Chapter 1236: Chapter 1236

"Oh, a queen, you say..."

Jenkins, flustered, tried to form a rebuttal but found himself at a loss for words.

He had no idea, of course, just how tangled the thoughts were in the mind of the red-haired woman beside him.

After a full winter of investigation, punctuated by carefully worded questions to her father, Hathaway had pieced together the Williams family's noble connections. She now understood the true weight of the choice Marquis Mikhail had laid before Briny.

The queen was gravely ill. With the royal bloodline apparently broken and the entire kingdom vehemently opposed to a foreign ruler, the Williams family was destined for greatness. And now, Jenkins had somehow entangled himself with the royalty of the northern kingdom, even pledging to personally help his lover claim the throne.

"If that Miss Stuart truly becomes the queen of the northern kingdom, and after our own queen passes away, a Williams also takes the crown of the Fidektri Kingdom, wouldn't that mean Jenkins..."

She dared not follow the thought to its conclusion. The outcome she envisioned was still a distant possibility, but a part of her already accepted it as inevitable.

"Hathaway? Hathaway, are you listening to me?"

Jenkins’s voice broke through her reverie. The red-haired young woman shook her head.

"I was saying that I've already promised Dolores that if she still wants to marry me after she turns eighteen, I'll wed her... But don't worry, I made you a promise of marriage too. That's why I have to support Dolores in her bid for the throne. Once she's queen, she can change the laws, so I can legally have more than one... wife."

In the end, he couldn't bring himself to say the word out loud.

"It shouldn't be a problem. After all, the rule allowing a king to have multiple queens was only abolished two hundred years ago. With a bit of a firm hand, restoring that right to the crown shouldn't be too difficult."

He delivered the explanation with as much sincerity as he could muster. Hathaway stared at his face, a mask of worry and guilt, and found herself torn between annoyance and amusement.

"Give me some time to prepare. Now isn't a good time to meet your little lovers..."

The truth was, she hadn't put on any makeup, and she still hadn't decided how she was supposed to act around a real princess.

"Just remember to find the time to tell Briny all of this yourself; I'm not going to do it for you. As for us, since you've been so... forthcoming, I'll try to let Briny know sooner rather than later. That way you won't have to exhaust yourself running back and forth between us."

Her words were a clear sign that she wasn't truly angry. Jenkins let out a quiet breath of relief and pulled his beloved into an embrace.

Nolan only knew that something significant had occurred in the northern kingdom. A few Enchanters had witnessed the strange celestial phenomenon that night and, based on the ensuing snowfall, deduced there was trouble in the far north. But the spectacle in Nolan's sky last autumn, caused by Jenkins wielding Alexia's power, had been just as shocking, so the local Enchanters didn't consider it a matter of great concern.

Over the next hour, Jenkins gave Hathaway a condensed version of his adventures in Ruen. Only then did she truly grasp the scale of the "great commotion" he had mentioned.

Though it was only a little past ten, they decided to have a pleasant early lunch together. Their conversation roamed over many topics, during which Jenkins cautiously broached the subject of whether she would ever mind living in the cold northern kingdom. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novel_fіre.net

Hathaway, however, either feigned ignorance or was simply unwilling to answer. She deftly sidestepped the question, subtly hinting that he shouldn't be in such a rush to map out their future.

He had hoped to spend the entire day with Hathaway before returning to Ruen in the evening. But shortly after their meal, she bid him farewell. She had plans to meet Briny for a day of shopping; spring had arrived, and it was time for the young ladies of the city to update their wardrobes.

"And you, Mr. Williams, cannot be seen in Nolan," she reminded him. "Because according to Papa Oliver, you've been sent to Ruen on a business trip."

Hathaway playfully poked his chest, then rose onto her tiptoes to plant a soft kiss on his forehead.

"I'll be waiting for your return. Don't you dare forget that the girls in Nolan love you too, just because Ruen has its share of pretty faces."

He returned the kiss, then watched as she turned with a flourish, strode from the alley, and departed in a waiting carriage. Once she was gone, he donned his black robe and set off toward the heart of the city.

His next stop was a visit to the old elf. He'd left Nolan in such a hurry that the elf had no idea he'd been away.

He knocked on the apartment door, but the landlady informed him that the old elf was out. Because of his disguise, she didn't recognize him from his previous visits and refused to let him wait upstairs.

They were still talking at the foot of the stairs when the elf's voice suddenly came from behind them. Jenkins turned to see him cradling a paper-wrapped package under one arm, his other hand reaching for his keys. Seeing the door already open, however, he simply slipped them back into his pocket.

"Jen... James? What brings you here today? My apologies, I just stepped out to buy a few things. Please, come in. Mrs. Halse, this is my friend. I'm so sorry, I forgot to mention he would be visiting today. Could you possibly prepare some hot tea for us? I've just bought some fresh leaves."

The tea was brought up in short order. After locking the door, the old elf cheerfully invited Jenkins to see his greenhouse.

The elf lived alone. Compared to Jenkins's last visit, his home now boasted several new pieces of wooden furniture and a few more potted plants by the window. The greenhouse was located inside a new, large wardrobe in the bedroom. When the elf swung the doors open, a bright light spilled out. It was only after Jenkins stepped through the frame that he saw it—an expansive space, no smaller than the conservatory where Dolores grew her tulips.

The greenhouse was filled with all manner of strange and exotic plants, many of which Jenkins had never seen in the material world. He admired them with keen interest for several minutes before a startling realization dawned on him.

"Whoa, this space is... expanded!"

Aside from the Gate of All Things and the pocket dimensions used to seal away monstrous creatures, this greenhouse was the only example of spatial expansion he had ever encountered. The Gate of All Things was a registered, numbered item, and the pocket dimensions had been painstakingly modified by the Church after investing countless resources into finding naturally occurring spatial fragments. Yet this one, judging by the old elf's casual tone, seemed to be something he had just whipped up on a whim.

This flew in the face of the basic principles Papa Oliver had taught him. It was common knowledge among human Enchanters that the space of the material world was exceptionally stable. Any ability that manipulated space risked attracting other dimensions or the prying eyes of otherworldly creatures.