32: Chapter 32 A Woman Who's Foolishly Sweet

The night grew deep.

"Vera, Vera Istvan!"

Vera Istvan was still half-asleep when she was awakened by a female prisoner in the neighboring cell.

"Who are you?"

"Shh." The female prisoner placed a finger to her lips. "Keep your voice down. Don't alert the rebel night patrols."

[...] Vera glanced outside the cell. There wasn't a single soul. "Are you trying to tell me what to do?"

"Istvan!" The female prisoner gritted her teeth in anger. "I am Seraphie von Creed, senior acolyte to Grand Inquisitor Cassian von Creed. I outrank you!"

Vera wore a look of utter disbelief, but then she suddenly remembered that before she set off, her superior did seem to have warned her... not to skim too much off the top, as rookie Inquisitors were often secretly monitored during their first few missions.

"Senior, please save me!" Vera's attitude did a complete 180, switching from arrogance to subservience in a laughable manner.

"Save you? My foot! You idiot deserted your post. Even if I get you out, you'll face court-martial!"

"Ah... then what should I do?"

"Earlier today, the rebels' False Emperor came to see you. Did you notice?" Seraphie asked.

"I did. He's very young, just a kid."

"Istvan, I am giving you a chance to redeem yourself through service. Are you willing?"

"Can I keep my position as an Inquisitor?"

"No. It can only guarantee you won't face a firing squad."

"Alright..."

Seraphie lowered her voice even further and detailed the mission to Istvan.

As it turned out, as early as the Cadian 88th Regiment's first visit to Cheng Yu Planet, the intelligence branch of the Inquisition had already noticed Cheng Yu... the Cheng Yus.

It was honestly hard not to notice.

Almost every living being has a projection in Warp.

The projection area of the lifeforms on Cheng Yu Planet expanded by dozens of times daily. It was terrifying; anyone who didn't know better would think a Chaos God had descended in person.

The high-ranking officials of the Inquisition naturally wouldn't believe that any Genestealer Cult could achieve such a feat.

They deduced that Cheng Yu might possess some kind of Old One artifact, or perhaps... he himself was that Old One artifact.

Under certain conditions, this Old One artifact could clone life in bulk, with the upper limit of cloning likely tied to the user's psychic power.

"This artifact must be secured in the hands of the Imperium, do you understand?" Seraphie said seriously.

"Understood. Is my mission to kidnap or assassinate him?"

"Is your brain filled with mush, Istvan? How on earth did you ever become an Inquisitor?!"

"My family has been Inquisitors for generations! What about it? Got a problem?!" Knowing she wouldn't be executed, Istvan's spoiled, aristocratic temper flared up again.

[...] Seraphie took a deep breath and held herself back. In this hopeless 41st Millennium, one couldn't be too pedantic about certain things.

"Your mission is to marry him, love him, and be his wife, so that his power can be utilized by the Imperium. Think of it as recycling trash. Do you understand?"

"He has such powerful forbidden technology, how could he be trash?"

"The trash I am referring to is you!" Seraphie's nose turned red with anger.

"Why not just kidnap him directly?"

"Then go ahead and try, you idiot! This False Emperor can wage a war of attrition against the Tyranids / Tyranids. Where would the Imperium find the manpower to launch another Great Crusade in the Tempestus Sector right now?!"

"Wait... was our capture also engineered by the Inquisition?" Former Inquisitor Vera's brain wasn't entirely useless.

"No... Lord Drake's capture was planned by the Inquisition. Yours wasn't. No matter how well the Inquisition plans, they could never design an Inquisitor who is so afraid of death!"

According to the Inquisition's original script, after Inquisitor Vera arrived at the Drake Domain, she should have discovered the high risk of rebellion within the Drake family within one or two Terra days.

She would then decisively set off for the Tempestus Sector to arrest their patriarch.

The False Emperor, Cheng Yu, is extremely appreciative of talent. He would definitely clash with Inquisitor Vera's forces over Drake.

Inquisitor Vera would ultimately be defeated after a grueling battle, which would once again trigger the False Emperor's passive trait of appreciating talent, allowing her to smoothly enter the core of the False Emperor's regime step by step.

When that time came, whether it was holding the False Emperor hostage or uncovering the secrets of the Old One artifact, the initiative would remain in the hands of the Imperium.

Who would have thought, who could have predicted, that this wench Vera wouldn't even manage the first step? She lingered in the Drake Domain, freeloading and extorting... and simply refused to leave. As for the missing Lord Drake? Never heard of him, who's his friend?

"My current identity is a quartermaster for an Imperial Navy company, with a background in engineering thermodynamics. Once we reach the False Emperor's territory, I will need to go dark for a while. When the time comes, you should contact..."

"You two over there! You've been buzzing like mosquitoes this whole time. Go to sleep! Once the ship enters Warp, you won't be able to sleep even if you want to!"

The night patrol guards changed shifts. The newly arrived clone clearly had mutated hearing; no matter how quiet the noise, it sounded as if someone was whispering right next to his ear, resulting in severe insomnia.

...

The chat log between Seraphie and Istvan was quickly uploaded to the shared mental network of the Cheng Yus.

They thought they were whispering, but the soundproofing of the bizarre ship built by Cheng Yus Clones was incredibly poor. The clones playing an eight-player board game right beneath the cell deck could hear them crystal clear.

"Oh?" Main Body only had time to read this intelligence report before holding court the next morning. "So, according to this, we don't need to worry about the Corpse Emperor Empire launching a military campaign against us anytime soon."

"Your Majesty, it's also possible that this is a scheme within a scheme by the Corpse Emperor's lackeys!" Palace Attendant Cheng Yu advised. "We must not let our guard down."

"Hmm... your reverse-logic thinking is very good. I'm almost jealous of your wisdom." Main Body laughed heartily.

"Your Majesty must be joking. If you are jealous of me, isn't that just being jealous of yourself?"

"Hahaha... This Lady Istvan is actually quite a delightful, refreshing simpleton. Let's draft her into my imperial harem!"

Cheng Yu had thought about it carefully last night. As an emperor, he knew he was immortal and indestructible thanks to his cheat, but outsiders didn't.

If he had neither a wife nor an heir, those who aligned with him would lack reasonable expectations for the future. Many wavering moderates might end up leaning toward the opposition.

Therefore, the matter of the imperial harem was not only unavoidable but also had to be prioritized and executed on a grand scale. For now, he would tentatively start with eight or ten concubines.

But he couldn't just take anyone. Cheng Yu didn't have exceptionally high standards for his imperial concubines; as long as they looked like Vera and weren't too smart. Living with women who were too clever was exhausting.

But they couldn't be too stupid either. Someone as foolish as Sophia would actually disrupt daily life.