When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

Reaching out to flip the calendar on the bedside table, Sibangqi the Great Monarch paused.

Although he had anticipated it, when September 12, the start date of the Saint Union World Expo, arrived, he still felt a bit nervous.

"Great Monarch, do you need my service?" The old steward elegantly approached from beside the fireplace.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Sibangqi waved his hand: "Your old chicken-skin hands are not the hands of a young girl, I’d better wash up myself."

"As you wish." The old steward stepped aside.

Jumping down from the bed, the Great Monarch walked across the thick wool carpet, past the long framed art depicting a Thousand River Valley wolf hunt, and came to the dressing table against the wall.

On the nearby washstand was a brass basin, polished to a mirror finish.

Next to the basin were a cup, a toothbrush, and tooth powder, not the Sessi brand, but the milder Robert brand.

Naturally, it was also more expensive.

Beside the dressing table stood a coat rack, with wooden poles carved with scroll patterns, and the top hooks shaped like copper deer heads.

Touching the deer head, the Great Monarch shrugged: "Not bad."

There are two kinds of inns in the Saint Union.

One type is the ordinary inns like the Beetle Inn and Green Sun Inn.

The other type is the upscale inns where there are only three to five guests.

If you asked the Saint Union about maintaining equality while creating distinctions,

the Saint Union could only reply that unreasonable demands don’t mean they don’t exist; at the end of the day, one needs to make a living.

Using the toothbrush to dip in tooth powder, the Great Monarch began brushing his teeth in front of the mercury mirror, but hadn’t brushed much when a clamor sounded from outside the window.

Even though it was only four in the morning, lights were already on outside.

The cries of vendors, the bustling of people, the neighs of horses, and the shouts of coachmen filled the air.

The Great Monarch knew they were travelers heading to the opening ceremony.

"Hmph, World Expo, hmph, Horn Gallar." The Great Monarch brushed his teeth with increased force.

The opening ceremony was around seven, and the venue was in the suburban park on the north shore.

People hurried to get good spots, with some even pitching tents a day in advance.

After all, the space was limited, and there were fifty thousand travelers who had rushed to the ry Court Barracks in the past two months, which was enough to establish a small town.

Many were still on their way or found lodgings too expensive at the ry Court Barracks and opted to stay at Joan of Arc Castle.

Being the first such event, the amount of exhibition content at the Saint Union World Expo was neither too much nor too little.

If you really wanted to see everything, three to five days would suffice.

And yet, this expo was to last a full three weeks; wouldn’t it be better to take a leisurely tour after the peak period was over?

The outdoor commotion subsided with time, but the Great Monarch was not in a hurry.

He knew that, regardless, the Saint Union would give him the best viewing position.

This was because the first event of the expo’s opening ceremony was the horse and machine race.

Water dripped into the basin as Sibangqi looked up at his reflection in the mercury mirror.

Without the halo and makeup of a Great Monarch, he was just an ordinary middle-aged man with dark circles under his eyes.

Even though his head was full of black hair, Sibangqi the Great Monarch was close to seventy; Theodora was his daughter in old age.

How could she get involved with a dwarf? If you like short people, isn’t the Saint’s Grandson quite short too?

Thinking of his children, he couldn’t help but sigh.

His son, needless to say, had left him in the dust from early on.

Sibangqi knew his capability was limited, and aside from managing affairs in the castle every day, he much preferred hunting and banquets.

In his view, the purpose of being a Great Monarch was to hunt and feast without restraint; all the governance was just an unavoidable obligation.

Now that his son bore these duties, wasn’t it a good thing?

It’s just that now the money was controlled by his son, and as a father, he had no dignity before his son, only able to nod along.

Thinking of his daughter, Sibangqi the Great Monarch was even more exasperated, thinking of how she was with Harbin the other day, it was not at all like her.

But clearly, despite not being like herself, it was the state that most stirred Sibangqi the Great Monarch’s emotions.

At that time, the only thought in his mind was: He couldn’t let his daughter be deceived by that dwarf!

Thus, he smoothly accepted the bet, whether the horse or machine was faster, winning would give Harbin ten years, losing would mean breaking up with his daughter.

The question was, what did the speed of horses and machines have to do with his daughter’s marriage?

He was entirely led astray by his daughter’s sentimentality, to put it simply, a rush of blood to the head.

Clearly, the Saint’s Grandson and the Saintess had set him up!

Perhaps his own daughter played support, maybe even she orchestrated the scheme.

However, the words had been spoken, spread by the press, and after a blockbuster like "Crisson and Eugenie"...

To this day, he couldn’t admit that he was just speaking nonsense back then.

And the Saint Union’s goal had been achieved, what used to have no attention, the debate over whether horses or machines were faster, had become an imperial hot topic.

So much so that news like the Border Knight Order being beaten on both sides by vampires and Norn people on the border couldn’t even reach the front page headlines.

However, the Saint Union enticing him to accept the bet must have the capital to fulfill it.

He smirked at himself in the mirror because he had already heard that the Saint Union’s machine was blown up, even the newspapers reported it.

Under the dressing table’s drawer was a copy of "The Truth", the steward bought yesterday’s newspaper.

Sibangqi leaned down and pulled it out, tracing his fingers over the headline.

"Saint’s Grandson Leads Spring Industry, Saint Union to Rebuild Fifteen Spring Machines in Ten Days, Horse and Machine Race to Proceed as Scheduled"

He snorted, unfolding the newspaper, the smell of ink hitting his face.

The report said Leonardo had created a new precision lathe, the dwarf artisans were hastily crafting parts overnight, even the "Pilgrimage Efficiency Act" was being utilized.

"Fifteen machines in ten days?" he sneered at the newspaper, as if the Saint’s Grandson were in front of him.

He’d seen dwarf artisans, one axle took three days to grind, with over ten casts getting scrapped.

Fifteen machines in ten days, unless they could urinate honey sweet tea.

"Still bluffing." After putting down the newspaper for just two seconds, as if driven by something, he picked it up again.

What if? What if the Saint Union truly had this capability?

He recalled the shock of seeing the Veen Dam for the first time, and those tinplate and metal workshops at Hot Spring Castle.

It was impossible, still impossible, not even with those things.

He shook his head, put down the newspaper, cursing himself for being paranoid.

Yet within half a minute, Sibangqi the Great Monarch couldn’t resist picking it up again, staring intently at the "Leonardo Lathe" mentioned in the report.

Could that thing truly process high-precision components?

And so, he picked up and put down the newspaper again and again, back and forth for nearly half an hour.

Until a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and the Great Monarch came back to his senses: "Come in."

"Great Monarch, the carriage is ready." The Captain of the Guard opened the door.

"Good, then I’m off." The Great Monarch put down the newspaper, greeted the steward, and stood up.

Walking through the corridor to the outside, the bustling crowd had departed, the street was empty, carrying only lamplight and starlight.

Looking around, the houses on both sides of the street stood neatly, constructed with red bricks.

The window frames were painted beige, even the signs hanging outside doors were at the same height.

No carriages parked haphazardly, no wandering beggars, not even the sound of the wind seemed disorderly.

"It feels really quiet, there aren’t even any Horn Gallar people on the streets."

The guard knew he meant the infamous Cheka and those Night Watchers who forbade him from hunting on horseback in the park.

Having been in the ry Court Barracks for three days, the Great Monarch had already clashed with Cheka and Night Watchers, unsure of becoming entangled with the military police some day.

"Ah, perhaps they’ve moved the Cheka and Night Watchers to the suburban park on the north shore."

"Let’s go." The Great Monarch got into his black luxury carriage, and with a shout from the coachman, the carriage slowly moved forward.