"Lord Lancer, you... seem to be in a good mood today?"
After putting down his pen, the emperor couldn't help but stretch, and at the same time, he looked at Lancer behind him and playfully said a word.
"Your Majesty, you can tell?"
"Haha~ Of course~ Although you look no different from yesterday, Lord Lancer, you seem more proactive today. I'm guessing you have something to be happy about."
"Your Majesty..."
"Relax~ relax~ I'm not criticizing you. I'm also tired, so why don't you tell me and make me happy too?"
Although the other party at this time showed no sign of the emperor's authority, he was undoubtedly the highest leader of this country. A seemingly casual word could cause an 'earthquake'. After hesitating for a moment, Lancer chose to answer truthfully.
When he heard that Lancer was happy because he had gotten along well with his 'slave', he was speechless and didn't know what to say.
As an Imperial person, and the highest leader of the Empire at that, in his opinion, a 'slave' was the private property of a master and had no sovereignty at all. A master didn't need to get along with a so-called slave; they just needed to order them around. What Lancer was doing was completely 'unnecessary'.
But looking at the genuine smile on Lancer face, he felt that he shouldn't deny the other party.
In fact, he had always paid attention to the information about Lancer. At first, it was just because the other party had saved him once, and later, he really started to become interested in the other party. It could even be said that the reason Lancer was so famous was also because of his behind-the-scenes push. So, in his opinion, Lancer should not be this kind of person.
'Is it the intelligence department's negligence? Or did he hide it too well? No, it's probably neither. After all, it doesn't seem like he's trying to hide anything.'
The emperor, who had originally been in a joking mood, unconsciously straightened his back, which had been leaning against the chair.
Although he was known as the 'Wise King' among the people, he knew that he was not particularly outstanding. His only advantage was probably that he was good at listening to others' opinions.
However, as Lancer spoke, his straightened back slowly relaxed.
In his opinion, Lancer was still too naive or simple. He could hear some of his experiences from his words, such as how he used to live in a place without too many class divisions (school life), and although he was not soft on his enemies (experience as a Ghoul investigator), he was actually not 'cruel' enough.
That's right, Lancer, the 'devil' who was enough to make foreign race children stop crying at night in the western border, was still not enough in the emperor's eyes! His heart was not ruthless enough! But this was his flaw, and it was also his strength...
"Then what do you think we should do?"
He asked a question that he shouldn't have asked, but Lancer shook his head.
"My apologies, Your Majesty, I don't know either."
Although Lancer had not not thought about saying some 'shocking' words before, his political intelligence was low, but that didn't mean he was a fool. He knew what he could say and what he couldn't say. There was no point in saying some things. No matter what kind of system it was, it had to have the soil to grow in to succeed. And in this era, with his meager abilities, it was best to say less. He did hope to stop Honest and save more people, but he didn't want to die.
In the end, the topic came to an end, but a 'question' was buried deep in the emperor's heart. As for when it would be awakened? No one knew.
Although Lancer job was to be the emperor's bodyguard, he was not a personal guard. After all, no matter how much the emperor trusted him, it couldn't change the fact that he was just an 'outsider' who had joined the Imperial army in the middle of things. But for Lancer, this was actually a good thing. After all, with his personality, being a guard was fine, but being a personal guard was simply boring.
It's just that he didn't expect to see an unbelievable scene when he returned home.
A timid-looking Leone was having a 'confrontation' with Esdeath at the front door?
When the two of them grew up, it would have been an interesting sight, a sadistic queen and a tomboy, but it was not bad now either.
One was an ordinary girl with a collar on her neck who was a bit timid and underdeveloped, and the other was a proud girl with bandages all over her body.
The strong contrast seemed quite interesting, but Lancer had no intention of watching the show. After all, Leone at this time was just an ordinary girl and had no ability to resist Esdeath at all. He was planning to win over Esdeath, that was true, but he had no intention of using Leone as a sacrifice.
And what made him even more strange was how Esdeath had found his house at this time?
He was very aware of the size of the Imperial Capital. Just going around it once would take more than a day or two. At a time like this, a girl who had just arrived here would absolutely not be able to find him in just one day.
"Is there something you need from me?"
"I've come to challenge you!"
Well, it was completely within his expectations. He had already guessed that Esdeath, the battle fanatic, would not give up easily after losing to him. It was just that the other party had come too early.
"Okay, but first, answer me one question: how did you find me? Don't tell me you got lucky or found me based on intuition."
Although Lancer also had strange intuitions during battles or certain moments, and they were often accurate, it was limited to battles. He didn't think that anyone could find a person based on intuition. That would already be considered 'prophecy'.
"I found out from a guy who tried to recruit me before."
"Who was it?"
"I don't know him. He said his name was Honest."
"!!"
Lancer immediately narrowed his eyes, and his heart was filled with shock. Could it be that he had already been targeted by that guy?
So that means Esdeath was sent by that guy? No! Impossible! This woman's personality was twisted. Even later, when Honest controlled the little emperor and played the game of 'holding the emperor to order the feudal lords', she showed no sign of submission. Although her strength was still far from his at this time, her personality should be no different. She would absolutely not be content with being the other party's subordinate...
Although Lancer didn't say a word, his serious attitude made Esdeath, who had not paid much attention, feel a bit curious.
"Is that person named Honest your enemy?"
"No, he's not. I've only met him a few times..."
Lancer stopped halfway through his sentence, realizing that there was no need for him to answer the other party's question, so he skipped it.
"Thank you for the information. It's fine if you want to have a match with me, but you're not in a good condition now. How about you come in and have some dinner first?"
"Dinner? Then thank you very much."
Facing Lancer invitation, Esdeath was not at all polite and directly followed behind Lancer and walked into his villa...