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“This is… Professor Marlin?”
“Yes, I see the professor has left quite an impression on you as you are able to recognize him straight away,” Lilith said, slightly surprised.
“It’s impossible not to recognize him. He has certainly made quite an impression on me.”

He had delivered a long and compelling speech during the square table conference, overseen the operation to assassinate Golden Demon Htilil, and interrogated a princess like her as if she was a criminal. It was impossible for anyone with a sound mind to not remember a character like him, given his explosive presence.

“That makes things easier then. Allow me to reintroduce him to you, this is…”

Lilith pointed to Professor Marlin, who could only whimper because he was gagged, and solemnly introduced him.

“Marlin, the former professor of St. Caroline Academy, who is renowned for his mastery of formation and strategy. An excellent strategist like him shall be Leniah’s assistant! Let’s give him a round of applause!”
“Ohhh…”

Lesiah nodded nonchalantly and simply played along by clapping twice.

“I recall Professor Marlin giving you a hard time before, why did you choose him?” she asked curiously.

As far as Lesiah could remember, Lilith had always been an extremely vengeful person. It was rather surprising for her that Lilith did not hang the professor on a tree and skin him alive after he made her go through all that trouble, let alone choosing him to assume such an important role.

Did the sun rise from the west today and made Lilith change her personality? Had she become a sweet, understanding and forgiving loli? How could that be?

Lesiah immediately dismissed that possibility.

It would be harder for Lilith to change that bad personality of hers than to destroy the world!

“You are right about that, but…” Lilith’s lips curled into a strange smile. “That’s precisely the reason that allows me to uncover Marlin’s hidden potential!”

“Potential?” Lesiah furrowed her brow as she recalled everything Professor Marlin had done in the past. “Apart from his tendency to overthink, what other potential does he have?”

“That’s the potential I was talking about!” Lilith clapped her hands and exclaimed, “As expected of my dear Lesiah! You’re quite sharp! Professor Marlin’s habit of overthinking makes him the ideal candidate to become Leniah’s advisor.”

“Is that so?” Lesiah looked even more puzzled.

“Absolutely. Think about it, we’ve already established the general direction for Leniah. What remains are the mundane tasks of governing the empire, and what’s most crucial for dealing with these matters? Prudence and attention to detail! Professor Marlin excels in both of these areas, which is why I believe he’s the perfect candidate for the job. Besides, he’s perfectly capable of dealing with these matters, given his high intelligence. He just needs to be monitored to ensure that he doesn’t cause any trouble.”

Lesiah contemplated for a moment before nodding. “I suppose that makes sense…”

“Oh, right!” As if suddenly remembering something, Lilith clapped her hands and grinned.

“Of course, the most important reason is… that only Professor Marlin, the most excellent strategist on the continent, has that ability to bear this immense responsibility of handling Lesiah and the three dukes’ duties. Since he’ll be able to handle everything alone, there will be no need to appoint new dukes and risk creating more trouble for the empire. Don’t you agree, Lesiah?”

Beads of cold sweat immediately formed on Lesiah’s forehead. “I suppose that’s a good idea.”

“Glad you think so,” Lilith responded with a nod of approval.

“Well, that’s settled then. I can’t just let Professor Marlin mess around, so I’ll assign someone to keep an eye on him. Besides, I’ve already gotten someone to brand the coordinates of this location onto a few teleportation scrolls. That way, you can always come back if anything goes wrong.”

“That’ll have to do, but…” Lesiah lifted her head and looked at the professor who was struggling to free himself.

“I remember that Professor Marlin once refused a high-paying job offer from a big shot before. Will he agree to become Leniah’s advisor?”

“That will be up to him, but I can give him a little piece of advice,” Lilith said, then proceeded to release Professor Marlin from his bonds.

“I won’t agree to that!” Professor Marlin protested loudly as soon as he was freed. “My sole focus is on studying formations! There’s no way I’ll agree to become an advisor!”

“Oh really? Are you sure you won’t reconsider? You’ll get food, shelter, health benefits, an annual income of one million gold coins, and a two-storey villa in the heart of the Imperial City. Many people will kill for a job that comes with those perks,” Lilith said.

Professor Marlin laughed coldly. “I won’t be swayed by material possessions. I only have eyes on the studies of formation.”

Lilith pulled a gleaming machete out of thin air and held it to Professor Marlin’s neck.

“The old man you call the vice dean has sold you to me for a million gold coins. That means I can do whatever I want with you now. Besides, you’re in my territory now. If you refuse my offer, I’ll slice you up and feed you to the fish. No one will dare to jump out and stop me either.”

“Hmph.” Professor Marlin laughed disdainfully and said arrogantly, “No matter how important a person is, they are mortal and bound to die one day. Even if you chop off my head and throw my body into the sea, I won’t give up on my beloved study of formation to become an advisor to that nuisance!”

“Besides, do you really think I’m deaf? You think I can’t tell this is a big mess based on your conversation just now? I’m not going to say yes unless I’ve been kicked in the head!”

Lilith frowned, feeling an impending headache.

She did not expect Professor Marlin to refuse such a tempting offer. Of course, killing him was out of the question too. Was giving up on him and finding another candidate for Leniah’s advisor her only option now?

No. Absolutely not. Giving up like this meant she was throwing away her pride. Professor Marlin would definitely ridicule her every time they met in the future!

Even so, Professor Marlin was adamant on refusing this. It was clear that convincing him was going to be a challenge.

Since brute force did not work, Lilith decided to try a gentler approach. She nodded at Lesiah, who then turned around and summoned someone outside the room.

“Bring it in!”

“Right away, Your Highness.” A slender maid walked in gracefully with a bowl of fragrant broth and set it down on the table in front of Professor Marlin. With a soft and sweet voice, she said, “Please enjoy your meal.”

Professor Marlin remained still, but his eyes roamed up and down the maid’s figure. His breathing grew more ragged.

Lilith raised an eyebrow, as if she had discovered something amazing. It seemed that Professor Marlin was always accompanied by a female teacher, and it was different every time.

The vice dean also once mentioned the fact that Professor Marlin was still alive and not killed by a woman was one of the three wonders of the St. Caroline Academy to this day.

The second wonder was suddenly feeling an inexplicable attraction to a strange rock while walking in the depths of the forest, and hearing a strange voice in your ears that said “it worked again”.

The third wonder was the sight of a woman in a long black and white dress floating outside the male dormitories every night, accompanied by muffled sobs that sounded terrifying.

However, Lilith was not concerned with those wonders at the moment. Her lips curved into a wicked grin once again as she tugged on Lesiah’s sleeve and whispered in her ear, “Bring in a few more.”

Although Lesiah was puzzled, she followed Lilith’s instruction.

Fifteen minutes later, maids of various shapes and sizes with beautiful faces came in and served up a variety of delicious dishes on the table in front of Professor Marlin, wearing their impeccable smiles on their faces.

However, Professor Marlin had little interest in those mouth-watering dishes on the table. His eyes were fixated on the maids instead.

Deciding that the time was right, Lilith smiled again and said, “So, Professor Marlin…”

“How many?”

“Huh?” Lilith was momentarily confused before she realized that the professor was referring to the maids.

After exchanging glances with Lesiah and deliberating for a moment, Lilith answered, “Over a hundred.”

This group of maids was specially trained by Lesiah’s father to handle the housekeeping in the palace. It was safe to say that their quality and quantity were guaranteed.

“Over a hundred… Over a hundred… Over a hundred…” Professor Marlin kept murmuring in a low voice.

Lilith was about to say something else when he suddenly stood up and slammed his hand on the table in front of him, startling both Lilith and Lesiah.

In a deep and unmistakably serious voice, he declared, “I’ll accept. Whatever it is… I’ll do it. I don’t require a villa, a bonus, or a salary. Just provide me food and shelter. I have only one condition though…”

Professor Marlin pushed the black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose, the lenses glinted.

“May I stay in the staff quarters?”