Chapter 369: Congratulations on Securing the Line of Succession

The next morning, the palace was still running as if it expected another attack at any moment.

Patrols had been doubled, the gardeners were trying to repair the disaster in the garden, and a group of druids was already working around the walls, beginning to raise the barrier Mark had ordered installed the night before.

And before he even had breakfast, Mark went to see Rose.

He found her by the window of her room, holding a cup of tea she had stopped drinking long ago as she gazed silently at the garden.

Rose composed herself the moment she saw him come in, quickly recovering her usual expression, though Mark had already caught the worry she was trying to hide.

‘Do you want me to look for them?’ he had asked.

She shook her head without a second thought.

Mark, however, knew the answer wasn’t that simple.

He remembered perfectly the look on his wife’s face when she saw Lily, and also the way she talked about Dalia, mocking her the way only someone close could.

So no matter how much Rose insisted that her family no longer mattered to her, or that they were nothing but strangers, those two were still her younger sisters.

Rose denied it, of course, and immediately added that there was no need to look for them.

According to her, the teleportation stone they had used could only take them to one place: back home, to the catacombs of the Great White North. So there was no way to reach them, even if they wanted to.

Besides, knowing her family, they most likely wouldn’t try anything again for a long time.

According to her, her father wasn’t the type to risk his daughters twice in a row for the same cause. So there wasn’t much point in worrying.

The only different possibility, she mentioned almost offhandedly, was that he might decide to personally leave his seclusion after three hundred years.

Something practically impossible, according to Rose.

She went back to sipping her tea as if she had just said something trivial.

But Mark couldn’t take it with the same calm.

After all, his goal was still to reach level 100, and to do that he had to eliminate every reincarnated person left in this world.

That made Rose’s father, and her family in general, a pretty big problem.

Dalia had already shown what just one of his daughters could do with good gear, and Rose had many more sisters.

So facing him inside the catacombs, surrounded by vampires, would be a fairly quick way to commit suicide.

So, if he wanted any chance, he would have to force him out first.

And all that without counting something Mark had long suspected and that seemed more and more likely.

Rose’s father might have been one of the reincarnated who betrayed Mary. And if that was true, facing him wasn’t a possibility.

It was inevitable.

Still, what troubled Mark most was a single question.

What was Rose going to do when the time came?

Mark closed his eyes for a moment and let out a long sigh before pushing the thought aside. He would have time to think about that later with a cooler head.

Not to mention that today he had something far more immediate to deal with.

The meeting with Emperor Joseph.

Mark waited at the head of the table with his fingers interlaced in front of his mouth and a stack of open documents before him.

He had arrived early to review what Aria had prepared, though in truth he also needed something to keep his mind occupied.

Because Joseph hadn’t sent an emissary.

He had come himself.

And considering that Joseph normally delegated even the smallest matters, Mark seriously doubted he would have made such a journey over something trivial.

‘Yuki,’ he called through the mental link. ‘Are you in position?’

‘Yes, Master. Right behind you.’

‘Perfect.’

The moment Yuki finished answering, the door opened a crack and Aria poked her head in.

“Master, Emperor Joseph is here.”

“Did he come alone?”

“No. He’s accompanied by two guards, but he ordered them to stay in the hallway.”

Mark nodded and settled his back against the chair before clasping his hands on the table.

“Let him in.”

Aria opened the door fully and stepped aside with a bow.

Joseph entered with his usual calm, impeccably dressed, a velvet cape resting on his shoulders.

Gold rings glinted on several of his fingers, but what caught Mark’s attention most was that fake smile he already knew far too well.

“My dear Death Emperor, what a joy to see you again,” the blond man greeted, spreading his arms as if reuniting with an old friend. “Thank you so much for agreeing to receive me on such short notice.”

“Emperor Joseph, I’m glad to see you as well,” Mark replied, though his tone came out much colder than he intended. “Please, have a seat.”

Joseph complied and quickly adjusted his cape as he sat across from him, resting his clasped hands on the table.

Aria withdrew at once to give them privacy and closed the door behind her.

“First of all, allow me to congratulate you,” Joseph said. “I’m told several of your wives will give birth very soon.”

“That’s right.”

“Then you have acted prudently,” Joseph drew his hands a little closer together on the table. “The lack of an heir has destroyed more kingdoms than many wars. So securing the continuity of the crown must always be a ruler’s number one priority.”

Mark kept his face expressionless.

“Having several candidates also helps,” Joseph went on. “One never knows what kind of person a child will turn out to be until it’s too late. Some disappoint, others lack talent, and others simply aren’t made to rule.”

He smiled as if sharing a rather obvious truth.

“With several, at least you can let them be selected among themselves. Competition reveals character, ambition, and strength. By the time it comes to deciding who will inherit, the process will practically have resolved itself.”

“…”

“Although I imagine that, with mothers so… peculiar, your children will be especially hard to compare.”

Mark understood instantly.

Joseph had wrapped the remark in courtesy, but the contempt was the same as always.

That disdain for non-human races which he never managed to hide completely, and which he now had the audacity to extend even to unborn children.

Mark felt a very undiplomatic urge to leap across the table and beat his face to a pulp, but he held back.

Joseph was still his only trade partner, he had traveled personally to the capital, and Aria had been preparing this meeting for days.

So he swallowed his anger.

“I appreciate the congratulations, Joseph, but I imagine you didn’t come all this way just to talk about my family.”

Joseph looked at him for a moment, and his expression changed, as if that were precisely the signal he had been waiting for.

“Very well. Let’s dispense with the pleasantries.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Joseph leaned slightly forward and rested his forearms on the table.

“I’ve come because I believe the time has arrived for our empires to take a step beyond the trade agreements we already have.”

Mark arched an eyebrow.

“What kind of step?”

“A military one,” Joseph replied without looking away. “I want to propose a mutual defense pact. If Eldia is attacked, your empire would come to our aid, and if anyone decides to march against your lands in the south, Eldia would do the same.”