Chapter 815
Chapter 815
Queen Medusa still hadn't opened her eyes. This palace was inverted, so Shen Lang sat on the domed ceiling while Medusa lay upside down. He quietly waited for her to awaken.
Several hours passed, then a day, then two, yet the queen remained asleep. Shen Lang didn't call out to her, nor did he try to stimulate her with the Nightmare Stone. Because for someone who had reached her level of strength, she would naturally wake when it was time.
During that time, Shen Lang had wracked his brain and managed to come up with just three sentences to say to her. With Qiu Yao'er, Shen Lang had at least a few things to say, some common ground to discuss, but this Queen Medusa before him was a complete stranger. Their only connection was Yaoyao. After all, she was Yaoyao's biological mother. Two days and nights passed, and by the time Shen Lang had to leave, Queen Medusa still hadn't woken. Shen Lang couldn't wait any longer. He felt that if he waited any longer, he would die of hunger or thirst.
* * *
Upon returning to the royal palace, the first thing Shen Lang did was go to hold Yaoyao. Like her mother, the child was in a deep sleep. But the moment Shen Lang held her, she immediately woke up. Shen Lang carefully observed the child's small face. She was astonishingly beautiful. Before meeting Queen Medusa, he had wondered why this child was so pretty when she resembled neither him nor Qiu Yao'er. Now, he finally understood why. Her mother had become breathtakingly beautiful.
The child's food was a special milk prepared by Queen Medusa herself, and even Shen Lang couldn't identify its main ingredients. When Shen Lang fed her with a spoon, Yaoyao ate obediently, her eyes filled with happiness. The child was very attached to Shen Lang and had taken to him almost from the moment they first met. She could speak, understood everything happening around her, and was surprisingly intelligent. However, she didn't like to talk. Besides, she didn't need to open her mouth; whatever she was thinking, she could express it with her eyes. It was quite magical. When her gem-like eyes rolled, Shen Lang could tell what she wanted or what she was trying to say.
“Turns out our Yaoyao is the big sister. This is your little sister, Shen Mi.”
Shen Lang drew a portrait of Shen Mi on a piece of paper. Yaoyao looked at it very closely and tried to touch her little sister's face with her small hand. Of course, she only touched the paper the portrait was drawn on.
“This is your little sister, Shen Ye. She's very, very mischievous and cries at the drop of a hat. This is Shen Li, your youngest little sister. She's very quiet and almost never cries.”
After looking at the portraits, Yaoyao's large, gem-like eyes turned to Shen Lang.
“You want Daddy to draw your face too, right?”
Shen Lang said with a smile, and Yaoyao nodded. Then, without even looking at her face, Shen Lang drew her on the paper. It was very well-drawn and looked just like her, but Yaoyao's beauty, like her mother's, transcended human perception, making it incredibly difficult to capture even with Shen Lang's artistic skill.
“Giggle.”
Yaoyao laughed. She loved the portraits. Then, Yaoyao reached out her hand to Shen Lang.
“You want to draw too?”
Yaoyao nodded. Shen Lang handed her a brush, and Yaoyao began to draw. She was drawing Shen Lang. Soon, both Shen Lang and Zhang Chunhua were stunned into silence.
“Did Yaoyao learn to draw before?”
Zhang Chunhua shook her head. The young princess spent most of her time sleeping, so when would she have had the time to learn to draw? She hadn't even had time to learn to speak. Shen Lang was thoroughly astonished.
‘My daughter is this amazing? This is beyond the realm of genius.’
Yaoyao drew exceptionally well, having learned just by watching Shen Lang draw a moment ago. But her style was different from Shen Lang's. While Shen Lang had done realistic sketches, Yaoyao's style was more like a caricature. Her drawing was filled with a child's innocence and imagination, yet it bore a striking resemblance to the real person. Shen Lang looked at her big eyes and said in wonder.
“My goodness. Our Yaoyao is this incredible? Daddy can hardly believe it.”
Looking a little shy, Yaoyao snuggled into Shen Lang's embrace. Watching from the side, Zhang Chunhua noticed that Yaoyao seemed a little tired.
“The young princess needs to sleep.”
Shen Lang could also feel that just an hour of play had left Yaoyao exhausted. But the child was so happy and joyful that she was reluctant to sleep.
“Go to sleep, little one. Daddy will be here every time you open your eyes.”
Shen Lang spoke in a gentle voice, and Yaoyao obediently closed her eyes, quickly falling into another deep slumber. Shen Lang was reluctant to even put her down, still holding her in his arms.
“We should probably go now.”
Zhang Chunhua said quietly. In truth, she didn't need to speak quietly. Once Yaoyao fell into a deep sleep, it would take a great deal of noise to wake her. Shen Lang carefully placed Yaoyao on the bed. He wanted to go and kiss her but couldn't bring himself to do it. The child was too fragile.
“Sleep well, little one. Daddy and your sisters will all be with you.”
He placed all four portraits beside Yaoyao's pillow.
* * *
“Yaoyao used to be awake for only fifteen minutes a day, but with you here, she's been awake for over an hour. She must be very happy and excited right now.”
Hearing this, Shen Lang's heart felt like it was breaking. To think she could only be awake for fifteen minutes out of every twenty-four hours. Otherwise, her life force couldn't sustain her. What on earth was happening to Yaoyao's body? And it wasn't just Yaoyao; Medusa also spent most of her time in seclusion, in a long slumber, with very little time awake.
Shen Lang followed Zhang Chunhua to the highest point of the palace and looked out over the city. He soon gasped in shock. The Queen's City was still beautiful, but the reason for his shock was the countless troops arrayed outside the city walls.
Duke Russell's grand army had already arrived. An innumerable army, large enough to sweep away everything, had gathered. For now, there were only a hundred thousand or so soldiers, but more were constantly arriving from the rear. The army was in the process of surrounding the Queen's City, and the battle would begin once all two hundred and fifty thousand troops had arrived and completed the encirclement.
Shen Lang examined the siege equipment. There were not only large catapults and siege crossbows but also battering rams. In addition, there were twenty-meter-high siege towers. These siege towers, resembling six-story mobile houses, could be pushed to the city walls. A gate would open, and soldiers would pour out endlessly, climbing the tower to leap onto the ramparts. It seemed Duke Russell had poured all his strength into attacking the Queen's City.
“Where is your prime minister? Do you have any plan to fight this war?”
“We don't have a prime minister.”
“Then you have no cabinet? No civil administration?”
Zhang Chunhua shook her head.
“We don't.”
Shen Lang couldn't believe it.
‘Truly remarkable. How have you survived until now in this state?’
“The other city-states of the Witch Empire all have their own lords or governors. But isn't the Queen's City yours? How do you govern such a large city?”
“Duke Hall, the lord of the Queen's City, governs it.”
“Who is he?”
“His ancestor was a close associate of the empress of the Second Sauron Empire. He was a commoner who also carried the bloodline of the Veda tribe. Her Majesty the Empress enfeoffed his ancestor as a duke, which drew opposition from the Sauron Dynasty. So, you could say the Hall family is an offshoot of the Sauron Dynasty.”
“So you're saying Duke Hall wasn't recognized by the Sauron Dynasty and therefore pledged his allegiance to Queen Medusa?”
“That's right. This entire Queen's City is managed by Duke Hall. We only protect him and don't interfere in internal affairs at all.”
The world was full of strange and wondrous things. Shen Lang had originally thought the Witch Empire was a confederation of city-states, and that the Queen's City, at least, belonged to the Witch Empire. But unexpectedly, the Queen's City also belonged to Duke Hall, and Queen Medusa was merely a figurehead. It was astonishing, but because she was so powerful, her reputation alone had sustained the four-million-square-kilometer Witch Empire for nearly three years. The so-called Witch Empire was just a name created by some feudal lords hiding behind Queen Medusa. Queen Medusa had never ruled this land in her life; she had only protected it.
Shen Lang looked inside the city again. Before, there were people singing and dancing in the Queen's City every day, but now, with the enemy at their gates, the atmosphere had become a little more solemn. But only slightly. Many people were still singing and playing instruments, shouting, "Long live the Queen! Heaven, protect our Queen!" In any case, the tense atmosphere of an impending war was nowhere to be found. This city was overly romantic, even more so than Paris on Earth. But everyone knows what happened to that romantic Paris during World War II, don't they? All that national power ultimately became a joke.
“Everyone believes the Queen is invincible and can defeat any enemy invasion. So, under Queen Medusa's protection, the people believe they have nothing to do with war.”
Hearing Zhang Chunhua's words, Shen Lang frowned. This Queen's City looked beautiful on the surface, but it was so dreamlike that it felt unreal. It was so full of artistic sentiment that even its people were filled with fantastical ideas. But reality was, in fact, incredibly cruel.
“Aren't you holding a military council?”
“We are. But there's likely only one topic of discussion at the meeting: when Her Majesty the Queen will awaken, and in what manner everyone should welcome her return.”
‘Damn it!’
“Let's go. May I observe the Queen's City's military council?”
“Of course. The Witch Empire is different from other nations; there are no strict hierarchies. Beneath the Queen, all people are equal.”
At this, Shen Lang frowned again. In his eyes, the Witch Empire was a completely absurd nation.
* * *
Inside the palace, Shen Lang met the highest echelons of the Witch Empire. They were perhaps the most modest high-ranking officials of any empire. In total, there were only six of them. The State of Yue was much smaller than the Witch Empire, yet hundreds of officials gathered for its grand court assemblies, and over a hundred for its smaller ones. Yet, for the Witch Empire, spanning over four million square kilometers, the policy-making body consisted of only six people.
Zhang Chunhua said, a little awkwardly.
“On the young princess Yaoyao's fourth birthday, all the city lords came to the Queen's City. There were a hundred of them in total, and they filled a quarter of this hall. Besides, there are many officials in the Queen's City, they just don't come to the royal palace.”
Previously, Shen Lang had compared the Sauron Dynasty to the Son of Heaven of the fallen Zhou Dynasty. But now, it seemed Queen Medusa was the one who resembled the ruler of a fallen dynasty. The lords of a hundred city-states pledged allegiance to her and raised her banner. But she held no real power in her hands; she was truly a person detached from worldly affairs.
“This is the lord of the Queen's City of the Witch Empire, Duke Hall.”
Duke Hall was an exceptionally handsome man. He was around thirty years old but looked to be in his early twenties. Shen Lang knew he had the indigenous blood of the Veda tribe, but one couldn't tell at all from his appearance. His skin was fairer than that of an ordinary person, and he had soft blond hair, giving him the noble air of a prince. He looked even more like a pure-blooded noble than Duke Dybas.