Angel Monarch-Chapter 343: Territorial Expansion

The dinner continued fine. After the initial awareness of class disparity, Thea's family realized that neither Victoria nor Henry acted haughtily when spoken with.

They were closer to regular children, who carried way too many responsibilities on their young shoulders.

Victoria's way of speech became especially apparent to everyone at the table. She didn't speak like a princess, or the daughter of their Goddess.

It was similar to a soldier's, and not an officer's, but a frontline trooper's speaking pattern.

She seemingly strove for minimal cursing, yet a couple always slipped in.

Victoria immediately apologized afterward, even though everyone just laughed it off. Henry always found her embarrassment endearing, while Thea's family just couldn't believe how bashful Victoria was.

They only saw her from afar at events, and for all her speeches and interviews, she put on a mask of confidence, hiding the cute little girl beneath it.

The night continued as they ate and talked. Victoria and Henry sat next to each other. On Victoria's right sat Thea, then her mother, brother, and father completed the circle.

Thea felt especially terrified when she took the place next to Victoria, but since she insisted, Thea had no right to refuse.

She tried to keep out of conversations, but neither hosts felt like leaving her alone.

"So Thea, is this your entire family? I remembered you mentioned having three siblings."

Asked Victoria, clearly uncertain of this information.

"Yes, my Princess! My youngest brother is Marko here, but I have an elder brother and sister too!… They are away with the expeditionary forces. You might've heard about them. Yannick is my brother, and Yvonne is my sister!"

Both Henry and Victoria nodded in understanding. They heard their names quite often, from the reports written by Kim and Melinda.

Both Yvonne and Yannick gained serious fame in The War of Three Alliances. They fought in Wien, keeping everything under control while Faith took out Jonas.

Their skills in leadership was admirable, but even more interesting was their battle prowess and the ferocity with which they killed.

After the war, hundreds of Ascended applied for permission to continue their Evolution into Transcended. Yvonne and Yannick were one of the first getting accepted.

"Yes, we've heard about them. They are elite soldiers, judging by their military history, and I'm sure this assignment will only bring further glory to their names!"

After Henry's words, Marko's ears perked up, and a bit hesitantly, he asked.

"Uh… Prince Henry… Is there any news you could share from the Expeditions? My siblings refused to tell us anything about their work or what's happening, since they aren't permitted to."

Henry considered, then looked at his girlfriend for guidance. Victoria just shrugged, revealing her lack of care about the subject.

"Well, there isn't much to share. That's kind of the problem. As you all know, we established expeditionary outposts to the north of Europe, on Antarctica to the south, Asia on the east, and South America to the west a year ago."

Both Thea, Luzia and Marko nodded with understanding, while Marc and Victoria just seemed confused and lost.

Henry glanced at his girlfriend, and seeing the look on her face, he couldn't help but chuckle, bringing further embarrassment to Victoria.

She attended every meeting regarding their exploration, expansion, and establishment. Hell, she was the one opening portals to these places!

The problem stemmed from how uninteresting those meetings were. She might've been there in body, but her mind stayed far away, literally.

Every time she got bored instead of daydreaming or trying to focus, she just stepped out of her body and explored the surroundings in her ghost-like form.

It took a lot of convincing on Henry's part, so that Vicky didn't immediately leave classes she found boring. Her grades became better, even though she constantly complained about her lack of understanding in most subjects.

Overall, even though she attended every class and every meeting, Victoria lacked knowledge of both.

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When Luzia saw the expression on both her husband's and Victoria's faces, she sighed in disappointment, and began explaining the situation from the beginning.

"A year ago, when everything stabilized within Europe, the Angelic Order decided to explore the other continents. We sent out groups of explorers into unknown territory, who by virtue, luck, and strength prevailed in establishing outposts!…"

Luzia tried to keep condensation and annoyance out of her tone while she spoke. Even though she really wanted to smack her husband for his lack of care.

"With these outposts' help, exploration became a lot easier, and much more thorough. We even found other settlements, some the size of smaller cities, like Sofira… Sadly, they are distrustful of our intentions, so communication suffered, and now we're trying to prove our good intentions by helping them!"

Henry nodded in appreciation of Luzia's explanation, then turned back to Marko.

"So the answer to your question is, we have no clue. But Melinda and Kim, plus many others, plan on coming home for the Peacemaking Celebration, so we will get full-fledged reports soon. Their new discoveries will be publicly released soon, so please be patient."

Marko nodded graciously and turned away, seemingly deep in thought.

Thea's curiosity broke the moment of silence soon. Throughout the evening, there was one question bothering her, and no matter how hard she tried, it was impossible to dismiss it.

"Uh… Viola… I mean, my Princess!… I-I wanted to ask… I wanted to know how I beat you today! I'm just an Ascended, while you are one of the strongest Transcended to ever exist!… I don't understand how I even wounded you quite badly… It shouldn't have been possible!"

Her words plunged the table into stunned silence.

Luzia's hands trembled, aching to give her daughter a beating. Both because of her daughter's insolence at bringing this matter up again, and the fact she actually hurt their Goddess's child.

Her father and brother just felt a bit of shame at having Thea be part of their family.

Henry and Victoria just stared at Thea with confusion, then when realization set on their face, both burst into laughter.

"Oh, that's because of Lydia's ability. Each morning, she changes our facial structure, since our looks would immediately reveal our identity!"

Henry began answering, only for Victoria to take over.

"Yeah, but it's not as simple as changing the body. To make our regal, Evolved aura disappear, she needs to lock most of our powers away. This lock isn't unbreakable, but you have to consciously dismiss it, to regain full Evolved power!"

The entire family stared at them in awe and a bit of horror. They all knew how powerful it was to disable an Evolved's regeneration, so how much worse would it be to lose all your powers during a fight?

Thea felt especially surprised. She never imagined the silent girl, who always followed Victoria everywhere to hold such scary power within her grasp.

"So that's why… I only beat you because of your weakened state… Now it makes sense!… Thank you for the explanation, and sorry for bringing it up again!"

As she spoke, a strange feeling came over Thea… Disappointment…

For a moment, after meeting with Victoria, she thought her fighting prowess leant her victory over the Princess, but as it turned out, she only survived because of dumb luck.

Despite its silliness, the childish thought saddened her a little.

Victoria noticed her expression as well. With a kind smile, she reached out and placed her hand over Thea's.

"Just so you know, without my abilities, you would've most definitely beat me! Although I'm a Transcended, I can't use my strength effectively. I also never learned melee combat, since I never needed to… Even lacking in strength, your skill and battle experience would've been enough to subdue me!"

Thea chuckled at this statement, clearly thinking Victoria was joking. But when nobody else laughed with her, she realized it wasn't a joke.

"What do you mean you never learned? I thought Kim and Astrid taught you! They are one of the best melee fighters in the world!"

Victoria turned away with a heavy blush and laughed in embarrassment.

"Well, yeah… To be honest, I tried it's just so fucking… I mean it's really boring, and useless for me! It's the same reason I haven't learned math or other subjects… I just don't care enough."

While Victoria continued to blush, Henry chuckled at her bashful expression, then leaned down and gave a tender kiss on the top of her head, causing her to giggle.

He reached over and held her small hand gently. They stared into each other's eyes in a clear sign of love, bringing smiles of cuteness to everyone at the table except Thea.

After hearing Victoria's words, she became thoughtful, and while the pair acted all lovey-dovey, she blurted out something she couldn't take back… "I could teach you!"

Everyone's eyes suddenly snapped to Thea, surprising the young girl. Realization dawned on her too late, making her words were irrevocable. So instead, she doubled down.

"I could teach you both melee fighting and other school subjects. You might think you don't need either, but I'm certain you can utilize the knowledge in some way… Also, how do you know it's useless if you haven't even studied these subjects thoroughly?"

Marko and Marc stared at Thea in surprise. They considered their daughter/sibling was a self-centered, even a bit narcissistic person, so they had their doubts when hearing her kind offer.

Luzia just glared at Thea, seeing through her facade of kindness, believing there was some alternative motive behind her daughter's words.

Henry seemed doubtful as well, but he only awaited Victoria's words.

The small, white-haired girl only grinned widely. Her cute, embarrassed expression was all gone, taken over by the bright joy glowing in her white eyes.

She opened her mouth, prepared to accept the offer, when her head snapped to the side. Her eyes narrowed as she seemingly stared through the walls.

"Well, that's unfortunate fucking timing… It seems a Realm Gate is opening nearby, so we have to cut this dinner short… Thea, I'd love for you to teach me! We will talk about the details later!"

With that, both Henry and Victoria teleported away, leaving Thea and her family in confusion.

Their shock didn't last long, though. Soon all of their Watches blared the same message repeatedly.

"Gate Opening Imminent!"