Ava’s smile stiffened, blinking her eyes a few times to make sure that she did not hear it wrong. She observed Tang Shaoyang’s expression for a moment to realize that it was not a joke. Even if it was a joke, it was a terrible joke.

Tang Shaoyang pulled her into his embrace, caressing her back, “I am… sorry…” He did not know what to say aside from sorry. He was to blame for what happened. Not just because he was the root of the problem, but because he was not there when the accident happened.

Ava’s body shook as she started to sob. She cried on his shoulder as Tang Shaoyang caressed her back. He just hoped that his presence was enough to help her to stay strong. After a while, she pushed Tang Shaoyang and asked, “Where’s his body?”

“Virion’s body is preserved for the funeral. They plan the funeral after you give birth.”

Ava furrowed her brow, wiping her tears, “What does that mean?” The word “preserving the body” was quite weird. There was no need to preserve the body of her son just died.

Tang Shaoyang let out a sigh, “Virion died around ten days ago. Aleesa and Zhang Mengyao wanted to keep it a secret until you gave birth. They are worried that Virion’s death will affect your health because you are in the last month of your pregnancy.”

He could feel her hands, clenching on his shoulder. She was irritated that she was not informed directly of the news of her son’s death. However, Ava understood why Aleesa and the others tried to hide the news from her. They were doing it for her and the baby inside her belly.

“Then why are you telling me now?” Ava’s tone became increasingly sharp. 𝑶𝑣𝐋xt.𝑐𝑶𝓶

“Because I don’t want to keep it a secret from you. You are his mother, you are the first person we should tell if anything happened to him. Because I trust you; I know you are strong.”

“Who killed my son!?” Her tone became increasingly murderous.

Tang Shaoyang hesitated for a moment. The thought of lying to Ava crossed his mind, but he told the truth in the end, “Arbane killed Virion, and Revalor plotted everything. Revalor wants to take revenge against me and you….” He told about Reinar who tried to take over the Tang Empire and also his wives. He told everything he knew about the incident.

Ava’s eyes widened in shock, not expecting to hear her second son’s name. She thought her son died in the battle because the Tang Empire was in a war. Never crossed her mind that it was her second son who killed her eldest son. That was the biggest shock than knowing the death of her eldest son. That was much worse, and she kept her mind clear. She understood why Aleesa wanted to keep it secret until she gave birth to her fourth child.

“Why Virion? If he wants to take revenge, why don’t he kill me? Virion is innocent, he is also a victim. Tell me, why did he kill his own son using his second son? Why didn’t he try to kill me?” Ava burst into tears, shaking Tang Shaoyang’s shoulders.

“This is what he wants. He wanted us to suffer. He wanted us to know the feeling of losing someone. Revalor wanted to use Reinar of the Giteron Dynasty to take all my wives. He wanted you to suffer by killing Virion. Vengeance blinded him.”

“Where is he? Where’s Revalor? Where’s Arbane?” Ava’s breath became hurried as she asked her ex-husband and second son’s whereabouts. She wanted to confront them and wanted to ask them directly why Virion. Even though what Tang Shaoyang said was most likely the truth, she wanted to hear it from Revalor’s mouth.

“We have caught them, and they are in the dungeon right now. Not just Revalor and Arbane, but also Reinar. We will decide… No, you and the Elven Kingdom will decide the punishment for them. They have killed your son and also the King of the Elven Kingdom, but not now,” Tang Shaoyang shook his head, “I will allow you to meet them after you give birth to our child. You have to keep your child healthy, or Revalor will get what he wants. Revalor and Arbane will not go anywhere.”

Ava calmed down, processing Tang Shaoyang’s words. Her chest heaved up and down from the agitation. Tang Shaoyang pulled her into his embrace once more, caressing her back to keep her calm. He ended up spending an hour with Ava in his room, accompanying her in silence. She ended up sleeping in his embrace, and Tang Shaoyang gently put her down on the bed. He stood next to the bed, looking at Ava’s sleeping face.

‘One to two weeks,’ He needed to end the war if he wanted to be next to Ava to accompany giving birth to their first child. He bent over and kissed her forehead gently before leaving the room.

Arina, Selena, Li Shuang, Zhang Mengyao, Delia, Elinova, and Sylvia were waiting outside the room. The girls were worried about Ava’s well-being, but they knew they could not enter the room. They had been waiting anxiously outside because Tang Shaoyang or Ava did not go out of the room.

Tang Shaoyang was surprised for a moment, but then he smiled. He was happy that there was no jealousy between his wives, “She is sleeping right now, but I want you guys to monitor her. Don’t let her meet Revalor and Arbane, not until she gives birth.”

The girls cast a suspicious glance at Tang Shaoyang, suspecting he did not do something he was not supposed to. Tang Shaoyang knew immediately what they thought about, “I am not doing it with her. I am not that stupid to do it when she is in the last month.” The girls were relieved.

Tang Shaoyang rolled her eyes and locked into Zhang Mengyao, “Tell me the details about the current situation. It’s time to end this stupid war.” He was about to leave, but Elinova pulled his arm, “Don’t you want to eat first?”

Tang Shaoyang smiled and shook his head, “I don’t have the appetite to eat right now, but I will take your special lunch box with me. I think I will be away for a few days.” He kissed Elin on the cheek, and the other girls started to line up their cheeks too. After giving them all a kiss on the cheek, he left with Zhang Mengyao.

They just went down three floors where the office, where Zhang Mengyao briefed Tang Shaoyang about the current situation in detail.

“Why do we need a base in Europe?” Tang Shaoyang asked. He knew why they initially took Lisbon from the World Government. Portugal was the Tang Empire’s sub-region, and they took it back from the World Government. They stayed in Lisbon to attack the World Government, but they retreated because they spread their force too much and worried about the defense of their main territory and started to expand to South East Asia. But why did they still need Lisbon if they were no longer attacking the World Government’s main base in Europe?

“It’s to maintain access to Europe if we need it in the future.”

“I see…” Tang Shaoyang nodded and looked over the map on the table. Moonsong took charge in Lisbon while Marshal Alton was stationed in Burma to keep a check on the Shiva Federation from India. Wei Xi also took charge in Tibet, watching over the Shiva Federation’s army in Nepal.

“They haven’t made a single move yet from the time they stationed their army at the border, correct?” Zhang Mengyao nodded at the question.

“We guessed that they are waiting for the God Rank to minimize their loss,” Zhang Mengyao nodded again.

Tang Shaoyang’s fingers tapped the table, thinking of something in his head. He had something in his mind, but he was hesitating, “What about South East Asia and Australia? Do we have control of these territories?”

“Our expansion team is in Malaysia right now, but we have trouble reaching the Philippines and Indonesia. We have tried to make a ship, but the monsters in the sea are quite troublesome. The dwarves are currently working to make a ship that can ward off the monster in the sea. It will take some time, a month to six months.”

“We have Yu Shun for Australia. We have basically secured Australia in our hands with Yu Shun. The natives are currently taking the Survival Game while Yu Shun oversees them,” Zhang Mengyao had all the information in her head. She easily recalled everything that happened in the few months in detail.

“Yu Shun?” That was a familiar name, but he did not expect the young man to be back in action again after decided to retire from the battlefield after Antorias’ incident. Lu An asked him about Yu Shun’s condition, but he did not expect Yu Shun to be back.

Zhang Mengyao nodded, “Meet him if you have time in the future.”

“Good. This will be easy if we have Yu Shun,” Tang Shaoyang put his index finger on Tibet, “Pull Moonsong on Tibet. Fortify our defense there. If they are waiting for the God Rank to arrive then we just need to take the initiative to attack them. Recall Yu Shun. I will form a squad and attack the World Government’s force in Europe. The squad will be me, Yu Shun, and one more person that deserves to receive this bloodline.” He put Green Dragon Bloodline Essence on the table, “Do you have someone in mind worthy of this bloodline?”