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Chapter 591.2: Lilian’s Scheme (2)

In the Austine Empire’s Noyce Fortress, Lilian Ackermann quietly stared at the envelope on her table with a frown. Her maid, Audrey, carefully prepared the dining table while keeping an eye on her liege’s movements.

It was already late at night, but the fortress walls remained well-lit. It was another peaceful night for Noyce Fortress.

‘Peace’ was not a word one would have associated with Noyce Fortress, which was why Audrey felt particularly proud of her liege for having turned things around in this godforsaken place. However, as a maid, she couldn’t help noticing that her liege was having an awfully late dinner.

It had been hours since sunset, and even the sentries had had their dinner. Yet, the fortress’s highest commander had not taken a bite. Audrey felt compelled to say something about it, but the document Lilian was reading seemed to be very important, having come from the Theocracy.

The Saint Mesit Theocracy had been a rival to the Austine Empire for a thousand years now. Even Audrey herself had once viewed them as her nemesis, but the events over the past year changed her mind.

Around last year’s New Year, the evil cultists launched a surprise assault on the Ascart Fiefdom, alarming all of humankind.

On the one hand, it had been many years since the evil cultists had shown such astounding arrogance as to wage war against a high noble, particularly one from the Theocracy. On the other hand, the incident led to the disappearance of a crucial figure—Roel Ascart.

The disappearance of Roel Ascart was a huge calamity to Lilian Ackermann back then, for he was the father of her child.

A year ago, Lilian was contemplating going through her mentor, Chris, so as to evade the Austine Empire’s surveillance to inform Roel that she was bearing his child. Yet, before she could put her plan into motion, she received news about his disappearance instead.

To make things worse, she had been in the midst of a battle when the news reached her ears. The news was simply too much for her to bear, especially since she hadn’t been in the best of conditions since her pregnancy began, such that she nearly fainted on the spot.

Fortunately, she pulled herself together and held on till the end of the battle, but she still suffered a great mental toll, particularly when she learned that Roel had entered the Witness State.

She was the only person other than Roel who understood how dangerous the Witness State was, which was why she fell into despair upon learning the news and became bedridden.

The subsequent days were a nightmare for Audrey.

She found herself completely helpless as she watched her liege’s mind and body wither with each passing day. Eventually, a day came when she was forced to relay an inevitable piece of news to her liege after inspecting her body.

“Your Highness, you’ll likely suffer a miscarriage at this rate.”

That came as a huge shock to Lilian, who already saw herself as a mother. Her despairing heart jolted for the first time in a long while. She began proactively cooperating with treatments and even forced herself to chow down meat that very day.

“I have to bear this child no matter what it takes… He is the only one I have left,” Lilian said with tearful eyes as she forced herself to consume nourishing food that usually nauseated her.

At the same time, she was forced to reconsider her strategic stance.

She couldn’t be sure how the Ascart House would view her child now that Roel was no longer around, so she decided to conceal the matter from them and raise her child on her own. There was a crucial problem, however—Emperor Lukas’ stance.

Emperor Lukas had always been guarded against the Ascarts, even going to the extent of disallowing Lilian from associating herself with Roel.

Lilian was certain that Emperor Lukas would never acknowledge her child. Even if he showed mercy and spared her child, her child would still be deemed an illegitimate offspring. And illegitimate offspring were frowned upon in the Austine Empire, as evidenced by how Paul was treated.

She couldn’t allow her child, her final gift from Roel, to go through such suffering.

Thus, she set her eyes on the highest throne of the Austine Empire, the seat currently occupied by Lukas. That was the only way she could ensure her child could grow up healthily. For that, she needed to make preparations.

She needed to recover her strength, grow stronger as a transcendent, and build up an army that was unconditionally loyal to her.

To achieve these goals, Lilian forced herself to take in nourishment no matter how nauseated she was. She joined the battlefield to temper herself through intense battles with the deviants. As her accomplishments piled up, the number of soldiers under her command grew.

After fighting a couple of larger battles, she successfully gained control of over a third of the Austine Empire’s soldiers on the eastern border. In particular, her influence in Noyce Fortress was unshakable. Nearly all of the soldiers and commanders stationed here carried absolute loyalty to her after witnessing her valiance in battle.

Even Emperor Lukas would struggle to slip his eyes into the fortress.

As for her personal development, Lilian had long since reached the bottleneck of Origin Level 2 after undergoing so many battles with the deviants. She had yet to make a breakthrough to Origin Level 1 because she was worried for her child, but as long as she made up her mind to do so, she could immediately become a Race Sovereign capable of standing against Lukas.

While building up her own strength and military, Lilian took great care to shift her diplomatic stance too. The greatest change of all was her attempts at reconciliations with the Theocracy—or, more specifically, Nora and the others.

As the imperial princess of the Austine Empire, there was no one in the world who knew better than her just how vast Emperor Lukas’ influence was. If she wanted to overthrow him and become the next empress, she would most definitely require external help.

Besides, she needed an escape plan in case her coup d’état failed. She had to ensure the safety of her child at the very least.

She was confident that Nora and Charlotte would protect her child, as her child carried Roel’s bloodline. Similarly, the Knight Kingdom would also do everything at its disposal to ensure the survival of the Kingmaker Bloodline. Even if she were defeated in battle, her child would be able to safely grow up elsewhere.

It was with such intentions that Lilian extended a helping hand to Nora and Charlotte multiple times when they were struggling against the deviants. Their comradeship against the deviants and empathy for each other’s suffering allowed her to greatly improve their ties. Even Charlotte, despite her hatred toward the Austine Empire, no longer hurled malicious words at her.

But amidst their interactions, an unexpected problem suddenly arrived at Lilian’s desk one day, presented in the form of the letter she was holding.

The letter had been signed by ‘United Army General Nora Xeclyde’, signaling that the letter was from the united army and not the Theocracy. The letter was requesting Lilian’s cooperation on a military operation Nora might embark on very soon.

Such a request wasn’t out of place considering the increasing threat the deviants were posing to humankind, but what perplexed her was Nora’s choice of words.

“I’d like to request your full forces for this military operation. Trust me when I say that this operation will bring about rewards far greater than you can imagine.”

A request for an all-out reinforcement was not a joking matter in the united army, for it meant dispatching all available soldiers, leaving behind only the bare minimum required to operate and protect the fortress.

Lilian might have still considered it if it were for a large-scale battle, but such a possibility was off the table otherwise. The military force under her control was so huge that it was not a stretch at all to say that she was one of the most powerful people on the frontline.

In the first place, the Austine Empire boasted the greatest territory and population among humankind, which translated into them having the biggest army of all.

Lilian’s Noyce Fortress had one of the lowest casualty rates on the frontline ever since she took over the helm, making it one of the few fortresses that were gradually expanding their military force with the influx of new soldiers. Thus far, its manpower count already totaled a third of the Austine Empire’s military force on the frontline.

On top of that, the surviving soldiers of Noyce Fortress were steadily accruing experience and becoming stronger. In terms of absolute prowess, Lilian’s army was equivalent to half of the Austine Empire’s military presence on the frontline.

Unless Emperor Lukas was in grave danger, there was no way such a massive army could be carelessly mobilized in full. It definitely didn’t help that the reason Nora offered was far-fetched.

Nora wanted to conduct a military operation in Hawe Desert, a remote region that deviants, humans, and even demonic beasts avoided. Her claim that there were huge rewards there was so ridiculous that it would make any veteran soldier roll their eyes in disbelief.

Anyone could tell that Nora was being unreasonable, and there was no reason for Lilian to bother replying to the letter. Yet, the latter had been staring at the letter for hours now, even delaying her dinner as a result.

“Your Highness, they are trampling over our goodwill by making such an insolent request.” Audrey finally offered her point of view after a lengthy silence.

However, Lilian ignored her remark and continued staring at the letter with narrowed eyes.