Chapter 1564: It Has Started

One quiet afternoon, Lory found herself with an unexpected guest. She opened the front door and stopped. Leaning against the door frame, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the tall figure in a black hoodie standing outside like a suspicious deliveryman who had taken a wrong turn.

"Aren’t you supposed to be busy?" she asked coolly.

Beneath the shadow of the hood, Lucas grinned. Though he had altered his appearance and hairstyle before coming, he did not lower the hood. As Lucient heir, caution has become his second nature, especially outside palace grounds.

"Come on," he said lightly. "Is that how you greet your cute brother?"

"Cute?" Lory’s brows lifted in disbelief. "You’ve long passed the expiration date for that title."

Lucas clicked his tongue. "Hey, you forgot, we’re the same age."

Lory pouted. "Hey, don’t forget. After all that jumping between worlds and realms, I’m probably younger than you now." But then she mutters the last sentence quietly. "Actually... I’m not entirely sure anymore."

"Or older," Lucas added helpfully.

Her eyes narrowed at once. "You’d better have something important to say," Her expression clearly conveyed: If not, turn around and leave.

Lucas did not answer her question immediately. Instead, he straightened his back, then with deliberate slowmotion he raised his hands to show the dessert box he brought, then he make dramatic gesture around the box.

"Not only that..." he asked mildly, voice smooth with mischief, "Are you sure, you’re not going to let me in?"

Lory’s gaze followed the movement to the simple dessert with a cute pudding design on it. Lory immediately recognized the brand, but she thought the store had been closed after the war, so how could it be?!

Lucas saw Lory bite her lips as she tried to restrain herself. What a futile effort. What kind of king are you if you cannot manipulate other people’s weaknesses?

"If you don’t want it, I’ll just take this home with me," Lucas pretended to sigh.

Lory let out a groan, then snatched the dessert box from his hand, hugging it tightly against her chest as though he might reclaim it at any second.

"Fine," she muttered reluctantly. "Come in."

Lucas rolled his eyes. What exactly was she afraid of—that he would snatch the pudding from her hands? Unlike Lory, he had never been particularly fond of sweets.

He took one deliberate step forward, just enough to make her tense, then stopped beside her instead. A faint smirk tugged at his lips. He wouldn’t miss the opportunity to tease her a little longer.

"I think you forgot to say something." He gave Lory a deeply disappointed look, as though wounded by her terrible manners.

Lory’s mouth turned downward. In that instant, she remembered exactly why they used to bicker endlessly as children.

Through clenched teeth, she gave a forced smile. "Thank you, brother."

Lucas beamed. "You’re welcome, my dear sister~."

He entered with the air of a man who had won a great political victory, while Lory shut the door behind him with a soft but distinctly irritated click.

Inside, Lucas glanced around the villa. Wooden floors blended seamlessly with stone and marble accents. Carved wooden pillars gave the space an earthy elegance.

Zhao Li Xin’s paintings adorned the walls, minimal yet striking. The furnishings were sparse, only the essentials, giving the entire house an open, breathable calm.

They passed through a carved wooden moon gate that connected the living room to the kitchen.

Lucas paused, genuinely impressed. "I like this. It makes the space feel larger."

"Yeah," Lory replied casually. "One of the brute assassins smashed the wall during a fight. It widened the space nicely, so I kept it." She sounded rather proud of her accidental architectural vision.

Lucas gave an acknowledging nod. "So something good came out of it."

"Not when you see the full renovation bill." Lory’s lips curled into a sly grin. "You know, I eventually did a complete makeover of the entire villa."

"I didn’t know," Lucas said with a careless shrug. "I leave all of that to Fred. After all, it’s his job to oversee the royal family’s expenses."

Lory tilted her head, clearly trying to picture it. "Did he make that face?"

"What face?" Lucas puzzle.

"You know..."

Lory demonstrated the look by pressing her lips tightly together until they curled downward, then widening her eyes like a deer caught in headlights. Her brows knitted so closely they nearly collided, and she hunched her shoulders, shrinking her neck until her chin almost touched her chest.

"You know, like he’s holding in a fart," she said solemnly, "but he knew it was gonna be smelly so he hold it with everything he got, like this!"

Lucas stared at her for a long second.

"...Oh." A slow look of realization spread across his face.

"Now that you mention it," Lucas said thoughtfully, "he does make that face whenever he’s reviewing the kingdom’s expenditures, oh and also when he sees how much funding NIMS requires."

"Aye-yai-yai..." Lory shook her head as she carefully lifted the pudding out of the dessert box. "I don’t want to be anywhere near him when he makes that face."

Lucas slid onto a stool and leaned lazily against the counter. "Lucky you..."

Lory flashed him a triumphant smile. Then something occurred to her. She narrowed her eyes.

"By the way, you didn’t actually come out alone, did you?"

Lucas glanced at her. "Of course not. Clift’s with me—well, he was. He went to check on the Noxcra agent disguised as your neighbor. You know how he is... a worrywart."

He paused, eyeing the pudding. "By the way... are you not going to offer me any?"

Lory was midway through lifting a spoonful to her mouth. She paused. "You don’t even like sweets."

"No," Lucas admitted, "but it’s still nice to be offered."

Lory gave him a saccharine, utterly insincere smile. "Aww... what on earth made you think I would do that?"

He actually paused to consider it, brows drawing together in thought. "...You’re right."

Lucas gave her a resigned look before letting the matter go. His gaze drifted around the villa, the polished marble, the carved wooden pillars, the quiet hum of afternoon light settling through the windows.

"Where’s Li Xin?" he asked at last.

"Cultivating inside his ring." Lory scooped another spoonful into her mouth and leaned against the counter. "He’s a bit unhappy with his slow progress. Said he needs a powerful enemy as a sparring partner."

"Huh..." Lucas murmured thoughtfully. He moved behind the counter and began making himself a cup of coffee. "Well... if he’s serious, I might be able to find something."

Lory perked up immediately. "Oh? Like what?"

"You know about Bael?" Lucas poured the coffee and took a measured sip.

"Yeah. What about it?" Lory tossed the empty pudding container into the bin, already opening another one without hesitation.

"They’ve evolved," Lucas said, leaning back against the counter with his cup in hand. "Their bodies are nearly three times their original size now. Their regenerative abilities are improving too. And over the past two weeks, their attacks on our territory have become more frequent."

"But you strengthened the King’s Barrier, right? So there shouldn’t be a problem," Lory said casually.

Lucas did not answer at once.

He stared into his coffee instead, watching the dark surface ripple faintly.

"Who knows," he said at last, his tone turning solemn. "Even small termites can bring down an entire palace."

Lory straightened slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I can protect Harland," Lucas replied calmly. "But what about the other countries? If Bael burns half the world, what do you think all those frightened, panicked people will do?" His gaze shifted to her, steady and unblinking.

"Even our own citizens have family and friends outside the country. Do you think they won’t demand that we help them too? You saw for yourself what happened during the Dark Ages War, didn’t you?"

The implication settled heavily.

"So because they can face us directly, they’re destabilizing other countries so we’ll be forced to step in," Lory said, her voice sharpening. "We’re the strongest nation in the world. If we don’t act, the entire world will condemn us."

Her eyes darkened. "So we’ll have to send aid, troops, supplies, funding...a lot of it, and not just to our allies, but to everyone, and they know it."

Lory snorted angrily. "They can’t breach our walls... so they’re setting the world on fire and forcing us to exhaust our resources."

After that, a sigh escaped her, "Fred’s going to make that ’fart’ face again."

"Yup. And when that happens, I’m making you stand next to me," Lucas said calmly.

"Misery should be shared between siblings. That’s only fair." he said self righteously then lifted his cup and took a slow, satisfied sip.

Lory let out a dramatic groan, and Lucas laughed happily, clearly enjoying their bickering.

Suddenly, Lucas’s phone rang.

He put down his coffee cup and answered it. Lory could hear Fargo’s voice faintly from the other end. A few seconds later, Lucas turned to her.

"Lory, can you turn on the TV?"

"Sure." Lory gave a voice command. "Turn on the TV."

Immediately, the giant screen on the wall lit up.

A breaking news report appeared, an attack at the Arwegian border. Dozens of Orcs that had transformed into Bael were assaulting the city. Their skin had hardened into bark-like armor, covered with dark brown vines. The monsters swung their axes and crushed armored vehicles as if they were made of paper.

The soldiers threw what looked like bombs, but Lory recognized them instantly. It was B-13, the weapon developed by their kingdom to suppress the Bael’s regenerative ability.

Only after deploying it did the soldiers manage to turn the tide. However, due to the sheer number of Orcs, it took nearly an hour for the soldiers to eliminate all of them.

But the news did not end there.

The screen shifted abruptly, another red banner, another urgent voice strained beneath controlled professionalism.

A second attack.

Different country. Same pattern.

The footage rolled in fragments: smoke climbing into a gray sky, civilians fleeing through shattered streets, soldiers forming defensive lines against towering figures of bark and vine. The assault had come without warning. Sudden. Coordinated. Massive.

Too massive to be coincidence. Lucas did not move. Lory slowly set the untouched pudding aside.

The glow of the screen flickered across their faces, sharpening the tension in their eyes. Neither of them spoke, but they know that they came to the same conclusion

"Fred is going to make that ’fart’ face again."