"How do you think it's different?"
“I think it’s the thought.”
Hitzfeld paused.
"For example, regarding 'alternating current', perhaps the first person to deliver the message to the palace was not me or you, but someone who had prepared for it at this point in time."
Something like inspiration?
Ethan was stunned for a moment, and his expression became serious.
If this is true, then this matter is extremely important.
Although there is no such thing as offsetting one's mistakes with one's merits, if her contributions were really that great, he estimated that it would be difficult for the higher-ups to punish her, and they might even have to confer a title on her.
At least that's what he thought.
So he could breathe a sigh of relief, and all the pressure was gone, allowing him to ask her in a calmer tone: "Now that you have lost the Nature Orb, how are you going to regulate your body..."
"no need."
What do you mean?
Ethan and Darent were both stunned for a moment and frowned unconsciously.
They all thought of a very bad possibility, that although Hitzfeld had recovered, she was obviously hit too hard (they all thought that Hitzfeld's shock was the discovery of her parents' tragic death), and she had given up on her physical health.
"do not mean that."
The girl retorted.
"The Nature Orb cannot cure the root cause. It can only regulate the body to a limited extent. As long as this eye does not truly belong to me one day, it will not play a decisive role."
"So when you say you don't need it anymore, that means..."
"It's almost mine now."
As he spoke, Hitzfeld raised the corner of his mouth slightly towards the two of them.
This was also the first smile she had shown since she woke up.
"Mysterious Lord...is not just a title."
“The insomnia is still there, but it doesn’t bother me anymore.”
"I no longer need the Ring of Desire."
"From today on, my duty is to enter the dream of the eternal night and try my best to look it in the eye."
"Let it only look in the mirror."
"So that it can never see anything else again."
Chapter 103: The Heart of the King and His Subjects
Three more days passed.
Early in the morning of that day, a graceful woman in a white robe and a veil followed the usual procedures to enter the palace for an audience.
When she arrived the young Queen was writing a letter, and she found that her Majesty was very displeased with her reading its contents, and before she had even entered the room the parchment was balled up and stuffed into a drawer.
The annual rings only had time to catch a glimpse of a strange mark, which was a rose, very red, and seemed to have been printed with some special ink.
"Your Majesty." She looked at the somewhat flustered queen, "Do you trust me?"
"I trust you," Alvin replied immediately, "but I..."
"I don't ask you to tell us all your privacy." Year Ring interrupted her, "But I hope that when you encounter trouble or problems and are not sure how it will affect you, you can try to consult us... Many people are happy to help you."
"I will...ah! Of course I will!" Alwin's smile seemed very fake. He came over pretentiously and pressed Nianlun to sit beside her bed.
The monarch and his subjects are already very familiar with each other. Although King Sarah actually has no control over the tree people, as for Nianlun personally, she really likes this sensible child.
As the saying goes, Sarah finally welcomed a young ruler, and she didn't want any more accidents to happen.
In order to divert the attention of this strict elder and stop him from worrying about his secret, Alvin took a basket of fruit from the side and handed it to her attentively.
Nian Lun was speechless: "Your Majesty, you should know what I am..."
"Uh... so they are like your children?" Alwin's face turned pale and he quickly tried to take back the basket.
"No." Year Ring reached out and grabbed the edge of the basket. "Plants are different from each other. I'm just using this method to teach you a lesson - don't feed the fruits of plants to the tree people easily."
“That sounds really weird.”
"Isn't it strange? Humans are animals too, but they also eat animal flesh."
Picking up a light green fruit, the woman gently lifted her veil, opened her mouth and took a bite of the fruit.
She saw Alwin staring at her eagerly, she lowered her head, then looked at the basket that was almost filled with fruit, and guessed that this thing must be using its value for the first time.
He handed over a bright red fruit, which the young queen happily received and took a bite of with great relish.
Year Ring asked her: "Did you stay up late last night?"
"Well...I have some work that I need to catch up on."
"There is no end to the work," Nianlun warned her. "If you approach problems with the mindset of just finishing the work, there will be no results. You should learn from your father in this regard. When he was young, he was best at pushing the processes to others."
"How do you know the tree rings so clearly?"
"...Please don't ask any more questions about this."
"But if I can't even do my job as a king, who would be willing to follow me?"
"There is no such thing as 'a king's job'. If there is one, it's that you have to know how to judge people."
"I'm very good at judging people!"
"That's right. So you have done a good job so far. It's worth it that King Charuni has spent so much effort to pave the way for you."
Having talked about this, Nian Lun felt that it was almost time to bring up the topic.
She took the envelope that had been placed on the table and said, "This is the latest situation and progress in Blackwood City."
Elwin opened the envelope and read the letter, then looked up at her: "She is sorting out 'occult studies' every day now?"
"Yes."
"What kind of subject is it?"
"She will compile the knowledge that she has digested, that she believes is harmless and that is relatively harmonious with the local world... that is, our world, into written materials for others to learn."
"Any examples?"
"Bullets are imbued with spirits." Nian Lun nodded. "Use some special materials to mix into the bullet, or use special techniques to create a strange bullet. According to different situations, the lethality of the silver bullet can be greatly increased."
"Is it for those monsters?"
"Yes."
"And AC?"
"That doesn't count. That's about physics... Paul Drake has been studying circuits for a long time. All he needs is an opportunity. You can let the Physics Department do it."
“How big of an impact will it have?”
“…The world is turned upside down.”
Annual Ring thought for a while before saying this.
"All cities will be completely transformed, and in the best case scenario, even the mountains and forests will have electric lights."
"That's going to cost a lot of money, right?" Alvin's face fell. "Since the country is so short of money, why don't we print more money?"
"No!"
Instantly, the hair on Year Ring's body stood on end - if she had hair on her body, she would sternly remind her: "Currency is only valuable if it exists as a commodity! ... You can read more books on this when you have time. If you don't understand something, you can ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer."
"I can just ignore these things... I think the Chancellor of the Exchequer is doing a good job, so I'll let him handle it."
"No. You can ignore him, but you have to be able to tell whether he is lying to you or not."
"Being a king is hard."
"Nothing is easy, Your Majesty."
After chatting for a while, Nian Lun realized that the topic was about to go off topic, and quickly reminded Alvin to make a statement on what happened in Blackwood City this time - or to say, to characterize it.
"What should I say?"
The young queen jumped out of bed, sat down at the dressing table and began to comb her hair.
"They just want me to take back the privileges I gave her. They've been wanting to bring this up for a long time, and this time she happened to make a mistake, so they have an excuse."
"Aisun Hitzfell also lost the Orb of Nature." Tree Rings reminded her.
"Didn't the letter say that she used the orb to fuse the Sea of Time?"
"That's just her one-sided statement..."
"I believe her." Alvin interrupted, "According to your report, she had the opportunity to deceive you and sow her mystery into all the extraordinary bodies... Is that mysterious factor still there now?"
"I can't feel it." Nian Lun shook his head. "She should have blocked it, but her physical fitness hasn't improved significantly."
"That means the other party is also rejecting her." Alvin continued, "That's normal. After all, it's not ours. The fact that the knowledge has been passed down and filtered, screened, and examined by her, and that she finally got so many useful parts, is itself an unexpected gain."
"His Majesty……"
"She gave up the chance to become a god, and don't forget, she also had the chance to replace me."
Suddenly turning around, Alvin stared at the tree rings very seriously.
"Even if it's false, isn't the discovery of alternating current enough?"
“That’s what he said.” Nian Lun frowned, “But this time someone died.”
"This is not a situation where you can blur the lines on responsibility. Now everyone knows that it was all because of her. You can continue to favor her out of personal preference, but you have some thoughts..."
"Is there anything that can be obtained without sacrifice?"
"Varied……"
"Let me ask you, Tree Ring, is there anything in this world that can be obtained without any sacrifice? Does such a thing exist?"
Annual Rings was stunned.
The girl in front of her was still charming, even a little fragile, but when she became serious and put on such an expression, she couldn't help but stand up from the bed and answered her formally and respectfully: "No, Your Majesty."
"I'm not going to punish her in essence."
Alvin's words defined the nature of the incident.
"I would like to give her a knighthood, or even this year's gold medal, but I also know she is not a scholar. If I give away something that so many people have been waiting for for so long, there will definitely be a bunch of mediocre people who will complain."
"Your Majesty, we can actually let Pauldrak share the award with her..."
"No, I have my own arrangements for that."
Alvin waved his hand.
"Then I wonder what that is."
Annual rings persist.
Alvin had turned his head to look at the mirror, but when he heard that, he turned his head again and glanced at her, grinning happily.
"Do you remember how I cursed at you at the court meeting the day before yesterday?"
"I don't remember, Your Majesty."
"I said they were all cowards." Alvin narrowed his eyes.
"It's profitable, so they run so fast...but when we need them to reclaim wasteland and serve the country, so many people refuse!"
"Tell me, Nian Lun, what else can such a person be but a coward?"
"Your Majesty, if I am not mistaken, you are referring to the exploration of Goli and Aisha Continent..."
"That's it!" Alvin nodded.
"Don't they want me to punish her? I'm going to send her to do this."
"His Majesty!"
The annual rings suddenly looked up.
