Ermu

Chapter 849: The King's Order

Edith returned to her residence, took off her coat, and casually tossed it on the coat rack by the door.

The rich, savory aroma wafting from the living room made her involuntarily take a deep breath, and saliva immediately welled up in her dry lips and tongue.

She hadn't felt it during the Defense Department meeting, but now she realized her stomach was growling.

"Why are you so late today?" Cole's voice arrived first, followed by his head peeking out from behind the doorframe, a spoon still in his hand.

"The war is about to begin, of course the Defense Department has more work to do, especially when it comes to Dawn, the situation is even more complicated." She kicked off her leather boots, changed into soft socks, and walked into the living room, "If I come back this late again, you eat first."

"It doesn't matter to me," Cole pouted, "but hasn't His Majesty decided whether to care about the Lord of Dawn? Now that you're making plans, if he adopts Barov's strategy, wouldn't you be working for nothing?"

"Do you really think he has no ideas at all?" Edith patted her brother's head as she passed him, "Roland Wimbledon is not a king who relies entirely on his subordinates."

"What did you see?" Cole asked curiously.

"If you want to know, you have to pay the price." She glanced at him, and he shuddered and stopped talking.

Two dishes and a soup were laid out on the dining table, the main ingredient of which was the Winterless City's specialty bird's kiss mushroom. Recently, whether it was because there were more hunters picking them, or new sources had been discovered, these extremely delicious and juicy mushrooms began to appear in large quantities in the convenience market. At the same time, the price did not rise but fell, vaguely threatening to replace meat.

Unfortunately, bird's kiss mushrooms are difficult to store for a long time due to their plumpness, otherwise, bringing them outside the West would be an excellent business.

Edith put a piece of grilled mushroom in her mouth. The slightly charred mushroom cap and melted butter perfectly combined. After a crisp sound, she felt her entire mouth filled with juice, making her hum with satisfaction.

She had to admit that she had underestimated her younger brother.

Apart from being not good at martial arts and indecisive, Cole's talent for learning exceeded her expectations, especially in cooking. He had only eaten these mushrooms at His Majesty's banquet once or twice, but he made them quite well. One couldn't do this without a clever mind. The same goes for his work at the City Hall. In less than a few months, he has appeared as a formal recorder at important meetings at the Lord's Castle. This speed has surpassed many of his peers. Even the noble children in the Northern Lands who consider themselves excellent may not be able to do better.

Of course, the most important thing is that he listens to her very much.

Thinking of this, Edith felt that the dinner was even more delicious.

After all, the more capable the subordinates, the easier some things are to do.

"Sister..." Cole couldn't help but open his mouth halfway through the meal, "Why didn't you speak at the conferences these past few days?"

"Hmm?" She put down her spoon and raised her eyebrows.

"His Majesty Roland asked things you are good at, right? Since you saw His Majesty's intentions, why didn't you say them for him?" Cole muttered, "Didn't you see the look Barov gave you... that smug smile was almost overflowing."

"This is also a secret, according to convention..."

"Uh..." He lowered his head, revealing an expression of embarrassment. After hesitating for a long time, he shook his head, as if trying to suppress his kindness.

"But seeing as this dinner is quite delicious, consider it as you have already paid the price." Edith raised the corners of her mouth slightly, "How much do you know about Andrea in the Witch Union?"

"Andrea?" Cole thought for a while, "Her name has never appeared in the scheduling plan, and her ability is also..."

"It has nothing to do with ability," the Pearl of the North interrupted, "It's normal that you don't know, she is a combat witch, and she rarely shows up, only a few people know her origins. As far as I know, Andrea is a Dawn noble, and still of a quite noble family, and also a close friend of Otto Losi. Knowing this, you can roughly make a deduction." Then she briefly explained her guess, "Now do you understand why I can't speak at the meeting? Once the sentimental card is revealed, things that could have been done won't work anymore, and His Majesty will have to blame me for this responsibility?"

Cole widened his eyes, "How did you know these things?"

"Did you think that my application to go to the Great Snow Mountain was only to prove what I said 'Only those who have been on the front line are suitable to serve as important officials'? That's just one reason," she spread her hands, "Without this trip together, it would not be easy to get close to the witches at ordinary times."

Cole frowned and pondered for a long time, "No, that's not right... Assuming that the news you have inquired about is correct, how can you be sure that His Majesty will choose Andrea as a shortcut to solve the Dawn problem? There is no inevitable connection between them! Can't he think about prioritizing the recovery of the kingdom and putting the enthronement ceremony first?"

"There is indeed no inevitable connection, but noticing His Majesty's actions at the conference, it is difficult not to understand it this way." Edith said confidently, "In three days, he looked at Andrea seventeen times, and the latter is neither an official of the City Hall nor a key figure in decision-making. If there is nothing between the two of them, then there must be a plan."

"You... even wrote this down?"

She picked up the soup bowl and struck a pose like she was at a meeting, "Like this, you can use your peripheral vision. His Majesty must not have thought that while he was staring at Andrea, someone was always paying attention to him."

"..." Her brother twitched the corner of his mouth with a strange expression and muttered in a low voice.

"What did you say?" Edith said coldly.

"No, cough, it's nothing," Cole quickly waved his hands, "I wanted to ask, did you talk to Andrea after the conference for this matter too? What if you guessed wrong?"

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows, "You saw it?"

"I wanted to ask you when you would be back, but... you seemed to only stay in front of her for a very short time..."

"Because I don't need to say all these guesses at once. Since it is a sentimental card, just give it a gentle push from behind." Edith didn't care, "His Majesty is a very kind king, and he even had a relationship with Sir Otto. As long as you speak, he has a high probability of agreeing to save him'. I only mentioned that sentence, if I guessed right, it would be helping His Majesty. If I guessed wrong..." She paused slightly, "Who would care whether the Dawn nobles live or die?"

...

The routine meeting held the next day ended in just half a day.

Roland Wimbledon, who had been silent for three days, did not continue to listen to the ministers' discussions, but announced his decision at the beginning of the meeting. Winterless City would divide its troops into two groups, one entering the Hermes Plateau from the Coldwind Ridge, and the other going directly to the kingdom's border through the East Territory, attacking Dawn from the west and south, striving to meet in Radiance City in late summer and early autumn.

As soon as this decree came out, everyone stopped arguing and obeyed the order in unison. Even Barov, the leader of the conservative opinion, pretended that he had never said those words before and promised with a hand on his chest.

The entire West Region instantly became busy.