56. Returning to the Imperial Capital

Imperial Capital, Imperial Palace.

"General Sora, General Esdeath, you have rendered meritorious service in pacifying the southwestern barbarians. I bestow upon you 200,000 gold coins. The guard girls fought bravely and killed the enemy, I bestow upon them 100,000 gold coins."

On the throne, the little emperor raised his scepter and announced loudly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Sora, Esdeath, and the guard girls bowed and thanked him, each with a smile on their lips, clearly in a good mood.

For Sora, this was completely a trip for sightseeing. The biggest gain was finding supreme pleasure in a certain female general and leaving his mark on her. For Esdeath, the frenzied slaughter on the battlefield gave her immense pleasure, and she also trained Najenda once, fulfilling one of her wishes.

For the guard girls, they had another few hundred thousand gold coins to spend, enough to buy many, many luxurious and expensive things, enough for them to enjoy themselves for a while.

"Well, General Najenda also performed well this time. According to General Sora, General Najenda's strategy was indispensable for the successful annihilation of the enemy this time. I bestow upon her 10,000 gold coins."

After rewarding Sora and Esdeath, the little emperor turned his gaze to Najenda, who was silently standing aside, and spoke again.

Well, everyone was surprised by this result, including Sora, Esdeath, the guard girls, and the palace ministers.

What the heck, the difference is so obvious, it's really ironic!

In any case, Najenda was the woman he had already reserved. Sora had originally thought of adding more credit to her and extorting some pocket money from the little emperor for her to spend, but he didn't expect the little loli to be so stingy with her!

He raised his head and looked up, and found that the minister next to the little emperor, who was still gnawing on meat, was also looking down, with a smug smile on his lips. No need to ask, it must be this guy's idea again, deliberately trying to disgust Najenda!

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Not caring at all about the minister's and other officials' sarcastic and mocking gazes, Najenda bowed and replied indifferently, her tone calm and unwavering.

If it were before, she might have immediately stood up to explain that she had not offered any strategies. If it were before, she would have angrily resisted such obvious sarcasm and unfair treatment.

But now, she wouldn't…

"Uh…"

The little emperor, the minister, and the officials were all stunned. It seemed that this woman was a little different after returning from this expedition…

Well, different is different. Anyway, now that the empire has two powerful generals, Sora and Esdeath, Najenda is just an dispensable existence in the hearts of the little emperor and a group of officials. Who cares if she has changed or not!

As long as she obediently serves the empire, that's fine. If she's still like before, hmph…

In the following time, the little emperor said some unimportant things, and under the instruction of the minister, he issued some fatuous orders, such as increasing taxes, dragging so-and-so who colluded with the Revolutionary Army to be beheaded, etc., which made Sora sleepy. If the little emperor hadn't just given him so much money to spend and given him some face, he would have left with his girls long ago.

Finally, after a long time, the court meeting ended. Sora didn't want to stay in this place for a moment longer, so he took Esdeath and the guard girls and prepared to go home.

A large group of flattering officials saw that Sora had only just taken office and had already made such great contributions, and was constantly rewarded by His Majesty. He had clearly become the second most popular person in front of His Majesty besides the minister. Each of them had that disgusting smile on their faces and wanted to come over and curry favor.

Sora had no interest in these guys at all, and was even very disgusted with them. They were useless except for flattery, and even their flattery skills were terrible, making people get goosebumps all over their bodies after hearing a few words.

The guard girls also knew that their master didn't like these guys, and they hated them very much themselves, so they didn't let these people get close to them at all. A few of them who were thick-skinned and still wanted to get closer were kicked back by the girls.

Although a group of palace officials were extremely aggrieved and resentful, they didn't dare to anger these two demon generals. They were very puzzled. The minister clearly liked this kind of thing, so why didn't these two generals?

"General Najenda, I enjoyed our time together this time!"

When passing by Najenda, Sora raised an evil arc at the corner of his mouth and said in a voice that the other party could just hear.

Although Esdeath didn't say anything, her icy blue eyes also swept over Najenda, and her cherry-red tongue licked her thin lips, as if she was savoring something, or as if she was anticipating something.

Both Sora's voice and Esdeath's gaze made Najenda's body and mind tremble, her face pale, and a look of shame, anger, and fear appeared in her eyes. After the two of them walked past her, the girl's original calm and indifferent appearance could no longer be maintained, and she gasped for breath as if she had been drained of all strength.

"Najenda, are you okay? What happened?"

A hand was placed on Najenda's shoulder, her tone filled with incomparable concern and worry.

As Najenda's good friend, Rokugou had naturally noticed the abnormality in Najenda from the beginning. It was really hard to imagine what kind of thing had happened that had turned this strong-willed girl into what she was now!

"I'm fine, Rokugou."

"I'm a little tired. I want to go home and rest. We'll talk about anything else later."

Najenda shook her head, feeling physically and mentally exhausted, and replied with a hint of apology.

Ever since experiencing that hellish night, she had been dreaming of those demons every night. The prolonged mental torment had left this once heroic girl haggard. Now, she just wanted to go home alone, find some peace, and rest.

"Najenda…"

Looking at the lonely figure of the girl as she left, Rokugou sighed helplessly.

He wasn't stupid; he immediately realized that Najenda's change must be related to Sora and Esdeath. Although he felt resentment in his heart, he could only feel deep helplessness in the face of those overwhelmingly powerful demon-like man and woman…

…

"So amazing, Mommy is so amazing!"

"Okay, Logue, don't touch it, be careful you get burned!"

…

Inside the General's mansion, a bewitching and beautiful woman was sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard, holding a blonde, blue-eyed little girl.

With flame-like red hair, flame-like red eyes, and even a bewitching and charming flame mark on her forehead, she wore a seductive secretary uniform that didn't exist in this world. The woman was Kije, whom Sora had left at home to watch over the place. At this moment, she was holding little Logue in the courtyard, enjoying the afternoon sun and performing fire manipulation magic for the little one.

"Mommy, when are Daddy and Mine coming back?"

Seemingly thinking of something, the little girl sat in Kije's arms and asked with a look of anticipation.

"Daddy and the others won a great victory, they'll be back soon."

Withdrawing the flames, Kije recalled the figure of the man who often had a mischievous smile on his face. She touched little Logue's head and replied with a gentle smile.

Kije felt very happy now. She possessed magical powers, could live carefree with her daughter, no longer had to worry about anyone bullying them, and didn't have to fret about various trivial matters of life. Although that wicked master often did naughty things to her, she missed him terribly when he was away.

Occasionally, she would also think of the man named Bols. It seemed that as time passed, she didn't hate him so much anymore. On the contrary, her memories of him were fading, and perhaps his figure would disappear from her memory forever before long.

She didn't really care; he wasn't an important person anyway.

"Daddy! Esdeath!"

Just as the woman was lost in thought, little Logue in her arms suddenly shouted happily and jumped down, running towards the gate with a look of surprise.

"Oh, Logue, did you miss Daddy?"

Hugging the little Logue who rushed over, Sora kissed her pink and tender little face and asked with a smile.

"Yes!"

Nodding vigorously, the little girl had a happy expression.

Chatter chatter chatter, the guard girls behind them also came in, swarming around the little girl and playfully teasing her. The originally quiet mansion suddenly became lively, as if it had come back to life.

"Welcome back, Master, everyone."

Kije, who was behind them, also stepped forward, a faint blush appearing on her face.

"Hehe… Kije, did you miss Master too?"

Smiling wickedly, Sora looked at the woman who had become even more charming after not seeing her for more than half a month, and he felt a surge of heat in his heart.

"Mmm…"

So soft it was almost a whisper, the woman knew that this wicked, big bad master was back, and her miserable life was about to begin again.

Sure enough, the next moment—

"Then let me comfort you properly!"

Handing little Logue over to the girls to play with, Sora directly picked Kije up and walked towards his room…