Chapter 146: More Beautiful

Chapter 146 -117: More Beautiful

Third, in the aftermath of the Witch disaster in Blue Moon Territory, large tracts of land and wealth had been left vacant. The council hoped Catherine would redistribute these resources.

Fourth, Yusofa had been completely taken over by Rose Territory. In theory, Yusofa belonged to the Criss Clan, who were vassals of the Jackson Family, so the question was whether to retake it. Of course, the ministers’ consensus was to avoid using force and instead try to buy it back with gold.

In response to the first issue, Catherine decided to pay the Witch protection tax in a single lump sum.

This greatly surprised Lian. The Guardian Bureau was demanding an exorbitant price, a one-time Witch protection tax of 100 million gold. Had it been Green Shade Territory, they would likely have had to take on massive debt and pay in installments.

The Jackson Family truly lived up to its reputation as one of the wealthiest families in the Empire. With Catherine and Lorne as the sole heirs, they possessed a vast fortune. They didn’t even need to touch Blue Moon Territory’s public accounts; a withdrawal from Catherine’s private account was enough to solve the problem.

For the rich, this was basically a non-issue.

Choosing not to haggle with the Guardian Bureau was done entirely to give the King face and to show gratitude for his support of Catherine during the incident.

Next, Catherine rejected the proposal to send Lorne Jackson to the High Tower. As for the vacant lands and wealth, she allocated one-third to the existing noble vassals, one-third to the Jackson Family, and the remaining one-third to attract wanderers and Adventurers from the Wilderness.

As for Yusofa, they would first attempt to negotiate with Mary.

This series of decisions showed the ministers Catherine’s political aptitude, dispelling some of the unfavorable rumors about her.

‘Can a sixteen-year-old orphan of the Jackson family—who has lived in the High Tower for so long, uncultured and inexperienced, with nothing but beauty and wealth—truly be a good Lord for Blue Moon Territory?’

In her first high-level meeting, Catherine gave them their answer.

She was not some decorative vase who depended on men; she had her own decisiveness and courage.

Although the meeting didn’t cover many topics, it still took up the entire day.

This was exactly why Lian hated meetings.

He would much rather hand these matters over to a secretary.

Unfortunately, Catherine didn’t have a beautiful and intelligent female secretary like he did.

Besides, Catherine was new to politics and needed to spend more time and energy on it.

Furthermore, these were major issues that would determine the future of Blue Moon Territory. It was better for Catherine to make these decisions herself than to have anyone else do it.

However, the final issue of the meeting remained unresolved.

No one in Blue Moon Territory dared to go and negotiate with Mary. It wasn’t just Catherine who feared her; not a single noble or minister dared to face the Southern Dominator directly.

It was only then that Lian realized how rare a man like Green Shade Territory’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alex Pool, truly was.

Based on his performance at last night’s banquet alone, Alex Pool deserved a medal for courage.

Blue Moon Territory clearly lacked such a young minister with courage and conviction.

But Lian wouldn’t take the initiative to get involved in Blue Moon Territory’s affairs. The military aid was simply part of a pre-existing agreement. If he started meddling in their internal affairs, it would be overreaching, and it would further destabilize Catherine’s already precarious position.

It might even lead Catherine’s vassals to believe he was trying to annex Blue Moon Territory by manipulating her, painting him as an ambitious schemer and a social climber.

‘In reality, I have no such intentions at all.’

‘Although Blue Moon Territory’s Blue Moon Ore is indeed mouth-watering.’

‘But isn’t what’s Catherine’s also mine?’

The next day, the discussion about the Yusofa negotiations continued.

After several rounds of debate, the matter was ultimately assigned to Viscount Steel, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was already responsible for such matters.

Lian didn’t continue to accompany Catherine to the mind-numbingly boring meetings. Instead, he chose to bond with his little brother-in-law and help him with his mindset. For example, when a person’s aesthetic tastes deviate from the norm, perhaps it’s not the person who’s at fault, but the world.

“Oh, really? You went through a phase where you were into Goblins?”

Lorne Jackson really enjoyed chatting with Lian. After drinking together twice, they had become friends who could talk about anything. The first time was at the banquet Catherine held to celebrate her succession as Lord, and the second time was today.

However, Lorne Jackson was more restrained today and didn’t drink too much.

The feeling of being dead drunk really wasn’t pleasant. Lorne Jackson still felt awful the next day, and this was now the third day.

In truth, back in Rose Territory, he never dared to drink much out of fear, not even wanting to touch a wine glass.

Only after returning to Blue Moon Territory did he dare to drink so freely.

He loved listening to Lian talk about experiences so different from his own life, especially when Lian mentioned the Goblins of the Golden Forest.

“Yes, although it was a short phase, and I was saved by the beautiful Catherine.”

“I wish I could have novel experiences like you,” Lorne Jackson sighed.

“Heh, you will,” Lian said, raising his glass.

Lorne Jackson looked at Lian in surprise.

“What I mean is, the Goblins of the Golden Forest are now vassals of Green Shade Territory. At my and Catherine’s engagement ceremony, the Goblins will also send a representative. You’ll get to see the Goblin Princess then. Aside from her blue skin, she’s actually quite a beauty.”

“I’ll keep this a secret from Catherine.”

Lorne Jackson gave him a knowing look that all men would understand.

“No, there’s no need to keep it a secret from Catherine. I have no secrets from her. She knows everything about me, and she has one hundred percent faith in my character,” Lian said with great confidence.

At this, the third person at the table scoffed.

Dora, a beautiful red-haired girl in a long white dress, was also a little drunkard who loved her wine.

In an effort to help Catherine, Dora had also brought up the benefits of being a zombie to Lorne Jackson, but with little effect.

Lorne Jackson just found Miss Magic Box to be a very strange person.

‘Who would want to become a zombie?’

‘What’s so great about zombies anyway? Everything you’ve said sounds like a downside.’

He even felt that although Miss Magic Box was beautiful, she seemed out of place drinking with the two of them. He wanted to send her away as soon as possible but couldn’t think of a reasonable excuse.

“Miss Magic Box, are you really Dora’s twin sister?”

“Of course. Don’t you think we look alike?” Dora retorted to Lorne Jackson.

Lorne Jackson had met Witch Dora before, and although it had only been a handful of times, Dora and Magic Box did indeed look identical.

Furthermore, information about the Guardian Witch was only accessible to the Lord, the Guardian Bureau, and high-ranking members of the Church. So, when Dora suddenly gained a twin sister, outsiders truly couldn’t tell if it was real or not.

“You do look alike, but I always thought Witches were solitary beings.”

What Lorne Jackson meant was that Witches didn’t have siblings.

“Also, the name Magic Box is really strange.”

Faced with Lorne Jackson’s critique, Dora shot a hateful glare at Lian.

“Some people don’t put any thought into naming things at all.”

Lian coughed twice. “Lorne, would you be willing to be the officiant at my and Catherine’s engagement ceremony?”

“I thought you would invite the Grand Priest.”

Lorne believed no one’s status was more fitting than Grand Priest Cosme Pizarro’s.

Lian shook his head. “The Grand Priest won’t be attending our engagement ceremony. He’s setting off today, taking the train from Blue Moon Territory back to the Imperial Capital.”

“Leaving today? Is the Church Court’s Knight Order leaving with him?” Lorne asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

He didn’t want this group from the Empire to leave so soon. It was obvious they didn’t want to get involved in the conflict.

“Yes, and the Empire Envoy, too. They’re all leaving today. If we head over now, we can still make it in time to see them off at the train,” Lian said nonchalantly.

He hadn’t expected the group from the Royal Capital to be of any real help anyway. The Grand Priest had indeed helped quite a bit, but it wasn’t appropriate for him to stay any longer.

Lian couldn’t offer a suitable bargaining chip; his army had no beautiful, virginal youths to the Grand Priest’s liking.

Besides, with the Grand Priest around, he felt too embarrassed to perform cult sacrifices, which prevented him from communicating deeply with Jari’s Eye of Misfortune. The Grand Priest was just getting in the way.

The Grand Priest’s departure wasn’t a bad thing for Lian, nor was it a bad thing for the overall situation.

But Lorne Jackson didn’t see it that way.

He believed that Mary had been holding back and hadn’t attacked directly precisely because she was wary of the power of the Church Court and the King.

He didn’t know that Mary, in some ways, had a much closer relationship with the Church Court.

After all, Mary was the one chosen by the God of Tiger.