Double Joy

Yulan Calendar, November 10, 5000.

Kolan paced outside the palace. The maids bustled about, and every so often, a woman's heart-wrenching scream rang out from inside.

"Your Majesty, Mother will be fine," Victoria comforted Kolan.

Today was the day Isabelle was due to give birth.

Kolan felt restless and on edge.

His soul force kept a constant watch on the baby.

Inside the palace, Isabelle gripped the brocade quilt beneath her with one hand and a maid's hand with the other. She followed the midwife's instructions and tried to hold back her cries so she wouldn't waste her strength, but sweat had already covered her forehead. Her once breathtakingly beautiful face was contorted with pain.

The Empress was having a difficult labor, and even the midwife was growing anxious.

"Your Majesty, push! A little harder—the baby's almost here!"

The contractions came and went. Isabelle's face turned pale with pain, and her whole body felt as if it were being pricked by needles. Her abdomen felt as though it might split apart. The pain was so intense that she wished she could simply pass out, but the thought of the child inside her helped her endure it.

At last, a loud cry rang out. Isabelle relaxed and fainted from exhaustion.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Your Majesty! It's a prince!" The midwife was overjoyed. She carefully cut the baby's umbilical cord, then meticulously wiped him clean before gently lifting the red-faced infant, who was still crying at the top of his lungs.

The baby's cries were the most beautiful sound in the world. They echoed through Kolan's mind and stirred his heart.

Beneath the Tree of Life, Kolan's Life God Clone had been meditating in a cross-legged position. At last, he understood. He had taken that crucial step.

A feeling of sudden enlightenment welled up within him.

"Hum—"

A strange fluctuation of the Laws of the World descended, appearing right where Kolan was.

Wrapped in the Laws of the World, Kolan couldn't help but float into the air.

Kolan's eyes were closed. Then, without warning, the Lower God Spark of Life emerged from his head as if it were insubstantial, finally hovering above him.

Vast amounts of life energy swirled around the Godspark. Under the control of the Laws of the World, it slowly began to transform.

It was changing from a Lower God Spark into a Mid-God Spark!

The life energy dissipated, and the aura radiating from the emerald-green Godspark grew markedly more powerful.

"Hum—"

The Godspark spun in the air before finally merging into Kolan's body.

A moment later, the Laws of the World faded away.

Kolan's Life God Clone kept his eyes closed, quietly experiencing the realm of a Mid-God.

In the imperial palace, as Kolan broke through to Mid-God, his Saint Domain True Body broke into a radiant smile.

This was a double blessing!

He hadn't expected his son's birth to give him insight into the Life Law and help him break through his bottleneck.

Overjoyed, Kolan generously rewarded the midwife and the maids!

And to celebrate the birth of the Crown Prince, Kolan declared a nationwide celebration.

No one had to pay taxes that year.

Kolan was so happy he could hardly stop smiling as he carefully cradled the baby.

The more he looked at him, the cuter he seemed. The feeling of sharing the same blood was utterly intoxicating.

Kolan had no interest in handling state affairs and spent every day with his son.

Fifty years passed in the blink of an eye.

On December 30, 5050, according to the Yulan Calendar, snow fell from the sky, blanketing the ground in white.

At that moment, two lavish carriages traveled along the road under the protection of an elite cavalry unit.

"Your Majesty, we've arrived at Life Castle," a knight respectfully reported from beside the carriage.

Several people stepped down from the two luxurious carriages.

"Brother, Father said not to disturb him unless it's necessary. Aren't you afraid he'll scold you?" A breathtakingly beautiful young woman spoke with a mischievous air.

"Hannah, don't you want to see Father and Mother?" A young man exuded an imposing air, a ring on his hand.

"Besides, Amansa is expecting. Isn't that important?" the young man said matter-of-factly.

Looking at the trees around the castle, the young man's eyes filled with awe.

He didn't dare underestimate those trees, because they were plant life that had reached the Saint Realm.

He remembered that Saint Realm undead had once guarded this place. Now they had been replaced by plant life.

The cavalry stayed outside while the young man led the girl and the others into the castle.

"Leo, do you think Father might have gone traveling?" a noblewoman asked worriedly.

"Amansa, don't worry. Father is definitely in the castle," the young man, Leo, said.

Soon, they saw two women.

"Mother!"

"Mother!"

Leo and Hannah hurried to greet them.

The two women were Isabelle and Victoria.

More than fifty years had passed, yet time seemed to have left no trace on them.

Isabelle had grown even more alluring.

Victoria was no longer as youthful and had filled out a little. She was also more captivating than before.

The two women looked like a pair of mother and daughter.

"You two, coming to the castle in this snowy weather! Amansa is pregnant, so you need to be especially careful!" Isabelle chided them.

"Exactly. And Hannah, you're thirty-five and still single. How can you show your face here?" Victoria scolded the young woman.

Leo was the son Isabelle had given birth to all those years ago, and Kolan's only son. He had been named Crown Prince at the age of three, reached the ninth rank as a warrior ten years ago, and inherited the throne to become Emperor of the Empire.

Amansa was Leo's wife and the Empress of the Empire. They had been married for ten years, and she was now pregnant with their second child.

Hannah was Victoria's daughter and the Empire's eldest princess. She was Kolan's only daughter and had entered the Royal Academy to study magic at the age of nine.

"Grandma!" The child in Hannah's arms called out in a spirited little voice.

"Oh, my precious grandson! Blake, you've grown taller in the two months since I last saw you." Isabelle's manner changed at once, and she went over to pick him up.

Blake was Leo's first child. He was five years old that year.

"Mother, we came to pay our respects. Tomorrow is the Magnolia Festival, and I'll be naming Blake Crown Prince. Since Amansa is pregnant, I brought her here so Father could know and bless her," Leo said.

The Kolan Empire had changed beyond recognition over the past fifty years.

Fifty years earlier, the Kolan Empire had been in ruins. It had since been completely rebuilt.

The undead army that had once suppressed all opposition had withdrawn, replaced by human troops.

The military was divided into the City Guard, border troops, and Imperial Guard.

Ordinary cities were assigned a thousand City Guards each; commandery cities, ten thousand; and provincial capitals, fifty thousand.

The Empire's vast territory was divided into five provinces. Each province contained three commanderies, and each commandery contained five cities. Aside from the imperial capital, Kolan City, the Empire had five provincial capitals, thirteen commandery cities, and seventy-five ordinary cities.

And there were countless towns and villages!

Every town was governed by a baron or viscount serving as its Lord.

The lord of a city was an earl, while the lord of a commandery was a marquis. A province was governed by a duke.

Of course, there were two kinds of noble titles: ordinary and hereditary. Ordinary titles were lowered by one rank with each generation, and disappeared entirely once the line reached the rank of baron. Hereditary titles, on the other hand, could be passed down without being lowered.

The Empire had four border armies: the Northern Army, Southern Army, Eastern Army, and Western Army. Each had a hundred thousand elite soldiers.

The Imperial Guard stationed in the imperial capital, Kolan City, numbered two hundred thousand. They were the elite of the elite.