Gale and Aster had a surprised expression which immediately turned into a blush after hearing Seiko's words.

Aster reacted fluster, "Wha- What are you saying all of a sudden?! It- it is not the time to talk about that!"

Seeing how innocent both her husband and friend/rival are, Seiko's inner cat stirred, but she refrained from teasing them, given the current situation.

So Seiko calmly explained, "It is absolutely the time to talk about it! Aster, your reign will soon be 3-years old. If you compare our enemies' experience, our administration doesn't even constitute a child's play."

Seiko continued in an even graver tone, "Let alone external threats, once the old powers get even a whiff that the prince condition might not allow him to be a king, we will have a coup in our hands."

Aster clenched her fist, made brief eye contact with Gale, and announced her predetermination, "Seiko, me-, we are determined to protect Arata, whatever the cost may be. I love Arata, and if someday he gets a little brother or sister, I will love them too like this, but that is that, and this is this. I can never replace Arata with another. I won't."

Seiko responded, as a matter of fact, "I understand, but we need an heir of Anthurium for the court to back if Arata's condition is exposed. And if you ask me, it is a matter of when rather than if."

Seiko lowered her head like she is calculating something. After a brief pause, she said, "3-year in the worst-case 7-years in the best, that's how long we can keep it hidden. Even if the concrete situation is not known, people will become aware of his condition vaguely."

Gale responded immediately, "Initiation?"

Seiko responded, "Yes. As a prince, it is impossible to hide Initiation and its subsequent ceremonies. If Yababa is right, Arata's mind will be troubled the more he knows of this world. So the older he gets, the more he knows, and severe his chaos grow. Each ceremony will exponentially become difficult for us to hide his condition."

Gale suggested, "We can make the Initiation private."

Seiko shook her head, saying, "Arata is a prince and a new life for the Anthurium house, we cannot do a private ceremony. If we did, it would create more suspicion, and I believe those fanatics will anyway muscle their way to oversee the ceremony."

Aster closed her eyes and asked, "We cannot hide Arata's condition, so we just give the court another heir to seek their benefits."

Seiko straightened her back and simply responded, "Yes."

Aster, with her eyes still closed, continued, "They are going to treat Arata as an inept prince."

Seiko responded without wavering, "Yes."

Gale held Aster's hand tightly to support her. Aster opened her eyes after a moment and said, "Seiko, I do not care what others think of him, as long as he is safe. I believe you already have a plan. What is it?"

Seiko lifted her fingers, counting each point, "1. We need to stabilize the internal conflicts, at least to a non-threatening level. I will take care of this. 2. Remove all the buds of revolt from the people using economic benefits and sanctions, so you should develop new economic policies. 3. Gale should try to finalize peace with Quanog Empire. 4. Reshape our army and finally teach Arata as much as possible before Initiation."

While Gale went into thought, Aster took something and started writing. After some time, when Aster is done writing, Gale spoke up, "Even though we are not at full-scale war with Quanogs, It is difficult to have concrete peace. Especially so when we don't know why they are provoking us. We cannot cede them the land they demand. If we do, they will keep taking until we are a vassal to them. And it does not matter how many times we win over them, as they can easily replenish their numbers."

Aster questioned, "So, they called you and Seiko for nothing?"

Seiko responded, "Not for nothing. They expected me and Gale to fall into an 'accident' and die. If we did, most probably, along with condolence, they would come to you with a peace treaty and a marriage proposition."

While listening to this, Gale's aura slightly became murderous. Aster worriedly asked, "Dear is everyone-"

Seiko responded immediately, "Our whole delegation is fine. It is funny actually, the Empire's delegation did not even prepare for the meeting. They never expected us to make it there, fufu. Welp, if not for their King's timely intervention, I would have made them sign something really interesting."

After feeling relieved, Aster realized something and suddenly felt some pity towards the enemy's delegation. Aster thought [they tried to muscle Gale's group and did not prepare to face Seiko, how overconfident is the Empire]

Gale chipped in, "The whole trip is a waste of time. After showing us some fictional writing of supposedly 1000 years old, they want us to cede almost half of the Summers Bloom. Seiko tried tricking them to become enemies of almost all the nations, but their King caught it at the last moment and dismissed the court."

Seiko laughingly said, "That was not even half the fun! You should have seen their pale faces when they realized what almost happened, fufu. I am sure some of those faces are separated from their bodies, given their King."

Aster gave her thoughts, "I do not think, the economic situation will be any better than our situation with the Empire. Let alone remote regions, I'm sure those old snakes will not even let the royal family develop the port areas. I can come up with a scheme that could elevate the economic situation somewhat and increase the current strength by 10%, in two and a half years, which leaves a 6month for implementation, but-"

Seiko continued, "Unless I behead them, it will be impossible to move those people in the court with in 6months. And with no economy, we cannot back the army, and if we forcefully do it, it will spook the Empire."

Gale responded with a weak smile, "Seems like we are stuck between rock and hard place."

As the people in the room are brainstorming, there was knock at the door. When Aster allowed, the door opened, and Wendy came with a tea tray.

While the trio silently had their tea, they were each thinking of how to solve their respective tasks. Before long, the cups are empty, yet nobody talked.

Slowly Gale stood up from his seat and said, "Seiko, thank you. Although peace with the Empire is seemingly impossible, I can still try, and I will talk with Liam and Ariana about the army." and left the room saying good bye to Aster.

After Gale left, Seiko also stood up and said, "Like always, he is decisive."

Aster agreed and said, "Yes, with the given situation we can only try our best."

Seiko turned her back and waved her hand while waking to the door.

Aster called her, "Seiko, I am sorry you had to wait some more."

Seiko turned her head and said, "Having a child with Gale is important to me, but now we need another royal heir. I can wait. I am sure Gwyn will also feel the same."

Aster nodded her head.

Seiko gave her usual cat like smile and asked, "By the way, did he bring up the promise he had with Gwyn?"

Aster shook her head and said, "No, but I have my means. I am the queen, after all."

Seiko laughed and said, " I am sure it has nothing to do with you being the queen." and left the room.