My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 104

　She nodded, thoughtfully concluding that the plan should be fine.

Chapter 223

...

The "long enough time" that Duke and Duchess Kosiché had hoped for still did not materialize. On the morning of June 23, when a messenger from the Imperial Council of Saint-Junburg arrived at the Duke's residence at full speed, his first reaction was not to bring good news, but to announce the Imperial Council's warning to the Duchy of Kosiché in front of everyone present.

The warnings are pretty much the same. The first one is—

"The Duchy of Kosiché doesn't have a method for sharing economic reform policies... right? Even if we shared it, would you really be able to use it?"

The Duchy of Kosiché did not share its experience in navigating the economic crisis with other surrounding noble territories. But what... does that even count for?

Even Monica knew that without Lord Yang Hao's special abilities, the work-for-relief policy wouldn't even last, let alone be able to continue. The initial administrative reforms alone would have deterred many nobles from participating in the program. Not to mention, the subsequent issuance of tokens was of paramount importance—the biggest problem preventing many nobles from solving the economic crisis was their inability to establish credibility for a temporary currency!

If you can't even establish the credibility of this temporary currency, do you expect us to guide you step by step, word by word? And this is called "sharing"? Isn't this just letting us take over all your work?

If you were willing to give us your noble lands, we would certainly be happy to do so, wouldn't you say? But the problem is... you are unwilling to give us your lands, and you are unwilling to do anything yourself, you just want us to do the work for you... who can stand that?

So everyone present—except for the Kosichés, who were already mentally prepared, and Head Maid Monica—was extremely angry. Mr. Joseph, who was routinely reporting on administrative matters, almost lost his temper and slammed his report in the messenger's face.

Fortunately, he held back. Otherwise, Yang Hao and the others wouldn't have heard the next piece of news that would make them even more furious.

This even more infuriating news is—

"We obtained the right to engage in foreign exchanges with His Majesty the Emperor's permission. Your Imperial Council, however... oh dear..."

The Imperial Diet strongly condemned the Duchy of Kosiché's unilateral decision to establish diplomatic relations with the independent city and ordered the Duke of Kosiché to send a representative to St. Arthur's Castle within three days to explain his mistake and accept his due punishment in the most impartial and honorable Imperial Diet.

After saying this, the messenger left without looking back. He could already feel the hostility emanating from the entire audience hall—if he didn't run now, there would be no way he could leave later.

When Yang Hao heard the news, his first reaction was: Who does your Imperial Council think it is?

Do you really think you'll be a parliamentary system from now on? Do you really think His Majesty the Emperor will still be suppressed by your parliamentary votes? How dare you condemn the actions of the Duchy of Kosice in such a harsh tone? Good heavens! Even the Emperor has never spoken to us in that tone!

If it weren't for the fact that beheading the messenger now would only cause more trouble, Yang Hao would have already had him beheaded, his head packed into a chamber pot, and sent to the Imperial Council to teach them a lesson!

Thinking of this, and with the reassurance of Kosch and the head maid, Yang Hao sighed heavily, finally suppressing his anger. However, just because he couldn't do this on his own duchy didn't mean he couldn't do something even more ridiculous later.

He immediately instructed Ms. Sonia, the deep-sea hunter who was waiting nearby, to prepare herself and, once the messenger left the city, to kill him and the Imperial Council's guards in some desolate wilderness.

"Me? Mr. Yang Hao, I'm definitely fine with it. However, Lord Koschei seems to have a strong objection to this." Ms. Sonia first stated her position with a smile, then gestured for Yang Hao to carefully consider the potential consequences. "And if we kill that messenger, I think... the Imperial Council will directly pin the blame for the messenger's disappearance on us, won't they?"

"With no master on the land, it's only natural that the messenger would be assassinated by bandits... Hiss... Kosich, stop whining, I understand, alright, let's leave it at that for now... But we can't just keep putting up with the Imperial Council's attitude! Even His Majesty the Emperor has never spoken to us like that!"

Yang Hao grumbled, removing Koschitch's slender hand, which had just pinched him painfully, from his waist and kneading it repeatedly. Koschitch's face darkened in response to her husband's complaint. She hadn't expected that some people in the Imperial Council would be this impatient...

This is a mix of condemnation, demands for "sharing," and the need to send representatives to accept "punishment." Doesn't this all sound like a bandit leader planning to divide the spoils? No, under normal circumstances, Kosichrie would definitely be happy to promote her husband's work-for-relief programs, his proposed administrative and economic reforms to benefit the people of Ursus and make Ursus stronger.

But the problem is, with these worthless councilors, are we sure that the support we send out won't turn into a living hell and end up being consumed by the nobles? Kosiché means that perhaps a few nobles are trustworthy, but with the Masquerade nightclub holding half the seats in the Imperial Diet and most of the wavering neutrals only concerned with their own interests... are we sure that kind of thing won't happen?

Therefore, Kosichrie must be resentful of the existence of the Imperial Council. However, she also knows that it's best not to act rashly before her husband carries out his plan to burn down the Imperial Council and reduce everyone inside to ashes.

Now that we have this idea, the arrangements will be much easier.

First, she had Mr. Joseph give a report on the administrative work. Then, she asked Mr. Grovazel to help Mr. Joseph expedite the remaining work of the work-for-relief program. After that, she arranged for the idle deep-sea hunters to be ready to go out at any time. Then, she smiled wryly at her husband, who was still sulking.

"So, sending a representative in three days is too tight."

“Time is too tight… Just verifying the authenticity of the information and figuring out how to lower the price will take a lot of time.” Yang Hao sighed, rubbing his forehead with his hand, while Monica beside him wiped his sweat. “We can only… sign a commercial contract for now, and see where their bottom line is for a fixed price? We need that evidence.”

"...while this is happening, Monica?"

"Yes."

"We need you to go to the United City—enter the mirror. Help us find that intelligence. Sigh...we can only fumble around like headless flies, preparing for both possibilities."

Monica will have to suffer.

Watching Monica vanish in an instant... Yang Hao and Kosiché talked with wry smiles about their upcoming trip to the Imperial Council.

Chapter 224

"Three days for a meeting? I don't think that's feasible... The timeframe is too tight. Unless we work extremely fast, otherwise..."

"Although I'd love to say let them threaten us... we really need to speed things up now. Once the Serpent Scales send over their message, we'll start preparing, okay?"

"can."

The couple was quite troubled by the "three-day deadline." If no one went, something serious might really happen in three days. Kosiché and Yang Hao weren't worried about sanctions from the Imperial Council, but if the Imperial Council didn't impose any sanctions and instead used coercion and inducement to force the United City to leave, letting go of such a big piece of meat, they would be in trouble.

So, after much consideration, Yang Hao and Koschich decided to temporarily put aside the matter of "lowering the price"—as long as the price could be reduced to an acceptable level, then they would proceed with the transaction. But if the United City insisted on such an exorbitant price to sell that secret intelligence... well, if Monica could find the intelligence, she could copy it down. If she couldn't find it, then they would have to have Koschich and Captain Glamorgan negotiate slowly while Yang Hao was on his way to St. County Castle.

But if they weren't desperate, who would want to drag things out? So the couple sighed, discussed possible actions for a while, and then decided that this was the best they could do for the time being.

...... ......

Several hours later, at 7 p.m. on June 22.

The Serpent Scales found evidence of the provisional intelligence. After learning the details through the [Puppet Stage], Yang Hao expressed his concern to Kosiché, saying that they not only needed to quickly acquire the classified intelligence, but also needed to prepare for the upcoming war in Kazimir while the civil war was raging.

“These weapons orders, those personnel movements, they’re all real! And they’ve deployed more troops than we imagined, plus the food supply allocation… they’ll launch their war against Kazimir just when our civil war is nearing its end.” Yang Hao shared his intelligence with his wife with great concern. “If we don’t get that evidence quickly, so that His Majesty the Emperor can deal with Duke Nikolai and those cannibalistic monsters as soon as possible after dealing with the members of the Imperial Council, we might miss this opportunity to do Kazimir a huge favor and annex them!”

“...Hmm. But the question is, darling, do you think this is necessary?” Koschke nodded seriously, but although she approved of Yang Hao’s plan, whether the plan was necessary was still debatable.

After all, the most pressing issues facing Ursus right now are these three:

1. Cleanse the corrupt Imperial Diet.

2. Win the civil war launched against Sherlock Holmes.

3. Chen Di resolves the economic crisis of the Ursus Empire.

These three things were goals that Cosice believed *must* be accomplished. On the other hand, *intervening in Colombia's war against Casimir* was something she considered *ideal if it happened, but regrettable if it didn't*. Of course, this was also related to her lack of understanding of what other wild ideas her husband had come up with.

He might think it's necessary... but Kosiché really doubts whether it's truly necessary.

If the Imperial Civil War had jeopardized the possibility of abandoning this potentially necessary plan, would he agree?

Kosichello felt a little nervous. After all, she had lived and worked with her husband for so long, yet she still couldn't understand his thoughts...

Fortunately, although Koschke didn't understand her husband's thoughts, he didn't mind explaining them to her.

"While it's not strictly necessary, if we could achieve this, it could save us decades of time."

"Decades?"

"About 60 years, almost 70 years."

“Let’s just say it’s been 70 years. Darling, tell me your thoughts.” With that, Kosichelle sat on Yang Hao’s lap. At this moment, only the two of them were present in the palace, so Yang Hao didn’t mind the intimate contact between husband and wife.

He held his wife in his arms, gently rubbing the cat's tail, which he might never be able to touch again, while explaining the necessity of doing so.

First, regarding the capabilities of the [Puppet Stage], it's not that he couldn't directly declare war on Casimir by leveraging the increased influence gained from establishing a [Sympathy], but doing so would inevitably lead to a direct confrontation with Columbia. Furthermore, even if he used influence to solidify the declaration of war, it would require a considerable amount of preparation time.

Moreover, if the Colombian thieves advance too quickly during the preparation period, the nascent "preparations" will likely fail completely, resulting in a complete waste of effort.

This preparation period could take a full five years. And even after preparations are complete, it could still take several years before the war begins—let's just say ten years.

The Ursus Empire could not possibly sustain a foreign war for ten years during an economic crisis. Even a seven-year-old knows that in a time of economic collapse, the only ones capable of spending money on war are probably the Gestalt consciousness—monsters who see themselves as their race and their race as their own. Therefore, Yang Hao predicts that in this war, which will last at most five years, and with preparation time definitely not exceeding ten years, the best outcome will be nothing more than conquering Kazimir before Columbia. But even after conquering Kazimir, what will happen then?

He still needed to deal with the economic crisis within the Ursus Empire, and he also needed to deal with the rebellion in Kazimir, a region he had just conquered. He was simply too busy to attend to both, and even with Koschei's help, the best-case scenario would be progress on one front while stagnation on the other.

This is just... such a huge loss! All things considered, just resolving the economic crisis of the Ursus Empire and ensuring the Emperor's autocratic rule improves will take several years. Not to mention, even with the aid of the [Puppet Stage], completely annexing a culturally incompatible territory will take a very long time—Yang Hao realized after a little thought that rather than slowly operating like this later, it would be better to obtain the decisive evidence now, make contingency plans during the civil war, and immediately support Ursus after the civil war is over!

If he operates this way, Yang Hao optimistically estimates that he can annex Kazimir in just 5 years. Starting from a vassal state and gradually annexing it into a province of the empire is always easier than creating a province from a rebellious and unsettled territory, isn't it?

After listening to Yang Hao's explanation, Kosichä remained silent, frowning and pondering for a long, long time. She considered the pros and cons of doing so, and whether her own body's dramatic death could capitalize on the prelude to her husband's plan. Finally, she considered the current dissatisfaction and public opinion surrounding His Majesty the Emperor within the Imperial Council—she thought about many things, even the possible future of Ursus a hundred years from now.

After a moment, she closed her eyes, without sighing or hesitating. She simply reached out and grasped her husband's dirty hand that was playing with her tail, then smiled:

"I believe you. Let's do it this way."

"...Thanks."

"Why should I thank you? Isn't this something we should naturally do as husband and wife? If I don't trust you, who else can I trust? You agree, right?"

"Hmm...Monica?"

"That's true. But you're still the one I trust the most."

She smiled, and just as Kosiché was about to say something, Monica, the head maid, suddenly appeared in the bedroom, startling them and bringing them the latest news.

“My lord.” Monica was oblivious to the intimate interaction between the two men, knowing full well that they would do something even more outrageous during their nightlife. So, faced with their surprise and panic, she simply smiled and sighed helplessly: “I couldn’t find that ‘secret intelligence’ today. But I did discover some noteworthy things—those diplomats are genuine prisoners.”

"A real prisoner?"

This...is interesting. Real prisoners. If Monica isn't mistaken, they should be prisoners under house arrest in their own bedrooms, not allowed to leave without orders?

Yang Hao blinked, kneading the base of his wife's tail in his arms. Amid her dissatisfied grumbles, his hand felt a sharp pain from the kneading, bringing tears to his eyes and causing him to howl in pain.

When asked by Lord Yang Hao, Head Maid Monica simply nodded and recounted what she had seen and heard in the [Mirror World].

...

After receiving the mission from the two masters, Monica directly used the mirror to enter what appeared to be an administrative building in the United City. She moved back and forth among the various mirrors inside, searching for possible locations where [secret intelligence] might be stored, all while trying to avoid revealing herself (which was practically impossible).

As a result, the trip did not achieve its intended goal, but instead revealed many noteworthy aspects.

As Monica happened to pass by a room, she saw a diplomat, Captain Glamorgan, return to his room and be handcuffed, clearly having his personal freedom restricted.

'This is how the same thing?'

Out of curiosity, Head Maid Monica observed the dejected diplomat's every move. Finally, during his muttering to himself, Monica discovered that the "diplomats" of the United City were actually mostly "administrative personnel" who had been captured by the state government and hadn't had time to evacuate from the chaotic city. They were currently serving the United City as prisoners [whether they received a salary was unknown], and many seemed depressed, clearly good targets for defection.

But—Monica knew that Lord Yang Hao disdained to try to turn diplomats who didn't need to be turned. She simply confirmed the total number of prisoners one by one, and after comparing their commonalities, she discovered something:

"It's just that...those prisoner diplomats know that [secret intelligence] inside and out. Specifically, it might be a plan proposed by a character in Columbia codenamed 'K'—to launch a war against Kazimierz, seize the initiative to acquire resources, and then launch a war against Ursus."

“...Although we know, His Majesty the Emperor certainly won't wholeheartedly prepare for this without evidence.” Kosiché frowned. “Evidence, evidence, evidence is needed everywhere. Although my personal relationship with His Majesty the Emperor might make her overlook some details, to get her to devote all her efforts, except for economic reforms, to prepare for the war in Kazimir, we still need to consider evidence... This is what makes His Majesty trustworthy, but it turns out to be so troublesome at a time like this.”

"Yeah, yeah, I feel like she wouldn't even agree to sell me out this time—ah!"

"...In short, Monica, is there any other news?"

"Yes."

Looking at Lord Yang Hao's face, pale with pain yet seemingly enjoying it, and glancing at the spot where Lord Koschche's tail was now inside, Monica pondered whether she should take a shower and come over later, while explaining her latest discovery to the two lords.

That is... the United City is holding far too many prisoners, to the point that their administrative center's basement is holding nearly a hundred high-risk inmates. She recognized many of those prisoners as prominent Colombian politicians, and Monica believed that those figures must also possess evidence of the secret intelligence—bringing them out as witnesses would be very difficult.

If Monica were to bring a living person into the mirror world now, he might just end up torn to pieces both when he went in and when he came out... She can't bring a living person in, and a dead person can't be used as evidence. What should she do?

"So, you mean we really can't steal the information by stealing it?" Yang Hao couldn't help but feel disappointed, but he didn't blame the head maid. "Sigh, in that case, Monica, you can relax a bit... I won't force you to do things you can't do."

"Yes. But actually, sir, there should be some secret rooms in the administrative center of the United City. I plan to review the information in the secret rooms before deciding whether to stop this mission."

"A secret room? But Monica, how come you— oh... I forgot, you can now take things out of anything that reflects light..."

Yang Hao was taken aback at first, then nodded thoughtfully, affirming the head maid's bold idea.

Chapter 225

On June 23, Duke Koschche and Captain Glamorgan of the United City had another exchange. She first affirmed the credibility of the intelligence provided by the United City, and then handed over what was due to the United City. The Undying Black Serpent then stated that she and her husband were willing to engage in further exchanges with the United City—but before that, they had some matters to attend to.

"Your Excellency, will your priority matter affect our deal with you?" Captain Glamorgan asked, a hint of unease creeping in. He wasn't quite sure what the ever-smirking Duke Felin was thinking, but he had no choice but to proceed.

"Ah, it might have a slight impact." Kosiché merely gave a mysterious smile. "Because we received information... some Colombian politicians are willing to provide us with intelligence in exchange for support—of course, the intelligence they provide might conflict with yours, or it might not conflict at all. But until it happens, who knows what will happen? Captain Glamorgan, if the United City continues to keep us in suspense like this, I can't guarantee that once the deal is finalized, you'll be willing to use your most valuable assets to exchange for the expected benefits, even if your intelligence overlaps with theirs."

Looking at Captain Glamorgan, who was sweating profusely, not far ahead, Duke Kosicheck knew that the plan she had discussed with her husband the night before had achieved its first success.

This was their strategy to force United City to make a decision within three days. Simply put, one played the good cop, the other the bad cop. Koschei would first subtly, or directly, tell Captain Glamorgan, "We've found better people, and they also have your intelligence!" to force them to make concessions. Then, Yang Hao would find an opportunity to acquire United City's intelligence at a low price, "out of consideration for what was once our family," while simultaneously gaining their gratitude.

However, doing so also carries significant risks—if the other party is a stubborn individual who refuses to budge on the price and refuses to give up until the very last moment, then Yang Hao will be helpless... Although it's not impossible to seize their classified information through diplomatic insults or even a direct declaration of war, doing so would do more harm than good, and Yang Hao would not do it unless absolutely necessary.

Of course, if Ms. Sonia's deep-sea hunter squad had stealth capabilities comparable to snake scales, or if Theresa the pony, skilled in hypnosis, were here, the plan might be much easier. But there are no "ifs"—Theresa is currently far away in the Dukedom of Nikolai, working hard on their mission, and cannot spare the time. Ms. Sonia's deep-sea hunters are humanoid monsters completely clueless about infiltration; even a light stomp of their feet on a wooden plank can produce a piercing groan on the solid wood. Expecting them to perform infiltration?

It would be more realistic to hope that the people of the United City would surrender the next day.

"this--"

Moreover, it now seems unnecessary to resort to such radical methods. Under Duke Koschei's somber gaze, Captain Glamorgan was clearly losing his composure. As a military police officer, he was unaware of the significant leverage and opportunities that showing hesitation in a diplomatic setting would give the other side. Right now, this inexperienced diplomat was only thinking about one thing: to quickly find out who Duke Koschei was dealing with and, before the other party agreed to the deal, to sell off the secret intelligence of the United City in order to secure a sliver of hope.

But Duke Koschei wasn't about to say much to him right now. She knew that giving an immediate response would make her appear insincere. She needed to keep Captain Glamorgan hanging for a day or two, until the politicians and diplomats of the United City were exhausted. That would be the best time for her to pretend she had reluctantly accepted the United City's trade offer due to her husband's persuasion.

She had done similar things many times before, so she handled it with exceptional skill. She first smiled and waved her hand to indicate to Captain Glamorgan, "That's all for this morning." Then she had the waiter respectfully escort Captain Glamorgan and his team out, using the same impeccable reason—today is an important day for Duke Kosiché to deal with the economy and people's livelihood; if they wanted to talk more, they could do so tomorrow.

Anyway, she had made this reason public, and seeing Captain Glamorgan's dejected application, he did believe it and had no choice but to leave.

...

Not long after Captain Glamorgan left, the Duke of Koschei stretched, took out her long-unused cell phone from her pocket, and sent a message to Yang Hao, who was in civilian clothes on his way to inspect the United City. While muttering, "Hopefully His Majesty the Emperor can get through this period," she began her work.