"Cassius..."
Standing before the towering, heavy iron gates, Olivia gazed up at the magnificent palace where she had once resided for so long and called out in a low voice.
The guards stationed at the entrance recognized Olivia, knowing she had lived in the palace before, so they did not bar her way. However, having received no direct orders, they did not open the gates either.
"You should be able to hear me," Olivia muttered softly under her breath.
She had witnessed firsthand the astonishing "authority" the red dragon commanded across the empire and knew he had undoubtedly sensed her arrival.
Sure enough, a familiar voice rang out, echoing beyond the palace walls.
"Let her in."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
With a dull rumble, the ponderous gates slowly swung inward, revealing the palace grounds before Olivia's eyes.
"The royal palace..."
"It really has been a long time since I last returned."
Looking out over the familiar gardens and majestic halls, a faint light flickered in Olivia's blue-gray eyes.
For nearly a year, she had relocated to Isdalia, disguising herself as a human and relying on her own efforts to become a member of parliament in the realm.
Yet this place had once been the "cage" that imprisoned her.
Though she had only spent a few months here—a mere blink of an eye compared to her near-century of life—that experience remained indelibly etched into her memory.
Even so, she did not look back on it with bitterness or distress. Instead, she felt an inexplicable sense of warmth, perhaps even nostalgia.
Did she still harbor resentment and hatred in her heart?
Perhaps.
Even Olivia herself found it difficult to untangle such complicated emotions, let alone when she had a favor to ask of that very red dragon shortly.
At the thought, Olivia could not help but clutch the documents in her arms more tightly, quickening her pace.
Following the paved avenue to the front of the main hall, the massive palace doors carved with dragon heads swung open.
What met her eyes was the red dragon coiled upon his rather cramped throne. With sweeping backward horns, expansive wings, and pale golden slit pupils, his colossal draconic frame took up nearly half the hall, possessing an overwhelming visual presence.
Powerful, majestic, noble, and—flawless.
Those words surfaced almost subconsciously in Olivia's mind, giving her a sudden daze as if she were gazing upon the platinum statue of Bahamut in her clan's dragon aerie.
Even more terrifying was that his body length had already reached forty meters. Even the elders of the Melvold clan were nowhere near this massive.
*He's grown even stronger,* Olivia thought to herself.
That also meant the chasm between them had grown wider. Though she could not explain why, she felt an inexplicable twinge of disappointment.
It took a long moment for Olivia to regain her composure, the light in her blue-gray slit pupils wavering with a swirl of conflicting emotions.
Parting her lips, she said softly, "Long time no see, Cassius."
"Long time no see, Member Olivia. You've certainly been stirring up quite a storm on the imperial political stage lately."
Wisps of grayish-white smoke drifted from Cassius's maw. The corners of his mouth curled faintly, a half-smile forming across his draconic visage.
Olivia looked slightly surprised. "You know what I did?"
Cassius replied, "Naturally. As an ordinary member of the House of Commons, you openly rebutted a motion endorsed by Duke Duoluo and sparked a conflict between the military and the government."
"Tsk, tsk. You really possess quite some ability. Do you know what the people of the empire call you? The Flower of Justice."
He actually knew?
She had assumed that as the exalted emperor of the realm, he would never bother with such trivial matters, let alone an ordinary proposal. Yet Cassius had recounted the incident without missing a detail.
One had to remember that according to certain rumors within the empire, His Majesty Cassius was supposed to have been slumbering this whole time.
Could he have been watching her in secret all along?
For some reason, a spark of delight fluttered in Olivia's heart, and a barely noticeable touch of satisfaction brushed across her pretty face, turning her cheeks faintly pink.
Cassius tilted his head slightly and asked, "So... you came to the palace just for this matter?"
"Yes."
Olivia nodded gently, but after a brief hesitation, she added, "Though not only for this."
"Oh? Then let's discuss the proposal first."
Cassius flicked a claw gently. The documents clutched in Olivia's arms floated into the air, and fiery light projected the text upward.
Lines of elegant, neat script hung suspended in midair, orderly and clear.
"This is..."
Olivia's eyes instantly widened, a flicker of astonishment flashing through her pupils.
Such delicate, effortless mastery over elemental fire was something she, as a wizard, had never witnessed in all her life.
Even Trafalanlo, the legendary archmage of the Arcane Hermitage, did not possess such potent elemental control.
In just a few moments, Cassius finished skimming through the proposal.
He chuckled, shaking his head. "A fine proposal, but entirely too idealistic. It would be nearly impossible to implement."
"Why?" Olivia asked, somewhat unconvinced.
"You must have read that scholar's *On Social Security*, haven't you?"
Cassius had read the book as well. It was the work of Guges Golov, a fairly renowned scholar within the empire, incorporating a great deal of modern social science theory introduced by the players.
Olivia replied, "Yes. It is a splendid book, full of valuable insights."
Cassius said, "He makes some fair points, but have you ever considered what kind of negative signal such extensive welfare sends to the populace: does working hard make any difference at all?"
"Carried to excess, it creates glaring drawbacks. First, it easily invites rent-seeking; second, it distorts market signals..."
"The Empire is a nation undergoing rapid development. For such a state, enthusiasm for production is paramount. An approach detached from reality like yours will only dampen people's drive..."
Cassius explained the matter with considerable detail.
In his eyes, compared to the utterly hopeless white dragons, this silver dragon from Clan Melvold was far better suited to becoming an administrator.
In Cassius's long-term plans, as territory expanded and more subject races were brought under its banner, the Cinder Empire should not remain an evil-aligned power. Instead, it was destined to become an all-embracing, pluralistic empire.
Pure good or evil was insufficient to describe such a complex nation.
And a silver dragon served as an excellent banner representing the Lawful Good alignment, offering immense value in polishing the empire's public image.
When the time came, they might even establish something akin to a two-party system—one playing the good cop and the other playing the bad cop—gradually laundering this empire built on slaughter and plunder into a glorious, towering utopia.
For now, it seemed this silver dragon was rather easy to mislead; at the very least, she could not see through the empire's underlying nature. That scholar Guges, who penned *On Social Security*, had seemed to perceive a glimpse of it by comparison.
Olivia listened with utmost seriousness, nodding repeatedly and even recording notes with magic from time to time.
For some inexplicable reason, she felt as though she had returned to that night of discussion and exchange with "Anhel."
The silhouette of that knowledgeable young gold dragon and the seemingly unrelated, colossal red dragon before her began to overlap in her mind...
It had clearly been nothing more than a false disguise, yet it had left an indelible mark on her memory.
"Well, that covers the main issues."
Cassius let out a yawn, gently shaking his immense wings and venting a puff of sulfurous white smoke.
"I understand. I'll revise it once I return and bring it back for you to look over another day," Olivia said earnestly, nodding as she gathered the papers that drifted back down.
Cassius looked down upon the silver-haired maiden. "Olivia, is there anything else you wish to say?"
Instantly, a tremor passed through her eyes.
"..."
Tucking her silver hair behind an ear, Olivia held the documents tightly against her chest.
She lowered her head in silence for a long time before slowly looking up, staring directly into the red dragon's pale golden, oppressive slit pupils.
"Cassius, I believe... your empire shouldn't develop in this manner."
Cassius froze in mild surprise for a moment, then asked with keen interest, "What do you mean by 'this manner'?"
"I've always believed you weren't the sort of evil dragon who would trade other people's lives for coin."
Meeting Cassius's gaze across the hall, Olivia bit her lip, her tone turning heavy.
"Yet my kin in the south have informed me that the Cinder Empire has been dumping horrific weapons usable by ordinary mortals onto the disintegrating Fadlan Empire on a massive scale."
"The mortals of the kingdoms of Cassander, Thrace, and Seleucia are slaughtering one another with weapons supplied by the Cinder Empire, resulting in catastrophic casualties. They say the entire Great Central Plains has been drenched in blood, and even the Holy City has been reduced to rubble."
"I am glad to see the Empire prosper, but—"
Olivia clenched her teeth, pausing for a moment.
"I do not wish to see this prosperity nourished and watered by the blood of the Fadlan people."
"So... please stop, Cassius. Have the Empire cease selling those utterly cruel, sinful weapons. That is what I wanted to say most of all."
Cassius shook his head and laughed out loud.
That truly was a textbook "silver dragon speech."
The moment Olivia opened her mouth, Cassius could already guess what she was going to say next—just like the last time she had pleaded with him to halt his conquest of the Northlands.
Despite having lived through plenty of trials, this silver dragon remained naive and steeped in fantasy, just like the vast majority of her kin.
She constantly assumed that words could sway others, completely oblivious to the fact that she was the one being changed the most.
Cassius offered no direct answer. Under Olivia's gaze, he simply extended a single claw.
*Whoosh—*
An invisible force manipulated a blade from a distant weapon rack, sending it gliding through the air to hover before the red dragon, its edge gleaming with a chilling glint.
Cassius smiled and asked, "Would you say this blade is sinful?"
Olivia's delicate brows knit together slightly, and she shook her head gently.
She sensed a familiar routine; this red dragon seemed ready to deploy his honeyed words to persuade her once again.
"Then what if I told you this blade belonged to a brutal bandit who used it to slaughter over a hundred innocent commoners?"
Olivia pondered for a moment, answering with some uncertainty, "Then it... is sinful?"
Cassius gave a flick of his tail, shaking his head in denial. "No. The blade itself is never in the wrong. The one at fault is always the person wielding the blade."
"..."
Olivia fell silent once more.
What he said seemed... remarkably reasonable after all.
Cassius pressed on: "It is the same with this war in the Fadlan Empire. You have mistaken the causal link: it is not our sale of weapons that brought about the war; rather, it was the outbreak of war that led us to sell weapons."
"Even if I had chosen not to intervene, the three imperial princes would still wage war to seize the throne of Fadlan, inflicting countless casualties upon innocent civilians."
At this point, the red dragon let out an exceedingly "heartfelt" sigh.
"I feel profound sorrow over this. But since they are bound to fight either way, why shouldn't I seize this opportunity to earn some gold and improve the lives of the Empire's subjects?"
"You have seen it yourself. Over these years, the booming growth of the defense industry has brought countless jobs and considerable revenue to the Empire. How many imperial subjects have been saved from starvation thanks to the development of this very industry?"
"As Emperor of the Cinder Empire, I am powerless to quell the war in Fadlan, yet I do have the power to feed and clothe the people of my own realm."
Finally, Cassius concluded in a calm, matter-of-fact tone:
"Therefore—weapons are blameless; guilty is the one who pulls the trigger. War is an evil, yet the sale of weapons is a deed of the highest virtue!"
As the words left his mouth, Cassius wore a serene expression and a clear conscience, quietly watching the prompt *Silver Tongue +1* flash across his status panel.
His scales were naturally crimson anyway; no matter how brazenly he lied, his face could hardly flush any redder.
Moreover, in a certain sense, he hadn't lied at all.
Even though selling arms to both sides and reaping immense wartime profits had been forcefully spun into an act of reluctant benevolence born of devotion to his people.
Of course, if one were to peer through the surface to the core, one would see the Empire's "sinful" primitive accumulation of capital.
Olivia fell into silence again, racking her brain to find the flaw in his reasoning, yet failing to come up with a counterargument for quite some time.
After holding it in for what felt like an eternity, her face flushed red as she managed to blurt out, "You're playing with words!"
Yet she seemed to lack any further justification.
This red dragon was always like this, effortlessly countering her doubts every time, and even managing to persuade her.
And she herself seemed to be gradually shaped and changed by him...
Cassius spread his claws with a look of "helplessness." "When the Empire's researchers first created these weapons, it was merely to ward off foreign foes and safeguard national security."
"What evil could possibly be found in that?"
"But..."
Olivia found herself at a loss for words. Looking into Cassius's half-smiling eyes, she told herself inwardly, *I will convince you yet.*
Cassius slowly rose from his throne and looked down at Olivia.
"Wars among mortals are intricate affairs. They cannot be neatly summarized by mere good or evil, nor are they something you silver dragons should meddle in."
"I trust your elders have also cautioned you never to involve yourselves in human squabbles."
"Yes..." Olivia lowered her gaze, answering softly.
Cassius's expression suddenly turned solemn. "Speaking of which, there is indeed one matter that requires your assistance."
"What is it?"
Olivia's curiosity was piqued.
This red dragon had always seemed omnipotent, daring even to refuse invitations from deities. What could he possibly need her help with?
Cassius spoke in a grave tone: "In one year, demons from the Abyss will invade the Great Anzetta Waste and launch an all-out assault against the Empire. We hope to secure the aid of the Melvold clan."
In truth, the Empire was fully capable of handling the demonic invasion on its own. For Cassius, however, this presented a golden opportunity to build ties with the Good-aligned factions and polish the Empire's public standing.
And Olivia, who had become an imperial parliamentarian, could very well serve as that bridge of communication.
"An Abyssal invasion?"
Olivia's expression instantly turned profoundly grave.
One had to recall that the last Abyssal invasion had occurred four hundred years ago, when Orcus, the Prince of the Undead, led his legions of undead and demons down upon the Material Plane, unleashing a cataclysm that swept the world and ravaged the continent of Feanso.
The Church of Amaunator, the Church of the Moon Goddess, the Kingdom of Fadlan, the Silver Dragon Clan, the Harpers, and multiple other Good-aligned powers had banded together, sacrificing the lives of countless noble souls before bringing that disaster to an end.
Cassius paused slightly, his tone shifting. "I only wonder... what about that grandfather of yours?"
Olivia knew Cassius was referring to Oszedro's defeat and grievous injuries, an event that remained a humiliation for all of Melvold.
Furthermore, in the eyes of most silver dragons, Cassius's reputation as a dragon variant was certainly far from favorable.
"Though Grandfather can be stubborn, he would never make a mistake when it comes to matters concerning the order of the world."
With scarcely a moment's hesitation, Olivia spoke with resolute conviction.
"If the situation is genuine, I will return to Clan Melvold and have them reach out to the various factions, providing whatever aid they can muster to stand against the demons."
Cassius nodded slightly. "Very well. Then I shall await your good tidings."
To him, this was the finest virtue of the Good-aligned factions.
When confronted with truly evil adversaries, they could be enlisted as free muscle without having to pay much of a price.
Thus, sticking purely to good or evil was extraordinarily unprofitable.
Only by dancing back and forth across the blurred boundary between good and evil, maneuvering and pressing from both sides, could the Empire reap the greatest rewards.
Cassius was a master of this craft.
Chapter 475