The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Chapter 413: “Do I Look Like That Kind of Person?”

The atmosphere between Shien and Ancil completely changed.

It became like a father-in-law chatting with his son-in-law, very harmonious and enjoyable, exchanging all sorts of trivial matters.

Originally, Shien and Ancil shouldn’t have had much in common, but they were about to become family.

Therefore, their conversation naturally shifted to Lucy, chatting about various things related to her.

Although it was a chat, it was more like a competition.

It started with Shien’s casual remark,

“I understand Lucy very well, better than anyone. You don’t have to worry about me bullying her.”

These words, for some reason, sparked Ancil’s competitive spirit.

“Are you saying you understand Lucy better than I, her father, do?”

With this statement as a starting point, Ancil began to talk endlessly about Lucy.

From Lucy’s birth, to her childhood, and then to her growing up, Ancil recounted various interesting stories from Lucy’s past seventeen years, becoming more and more enthusiastic.

This made Shien certain.

“This guy is definitely a daughter-con. “

This was Shien’s firm conclusion when he learned that Ancil had an entire warehouse of magic tools containing recordings of Lucy’s growth at various stages, essentially photos.

Honestly, Shien wanted them.

According to Ancil, Lucy was beautiful now, but she was even more adorable as a child, universally loved. The title of “Kingdom’s Treasure” initially came from this world-class cuteness.

“You can’t imagine how adorable someone can be. I even suspect that the Divine Race wants Lucy to become a resident of the Divine Realm because those goddesses were captivated by her cuteness.”

A dignified king actually said such foolish things to Shien.

But it had to be said that because of Ancil’s constant praise, Shien was truly curious and intrigued.

There were quite a few cute girls around Shien.

Airi was an incredibly cute little girl, right?

Lilith was also explosively cute.

With two such adorable girls around him, Shien was really curious about how cute Lucy, known as the most beautiful woman in the human world, was as a child.

Therefore, after some verbal sparring, Shien finally persuaded Ancil to lend him Lucy’s childhood “photo album.”

“Remember, it’s a loan. You have to return it to me later.”

Ancil repeatedly reminded Shien as he handed him the crystal-like tool.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. Do I look like someone who borrows things and doesn’t return them?”

Shien assured Ancil, then quickly pocketed the crystal tool, which would never return to Ancil’s hands again.

Ancil felt a sense of melancholy, as if his treasure would never return, repeatedly reminding and warning Shien.

Shien nodded seriously, letting his words go in one ear and out the other, his heart already flying to the “photo album,” eager to go back and enjoy it.

After that, Shien finally managed to escape Ancil, leaving under his and Aldia’s gazes.

The foolish father expression on Ancil’s face finally disappeared.

“What do you think, Aldia?”

Ancil watched Shien’s retreating figure and asked Aldia.

“I can sense that he wasn’t lying.”

Aldia replied calmly.

“Really?” Ancil murmured. “So, you think I can trust him?”

“That’s just my opinion.” Aldia said with an impassive face. “I’m just a warrior, so I might not have considered everything.”

“But a pure warrior like you often has intuition and judgment far exceeding ordinary people.” Ancil didn’t underestimate Aldia and smiled. “Since you say he can be trusted, I’ll trust your judgment.”

“It’s my honor.” Aldia lowered his head slightly. “Then, Your Majesty, are you going to fully support Viscount Buztout in the husband selection?”

“Yes.” Ancil said, seemingly reluctant. “Since Lucy has taken a liking to him, then even for her sake, I have to fully support that boy.”

“Indeed.” Aldia nodded. “Your Majesty truly dotes on Princess Lucy.”

“…Because of Lucy’s special status, I can fully support her relationship as a father.” Ancil was silent for a moment, then smiled wryly and murmured, “If I could, I’d really like to fully support my other daughter like this.”

Aldia remained silent.

As Ancil’s knight, Aldia knew very well that compared to Lucy, the situation with Ancil’s other daughter was more serious.

As royal princesses, they should have lost a lot of freedom while gaining power unattainable by ordinary people.

Being born into the royal family was sometimes unfortunate.

But because of Lucy’s unique gifts, she had cleared away all the misfortunes that might have befallen her with her outstanding performance.

This was her ability, her strength.

But there was only one person like Lucy in a thousand years.

Therefore, all the misfortunes would be borne by her sister, who couldn’t be as outstanding.

…

Meanwhile, Shien returned to Lucy’s bedroom.

Lucy and Lia seemed to be waiting for him. Seeing him return, they immediately asked him about the meeting.

Shien didn’t hide anything and told them everything about his conversation with Ancil.

This revelation surprised both sisters.

“You’re saying Father has already decided to pass the throne to me?”

Lia couldn’t believe her ears.

“That’s wonderful!”

Lucy beamed.

Shien shrugged and said to them, “It’s not hard to understand. Just as I said, Lucy will definitely be trained as a Hero, and she shouldn’t be burdened with the throne and national affairs. Since that’s the case, passing the throne to you, her older sister, is only natural.”

Lia’s expression turned complicated.

She didn’t know whether to be happy or sad.

Gaining the throne seemed like a great blessing, but if this throne fell into her hands because others didn’t want it, and she was just a backup heir, then it wasn’t something to be happy about.

“Don’t overthink it. That’s just asking for trouble.” Shien said to Lia. “This kind of situation only happens once in a thousand years. At least you’re not a loser, right?”

“Yeah, Sister Lia.” Lucy was also a bit worried that her sister would overthink it. “You have the talent to be queen. The Kingdom’s leadership made this decision because they recognize this.”

This was the truth.

If Lia didn’t have the talent to be queen, then even if Lucy didn’t inherit the throne, it wouldn’t fall to her.

Although there were only Lucy and Lia in the direct line of the royal family this generation, the king didn’t only have two children.

Shien only learned after becoming a noble that although Ancil only had one official wife, he had seven concubines.

His official wife only gave birth to Lia and Lucy, then because of illness, lived in the temple year-round, firstly to recuperate, secondly to cultivate her mind and body, and thirdly to receive treatment from the high-level healing magic of the temple priests. In Shien’s past life terms, she had basically become a nun and rarely appeared in the palace.

The seven concubines gave birth to a total of eighteen children, so Lia and Lucy actually had eighteen half-siblings.

However, because the children of concubines didn’t have the right to inherit the throne, and wouldn’t be granted the title of Duke in the future when the king of their generation was chosen (only the children of the official wife had the right to inherit the throne, and if they didn’t become the monarch, they would receive the title of Duke), they were destined to be insignificant collateral branches.

According to the Kingdom’s laws, they could use the royal family’s influence to seek their own paths, either becoming knights or striving to become high-ranking officials of the Kingdom. Their future was guaranteed by the royal family.

But as members of the collateral branches, if they wanted to obtain a noble title, they could only rely on their own efforts, or if one day, something happened to all the direct descendants of the royal family, then they would have the opportunity to be promoted and gain the right to inherit the throne.

This situation also applied to nobles.

The children of the official wife had the right to inherit the title. The winner would ascend, and the loser would be sent to the frontier, receiving some high-ranking position within the family. The children of concubines were all backups. Unless something happened to the direct descendants, they would have to seek their own paths in the future.

Because of this reason, the treatment of the official wife and concubines was vastly different. This was also why Lucy felt that if she couldn’t become Shien’s official wife, even the Kingdom would strongly object, even at the risk of offending her.

The reason was simple: concubines had no human rights or reputation.

Of course, even so, they were still much better off than commoners.

At least, their lives were guaranteed, and they could rely on their families’ support to seek a future, much more comfortable than those born as commoners.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many women willing to become nobles’ concubines, just to enjoy a life of luxury.

Therefore, if Lia truly didn’t have the talent to inherit the throne, the Kingdom might choose someone capable from the collateral branches to compete with her.

Lia naturally knew this, but her feelings were still complicated.

Lia wasn’t particularly against inheriting the throne.

Or rather, in the past, Lia had even hoped to be recognized and ascend the throne.

Now, Lia no longer had such desires.

(If I become queen, the Lucica family will definitely use this opportunity to expand their influence and interfere with the Kingdom’s government, right?)

The Lucica family was also a Duke family.

As a Duke family, it meant they were also royalty, their ancestors having lost in the past struggle for the throne.

Now, with such a good opportunity to return to the capital and the center of power, they would definitely make a big move, right?

Thinking of this possibility, Lia sighed.

However, Lia didn’t show it and continued to talk with Shien and Lucy as usual.

The three of them chatted about various topics related to the husband selection and succession, and it had to be said that it did fulfill some of Ancil’s expectations.

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