Immortal Kingdoms

"I-…" Valeria got tongue-tied, not knowing how to retort. She was speechless.

As expected, she was too preoccupied with the matters of succession to think about that disgusting brother-in-law.

"If you want to carry through with that plan, you need to make sure of a few things in advance. First, Richard is dead, which would only happen after the war is over or during the war. Anyway, that wouldn't be a proper time for pregnancy because Juvia will most likely be on the front lines helping that brat Leonardo."

"Second, the time doesn't conflict with Leonardo's schedule because he has only this one ticket to travel back to the higher realms. If he wanted to leave but the World Tree was in the process of nurturing the baby, do you want him to simply leave Juvia behind? Would she even accept that?"

"Third, would your World Tree have the spare energy to nurture the child, to begin with? Don't underestimate Leonardo's talent and potential, nurturing his child might bring your World Tree into a state of dormancy, putting your entire race in a vulnerable position. Unless it's an era of peace, I doubt your World Tree would make such a decision. Furthermore, even if that era of peace did come after this upcoming war, Leonardo wouldn't have the time to wait on Juvia to deliver her child."

Valeria's expression grew darker by the second as she listened, deflating in her chair. She knew the traditions of her race, since Juvia already accepted a man in her heart, unless he died, there can be no other.

However, it was as obvious as the midday sun that Leonardo wouldn't be dying here.

Would she be forced to carry Richard's child? The mere thought disgusted her greatly.

Looking at her mother's conflicted expression, Juvia blushed and said, "Mother, why can't you have his child instead?"

Pffft!

Misaka, Pandora, Veronica, Azalea, and even Queen Adeline; they all spat their herbal tea, coughing and choking simultaneously.

"Brat! Have you no shame?!" Valeria raged, her face red to the ears.

How can her daughter have the gall to suggest something so ridiculous?!

Her and her daughter's man? How did she come up with that?!

"But… This kind of practice is normal in some houses of the higher realms…" Juvia muttered in a not-so-confident voice.

Valeria was about to argue that this was shameful and immoral when Aria's voice drifted over again, "She's not wrong; compared to the succession of an entire family, what would a bit of incest amount to? Anyway, don't rush your decision, you have a never before seen war on the horizon. Furthermore, you should be worried about your brother-in-law right now, he truly found the worst enemy possible to infuriate,"

Aria wasn't only eavesdropping on the women's side, but also the men's side. Hence, she understood that the Elven Domain and its Forest of Eternal Spring are up for some dark days ahead of them.

Of course, Juvia and Aria were aware of Leonardo's plans to dominate the Human, Elven, and Beastkin Domains. If he could have his son be the next High Elf Lord after the war, that would be for the best.

Since the opportunity presented itself, Aria and Juvia might as well help Leonardo plant the seeds in Valeria's mind. As for whether this seed would bear fruit in the future, that's not something to be worried about right now.

Valeria's expression changed a few times and she eventually sighed, "Alright, It's about time I take my leave…"

She kneaded her forehead, exasperated with her daughter.

"Oh, make sure to keep your lips sealed about what should be kept within these walls, I don't feel like moving around too much cutting loose ends, alright?" Aria said, basically threatening them to keep the matter of the heart trial, the seal, and Leonardo's secrets to themselves.

"I don't need to say this but trust me when I say I can hear and see everything on the surface of this planet and below that surface, no walls are thick enough and no formations are tight enough to screen off my senses," Aria's voice echoed within Queen Adeline's and Valeria's sea of consciousness, deeply shaking the two.

To so casually bypass their spiritual defenses and transmit her spirit to their sea of consciousness clearly demonstrated her ability to kill them with a thought. Worse yet, if she wished to implant some hidden restrictions or seals, she could have done so stealthily and they wouldn't be the wiser.

Valeria was considerably shaken because the elves had the best spirituality among the three intelligent races on Arcadia, with humans coming in second place.

Actually, when it came to spirituality and the prowess of the physique, the elven and beastkin occupied first place respectively, with humans occupying second place in both categories. It could be said that humans were jacks of all trades but masters of none.

With this efficient deterrence, neither of the two would dare speak of what they've witnessed. Aria could have easily tampered with their memories as she did to the other outsiders, but the memories of people on that level would have obvious gaps if tampered with, threatening them directly would produce better results with less effort.

As expected, this method worked wonders on Queen Adeline and Valeria.

…

Later that evening, Leonardo's Imperial Study.

Leonardo sat behind his lavish desk with Pandora and Sitri standing in front of him in their combat uniforms. Well, it didn't matter what uniform Sitri put on, his trademark bandages would always be present.

"I've informed her of your instructions, boss," Sitri broke the silence as Leonardo was busy scribbling away at a collection of documents that piled up on his desk for the past month.

"The technological departments are progressing just fine I see, it wouldn't be long before we merge the magical engineering department with the technology sectors, I look forward to their inventions in the upcoming war," Leonardo signed the last paperwork before looking up at Sitri, "You can wait outside for now."

Sitri nodded and left the room to wait outside.

Once Sitri left, Leonardo pulled out a sealed case that was radiating a dense aura of death and decay. Within this box was a condensed seed of both death and decay attributes from Leonardo's desolate martial intent, and he had practically depleted his energy to condense this seed.

Although he acted crippled in front of Valeria and Queen Adeline, his condition had already stabilized enough to circulate his energy. However, he would rather keep that matter a secret for now.

"I've run out of energy before I could infuse the essence of nihilism into this seed, so I leave that part to you. After you meet up with Lucas, have him further infuse it with the essence of oblivion, I don't want anyone to be able to sense it— as for the so-called Sovereign, unless they're deliberately focusing on sensing, it shouldn't be a problem either."

Leonardo passed the case over to Pandora and spoke in a grave tone, "Use your concealment arts to escort Lucas into the Forest of Eternal Spring and find a tributary vein that connects to the territory of the High Elf Lord. Then, plant this seed directly into the vein, and make sure to dispatch Lucas to the elven branch of House Erudite's church before coming back."

"He will be my eyes and ears there, it'd be best if he could make it as a servant inside the World Tree and wait for a critical moment to act up,"

"Understood!" Pandora nodded, her eyes worshipfully observing Leonardo.

No one thought that Leonardo would use the gathering brought about by House Erudite to target him and plant a mole within their ranks with no one the wiser. It could be said that Lucas became both a celebrity and a nobody in the world of intelligence and information booking.

He could easily blend in anywhere and collect viable information with no one being aware of his presence or having the capacity to remember his presence, let alone his face and identity. Everyone knows that he exists, but no one knows who he is, or where he gets his information from.

The intelligence networks refer to him as Ghost Face, because if anyone tried to remember his name or anything remotely personal about him, that specific memory would become hazy and distant.

It could be said that other than Leonardo, only Juvia and Pandora have the immunity to actually go around his innate martial intent. However, it would be too cruel to send Juvia on this operation to cripple the Forest of Eternal Spring, hence he could only entrust this operation to Pandora.

"Daddy is wise and brilliant," Pandora blushed lightly, her breathing growing heavy and uneven. Apparently, she wanted some special treatment before going on this long journey and arduous mission.

Of course, Leonardo saw through her thoughts, but it wouldn't look good as Sitri was waiting outside for now.

"Call Sitri in and go wait for me in my personal chambers, I'll be there in a bit," Leonardo chuckled lightly, waving Pandora off.

"Certainly!" Pandora bowed in courtesy before she rushed outside with a flushed face, too impatient to waste a moment of this precious time. Since it was unknown when she'd meet Leonardo again, she wanted to be filled with his love and affection throughout the night, all by herself.