Chapter 105: And It Began
After another 30 minutes of silence, Eleanor finally cheered up, though she was still sad, as expected of someone who just lost a friend. However the important thing for me is that she already doesn't have any thoughts of fighting Hebi, no matter how depressed she is, I would have locked her up in my metaphorical basement, that is safer than having those kinds of impulsive thoughts.
_...I wonder how Roselle will cheer up though... Unlike Eleanor, I don't know how to console him, he is a stranger to me so I don't have any idea how to calm him down... and even if I have, I doubt that they will work._
Surely enough, even though I am a very patient person, I grew restless because the King's mourning takes too much time, of course, I don't know what he is doing (though I am sure he is crying ugly right now) because I conjured noise canceling spell not to startle the nurses and doctors of the hospital.
_I don't want my undead to be buried, so the royal palace is a no-no._
After thinking as such, King Roselle finally went out of the morgue, his hair was strewn all over his face and his once upright shoulders were propped down whilst his once charismatic posture was destroyed as he slouched like an old man, I cannot help but feel bad for him for having his wife dead because of the long aged crossfire between the two strongest countries of the world.
_However, all of this will benefit me, so it is fine... I wonder when did I have such thoughts..._
I wonder when everything that can make my nation abundant is "fine".
I didn't have any time to ponder when I become a monster or anything as the "defeated" king looked at Eleanor and me with his sunken eyes, I silently nodded and then created a portal with geometric lines inside, the two depressed people first entered and I immediately followed them. The portal led to two different places, for the King, it is the dining hall because he is having breakfast while reading those reports. I did not spy any further on what he wanted to do, I looked at my wife who is still silent up until now.
_I ought to cheer her up some more later, I have to meet the king immediately._
I kissed Eleanor on the forehead and the lips, after which I conjured another portal, and before I went and entered it, I looked at my wife and said: "If you have anything you need, call a maid, okay?"
Eleanor nodded and replied: "Okay."
After hearing her simple response, I entered the portal I made and appeared in the dining room, the documents being read by Roselle just a while ago were being put out by an old man who is supposedly his adviser as his King silently eats the foods in front of him, King Roselle looked at me for a brief moment before continuing his silent eating, I did not say anything unnecessary as I also started to eat at the very end of the long table.
There are a variety of foods that don't quite belong to the word "breakfast". Like steak, beef wellington, and more, but I am not a picky eater, so I still ate them all without filter, eh, don't ask me why I am eating even though I am not invited, what do you want me to do? Wait for him to finish eating? It's rude to watch a person eat, you know.
I was giving excuses like that whilst I continued eating my second breakfast, after about 30 minutes of the two of us silently eating together, the King finally spoke.
"Say Sophia... if that corpse is Khearsenbelle, then who am I sleeping with the entire time?"
The King was playing around with the steak in front of him as he asked that question, I cut the Wellington in front of me and circled it in the sauce, after which, I answered.
"I think you already know who she is."
I had a solemn expression as I answered whilst I ate the cut of wellington, the king frowned at this, seemingly realizing the peculiarities of the person who was accompanying him with his sleep, but given the fact that she is "that" person, these anomalies are very minuscule to the point that the King and other people close to her can't even notice it they were so small that the Roselle cannot notice it unless he thought about it.
How pitiful... and yet he still has to worry about the well-being of his Kingdom despite his wife being already dead.
_Heavy is the head that wears the crown..._
That is all that I can say upon looking at the King, who is trying to set aside his emotions, of course, even I would fail to do such a thing, so after another bout of silence, Roselle once again spoke whilst looking at his empty plate.
"... Is there nothing we... no, you can do?"
I paused the dismantling of my food as I glanced at the King, I then shook my head simply, looking at my sympathetic eyes, Roselle's eyes widened, it was a little bloodshot, obviously trying to grasp all the straws he could.
"But... but, according to some myths, the owner of the great forest can bring back the dead! And given that you are his blessed and hero, you should be able to do the same, right!?"
Roselle looked at me as if he was a maniac as he stood up from his seat, I feel quite bad for lying, however, I know that the person in front of me doesn't believe in his own words. I mean, the fact that there are undeads in this world but don't have necromancers is confusing enough.
Let me explain how is such a thing possible, in this world, undeads are not monsters who spawn in graves if you don't purify the corpse or some shit, undeads are a proper race, a race fostered by the god of undead that is also the god of death, and by definition, necromancers are the ones who create undeads and by the mythology of Pentateuch, only the gods can create a living "something" out of nothing.
In short, my father was the only necromancer in this world before I arrived.
It's like how the 3 laws of motion were seen as bullshit at some point in time, this world thinks that because the god of the undead is the creator of undeads, no mortal can be the creator again.
At some point in time, I would be able to exploit this matter, but we have to focus on the person in front of me.
"Roselle, I know that your loss is hard to accept, but you have to wake up to reality, I am not a god, and I am the fallen hero of the god of the undead, I am a trespasser on his land and not his blessed or anything, I cannot do anything nor will I attempt something that is doomed to fail."
The King looked at me as he gritted his teeth, trying hard not to cry but failing to do so, and then silent sobs reverberated through the whole dining area, I did not continue eating as I watched him silently. He might be more comfortable crying with a stranger than a person he knew very well, after all, all the people who know him as the King of the strongest human Kingdom, the inheritor of the honored name "Roselle", so I did not dare disturb him.
Another torrent of painful silence invaded the room the two of us were in, and only after 5 minutes did Roselle uncover his eyes, he was seemingly going through a lot of emotions, right now, his eyes were glazed and he was seemingly angry.
_So he's fuming now because someone has disguised as his wife... Also, he most likely knows that his brother has some hands in all of these._
As I was thinking of that, King Roselle spoke.
"Then, what shall we do? About "that" person who is copying the appearance of my wife, that person is already going out of my room this day, and the breakfast you are eating is hers."
I flinched a little at that thought if Roselle already knew this matter before breakfast, there would be poison in this food for sure, well, I wouldn't be affected, but poisons taste bad, so I don't want to taste it, anyway, in such a question, my answer was already prepared beforehand, I was the one who urged her to go outside after all, this is already the last day by which I estimated that the concealment of the chambers will have a counterspell. For some reason, Hebi used her magic to recreate it, so it took longer.
I nodded seriously as I sorted out the plan I had in mind.
"This is what I have in mind..."
I said my plan to him in half-complete detail, I mean, who knows what methods Hebi knows in making people divulge information, I had to be careful after I said all of that, I continued as I stared at the door.
"In ten seconds, the doppelganger of your wife will enter that door, you have to act to the best of your ability like I was never here, replenish all of the plates like you have eaten it all... I know this is hard for you, but please cooperate with me, both of our interests are on the line."
As Roselle nodded all of the plates beside me that I had eaten at flew towards the wash area using wind magic, Roselle immediately ordered their replenishment and after they had been replenished, I conjured a portal and immediately went out of the room.
_Let the party begin._
That is all I can say.
[3rd Person POV]
As the King tried his best to wipe away all of his tears to appear sharp, he picked up a spicy dish and started to wipe his eyes with a towel, after doing so, the door in the dining room opened up and there walked in a lady with red hair and red eyes, his dress is fiery, just like her hair and the v-neck makes one have a glorious look on the canyon she hides on her chest, her hips swayed like a piston in full motion as she slowly sat in the seat of the queen.
"It is the first time in a while that the two of us will have breakfast together."
Roselle subconsciously flinched as the Queen's smile froze, well no one will blame Roselle, after all, it was the first time that he felt scared despite looking at the perfect figure of his "wife"
______
Hebi, the one who is disguised as the queen starts to eat the heavy breakfast, however, from the expression the King just made earlier, she cannot help but frown.
_I have been discovered._
As an experienced spy, Hebi Tsukaiza doesn't need any other clue or any word, just a single flinch is already enough to confirm her suspicion, and for her to be discovered despite her celebrated ability to act only means one thing.
_Sophia already started her true moves, she is not going to delay any further._
Hebi Tsukaiza sighed as she looked at the King who was seemingly crying just a few moments ago but hid it by using the spicy food in front of him. The two "husband and wife" continued their breakfast in silence as if they were enjoying this moment, no one talked and only the silent chewing of food was audible in the whole room.
Such painfully silent breakfast lasted for about an hour as the Roselle and Hebi started to do their matters, King Roselle specifically called out to one of his spies as he ordered.
"I want Noire Gjallarhorn in the throne room."
______
Meanwhile, in the forest adjacent to Heimdall, Flou alongside the newest undead, Khearsenbelle is in the patch of tree that is still being maintained by Flou to avoid suspicion. The two of them stood there in silence waiting for an order from their queen to arrive, besides that, Flou is also communicating with his former subordinates so that he can continuously report matters to Hebi Tsukaiza, also he is given the task to slowly whittle away the devils under him so that his Queen Sophia can turn them into undead for operations outside the retrieval of the undead's relic.
Just when he was continuing his maintenance of the illusion, Flou heard the voice of his lady in his mind. A feat that not even Hebi can do, for him, this is a statement of Sophia's greatness.
"Flou, I want you to order your subordinates to kill one of the subordinates of the other vice captains, after that, give a letter to Hebi Tsukaiza that you are assaulted by one of the subordinates of the two other vice captains, I want this to happen now."
Flou immediately stood up as he analyzed the command, he could not help but admire his new master.
_To think that master Sophia could know the composition of our ranks without me giving it to her, also, she knew how we communicate important matters... as expected._
Flou felt grateful that he was killed but looked at the sun that already enveloped half of the world.
"This will be challenging."