Sophia listened to the reports from the two, knowing in her heart that although these two items were ordinary, they represented a massive leap in civilization for the people of this era.
After all this, it turned out the King of Leighton wanted to engage in franchise chains and expatriate exchanges.
She gently stroked the ring on her finger, her thoughts spinning rapidly.
However, opening the passes and ports was indeed a good thing. Once other commodities were produced on a larger scale, wouldn't these be ready-made trade routes?
Sophia cleared her throat and looked at Delilah with profound eyes.
"Buying out the production rights is impossible, but purchasing the manufacturing rights is allowed. As for the mutual stationing of personnel... This Queen also has such thoughts."
The light and shadow inside the stone house gradually dimmed as the fire pit extinguished, replaced by the chilly morning light seeping through the broken window.
Breakfast was still the salted meat and bean porridge boiled in that large pot, paired with hard but filling Black Bread.
Delilah and Vasha held their worn-out wooden bowls, watching Sophia elegantly tear apart the Black Bread and soak it in the porridge. The rims of their eyes unconsciously grew somewhat hot.
Delilah felt guilty inside.
Your Majesty can remain composed even in the Palace, yet now, for the sake of these humble subjects, she is actually eating this throat-scratching rough rice in this leaky room.
Am I, Delilah, not working hard enough, actually causing Your Majesty to toil so? If I cannot let Mason's iron cavalry trample all obstacles, I simply do not deserve to hold the sword in my hand!
Before leaving, Sophia ordered the grain transport carriages to be opened.
"For every household, leave one month's worth of Black Bread and wheat rice mixed with beans."
Sophia stood in the snow, looking at those subjects who could already stand firm and whose eyes were filled with hope.
"Hope, this grain is for you all to survive. The resources in this river are decent and can be utilized more, but be careful not to eat the fish to extinction. You must survive so that after spring begins, you can plant new wheat seedlings just like Kree Village."
"As you command! My great King!"
Village Chief Hope led the subjects of the entire Withered Willow Town to kneel in unison in the world of ice and snow.
Victor, listening to the voices of the subjects, was shaken to the core.
A stroke of genius!
One month's time is exactly the juncture between the end of winter and the start of spring. What Your Majesty left behind is not just grain, but a deadline for death. If they don't work, they don't eat. If they work, they can exchange it for a future.
This precise method of controlling the labor force via the stomach is the most efficient form of civilizational evolution!
Amidst a deafening sound of cheers and prayers, Mason's convoy started up slowly once again.
Vasha and Delilah did not continue riding horses but entered Sophia's Queen's Extra-Large Carriage, sitting together with Sophia.
"Your Majesty will not need to toil so much next year," Delilah said with some worry in her tone. "After the new variety of wheat seedlings are planted in Kree Village, Withered Willow Town, Eagle's Nest Mountain, and the fields near the Royal City next year, there will be no lack of grain next winter."
"That is still not enough," Sophia said in a clear, cold tone. "Wait until there is enough basic grain to eat; we must also develop the animal husbandry industry more."
Wait until there was no lack of grain or meat; once people's quality of life went up, they would naturally invent more delicious food. Sophia was already missing other cuisines a bit.
When the convoy reached the fork in the road, they could have returned directly to the city, but Sophia raised her hand and knocked on the carriage window.
"Divert. Go take a look at Kree Village."
Going to Kree Village only required a short detour, so it wasn't far. Kree Village had grain early on, so there was no need to worry about surviving the winter. But Sophia still wanted to go take a look; she was already here, after all.
When that Black Rose banner appeared on the horizon, the villagers of Kree Village were clearing the snow. However, their impoverished architectural standards limited their efficiency.
Many roofs had already developed dangerous arcs due to the excessive weight of the accumulated snow. Some roofs were even crushed by more than half, and the subjects could only try to block the leaky gaps with dried grass and tattered cloth in the cold wind.
"It's Your Majesty! The banner of the Black Rose!"
"Her Majesty the Queen is touring Kree Village!"
"Heavens, in such cold weather, the Queen would actually come over to see us?"
"Stop quickly, stop quickly! That really is Your Majesty's carriage!"
Unknown who shouted first, the originally busy villagers stopped the work in their hands one after another. Although their faces were pale, their eyes flickered with a kind of near-fanatical reverence.
When Sophia's wide, luxurious carriage, which bore the traces of wind and frost, stopped steadily, the Village Chief led nearly a hundred subjects to kneel neatly with a thud in the muddy snow that had been half-cleared.
Sophia lifted the carriage curtain, her pair of pale golden pupils sweeping over those tottering roofs.
"All rise. The ground is cold," Sophia said indifferently.
"Delilah, take a squad over and help them block up those roofs exposing the snow." Sophia's voice was clear and cold as crushed ice, carrying not a single trace of superfluous emotion.
"Yes." Delilah responded immediately.
"Victor, watch the time. This Queen must return to the Bedchamber before dark. Let them grind away at clearing the snow themselves; the soldiers are only responsible for patching the houses."
Delilah went to execute the order, and that squad of elite soldiers immediately transformed into the most efficient craftsmen.
The soldiers did not have the hesitation of the subjects' patch-work. They shouldered the spare rough wooden planks from the grain transport carts, covered the collapsed gaps directly, and then nailed them dead with heavy stones or iron nails.
Although it didn't look aesthetically pleasing, this wood brought from the Royal City was much sturdier. The soldiers only processed those dangerous houses that would collapse tomorrow if not saved. In their hands, those houses exposing the snow were quickly slapped with sturdy patches.
As for the accumulated snow on the ground, Sophia didn't even spare it a glance.
Victor, seeing His Majesty who clearly wanted to return to the Palace very much yet still sent people to help the subjects patch their houses, took out his small notebook again.
Did you see that? This is Your Majesty's extreme rationality and art of rule!
Your Majesty sending people to repair houses is to preserve the lives of the subjects; this is the Empire's fixed assets.
But not letting soldiers help them clear the snow is Your Majesty honing their wills. She wants to let the subjects understand that the Monarch's grace has a bottom line. The right to survive is bestowed by Your Majesty, but the trivialities of life must be borne by their own hands.
This precision of applying both kindness and authority is simply the pinnacle of a ruler!
After writing several pages in the small notebook, Victor suddenly felt he might as well just publish a book, letting every subject of Mason know of Your Majesty's deeds. Even a hundred years later, if someone mentioned that Queen Sophia, they would still praise her for nine days and nine nights.
In less than an hour, the repair work on the dangerous houses came to a close. Although they didn't distribute porridge on a large scale in Kree Village like in Withered Willow Town, receiving help from soldiers to repair houses with their own hands was already a supreme honor for them.
Moreover, they did not lack grain. The winter wheat harvest in Kree Village was excellent, plus Sophia hadn't collected all the wheat, leaving a lot for the subjects, so they had more than enough to eat.
Gazing at the houses repaired by the soldiers in just over half an hour, the subjects of Kree Village revealed expressions of worship.
If not for Your Majesty, they would have had to repair these houses until nightfall!
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your profound grace! May the Black Rose never wither!"
"Many thanks, Your Majesty!"
Amidst a chorus of tearful gratitude and farewells, Sophia sat back in the carriage, once again feeling that bumpiness that made her soul tremble.
"Depart."
Following Sophia's command, the carriage wheels crushed the residual ice once more, speeding toward the Royal City.
Delilah sat opposite Sophia, looking at Her Majesty's clear and cold side profile, her heart full of admiration. She had never seen a King who, after touring two impoverished towns, could still maintain such a calm mind, even conveniently consolidating the hearts of the people when passing through Kree Village.
However, Sophia leaned against the carriage expressionless.
My waist is about to break... my butt is numb too.
Although I harvested quite a lot of loyalty on this trip, the price is that This Queen doesn't want to walk on the ground for three days.
Run faster, my horses. As long as we get back before dark, This Queen can take a hot bath with a mint scent, and then drill into the newly changed velvet quilt.
When the snow-covered spires of the Mason Palace were finally coated with a layer of dark gold in the afterglow of the setting sun, Sophia truly felt that she had come alive.
The carriage wheels rolled over the smooth Cement road surface, finally stopping steadily in front of the main gate of the Palace.
The bumpiness of this journey made Sophia deeply realize what it meant by 'The landscape is so beautiful, causing countless lumbar discs to bow in homage.'
The first thing upon returning to the Bedchamber, Sophia dismissed most of the attendants, leaving only Willow by her side.
Dinner, prepared with urgency, was already set on the table. Steaming hot cream of mushroom soup, and steak pan-fried just right. Compared to the throat-scratching fish porridge and Black Bread of Withered Willow Town, this was what human civilization should look like.
Sophia ate rapidly, almost disregarding her image, until the warm food filled her empty stomach. Only then did she let out a long sigh of relief, retrieving a trace of the reserve befitting a Queen.
Before she could completely collapse into the soft chair, a pink shadow barged in like the wind.
"Your Majesty! You are finally back!"
Irene's fair little face was even stained with a smudge of gray Cement dust, but those azure eyes flickered with a light named excitement.
"The shop renovation is already wrapping up! The new type of flooring, display cabinets, and that show window, all done!"
Irene had wanted to pull Sophia's hand and spin in a circle, but she keenly captured that trace of unconcealable exhaustion at the corner of Sophia's eyes, and her movements stopped abruptly.
"Uh... However, Your Majesty looks tired enough to fall apart."
Irene pursed her lips with some heartache, her tone instantly softening.
"Then today's report ends here! Your Majesty rest first. Tomorrow morning, I will take you to accept my masterpiece. I'll go stare at the final cleaning work now!"
Watching Irene's back figure leaving like the wind, Sophia felt a burst of gratification in her heart. Irene finally knew how to be considerate of the helpless her.
The night grew deeper, and several soft palace lamps were lit inside the Bedchamber. Inside the huge oak tub, hot water was emitting white mist, sprinkled with specially made refreshing herbs and the mint essential oil refined by Irene.
Sophia submerged her entire person into the water, feeling the scalding flow smooth out the muscle soreness inch by inch.
"Waist, back, thighs... I feel like this trip out has consumed a lifetime's worth of suffering."
Sophia leaned against the rim of the tub. Her silver-white long hair was wetted, sticking to her back which was fair as porcelain; the water vapor blurred her vision.
This extreme relaxation made her somewhat drowsy; even the subtle sound of metal armor rubbing outside the room couldn't completely wake her.
After bathing, Sophia changed into a silk nightgown of extremely soft texture, half-lying on the soft couch covered in velvet, just preparing to fall into deep sleep.
Click—
With a sound almost imperceptible, a side window of the Bedchamber was pushed open silently.
Sophia snapped her eyes open, a trace of alertness flashing in her pale golden pupils. However, what appeared in that dim lamp shadow was that familiar figure carrying a cold sword intent.
"Delilah?" Sophia propped up her body, a trace of confusion in her tone.
At this moment, Delilah had already taken off her heavy armor, wearing only a neat black outfit. That face, which was perennially cold, appeared somewhat cramped under the lamp light, and even... held a trace of imperceptible guilt.
She walked forward quickly, kneeling on one knee before Sophia, her head hanging very low.
"Your Majesty... This subject failed to return early, actually letting you sleep in that kind of humble room in Withered Willow Town."
Delilah's voice was somewhat hoarse, carrying a trace of faint self-blame.
"That night, this subject slept on a fine bed in the official post of Leighton, while Your Majesty had to endure the freezing cold in that leaky stone house. This subject... my heart cannot be at peace."
"That isn't your mistake." Sophia rubbed her glabella. "Rise. Don't act like a child who did something wrong."
Delilah did not rise but kneeled forward a small step, her gaze falling on Sophia's slightly exposed ankle, which was faintly red and swollen, and her tight shoulders and neck.
"Your Majesty, this subject learned a set of massage techniques to soothe muscles and bones in the army."
Delilah looked up, a flash of humble pleading in her eyes.
"Please allow this subject to relax you a bit, otherwise, even if this subject guards outside the Palace gates tonight, I will be unable to close my eyes."
Sophia had wanted to refuse, but that piercing soreness struck again, making her lie back onto the soft cushion as if compromising.
"Fine, as you wish."
There were no professional massage therapists in this era anyway; if she could help pinch a few times to relieve the body's soreness, that would be acceptable.
Delilah's hands were very steady, her palms carrying thin calluses left from years of holding a sword. When her fingertips touched Sophia's shoulder and back, which were as delicate as silk, both their bodies trembled slightly due to this sudden touch.
Delilah controlled her strength with extreme care, deeply afraid that her pair of killing hands would hurt this Monarch who was as fragile as moonlight.
The dim lamp light projected the overlapping shadows of the two on the wall. Delilah felt that body under her fingertips, which was tight due to exhaustion yet gradually becoming soft, and her breathing involuntarily became cautious.
Is this Your Majesty's shoulder? So thin, yet it has to carry the rise and fall of the entire Mason.
These bruises and soreness are all medals left behind by Your Majesty so that the subjects wouldn't freeze to death.
I am Your Majesty's sword, yet I failed to block this bitterness of life for her.
Your Majesty, you may lean into this subject's embrace freely. Tonight, this subject is your city wall.
Sophia felt that ardent and steady power coming from her back. Delilah's movements were very clumsy, yet they carried a kind of devotion sufficient to penetrate the soul. Under that rhythmic pressing, Sophia finally felt that lingering fatigue slowly dissipating.
Occasionally hearing Sophia hiss subconsciously, Delilah hurriedly stopped her movements, her gaze falling on Sophia's fair shoulder.
"Delilah..." Sophia closed her eyes, her voice carrying a trace of softness from being smoked by the heat. "Your hands are very warm. Don't stop."
Delilah's fingers curled slightly, then she pressed even more diligently, the firmness in her eyes also melting into a gentleness like water.
"Your Majesty." Delilah broke the silence first, her voice low and slightly hoarse. "Is this subject's strength too heavy?"
"Just right." Sophia buried her face in her crossed arms, her voice sounding muffled, carrying a trace of laziness after bathing. "Your palms are full of calluses; it rubs This Queen a bit ticklish."
Delilah's fingers stiffened for a moment, her movements becoming a few degrees gentler, her tone full of unconcealable cherishing.
"It is this subject who offended. Your Majesty's body is precious; what it should touch is the softest silk, not this pair of hands of this subject that only know how to kill."
"Killing hands can preserve This Queen's land and rivers, and now they can also cure This Queen's soreness."
Sophia turned her head slightly, revealing one pale golden eye, looking at her with a half-smile. "Delilah, have you stayed in Leighton too long and learned those nobles' flashy self-deprecation?"
"This subject dares not."
Delilah lowered her eyelids, her fingers pressing precisely on the side of Sophia's tight neck, feeling the beating of blood under the skin.
"This subject just feels that Your Majesty suffered too much on this trip. While in Leighton, every night this subject watched those nobles singing and laughing, but what I thought of in my heart was Your Majesty's appearance. But the one thing I didn't expect was that Your Majesty was actually trapped in a town with such heavy wind and snow at that time. Every time I think of this, the taste here in this subject's heart is more uncomfortable than suffering a knife wound."
She pointed to her own chest, her eyes revealing a burst of undisguised fanaticism and sincerity.
Sophia felt the waves of heat coming from her shoulder; that was Delilah trying to iron out her fatigue with her body temperature. She grunted lightly, her tone carrying teasing.
"So, you climbing through the window in the middle of the night is to be loyal to This Queen?"
"This subject... just wanted to be a bit closer to Your Majesty."
Delilah's fingertips slid slowly down the spine, her movements so slow they seemed to be worshipping a rare treasure.
"Being closer, this subject can confirm that Your Majesty is safe, is warm. Your Majesty, your shoulders are too narrow, and Mason's future is very heavy. Can you... occasionally share some weight with this subject?"
Sophia fell silent for a moment, feeling that protectiveness coming from Delilah's fingertips that was almost spilling over.
"Share with you?" Sophia closed her eyes, the corners of her mouth hooking up in an imperceptible arc. "If these shoulders are given to you, where should This Queen lean when tired in the future?"
Delilah heard the intimacy in the words, and her breathing instantly missed a beat. She emboldened herself, using the pads of her fingers to gently rub the soft flesh behind Sophia's ear, her voice so low it was almost inaudible.
"Then... this subject will kneel here forever. As long as Your Majesty turns around, this subject is your leaning cushion."
The aroma inside the Bedchamber seemed to become a few degrees richer; the coolness of mint was mixed with a trace of sweetness that made one's heart beat faster. Sophia hummed a sentence in a low voice but did not avoid her fingertips.
"Continue pressing. If you don't press well, This Queen will send you to be a porter for Irene tomorrow."
"This subject obeys the decree."
A ripple of a smile appeared in Delilah's eyes, and the movements of her hands became increasingly steady. Under that dim light, looking at Sophia's gradually relaxing back, she felt that the tranquility of this moment was more precious than all the gold coins in Leighton combined.
In this quiet Bedchamber, the orange lamp shadows swayed. Mason's highest combat power was using the humblest posture to guard the only faith in her heart.
____
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 100 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉