"Oh, there's even a little kitten."
Iphatia noticed Boss Cat poking his head out from Lanqi's shadow.
Yet for some reason, the little black cat appeared terrified.
"Greetings, Duchess, meow," Boss Cat said, paying his respects.
As an ordinary resident of Ikerite, this duchess should have been an untouchable figure far out of reach. Who could have expected that Lanqi would finally cross paths with her here in the Creti Empire?
Before Boss Cat could even finish his feline bow, Iphatia swept him into her arms.
"A fifth-tier spirit cat? That's amazing! It's so adorable!"
Cradling the little black cat, Iphatia looked between Lanqi and Talia in delight.
Creatures of this species were exceedingly frail and possessed practically zero survivability. Reaching the second or third tier was usually the best they could ever hope for.
"..."
Boss Cat kept his mouth shut.
"He's my landlord in Ikerite. Hyperion lives in his shop too..." Talia pointed hesitantly at Boss Cat as she explained to Iphatia.
As her very first friend upon arriving in the royal capital of Ikerite, Boss Cat commanded genuine respect from Talia.
"Oh? You're a fellow countryman too?"
Iphatia held the little black cat up with both hands and asked him.
Boss Cat, however, seemed to have fallen into a deep funk. His head drooped, and he didn't reply.
"Wait, Iphatia, since when did you become an Ikerite local?" Talia interrupted.
She felt something was deeply amiss about Iphatia claiming him as a "fellow countryman."
What happened to your ancestral demon roots? What about your pride as a demon princess?
"Wait, girl..."
Lanqi gazed speechlessly at Talia, but before he could get another word out, she slapped a hand over his mouth.
"I married Mikhail, and my household registry is in Ikerite, so of course I'm from Ikerite," Iphatia answered matter-of-factly. "Besides, I'm Duchess Iphatia Aransal. Isn't that worlds better than my early days in the Hutton Kingdom, when I was a demon princess sleeping under a bridge wrapped in a thin quilt?"
"I..."
Memories of the past surfaced in Talia's mind, and a pang of bitterness pricked her heart.
"Oh, right! Sister, how have you spent the past hundred years?" Iphatia asked with keen interest.
She couldn't wait to hear her sister's tale of the past century.
In her imagination, the dazzling, radiant demon princess must have traveled the world on a journey uniquely her own, carrying herself with timeless grace and composure through all those years.
"Well..."
Talia's palms began to sweat, but she kept her hand firmly clamped over Lanqi's mouth. She could under no circumstances let this fellow speak.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
Lanqi struggled with all his might, yet he couldn't break free from Talia's merciless grip of iron.
Watching from the side, Iphatia giggled softly.
She had never seen her sister so lively.
"By the way, why did Landry... Professor Washington, come from Ikerite?" Iphatia looked toward them, bewildered.
The person she had instructed Barton to bring was Professor Landry Washington, a magitechnology professor who had recently risen to fame in the Creti capital—and a bona fide native of the Creti Empire through and through.
Yet listening to the conversation between him and her sister, it turned out he actually seemed to hail from Ikerite, and his connection to her sister ran exceptionally deep.
Seeing that Iphatia was questioning Lanqi, Talia cautiously loosened her hand from his mouth.
She pulled her hand back, shooting Lanqi a warning glare that practically screamed not to say anything he shouldn't.
"Keep it brief," Talia reminded him.
She was terrified that he might utter a single unnecessary word.
"Professor Landry and I were sharing a train compartment when he was murdered, so I assumed his identity,"
Lanqi gave the shortest possible summary per Talia's orders, looking thoroughly aggrieved.
Iphatia looked slightly dazed.
That was it?
"At the very least, you should explain the premise first—that we're spies from the Kingdom of Posen trying to infiltrate the Creti Empire! How else is my sister supposed to understand? Start from the beginning!" Talia snapped in exasperation.
She felt Lanqi was being rebellious again. When told to say less, he deliberately spoke in riddles. He had been like this back when they made cards together; it had taken her immense effort to whip him into shape.
"..."
Lanqi gazed silently at Talia for a moment.
"Leaves so thin they were nearly transparent clung to the windowpane, filtering the morning sunlight into the room with a gentle warmth. The fragrance of wood drifted throughout, soothing the spirit, while a cool breeze from the courtyard caressed my body. A sudden chill ran through me, and my eyes fluttered open..."
Lanqi began narrating smoothly.
"I didn't tell you to start from Episode One!"
Talia felt her blood pressure spiking.
The second Lanqi opened his mouth, she knew what he was doing—he was definitely going to recount his life story all the way from the South Wantina Territory!
If not for her sister being present, she would have pinned him to the floor right then and there to remind him what it meant to respect his master!
"You're the one who told me to start from the beginning," Lanqi replied with absolute justification.
"Lanqi! Stop playing the fool!"
Talia reached out, pinched Lanqi's cheek, and scolded him furiously.
"Are they always like this?"
Watching her sister and Lanqi bicker back and forth, Iphatia finally turned to ask the little black cat.
Her sister had never interacted with a man like this before; she had always maintained an icy, aloof demeanor. To be able to banter and squabble like close, teasing companions was undeniable proof that Talia had changed because of him.
It was as if being with this man brought her joy every single day.
"Pretty much, meow."
Boss Cat felt that ever since the Kingdom of Posen, Lanqi and Tata had never stopped bickering.
The two of them had become completely comfortable with one another—or rather, they had truly opened their hearts to each other.
"How wonderful," Iphatia murmured, hugging the cat with a flutter in her heart.
No matter what, she would support her sister and this man.
"If I can make it safely back to Ikerite, will I get to watch a sweet romantic comedy every single day...?" she muttered under her breath.
Even though her current circumstances in the Creti Empire were fraught with hardship and devoid of hope, the moment she saw her sister arrive, strength flooded through her. A fire had been reignited within her, urging her to pour everything she had into reaching that once unthinkable, radiant future—
Not only returning to the comfortable, peaceful life in the royal capital, but doing so with more loved ones and friends by her side.
"Then you're in for a treat, meow," Boss Cat said, not daring to say more.
Just the sight of that twisted dough-stick painting hanging in his shop was already a heavyweight revelation.
"Lanqi, explain honestly to Iphatia how we ended up in the Creti Empire and at this mafia base."
Having finished her one-on-one "discussion" with Lanqi, Talia stood beside him and urged him to lay out the whole story properly for Iphatia.
Lanqi seemed noticeably more subdued after her reprimand.
Of course, he might also have been threatened through their private telepathic link—
For example, Talia warning him that if he didn't behave, she would act spoiled.
"Sit down. Let's sit first."
Iphatia pointed toward a spot in the distance, inviting Lanqi and Talia over to her workbench area.
They had been chatting on their feet for quite a while, but this underground palace did have tables and chairs—this was where Iphatia lived every day.
Iphatia briskly stepped over to adjust a set of switch modules along the wall.
A low mechanical hum echoed through the quiet chamber, and in an instant, warm light cascaded down like a waterfall, illuminating the entire palace until it resembled an otherworldly realm of dreams.
Talia and Lanqi were drawn by the brilliant glow from above. Crystal chandeliers inlaid with gold and blue patterns shimmered like a sea of stars, casting warm radiance into every corner of the grand hall. The magnificent light bathed the pale relief sculptures on the walls and carved bright reflections onto the polished white stone floor.
Before long, the bone-chilling cold subsided, replaced by a comfortable warmth.
"I'm sorry I don't even have tea to serve you," Iphatia apologized as they sat down around a long table on one side of the subterranean palace. An immortal crystal lamp glowed vibrantly in the firelight, and carved oak chairs stood neatly arranged along both sides of the long table.
"Not at all," Lanqi replied with a wave of his hand.
Iphatia was his classmate's mother. For her to be so courteous to him made him feel a bit embarrassed.
"To tell the truth, it all started when Tata and I went to the Kingdom of Posen. At the time, we went to proctor the Platinum-rank card maker exam, hoping to purchase some high-tier mental-attribute materials while we were there. Coincidentally, we were also trying to improve our mutual coordination, which led to a journey filled with one mix-up after another..."
Lanqi began telling Iphatia the tale.
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm."
Iphatia listened with rapt fascination, nodding repeatedly as she cuddled Boss Cat, her eyes fixed intently on Lanqi and Talia.
"I used to visit the Kingdom of Posen often too, and I made plenty of friends there. Did you meet Rosalinda?" she couldn't resist asking.
"Yes. She gets along very well with Aetio and Tata," Lanqi confirmed.
"I really miss her; I'd love to see her again," Iphatia murmured, her thoughts drifting northward toward that magnificent City of Flowers.
"Though I don't think Rosalinda wants to see you very much..." Talia murmured under her breath.
Aetio was fine—she saw Iphatia as an elder sister.
Countess Rosalinda, on the other hand, would probably feel a bitter ache in her chest the moment she laid eyes on Iphatia.
"Then we got swept up in an incident involving 'Palroni's Record of Resentment.' Fortunately, everything was resolved in the end, and we defeated the masterminds behind it, Perlman and Beelzebub..."
Lanqi continued walking Iphatia through the events of the incident in the City of Flowers.
"Isn't Perlman quite a decent demon? And who is Beelzebub?"
Even after hearing Lanqi recount the finale in the City of Flowers, Palieu, Iphatia still had questions.
She had met Perlman, the lord of District 10 in the Posen Demon Realm, and had held a very positive impression of him.
It would not be an exaggeration to say he was one of the greatest contributors to the Kingdom of Posen's current prosperity, having carved out a tangible possibility for coexistence between humans and demons.
"All I can say is that demons change. Just take a look at your... ahem! As for Beelzebub, we deduced that he's an eighth-tier demon from the lost continent beyond the Northern Continent's Calamitous Wasteland. But that's beside the point; he clearly didn't belong to our domain, and whatever stage exists over there is probably a story for another time," Lanqi explained.
"And then total war erupted across the Southern Continent? Your good friend Nigel, whom you met in Posen, gave you cover identities so you could infiltrate the Creti Empire?"
Iphatia could roughly deduce what followed.
"Precisely. Our initial identity was a sixty-two-year-old publisher named Lovia. Just as the train approached Brierda, it was attacked by Allied spies. Professor Landry, who shared my compartment, tragically lost his life. Left with no choice, I had to assume Professor Landry's identity, fulfill his dying wish, shoulder his responsibilities, and make the Creti Empire great again."
Lanqi nodded solemnly, straightening his posture as he tapped the tabletop with his fingertips.
"...Why are you suddenly speaking from the Empire's perspective?"
Iphatia sensed something off.
At first, she had truly believed Professor Landry was a diehard imperial patriot. Who would have thought he was played by a fellow countryman from the Hutton Kingdom? He had completely fooled her.
Looking back now, it probably wasn't an issue with Landry's persona, but rather the person wearing the mask.
"Just tell me whether or not I fooled everyone," Lanqi countered.
"...Go on, Big Brother," Iphatia urged, unable to refute him.
"So the result was that I smoothly took Landry's place, began teaching at Saint Creti Monastery, and joined the Imperial Special Operations Department. Down the line, I'll likely be involved in an imperial project. Since Elsa is Landry's younger sister, I have a duty to protect her. When she was attacked today, I gave chase, caught a member of the Blood Clan, and was brought here by Boss Barton in the hope of reaching a partnership with the Brierda Mafia,"
Lanqi gave a succinct summary.
Being called "Big Brother" by Iphatia made him intensely uncomfortable, but for the moment, he didn't know how to address it, so he prioritized getting through the business at hand.
"And then you know the rest. We started fighting the second we met. If I were the real Landry, I'd probably have died on the spot," he said, spreading his hands.
In truth, he had always held a stance of fierce condemnation toward refusing to communicate.
"Oh dear, I'm really sorry. That's just demon diplomatic etiquette," Iphatia apologized, tapping her own head with a playfully stuck-out tongue.
"..."
Lanqi understood the custom, but he couldn't agree with it.
Compared to the rest of them, Antanas was downright polite and approachable. The only great demon one could have a civil conversation with upon first meeting was probably Antanas.
As for the others, whether Sinora or Pranay, anyone slightly weaker wouldn't survive long enough to exchange a single word with them.
Across from them, Iphatia grasped the situation.
She stood up and leaned across the table.
"I leave my sister in your care, Lanqi."
Iphatia patted Lanqi's shoulder with satisfaction.
Though Lanqi's account had glossed over many details—such as his personal dynamic with Talia—Iphatia could roughly sense that he had helped her sister immensely.
"I hope I can call you brother-in-law soon," she whispered behind her hand, giving him a wink.
"Wait a minute," Lanqi responded at once.
I treat you as an aunt, yet you call me 'Big Brother'?
We can't just settle on our own terms and ignore the generations down the road, can we?
His thoughts, naturally, were read loud and clear by Talia.
Flustered and exasperated, Talia raised a hand and smacked Lanqi upside the head, leaving him clutching his crown in utter bewilderment as he stared at her.
"Just treat her as a younger sister!"
If Iphatia was an aunt, wouldn't that make Talia—her older sister—an aunt too?!
"How could that possibly work?" Lanqi protested, firmly believing that seniority and family generations could never be muddled.
"You're in the same generation as me, and that's final!" Talia insisted.
Chapter 745