Hi, readers. Greetings with love. Hope you are keeping safe and looking after yourself. I am "trying" to post once per week. However, no promises to this as my life is so hectic but I just want to let you know that I am doing my best and do not give up on me. 10 chapters (minimum) to go, we are almost there.

Chapter 70

Bai Yuwen Hong
Emperor Huizhong
The Dragon Study
Nevoria

"It is a ruckus, Your Majesty," the Envoy General passionately shared, "The Priestess unit released the prophecy for the unborn. 'Teres Taka.'"

"What does that mean?" The Research General frowned.

"Teres Takar: the comforter to the broken hearted, the protector and provider; the utmost symbol of peace and prosperity for Furia."

"Furia must be delighted. Prophecies have good record as no prophecy was ever uttered and did not take place. This is why there is a union between Furians and priestesses, the priestesses choose the leader for Furians through prophecy and the Furians in return protect the lineage of the priestesses," the National General gave his input.

Yuwen Hong created four positions, the National General, Envoy General, Research General, and War General. These four men were his right and left hand. Instead of listening to the endless quibbling of his ministers who only cared for themselves rather than the welfare of his nation, he had reduced his morning meetings from every day to once a week. Those he would see daily were these four men he meticulously picked.

"A nation's treasure is in its scholars," the saying said, "Men of loyalty, dedication, and wisdom." The four generals were the perfect definition of this as they strove for the same purpose he had.

"Definitely not delighted," the Envoy General corrected the NationalGeneral, "No prophecy comes to a priestess unless the unborn is supposed to be the next queen."

"I do not follow," the National General was puzzled.

"Here is where it gets interesting. The Furian royals, including the queen, when they touched the belly, predicted it shall be a male child."

"A male child shall sit on the throne?"

"That is unheard of! Precisely. The Priestesses have been cast in a tight corner. Now do people question their legitimacy, though it is a conundrum since each and every prophecy in the past took place."

The War General chuckled. "No matter what gender this child is, Furia is bound to be weakened."

"It can only go one way, I presume, since the beloved Lord Liege of the Drakko touched the belly and predicted a male as well, a few days ago."

"Then this shall have the priestesses losing face," the Research General marveled.

"The queen wanted to avoid this and thus pleaded the priestesses to take back the prophecy and apologise. After all, they have a history of accuracy, just one mistake will not taint their image," the Envoy General continued.

"I doubt they agreed," the Reseach General massaged his chin in thought.

"Exactly, and such has left the Furian court wobbling."

"But what if both are right? It may be a king that shall be the leader," the National General sipped his tea thoughtfully.

"That is blasphemy and impossible. Even according to the prophecy."

"Meaning?"

"Teres takar. These words are feminine and in no way masculine. Teres takar can also be interpreted to be 'mother of nations'. Thus, not possible the unborn will rise to power if he is male. This prophecy is for a female child."

"Here is what I think, maybe what Crown Princess Elora carries is a male but not the future leader. In the same timing, someone, who is not Elora, may also be pregnant with the future leader. Thus, the prophecy," the National General gave his hypothesis.

Yuwen Hong took a large gulp of his wine and continued to listen in to his four generals. Ever since hearing of Elora's pregnancy, he dared not say anything. The Furian Palace released the statement that Elora was three months pregnant, and they separated five months ago. It was hard to swallow the fact that someone had touched his woman, two months right off after he had. Someone dared lay their hands on her.

He had no one to blame for it. No one.

"Your Majesty, this servant thinks it is best His Majesty renounces the marriage and cut the thread with the Crown Princess," the National General brought his mind back to the conversation. "Grand Consort Lu Ruo Xi has been nothing but exceptional as the leader of the Inner Court, though quite new. The Lu clan has a history of commitment to the court as well. From this humble servant's perspective, it will be favorable to His Majesty to cut the thread and renounce your first wife so that Grand Consort Lu could be the first wife."

In the past, an emperor would make promises to one nation that the first wife he married would be his empress. However, he would make a more favourable deal with the next nation, thus marrying the second wife and making her the empress. When this happened, commotion and animosity would grow between allies.

For this reason, a rule was pledged that only the first wife could be the Empress. It was no longer possible to title the second wife the empress. The only possible way to have a second wife as empress was through divorce of the first wife or when the first wife died.

Lu Ruo Xi, no matter how pleasant she had been as far, could never become empress unless Elora died or he divorced her.

"It is a shame to the nation that the first wife is pregnant with someone else's child, Your Majesty. This humble servant asks for your consideration on this matter," the National General bowed.

"Nevoria is an empire of greatness, thus it is only us who can declare what is right or wrong. If I say it is not shameful for my wife to be pregnant with another's child, then it is not," Yuwen Hong began to open the map, already done with the subject.

"Your Majesty," the National General pleaded.

"A father never abandons his son. Even if he is disobedient and a disgrace, he is forever a son. The same applies to my wife. A pledge before the Heavens, what right do I have to break it except the Heavens?" He spread the map on the huge wooden table, making sure not to tip over the candle. "If the Heavens despise her as my first wife, let them kill her, otherwise, she will always be mine, and no thread do I desire to snap off."

"His Majesty is wise," the National General recoiled from the matter obediently.

"The Envoy General and the National General have shared with me their reports. War General, shall we begin?"

"Many thanks to His Majesty," the War General saluted, "This subject is pleased to share that the military numbers have doubled as planned and the focus is now on honing skilled men."

"Marvelous," Yuwen Hong smirked. "The war will go as planned. A quarter are to set off to Huticah, and on the way, you shall meet the Furian reinforcements. Three-quarters must go ahead to Furia for our greater mission."

With Furia sending reinforcements to Huticah as they promised when they took Elora, it will weaken their strength, thus the best time to attack and reclaim Furia as Nevoria's. The days of glory were when Furia and Nevoria were one, it was Yuwen Hong's duty to bring these pieces back into place.

"Huticah is at its weakest at the moment, a quarter shall be good enough to lay siege. What I am worried about is Furia's royal strength, thus the best of the best should go to Furia."

"Does His Majesty have a date for the attack yet?"

"The Envoy General stated that the Crown Princess has to retreat from national affairs as she is expected to have a difficult time in her last trimester; this is in three months," Yuwen Hong pinned Furia on the map. "A mother hen is at her weakest when tending to her eggs, this will be the perfect time. Queen Elora shall be worrying over the Crown Princess and the child, do you think she will care for national affairs as much at such a time?"

"Yes," the Envoy General agreed. "This will be a great time and the only person we would have to worry about would be the Lord Liege."

"Any news on him?"

"Nothing of importance as far, Your Majesty. We still doubt he has attained the pitfire, yet. Which is of much relief."

Yuwen Hong nodded in agreement. If the Lord Liege had possession of such fire then they were already at such a disadvantage.

"The only news we have is that he abducted a Nevorian which he took much interest in. This caused disagreements between him and the queen as she wanted him to take her back," the Envoy General explained. "That was how Elora became Crown Princess. The Queen made such a deal that she would allow the Nevorian to stay as long as he would give in his vote for Elora to be officiated, Crown Princess."

"Seems the Lord Liege has acquired a weakness if such a thing forced him to change his mind, what is so special about this Nevorian that the queen insisted her return?"

"The queen has been posting proposals for Nevoria to stop the abduction of Furians, maybe she predicted that the abduction of the Nevorian by the Lord Liege would give us the excuse not to stop."

Yuwen Hong frowned, that seemed to be reasonable ground but seemed to be not quite right. For the Nevorian to matter, she had to be of importance to Nevoria. Yet, Furia placed importance on all human life, so the Envoy General could be right.

"How must we respond to the proposals insisting for our people to stop the abductions? It is in the treaty that we promise to stop taking advantage of them."

"If we stop the abductions, the Furians will further think it is right that they are apart from us. The only place Furia should find peace is with us. I will stop their turmoil and pain only if they surrender to us again. I only protect my own."

"Your Majesty! Dowager Empress Wang has arrived!" Eunuch Nam announced.

"Research General, what is the progress on the weaponry?" Yuwen Hong asked in ending of the meeting.

"Responding to His Majesty, we are within plan in producing sufficient otta arrows."

These arrows were coated with poison that supernatural royals could not heal from. Only this poison threatened their lives and would strike them dead during war.

It was the same as cutting the head of the enemy. If Nevoria managed to get rid of the royals, only in this way would they win the war.

"What about the other poison I asked for? The vassow?" This was the only poison that could take down a man in possession of the pitfire. If Lord Liege was in possession of the pitfire, he was above the otta arrows as their strikes would be a scratch to him.

"We are still researching, Your Majesty."

"Hurry up, time is not on our side. We must be prepared for all possibilities. It would be stupid to assume that this Liege Lord did not attain pitfire and hid it from us."

It was minutes later when the Dowager Empress Wang sat before him with the generals dismissed.

"Dowager Empress knew my father the most, thus I have summoned you to hear my father's mind."

She took a sip of the tea on the small table and replied, "This servant is for your service."

Yuwen Hong finished off his wine. "Do you think he would have been proud?"

She frowned as if pitying him. "Your father's dream was to expand the empire. Besides, after witnessing how his grandfather suffered to keep the barely standing Nevoria together when it lost Furia due to the revolution, he was more than determined for that purpose."

"Zhen is delighted to hear that." Yuwen Hong leered as he watched her take another sip.

Just like she had Yang Liu hide herself, he would hide her death as well. Just as she made Yang Liu pretend to the world, Yuwen Hong would pretend Dowager Empress was not dying as well.

The vile woman ruined his innocent childhood by parting him from his mother, did she think being cast away to the Cold Palace was enough punishment? Killing and poisoning many people, including Luo Meng's mother; she deserved death.

He could not kill her as he desired when his wings were still sprouting, unlike now that he brought glory to Nevoria, no one would bat an eye to his decisions. He bided his time and the day had come.

Yuwen Hong laughed to himself when she started coughing blood, realising death had come at her door. He loved the look of betrayal she gave him.

"Your Majesty does not forgive, after all," she coughed even more blood as she tried to speak, "you... you always... get even."

"How unfortunate you only realise it now," he grinned. It was foremost the reason he was not going to have mercy on Furia. Queen Elora dared to take what was his, how dare she?

A neighbour will steal your chicken today, and tomorrow your cow. That is why he could not stop at nothing. Furia was his, and so was forever Li Lian his.

S.V