"Good night, then. Sweet dreams."

"Good night to you too."

After what seemed like a normal farewell, the two parted ways to their respective rooms. At least one of them didn't feel quite as calm as their face might have suggested.

As Ye Chuxue stepped into her room, her left hand instinctively rose and pressed against her chest on the left side, as if trying to suppress something.

Thump, thump!

This feeling came a bit late.

It wasn't until Ye Chuxue was separated from the other person, no longer able to see that figure in her eyes, that her heart began to beat faster.

"Being late has its advantages, at least I didn't let Xiaojun see through anything..."

Ye Chuxue patted her chest a few times, forcing herself to stay calm, while taking deep breaths with her mouth wide open.

Inhale, exhale;

Inhale, exhale.

After repeating this twice, her mind returned to its original state.

Needing a change of mood, she walked to the window and opened both panes completely;

The cool breeze blew in unhindered, ruffling her black hair to the edge of the mask on her face.

In the moment she pressed down the strands of hair, she noticed:

She hadn't returned to her original mask! No wonder her cheeks felt a bit off.

Both masks were in Ye Chuxue's hands. She had spent quite a long time with the old mask up to today, becoming accustomed to having it cover her face.

Perhaps the warmth in her cheeks was due to this.

With no one else in the room, Ye Chuxue had no reservations. She could let her face breathe.

Her neatly trimmed nails lightly tapped the seam at the edge of the mask, making a "crack" sound as the pink fox mask was removed.

If there were moonlight spilling on the edge of the window, her jade-like cheeks might have exuded a soft, faint glow at that moment.

Ye Chuxue raised her face, completely relaxed;

Her milky skin, smooth and tender, seemed to have rolled back to her infancy.

"Sister Head!"

As she was in a good mood, a face suddenly appeared from the window, hanging upside down in front of Ye Chuxue.

When the "foreign object" entered her sight, she was genuinely startled.

She wasn't afraid of a ghost suddenly jumping out;

On the contrary, it was a human face appearing unexpectedly that would truly startle her.

This was what they called "humans are scarier than ghosts."

In the moment when someone saw her face, Ye Chuxue reflexively turned her head and, in the midst of stepping back, swiftly raised her right wrist and put on a mask.

Right after making this move, she began to cough violently;

The action of bending over like a sick person was nothing like her usual lively self.

"Cough, cough, cough, when did you learn this way of greeting?"

Ye Chuxue didn't attack, indicating that she knew the person;

It was a member of the Knights Squad, whose main responsibility was usually contact.

"Last night, Sister Head had a fight with the future brother-in-law, right?

At that time, I and some comrades were standing in the yard, watching the future brother-in-law climb into Sister Head's room through the window."

And then, those group of troublemakers learned that way of entering.

"No climbing through windows next time."

As she uttered these words, the coughing had mostly subsided.

"Tell me, why did you risk climbing in, intending to share some important information with me?"

She hoped her subordinates had come for business, not just out of hasty curiosity about any "progress in the relationship" kind of thing, then interrupting her at this hour.

"Sister Head, how far have you and the future brother-in-law progressed in your relationship?"

"Death penalty!"

Before her subordinate could finish the sentence, Ye Chuxue expertly drew her magic gun, aiming it forward;

She was indeed as "merciless" as she sounded.

"Yikes, what have I done wrong?"

If not for the unsuitable place they were in, the subordinate would have raised their hands by now, surrendering before Sister Head.

"I'll give you two choices: Either make your final confession in one sentence, or let me change my mind within three seconds."

If the subordinate chose the first option, they had to prepare for their impending death.

But in the end, the subordinate accepted the second choice;

Just before the bullet hit her, she revealed important information that would be enough to sway Sister Head's decision:

"I just received word:

Upon hearing news of the border being breached, the nobles in the Archima Kingdom, leaning towards our country, launched a rebellion and assassinated the current king!"

"Oh, so..."

Upon hearing the serious intelligence, Ye Chuxue's expression immediately changed, seeming almost like her sister for a moment.

"Yes, Sister Head's guess was spot on. Without us instigating anything, the Archima Kingdom has already collapsed from within!"

With the death of the king, the nobles within the country have turned to support Inran and accepted imperial rule in actuality.

This, in turn, signified the Archima Kingdom being fully conquered.

"This is intel worth staying awake for! What else? How are the remaining royal family members faring now?"

"The nobles, sharing our worries, were afraid of retaliation in the future;

So, after killing the king, they quickly sent their soldiers to kill off the surviving royal members, almost all of whom perished under the soldiers' swords."

"Almost?"

"Sadly, there is still one fish that slipped the net; under the protection of the royal guards, the king's youngest son managed to escape."

"Well, it's a bit regrettable, but the outcome is still acceptable."

"How about Sister Head's opinion? The nobles, unable to sleep now, are awaiting a clear response from the empire in the dead of night."

"Tell the fence-sitters:

Any noble who distinguished themselves in the massacre of the royal family shall maintain their status and treatment unchanged. They are still the aristocracy in this country, as they have always been."

"Understood, I will convey this response to the nobles."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, a letter has arrived from the imperial capital, only Sister Head is qualified to read the contents."

Crystal contacts were not foolproof.

Considering the enemy's magical eavesdropping methods, sending letters to convey information was the best option during wartime.

Ye Chuxue wanted to know who sent the letter, so she took it and opened it to read alone.

After some time, she couldn't help but nod:

"Truly my sister...it's just like her style..."

To sum up the main content of the letter in one sentence:

Sister Nightcloud informed her sister leading a part of the army that the empire was sending out more troops.

From the moment the decision was made to launch the war, Inran Empire's publicly announced total military force was over two hundred thousand;

However, behind this daunting number lay the palace's political trap.

"The so-called 'over twenty thousand' and the 'actual over twenty thousand' are two completely different concepts."

Falsifying numbers has been a tradition in the Eastern Continent;

Hundreds of years ago, various sovereigns often played the trick of sending out ten thousand troops but claiming to have a "million-man army."

As a long-standing major power in the Eastern Continent, Inran's emperors throughout history were all too familiar with this tactic.

But if the purpose of deception was merely to scare people, it would seem a bit wasteful.

Empress Nightcloud was a genius in manipulating opponents with her intellect;

Not only did she possess extraordinary political tactics, but she was also extremely skilled in strategies involving human emotions.

A person like her would not merely rely on her ancestors' methods but would have a follow-up plan.

Based on what Ye Chuxue understood, Sister had indeed intended to defeat Dibiles and had no plans to negotiate with Isabella from the beginning.

Since they had decided to go all out, not putting their full effort into the war simply wasn't an option.

Ye Chuxue was the first to know the latest military news;

What she learned at that moment was something even General Nanyuan and others weren't aware of yet:

Another fifty thousand reinforcements were incoming!

According to Ye Chuxue's knowledge:

Commanded directly by General Lesong were one hundred and forty thousand troops, with another forty thousand troops assigned to consolidate the occupied regions;

In other words, the main force numbered as many as one hundred and eighty thousand.

Excluding those who were out of action due to injuries, Ye Chuxue still had eight thousand troops under her command;

In the nearby areas, several other commanders listened to her orders, each commanding a force of ten thousand.

Under Sister's vigorous recruitment, several neighboring vassal states of Inran also dispatched troops;

These forces, though irregular, amounted to as many as sixty thousand.

Adding up these numbers would lead to the conclusion:

The total number of troops sent to deal with Dibiles amounted to three hundred and eighty thousand.

Among this vast number, nearly two hundred and fifty thousand were Inran regular troops;

This figure was not to be underestimated, given that the total military strength of the empire (excluding vassal states) was around three hundred and thirty thousand.

Dispatching over two-thirds of the country's military force to battle with Dibiles would undoubtedly expose vulnerabilities in the nation's defense.

Nightcloud understood the current situation and knew they couldn't delay too long. That's why she requested in the letter:

End the war within a month!

Setting this deadline made sense, as if they took too long, there was a risk of other countries taking advantage of the situation; not to mention, the Papal State needed particular vigilance.

Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Ye Chuxue truly needed to know the contents of the letter.

Understanding the current circumstances, she grasped the real reason why her subordinate avoided Wang Xiaole.

It wasn't about keeping secrets; the subordinate's actions were purely to consider the future brother-in-law's feelings.

After all, no matter what, he was Dibiles' imperial husband.

"If Dibiles falls, Xiaojun won't be able to maintain his current lifestyle anymore."

If the country ceased to exist, the empress would become a mere title, and the imperial husband would also be affected;

At that point, the people of the fallen nation would have nowhere to belong.