The Emperor’s Angel of Death

After listening to the introduction about the Soul Forge, Soshjan nodded thoughtfully.

"No wonder Huron suddenly acquired such a massive amount of Daemon Engines. So he found a big sponsor. What's this entity called?"

"In human language, it should be called Vashtorr."

"Vashtorr."

Soshjan repeated the name twice.

"I've remembered it. I've offended it badly this time, so I suppose I'll have to deal with it in the future."

Then, he nodded to Loreena to express his gratitude.

"Thank you for your answer, Lady Loreena."

"It is right that Your Highness should understand such a great enemy. The Val priests of the Yemlock Ark should know more. Your Highness might gain more by inquiring of them."

As she spoke, Loreena glanced at Veronica, who was putting dessert on Soshjan's plate, then made up her mind and changed the subject.

"Your Highness, what do you think about His Majesty's recent encounter?"

Loreena's tone was very calm, even gentle, but the meaning of blame was obvious. Veronica frowned immediately.

"Lady Loreena, you—"

Soshjan held his wife's shoulder and replied in a deep voice:

"It was my fault this time. I was negligent and put Veronica in danger, almost causing an irreversible outcome. I will pay attention in the future. I will not allow anyone to threaten Veronica."

Loreena bowed deeply immediately.

"Please forgive my impolite words, Your Highness. I just hope that you can truly clarify your position. You have already left blood in the royal court, and you can no longer be as hesitant as you were in the past. The Human Empire has begun to notice the royal court, and the threat of Commorragh always exists. You can no longer treat yourself as an outsider."

Soshjan nodded.

"Lady Loreena, I have felt your loyalty. I will correct these mistakes. Thank you for taking care of Veronica during this time. Oh, yes, how long is the gestation period for an Aeldari?"

"Your Highness, the actual situation varies from person to person. If calculated in human time, on average, it is about a hundred years."

"A hundred years!?"

Soshjan's eyes widened. At this moment, Veronica leaned close to his ear and whispered:

"Lady Loreena has checked, and it has already been five or six years since I conceived, and there have been cases in history where pregnancy lasted for three hundred years."

"Ah, well, that really surprises me. Just gestation takes so long, wouldn't growth take thousands of years?"

He looked back at Loreena.

"Lady Loreena, you said 'generally', which means Veronica is special."

"Of course, after all, it is your child with His Majesty. In fact, we cannot detect its condition by any means, including its development cycle and growth process. I am afraid that we need to return to the royal court and go through the Crystal Dome to find out."

"I see."

Soshjan also had some doubts in his heart. No matter what kind of offspring he and Veronica bore, it would likely subvert all current biological theories.

"If there is nothing else, I will go down first."

"Mm."

After Loreena left, Veronica placed the cut pie on Soshjan's plate and suddenly smiled:

"Soshjan, do you think a girl is better or a boy is better?"

"Uh..."

Soshjan pondered for a moment and put down his cup.

"Both are good."

As he spoke, he seemed to think of something.

"Can Aeldari control the gender of babies?"

In an empire where cloning and biotechnology are highly abused, the control of newborn gender is a very mature technology. If it were not for the intervention of the Ecclesiarchy, the popularity of this type of technology would be even more terrifying. Because the Ecclesiarchy declared that "gender is the choice of the Emperor's coin toss, how can mortals interfere?", the technology to control the gender of newborns is currently in a semi-illegal gray area.

Veronica shook her head.

"Yes, but it is mainly used for unnatural conception, just like the Trueborns of Commorragh. Naturally conceived babies cannot be interfered with, or rather, are not allowed to be interfered with."

"That's right, such laws should be clearly defined and take precedence over human relations. Technologies that surpass human relations are more harmful than beneficial."

"You haven't answered the question just now!"

"Well... a girl, I guess."

Veronica blinked.

"Why?"

"Probably less worry..."

"Well, you're not thinking about the guy sitting on the Golden Throne and his twenty-one troublesome sons, are you?"

Soshjan picked up the pie with an awkward expression, took a bite. The milky aroma was rich, the sweetness and saltiness were moderate.

"By the way, why did you react so strongly when you mentioned Occam earlier? What happened? I've heard rumors these days that Huron ran away?"

"Alas."

Speaking of this, Soshjan sighed softly, took a sip of the soup, and said helplessly:

"Occam let him go."

"Ah?"

Then he told Veronica everything that happened at that time.

"So that's how it is! No wonder the mentor used to say that the Alpha Legion are a bunch of inexplicable people. Even a mind-reading prophet can hardly predict their next move."

"It's more than just inexplicable, I really wanted to kill him at the time."

"But his explanation seems to make some sense? Those guys from Garmonbozia are a bit capable. The teams sent to pursue them have reported that those people possess considerable warp power and can also drive demons. Even when they are at the end of their rope, they cause considerable damage. If they were to take Huron's place, it would be a big trouble in the future. Anyway, Huron has been beaten into a state of despair by you, so I guess he won't dare to cause any more trouble in the future..."

"One thing is one thing, he did this, no matter what happens, I will never be able to trust him as I did in the past. He knows too much, and if he really betrays, the consequences would be disastrous. I'm even considering whether to use some special means to erase his memory or..."

"Well, that's true, but husband, think about it, since he did it, he must know that there would be such a result. Occam is an extremely intelligent person. He is willing to take such a big risk, perhaps there is really another hidden reason? You can communicate with him carefully in the future, I think this person may be very complex, but definitely not a villain."

"We'll talk about it later. Has the Blackstone Fortress been dealt with now?"

"Lady Dorlar has dealt with it. They are on their way back to the royal court, but there is still a lot of follow-up work to be done, so after the matter here is over, you need to take a lot of time to deal with the affairs of the royal court."

"Okay, I'll do it as soon as possible, my dear. How long do you think the warp storm will dissipate?"

Veronica picked up the goblet, pondered for a moment, first took a sip of the drink inside, and then said:

"It's hard to generalize. The reasons for the formation of each storm are different, or rather, there are no identical storms, but I can feel the power of this storm from a distance. It doesn't seem to be formed naturally, it is likely to be created through evil rituals, but I can't imagine being able to create a storm of this scale."

"Could it be that we really just let Huron run away like this?"

Seeing that Soshjan still had a somewhat annoyed expression, Veronica filled his wine glass and said:

"Worrying is useless, why not take this time to do more things? It just so happens that Huron is not dead and the expedition is not over. While the authority is still on your shoulders, make some future preparations and arrangements. Remember, you started selecting immigrants from the third year of the expedition, mainly doctors, priests, and technical personnel from the middle hive, screening backgrounds. Now the third batch of immigrants have already boarded the ship to go to the Brakato system, and you haven't asked about it much. This expedition has consumed so much time, you need to speed up the recovery of your legion, and you will need more manpower and resources. These things are your main focus later."

Veronica said so, Soshjan gradually came to his senses and nodded in agreement.

After dinner, Veronica didn't "let go" of Soshjan, and directly pulled him to "do business as usual", but Soshjan was a little worried about this. Veronica said that she was not really pregnant yet, so she needed to "work harder". Soshjan had no choice but to inform others that he needed to rest for a while—