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After the continental meeting, we spent some more time observing the movements of the other continent, which we decided to name as unknown. The reason for the name is quite simple, as we still don't know if the other continent will be a friend or a foe; we opted for this name because it reflects our uncertainty about what they will be in the future.

In case you're wondering if the assassination attempt against me is not proof enough, it really isn't conclusive. The men who attacked me could have been acting under orders from a specific patriarch, which doesn't necessarily mean the whole continent is against us.

But, as I mentioned earlier, we are still not sure of anything. Instead of making enemies without justification, it's better to calmly observe how the situation unfolds. It didn't take long for something to happen; a few days ago, we received new information indicating that a port located on the coastal part of the other continent was being stocked with a lot of supplies and weapons.

No matter how you looked at it, it clearly wasn't something normal, except for the supplies, why on earth would they stockpile weapons unless they intend to wage war? But in the end, it still brings us to the main question, was the leading patriarch involved in all of this or not? Since we weren't sure about what was going on, we had our spies investigate.

Firstly, I must admit, I have no clue how this spy thing really works in practice. Being entirely honest, all the information I have comes from TV shows I watched in my past life, which I highly doubt can be applied in real life.

Anyway, the investigation went smoothly, and we managed to get several answers to some of our questions. Firstly, we found out that the coastal territory is governed by an arrogant patriarch who considers himself some sort of chosen one by God or something.

In general, this patriarch is an extremely greedy person, who has no qualms about performing horrible actions on other people as long as it makes him richer at the end of the day. To him, it seems like all the people in his territory are just pawns he can use however he pleases and then discard. The spies basically inquired about the patriarch to obtain this information.

Of course, all the questions they asked were carefully phrased not to raise suspicions. It would be odd for them to live there and not know about the patriarch who rules the place they are in.

Honestly, I doubt they would think the spies were from another continent. However, it would be terrible if they suspected the spies were from another territory and decided to call the guards because of it.

Based on all the information we gathered, it seems clear that this man was making decisions on his own, without the knowledge of the leading patriarch. However, we still can't state with absolute certainty whether the leading patriarch was involved in these events or not. The situation remains murky, despite the evidence we managed to gather.

"So, what's your plan?"

Emi asked, sitting beside me on a bench in the garden of the palace. She swung her feet back and forth while watching me. Her question was about the situation on the other continent. Although it wasn't a secret, I told Emi everything we had discovered, including the greedy patriarch who may or may not be plotting behind the back of the leader patriarch.

"It's not exactly a plan, but we intend to send a letter to the leader patriarch to warn him about this. Then we'll see how he reacts to it. In the next few days, we'll know whether we should consider the other continent an enemy or not"

My words sounded serious, but I also tried my best to convey calmness to Emi. To be honest, I wasn't confident enough to reassure her, but I thought I should give my best shot at it. As these thoughts crossed my mind, I felt Emi's hand on mine. When I looked at her face, I saw Emi with a warm smile on her lips. I didn't need to be a genius to understand that Emi understood how I felt. While pondering about it, Emi suddenly asked me a surprising question.

"Ren... How many children would you like to have?"

Upon hearing Emi's question, my eyes widened. I slowly turned my gaze to Emi and found her with a gentle smile directed at me. Despite trying to search for any hint of joking in her eyes, I couldn't find anything. Emi's question had been genuine.

"... what do you mean by that?"

Even I felt like my question was utterly stupid, but Emi's question had genuinely caught me off guard. I mean, why bring up this topic right now? I really couldn't grasp Emi's current train of thought. Seeing my surprised reaction, Emi let out a cute little laugh, finding the situation amusing.

"I mean exactly what I asked"

With these words, I could confirm that Emi was one hundred percent serious, meaning she really wanted me to answer her question. I sighed slowly, starting to think about the matter. To be honest, I had never really thought about how many children I would like to have.

"Two... I guess"

Hearing my words, Emi nodded her head while her eyes were closed, and she maintained a smile on her face.

"I was thinking four, after all, we need to have at least one boy"

Listening to Emi's words, I looked back at her with a surprised look. After all, to be honest, Emi's words shocked me a bit. Isn't it usually the man who says that? Why do I feel like we've switched positions? Well, thinking a bit more about the matter, I guess it's normal for royalty to have multiple children, although so far, all the royalty I've known didn't have that many children.

"If that's what you want, I only said two because it was the first thing that came to my mind. Besides, I think it'll still take a while for us to have children"

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