morgan's gem scepter, the largest crystal seemed to be inlaid with a bit of dazzling scarlet, like a dry bloodstain, which had been put into the crystal by special means to preserve it.

A suspicious smile crossed Midnight Ghost's face, and he thought of many possibilities in an instant, but he didn't say anything after all, but waited patiently for Morgan's movements.

I saw that the Lord of Avalon carefully washed his fingertips and palms, and then silently recited a mantra, in exchange for a breeze, temporarily blowing away the hazy water vapor in front of him.

[How was the conversation with my father?] 】

"Overall, it's okay, it's a little bit different than I expected, but I'm quite satisfied: my father talked to me about the past of the Eighth Legion and his vision of the future of the Empire, and I talked to him about the future of the Eighth Legion and my view of the Empire's past."

[He actually talks to you about his thoughts and plans for the empire?] 】

“…… No, strictly speaking, that's not what we're talking about. ”

"Father simply told me about his original intention for establishing the Eighth Legion, and his desire for the Eighth Legion's role within the Empire: I'm glad that there was no conflict between the two of us on this issue."

[What kind of general idea?] 】

"The real battlefield of the Eighth Legion is after the end of the war, not the war itself: but on this matter I personally have little confidence, and the Emperor does not care."

"It's just that there are still a lot of contradictions between us on those details, but he said that he will respect my dominance in these details."

Because in his plan, these details are not important? 】

“……”

"He didn't say it directly in front of me."

"But it's pretty much the same."

Conrad pursed his lips, and he stretched out his claws, catching the clouds of mist that drifted in the air with the wind.

And just as his fingers became a little damp as a result, Conrad seemed to sense something, and vaguely drifted his gaze towards the edge of the square, and then quickly drifted back to Morgan.

"By the way, sister: my father came out with me, and he is staying there at the edge of the square, and I think he wants to meet you and talk to you about something."

[I saw him, don't worry. 】

Morgan stood in front of the luxurious fountain, his hands crossed, his eyes closed, and the faint droplets of water splashing on his hair, enjoying the rare moment of peace.

[I've just finished a long and painful void and grievance, and I don't want to start the next one so soon: even that Johnson war madman wouldn't start two apocalyptic wars in quick succession, would he?] 】

"I doubt he will."

[No, he won't: because I won't allow him to do that.] 】

"You can't control him."

【……】

[Okay, don't mention these things yet, tell me about the details of your chat with the emperor, I can help you check the gates: our father is a man who is used to calculating anyone, including himself, you don't want to be deceived by him if you are not careful. 】

Morgan lowered her eyelids: she was experienced in this area, after all, the golden apple seemed to be stuck in her body now, and she couldn't get up or down, so that the Spider Queen couldn't even eat the dessert tower.

"Probably not."

Conrad looked confident.

"And the details themselves are innocuous things: I've got all the answers I want, and I've learned the Emperor's attitude toward my legions: a little more indifferent and neglectful than I thought, but it's not a bad thing. Isn't it? ”

"When I'm neglected enough, I have plenty of room to do what I want to do without getting in trouble: if I'm unfortunate enough to put myself in a position similar to Killiman's, then any changes I make to my legion will attract criticism."

[You need not worry about this, Conrad, no one will blame you: for no one cares what you have done to your legion.] 】

Morgan smiled sarcastically.

[The friendship between the primordials is far less deep than you think, unless they are close friends or companions who have fought side by side, most of the progenitors don't care about what their brothers are doing. 】

"For example?"

[Compared with the relationship between most genetic prototypes, you and Johnson can be regarded as affectionate. 】

“……”

"When I first met that lion, we both thought about how to kill each other, sister: this is also a deep friendship that you understand?"

[What's the point of killing the other party?] 】

Morgan laughed straight away.

[In the genetic prototypes, at least eighty percent of the genetic prototypes have thought about killing at least eighty percent of their brothers, and they all feel that with their own abilities, they can kill eighty percent of their brothers: room-fighting is a characteristic of any human empire's royal family, and this is the case before humans get out of Terra. 】

“…… Truly. ”

[So, remember this well, Conrad, after all, you are about to leave me and go out and live independently: other brothers are not as good as me or Riemanrus, it really can't be good, you can walk around them in the future, it's okay to be a little withdrawn, anyway, in the original body, there is never a shortage of orphans. 】

“……”

Midnight Wraith raised an eyebrow and nodded solemnly, then he licked his chapped lips, their crazy eyes bent into a pair of crescents.

"I know that the friendship between the primordials is not that deep, but there are always some people who are more anxious about justice, aren't they: like our great wolf shepherd, who is now in this Terra palace, trying to find an explanation for one of his lost brothers."

"And he has brought in the famous archangel to help him: but now it seems that our most holy brother has been persuaded by you, and that this is a great deed that even our father could not do, sister."

【……】

[If you want to have fun with me in this regard, Conrad, then I have to think of the unreasonable behavior of someone who dared to hang up my psionic communication just now: do you think that such an unreasonable act should be punished with a hundred million points? 】

“……”

"Don't do that, Morgan."

Midnight Ghost's eyes wandered, constantly shifting Morgan's attention to the icy sun standing at the edge of the square.

"Do you really think that I was secretly planning all this, and that some great human lord went to great lengths to let you go to the trouble of convincing St. Giles because he didn't want to face his radiant son?"

【……】

[You and your father teamed up to trap me? 】

Morgan's face was not good.

“……”

Midnight Wraith's eyes swirled like a pair of fine opals, dripping through his pale, narrow pupils, and he had never been as frantically digging into the few wisdoms in his mind.

"I can tell you a secret: a less important secret, as compensation."

[Say.] 】

"You know why our father is in this tower: it's just a remote area of Terra's Palace, not the central part of his throne room, and he wouldn't normally stay here."

【……】

Morgan didn't respond, but there was a gleam in her pupils.

[To avoid Horus? 】

"Yes."

Conrad laughed mockingly.

"Our great wolf shepherd god has returned to the Holy Terra, and he came so quickly and so suddenly that even our father could not escape to the front in time on his radiant Imperial Dream, so he could only pretend that he was not there, and let Horus point the finger at the Palm Seal."

"And before that, he can only hide here, waiting for his palm printmaker to help him clean up this mess: I wonder if the palm printman knows these things, and if he does, I'm afraid that the old man's mood will not be very good now."

"The king's troubles need his assistants to help bear the blame and pressure."

"Irony, isn't it?"

As he spoke, Conrad winked at his blood relative.

【……】

Morgan didn't respond, because when Conrad was telling the story, somehow, a distant Caliban tone drifted through the mind of the Lord of Avalon.

——————

I'm still in charge of military affairs, and I'll leave it to you the logistical world and the envoys of the Forge world, Morgan: Don't let them bother me with those Titans.

——————

[Yes......]

Morgan's silver teeth crushed.

[This is a great irony, I really didn't expect this damn personality to become one of his genetic materials: he really stuffs everything into our genes. 】

“……”

Morgan's words were sharp, and the extreme coldness in her tone made Conrad's eyes narrow, and he wisely assumed not to hear

"I remember you came to Terra this time to have a meeting with the Palm Seal: if you can, you'd better go sooner or later, otherwise the scene may be ugly, and you may have to clean up the mess for our father again."

【…… Thanks for the reminder. 】

"By the way, the strength of this Palm Seal is even stronger than we thought, and if our brother of the Wolf Shepherd God wants to resort to violence, I don't think much of him."

[A mortal, can he still defeat Horus? 】

"He's a powerful psionic on the same level as you, Morgan: and if it's not for your life, but just for skill and experience, you and Magnus are inferior to him, and he can play with time and space at the planetary level."

[Okay, I see, thanks for the reminder: I'll pay attention to that.] 】

"That's for the best."

Conrad answered, and the sharp voice suddenly cut off, and the same was true of Morgan on the other side, for a while, the two genetic prototypes suddenly fell into silence and embarrassment, and Jing couldn't imagine that they could talk about anything more.

After all, they have been with each other for almost ten years, and they have talked about almost everything they can talk about, and even, in the past few months since they went to Terra, Morgan has been tirelessly chatting with Conrad many times about the Eighth Legion, and Conrad is a little annoyed by the chatter.

The Lord of Avalon even had a strange feeling like the awkward situation that mortal mothers find themselves in when they want to chat with their children on the edge of adulthood: the clichés they want to say are either rotten or doomed to be unpopular, and it seems more difficult to find common ground with their children.

So, there was only silence, and there were a thousand words in my heart, but I didn't know which one to say.

Only in front of them, the luxurious fountain was still faithfully splashing its own hazy mist, so that the ends of the two primordials' hair were already stained with starry dewdrops.

And other than that, only the golden yellow behind them seems to be still flickering.

“……”

It's a little lonely.

"Our father has been standing there for more than five minutes, sister, are you really not going to talk to him?"

[No hurry, let me rest for a while.] 】

"I think it's better for you to be a little anxious: maybe the emperor wants to talk to you about something important, after all, you are now the emperor's secret."

"With the Emperor, you are definitely the same as Johnson or Riemanrus: by the way, our father must have spoken to Riemanlus before talking to me, and I can smell the hairy smell that our Fenris brother left in the tower."

[Believe me, Conrad, he certainly didn't come to me to talk about anything important: I can be pretty sure of that from the outward appearance around him alone.] 】

“…… How so? ”

[Look at him now, is he standing alone on the edge of the square? 】

“…… That's right. ”

Conrad followed the sound and saw that Morgan was not right at all: the Lord of Mankind stood alone at the edge of the square, as if he were a passer-by, with neither a Praetorian nor an attendant, let alone the famous Palm Seal.

The emperor stood alone in the corner of the palace, only the light in the distance could accompany the emptiness around him, and when the lonely wind blew from the cubicles of the palace, his hair would dance with it, like the only vestige left in the cold wind.

He was standing there.

Lonely glowing.

"I even think he's a little pitiful."

[You better put away your abnormal pity: that's the problem.] 】

Morgan blinked, her pupils glowing with truth.

[Our father didn't even bring the forbidden army this time, it's like an orator, obviously he has already come to the stage, only to find out that he has neither an autoprompter, nor a microphone, or even a speech: and he is a crappy third-rate orator, lacking the demeanor of Demostini. 】

"You always seem to be malicious and lack of faith in our father, sister, why?"

[Aren't you the same?] 】

"That's because I see the future, and I'm not like that now: I'm a polite, cautious boy in front of our father, and never a big talk."

"Why are you?"

【……】

Morgan's eyes narrowed, and she slowly turned around, straightened her appearance, and prepared to walk towards the emperor, and after walking away for a while, she let her voice drift into Conrad's ears with the wind.

I'm used to it. 】

[I have become accustomed to being malevolent towards the Emperor, to be cautious, to be jealous and slightly hostile, and in any case, I will not be able to fully trust him. 】

[Because ......]

【……】

[Because I don't dare.] 】

——————

“……”

"What a coward."

It wasn't until Morgan had gone far that Conrad grinned and mocked in a low voice, and then he took a step forward and leaned down, wanting to wash his hands in the fountain, for there was still juice left on it.

[I advise you not to do that, Conrad. 】

But before Conrad could bend down, Morgan's shout came from behind him, and when he turned his head to look, he saw the Lord of Avalon, who had already walked halfway, turn around and wave at her blood relative.

“…… Why? ”

Conrad shouted, and Morgan's response was just as loud.

For there is gold leaf in the water...... And gold dust! 】

“……”

"Grass, there's really one!"

The Midnight Ghost looked at his hands full of gold dust in a bit of a daze, and only then did he take a serious look at the fountain in front of him: he saw that the endless gold had been ground into fine powder, floating in the warm spring, wandering and undulating in the air with the surging tide, until this elegant artificial water feature became a golden and splendid moving golden spring, filled with indescribable ......

A sense of wealth.

“……”

【The Emperor's Aesthetics......】

In the air, only Morgan's emotion remained.

——————

+ Do you have an opinion about my aesthetic? ＋

It wasn't until Morgan walked up to her genetic father that the Lord of Humanity pulled away from his distant gaze and lowered his head, as if he had just noticed Morgan's arrival: if it weren't for the fact that her breathing rate had adjusted the moment the Lord of Avalon stepped into view, Morgan might have really been deceived by the Emperor's superb acting skills.

But at this moment, the Spider Empress has been able to raise a perfect smile in front of the emperor, so that it does not leak.

[Nothing, father. 】

[I'm just lamenting your unique aesthetics that are independent and destined not to be recognized by ordinary people: your understanding of aesthetics is like that of Van Gogh in the world, I don't believe that one day, they will be amazed, after all, Van Gogh has also experienced the same ordeal, hasn't he? 】

＋…… ＋

The Emperor was silent for a moment, Morgan's faint sarcasm had not deceived him, but the Lord of Humanity did not seem to intend to continue dwelling on this issue, and he only sighed briefly in his heart.

Although he and Morgan hadn't actually met a few times: this was only the fifth time, but unlike the first time he was overly cautious and cautious, his daughter was too cheerful and proactive.

Merely......

Looking at the biological daughter in front of him who had learned to be leaky, and even secretly ironic him, the Lord of Mankind couldn't help but think deeply: Is his biological daughter, who makes people both love and hate, a little more cautious, or a little more cheerful?

＋…… ＋

Well, it's better now.

At the very least, she was willing to take the initiative to talk to herself, rather than need him to stir up any more topics: at this thought, a qualified smile appeared on the emperor's face.

+ Morgan, my daughter, I have witnessed every great victory of you and your brothers in the darkness, and you have fulfilled every task I have given you, whether it is to destroy or to save, and you have proven to be very good at it. ＋

+ In this you have overcome each of your brothers, none of whom have ever been able to do both equally, and they have not been able to grasp the balance of power between the two poles of creation and destruction. ＋

Morgan smiled softly: but her refusal was serious.

[I beg to differ, Father: Your own destruction of my lost brother. Please don't put this bloody crown on my head, as for Conrad, in fact, until now I am not sure if I have saved him, and before the final moment, who knows if he will choose the right path? 】

+ No, you've educated him pretty well, far more than I originally expected of him, and that's a welcome answer. ＋

The Emperor's eyes narrowed, and he looked at Conrad in the distance: the Midnight Wraith was sitting bored beside the fountain, hooking up the golden balls of water with his palms and smashing them into the patrolling Praetorian troops in the distance.

＋…… ＋

+ Although, there is still a lot of room for improvement. ＋

+ But compared to what I expected, you've taught Conrad well. ＋

Speaking of this, the emperor's tone was solemn, even with a hint of gratitude.

+ Very, nice. ＋

+ Now I am able to give him some of my trust: just as I gave you more trust before. ＋

【……】

Morgan's eyelids twitched: even though the Emperor's words were enough to make half of the Primordials get carried away, and the Lord of Avalon was thrilled for a moment, all the passion in Morgan's heart vanished at the thought of the brother who had died at her hands.

[Let me think, father, this trust won't let me have another genetic protomy in my hands, right?] 】

＋…… Do you care about this? ＋

[I have to care that the blood is in my body, in my soul, and I cannot erase it: my brothers can see what is in my soul, at least some of them. 】

＋…… ＋

The Emperor sighed.

+ Come with me, Morgan, I think we need to have a good talk, and then I'll wipe the blood: you can keep them, and after you're done talking to me, you can make that choice. ＋

【……】

[Yes, father. 】

Morgan laughed again.

+ But first, you need to answer one of my questions. ＋

[What? 】

+ How are you ...... ＋

The Emperor paused.

+ What are you doing to make Conrad understand the etiquette: for example, don't sit at the table when talking to others. ＋

【……】

[Use your feet.] 】

＋？ ＋

The emperor raised an eyebrow.

[Otherwise? 】

Morgan raised an eyebrow, her face looking a little more confused than the Emperor's.

She laughed.

[When your wild cat starts to go wild, father, what you have to do is to be ruthless and kick him down. 】

＋…… ＋

+ Do you always do that? ＋

[Long pain is better than short pain.] 】

[Sometimes, a blow of love is worth a thousand words. 】

＋…… ＋

Will you remember this, Father? 】

＋…… ＋

+ Of course, my reliable daughter. ＋

(End of chapter)