The summer was at its peak, and the temperature in the Imperial Capital was relatively high, though the temperature ranged from twenty to twenty-five degrees Celsius. The nation on the lower part of the continent usually had higher temperatures.
It had been a week since I fought and defeated Melville, and our lives remained normal, if that was the case. There were several changes that occurred in my family's life during that time period.
After days of thorough discussion, the Grise Archduchy finally made the decision to accept the engagement of their daughter, Christine, to my older sister, Louise. With that said, Christine would be my sister's queen consort in the future.
They had found that Christine's relationship with Prince Edward could not be fixed anymore. They saw that their daughter's well-being was improving when she was with my sister.
For her happiness, they ultimately accepted my sister marrying her, even though they were not fully into homosexual relationships. Since my sister was a Raevender, she could promise to give them grandchildren—more likely, granddaughters—to continue the pride of our queendom.
I was not sure if Christine forced herself to love my sister back, was genuine with her feelings for her, or was using my sister as a rebound to forget the prince, but I could say that she was a lot better than she was at her lowest.
I also took note that they had been more intimate with one another and spent more time privately. Well, it had been around a week since they engaged in a romantic and sexual relationship, so they still needed more time to get to know one another better as well as to deepen their relationship.
I did not know if this was good, but they have only spent one night in bed since their first night. It was probably because Christine's parents only allowed her to spend the night at our manor once.
Some people believe that frequent intimacy could reduce the sparks between a couple as they got used to each other, so they had to do it in moderation. But it did not apply to my case. Even though I had sex almost every night, I did it with different sets of women every time, just like right now.
"I know that I don't have that much knowledge in human matters, but your sister is going to marry someone even though she already has you?"
"We are siblings, Czarina; we cannot marry each other. Didn't I tell you that incest is not acceptable in the human world?"
"Hm? I thought it only applied to your mothers?"
Well, we were still hooking up in spite of her being in a serious relationship. Christine was aware of Big Sis having a lover or two, but she had no idea that I was included.
The real problem lies in how to tell her about this incestuous dark side of our family and deciding the right timing to do so. Born into an honorable family, this shocking revelation would definitely freak her out and make her stomach turn upside down. But we would definitely tell her someday, as Big Sis did not want to stab her back.
On another topic, after taking out Melville, Edith had been freed from the chains of the organization in the meantime. But they would definitely be trying to gain control of her once again, not that she had reached so far.
Until now, Prince Edward was still trying to convince the imperial royal family to accept his engagement with Edith. The emperor might have been swayed by his persistence, but the empress did not change her opinion on Edith as she could not recognize her value.
However, as Francis had told me, the organization had been doing some groundwork to authenticate the identity of Edith by fabricating realistic, alleged unsent letters from Edith's late grandmother to Francis's grandfather stating that her son was actually his.
Once the letters were discovered by either the Felsvorder or Aethel family, the Aethel Archduchy would process them with the help of the organization to legitimize Edith's identity so that they could officially take her to their family. By doing that, the impression of the empress on her would change significantly.
By the way, the secret affair between Edith's grandmother and Francis's grandfather was actually part of the organization's plan that they planted and eventually came to fruition. But the barony was not aware of that.
One of the reasons why Francis approached was that he knew that neither he nor the empire were enough to deal with the organization. In fact, he estimated that the imperial military prowess was not a quarter of the organization's might. That was how powerful the organization could be.
All the empire could do was fend off their influence on the continent, though it would require the cooperation of other nations. For example, when the headquarters of Five Headed Hydra's slave market was exposed, the empire rallied a coalition in order to raid it and take it down.
Well, my family would be having busy days during the summer. We had many things to tackle and settle. My sister's engagement, the progress of the railway system, and above all, the wedding of my three mothers.
It would be happening weeks later, and our palace had started to be adorned with decorations for the upcoming ceremony.
Later this day, I would check on my newly acquired prisoner of war. I thought that it was the right time to make use of my spoils.