Chapter 298 (1): Your Highness, This Official Has a Big House

Late at night, two figures walked into the Princess’s Estate amid the cold mist. It was common knowledge that all of Windsor’s lands belonged to the royal family legally. With so much land, one could imagine how many real estates the family owned.

Although the Princess and the Prince were officially known to live with the Queen, the family was rarely together in reality. Both the Princess and the Prince owned personal properties, and the properties under the Queen’s name were even more numerous, enough for her to lead the extravagant life of swapping houses every day throughout the year.

That was the reality of not having to pay taxes. Not only did they own countless real estates, but they also owned fiefs. While the nation had transitioned into a constitutional monarchy, it still constituted a monarchy, and the monarch remained the monarch.

The Princess’s Estate resembled most contemporary hotels in style, with dense rows of trees circling the perimeter and a variety of statues and fountains adorning the lawn. The main house itself combined the classical and the modern styles, both classically extravagant and modernly intricate. The expensive romance of it was an embodiment of capital—ahem, of art.

In Wayne’s eyes, it was a failure of a design that had neither the extravagance of the classical style nor the intricacies of the modern style.

Countless hidden eyes were watching in the proximity, most of which were well-trained intelligence agents, and some were mages from the Ministry of Magic. Given their training and competence, they wouldn’t be able to see Wayne and Mona even if they were right in front of their eyes, so long as the two didn’t want to be seen.

Wayne and Mona vaulted over a window into the main house, finding a spacious, well-lit hall with luxurious decorations, including a chandelier hanging off the ceiling, expensive oil paintings on the walls, and fine carpet covering the floor... Every part of the house was thoughtfully adorned, leaving no room to breathe.

Wayne wasn’t a fan of the style. Just like a flower with no leaves, a combination of main features without supporting elements made the visual experience exhausting.

The Princess’s estate didn’t have any magical defenses in place. As soon as Wayne and Mona entered, Juno sensed their arrival and hurriedly made her way to the main hall with her fiancé and her puppet substitute.

Since it was past the agreed time, Juno had thought that Wayne wouldn’t show up and thus decided to kill time with her fiancé and puppet. As she rushed to greet her guests, her clothes were a little unkempt.

According to Mona’s investigation, the Princess’s fiancé was Alistair, whose hidden surname was Romanov, a surname that should’ve been wiped out. There was no verifying whether Alistair’s blood was pure, but his surname was true. If the nation experienced a power disruption, he would be entitled to take the throne.

‘He’ was gentle-looking with short hair like Juno, fair skin, and bright eyes, looking handsome but also feminine in a well-fitted men’s shirt.

Yes, feminine.

Wayne noticed the white binding cloth through Alistair’s shirt with his keen eyes. Due to the hurry, the cloth had failed to completely flatten the chest. Thus, Wayne realized that the Princess’s betrothed should be Alisa instead[1].

As expected of the royal family and their colorful personal life. Did the Princess end up swinging that way because she grew up betrothed to a girl rather than a boy? Had the Queen considered the issue of succession when she arranged for their marriage, even with the knowledge of Alistair’s true sex? The cliche development would usually end up with the Princess’s Consort pregnant, along with the Princess.

Dang, they would have twins!

Wayne swallowed his comments and turned to ‘Princess Elizabeth’. She had long blonde hair and a youthful, pretty face that bore some resemblance to Queen Sophelia. Dressed in a white sleeping gown, her big, bright eyes were captivating.

Although the Princess had the mature body of a big-sister-type character, her temperament was too cute and girlish for her to be considered sexy.

“Even knowing that she is a puppet, I find it difficult to believe...” Wayne went up to the puppet curiously and rubbed his hands together. “Your puppet is amazing, Juno. I’d like to study her to see how real she is.”

As soon as he lifted his hand, he noticed Elizabeth looking at him timidly, making it a little difficult for him to continue.

“She has a heartbeat, fragrance, and changing expressions,” Wayne said hesitantly. “Is she really a puppet?”

It would be bad if the fake human became a real one halfway through his inspection.

Juno smiled slightly, closing her eyes to retract her control.

All of a sudden, Elizabeth’s expression became stiff. The puppet could only execute pre-programmed basic instructions and hold simple conversations about everyday topics; her logical thinking ability was limited. She immediately went from looking immature to looking brain-dead. Her blank eyes didn’t lie. She was a magical puppet.

No wonder Juno was in such a rush to return to her puppet. Without her controlling it, Princess Elizabeth of Windsor was nothing but an idiot.

The revelation made Wayne even more interested. He was reminded of Anastasia’s body in the Frozen Land. Between the two puppets, the Princess’s puppet was even more lifelike, so much so that it seemed ready-made for human activities!

“Juno, I’d like to study it. Would you mind?” Wayne was excited to learn. Where was the coach? He wanted to know this craft better. It wasn’t about learning to create a wife for himself. He loved learning, and he loved magic even more. Learning magic made him happy!

“Little Brother, this magical puppet is pure, so I suggest that you keep your hands to yourself,” Juno warned him seriously.

The Princess had always been presented as a pure figure, which might change after Wayne studied it. Even pushing aside the issue of political image, the puppet was also one of Juno’s girlfriends. Of course she wouldn’t allow the puppet to be examined by a pervert.

“That makes me want to mess around more.”

Wayne pinched Elizabeth’s face. The skin was smooth and bouncy. Then he lifted a hand to shoot a ray of light into Elizabeth’s eyes. He could clearly see the pupils contracting to adapt to the light.

It was so intricate that it didn’t seem like a puppet, at least not the kind that Anastasia had used as her body.

Seeing Wayne getting handsy, Juno quickly interrupted, “Little Brother, I asked you here because...”

“Knight Juno, allow me to have a chat with Her Highness first. Business can wait.”

Wayne grabbed Elizabeth’s hand and sent his thoughts in, sensing a lively body with lifelike skin, blood vessels, muscles, bones, and a strongly beating heart. He also found a hidden trace of white flesh with incredible vitality, reminding him of the Forgotten Ones, who had lost their sanity because of knowledge.

No, this was more like Wanderers, Wanderers who had become empty shells with no thoughts after forgetting the chaotic knowledge from the Astral Plane.

That was what the vitality of the body would suggest, anyway, but the body wasn’t corruptive, unlike other lifeforms from the Astral Plane.

“What is she? The result of research conducted by the Ministry of Magic?”

Wayne was so curious that he felt the urge to order Juno to reveal the truth with his thoughts, but he mustn’t! Juno was a precious experimental subject who could provide him with valuable data. He was hoping to cure Silvia’s and Veronica’s dragon blood curse through her, so he couldn’t modify her thoughts so casually.

“Partly. Her condition is more complex.” Juno hadn’t wanted to tell him, but she had an inexplicable trust in him. After a moment, she decided that allies should share secrets and tell him the truth.

“Do you know about Philosopher’s Stones, Little Brother?”

“I do.”

“This puppet was converted from a failed Philosopher’s Stone—a legendary mage who fell in the Astral Plane. When found, the mage had already lost all sanity...”

Juno told the whole story. The former member of the Ministry of Magic had been refined into a Philosopher’s Stone by the royal family to prevent waste. Since the material wasn’t a demigod, the alchemy failed, resulting in a half-finished stone.

A flawed end product had its uses. The stone ended up in Juno’s hand, and through the Church of Heavenly Father’s modification, the current Princess Elizabeth was born.

“So what is her power?”

“She’s an Astral lifeform I can command. As her master, I can put my thoughts in her and enter the Gate of Truth through this body.” Juno omitted nothing.

Princess Elizabeth had many uses. In addition to training and prevention of corruption, she was also incredibly powerful in battle. Juno could wear her to enhance her power.

She was useful both in and out of battle. Wayne couldn’t help but want it.

“Juno, to tell you the truth, my ancestors have once lost a Philosopher’s Stone—no, a legendary mage,” Wayne said seriously. “I’ve been looking for it for many years. I think I just found it.”

He heard a chuckle. The Princess’s fiancé—or fiancée—covered her mouth to smother a snicker. When Wayne turned to her with a dark expression, she lowered her head and took two steps back.

After the interruption, it would be awkward for Wayne to bring up the legendary mage in his family who had gone missing, but he was shameless enough to repeat it.

“Little Brother, Auston is our father. The legendary mage among your ancestors is my ancestor, too. You’ve been looking for her with a broken heart, but I’ve been doing the same.” Juno sighed, speaking like that was their true family history.

She had been calling Wayne her brother by his request. Juno knew that she was not related to Auston, and Wayne knew that, too. The address was merely meant to annoy Auston.

In public, Juno would address Wayne normally, but in private, especially when Silvia, Veronica, Megan, or any other Lando was around, Juno would call him a younger brother.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Again, Auston couldn’t be allowed to keep a clean personal life, leaving Wayne the only one with a messy track record. Wayne needed an example of disloyalty to learn from.

That was the Lando legacy and the tradition he would follow!

1. In the original, the two names were pronounced the same, only with different characters, 阿利萨 and 阿莉萨. It’s a convention that the character 莉 is usually only used for women’s names. ☜