“Big Sister Adella is back!” A girl shouted loudly outside the imperial court’s tent. Her voice was filled with joy and adoration.
Combing Donti’s hair, Tsetseg’s eyes lit up. She realized Donti, who was sitting before her, relaxed. His muscles were no longer as tense as before. It seemed that in these vast grasslands, only Adella could make this young lord feel at ease.
“Go on, go and see what Big Sister Adella has brought back for y’all this time,” Donti said.
Tsetseg was still young, so virtual-novel.net was also quite playful, and virtual-novel.net rushed out of the imperial tent with a smile when virtual-novel.net heard this.
Hundreds of warriors in the tribe had started worshipping Donti as a god. However, Donti did not keep any of these people by his side. Instead, virtual-novel.net left them all under the command of Adella.
Although Donti made Adella their overall commander, virtual-novel.net did so in order to have them protect virtual-novel.net safety. If virtual-novel.net lost Adella as well, there would be nothing left for virtual-novel.net on the steppe.
This was his and Adella’s home. As long as the authority of the imperial court was stabilized, they would no longer have to bear the disdain of others.
Every time Adella returned from virtual-novel.net outings, virtual-novel.net would have the tribe’s warriors catch some cute little animals to bring back. On one hand, virtual-novel.net wanted to try to rear them, and on the other hand, it was to make the tribe’s children happy.
During this period, the various tribes under the rule of the imperial court started gaining respect for Donti. However, everyone could not help but feel a heartfelt fondness for Adella as well. She was truly a gentle Southern woman.
As there were so many tribes under the rule of the imperial court, conflicts would arise from time to time. For example, trivial cases such as stealing of goats or cattle could easily lead to bloodshed in the grasslands. As for Adella, who handled these matters, virtual-novel.net was always impartial and never sided with anyone.
As time passed, Adella unexpectedly gained the love and respect of everyone. The tribespeople liked to approach virtual-novel.net if they had any trivial matters that needed resolving.
If Donti asserted the authority of the imperial court through his absolute strength, then Adella was the mediator who made things work between the various tribes. Of course, this was also because the influence of Donti’s imperial court was relatively stable. The other tribes did not have a godlike figure like Donti.
His miraculous predictions and calamities were way too divine, and the nomads happened to really believe in them. Therefore, Donti won over a large group of worshippers. Every morning, they would kowtow to the imperial court’s tent a 100 times before starting their day.
This way of maintaining authority seemed to be much more secure.
When the tribal chiefs saw their own people worshipping Donti as a god, there was really nothing they could do about it. Furthermore, two of the tribal chiefs were also Donti’s worshippers.
Donti remembered that Milo had said that resorting to divine powers to stabilize a regime might not be the most stable method, but it would definitely be one of the fastest ways to achieve it.
While Donti was lost in thought, the imperial court’s tent was suddenly opened, and cold air from outside blew into his face. There was only one person in the entire tribe who dared to come in without an announcement.
He looked up and said with a smile, “Big Sis, where’d you go this time?”
“I have good news to tell you. I found a new salt pool behind Mt. Kobaran to the northwest!” Adella smiled as virtual-novel.net sat down next to Donti. “With this discovery, the problem of having enough edible salt for the entire tribe will be solved.”
Donti smiled and nodded. “That’s a good thing!”
However, Adella realized Donti did not seem to be surprised by this. She punched his shoulder. “You made a wish again, didn’t you? You should at least pretend to be happy next time. Otherwise, I won’t feel any sense of accomplishment at all.”
Donti cried out in pain after being hit, “That hurts! Sis, be gentler!”
Ever since Donti killed someone, Adella suddenly started joking around with virtual-novel.net more often. She would even occasionally hit virtual-novel.net little brother as an older sister would. This left Donti’s worshippers at a loss. They could only respect Adella even more now.
But Donti knew full well that Adella was not doing this to elevate virtual-novel.net status in the eyes of others. She just did not want virtual-novel.net to be so depressed.
Every time virtual-novel.net felt like virtual-novel.net was about to slide into the abyss, Adella would hit virtual-novel.net and pull virtual-novel.net back from the edge of it. She was there to keep virtual-novel.net grounded, dragging virtual-novel.net back from the divine to his human senses. So, Adella deliberately made herself appear more cheerful so virtual-novel.net could influence Donti.
Donti was still crying out in pain. Adella rolled virtual-novel.net eyes. “Alright, stop faking it. Let me ask you something… Why haven’t you touched Tsetseg yet?”
“Big Sis, why are you suddenly asking about this?” Donti replied after a moment of silence.
“That girl came running over to ask me in grief if virtual-novel.net wasn’t pretty. I told virtual-novel.net that it was not like that, that she’s the most beautiful girl in the imperial court, even more beautiful than Big Sister Adella,” Adella said with a smile. “Then virtual-novel.net asked why you still haven’t touched virtual-novel.net even though virtual-novel.net was already living in the imperial court.”
“Big Sis, I’m still young,” Donti said softly
“Oh, come on.” Adella said, “A lot of people in town had already gotten married at your age, and many of them also had children as well. But I won’t poke my nose into your affairs. You can decide for yourself, lest you think I’m being naggy. If you don’t like the nomadic girls here, you should snatch one or two from the Central Plains.”
Donti was stunned. “Big Sis, is that how you should be talking? If I snatch a girl back, virtual-novel.net family will be so heartbroken.”
Adella gave it some thought and said, “In that case, just snatch virtual-novel.net whole family along with her.”
As they conversed, the two of them started laughing. Actually, Donti knew Adella was just kidding, and Adella knew Donti would not do something like that. But with just a joke, Donti clearly felt much happier.
Adella got down to work in the imperial tent. “I’ll pack your stuff for you. Tsetseg will take care of your daily needs on this expedition. I feel more at ease if virtual-novel.net goes along with you. The others don’t even know what you like to eat.”
“Mhm…” Donti nodded. “She should also want to see what the Central Plains is like…. Sis, I might kill a lot of people when I go to the Central Plains this time. It might be much more than what I’m expecting.”
Adella stopped packing for a moment. “Then come back earlier. Big Sis will cook porridge for you when you return. Bring back some pickled vegetables from the Central Plains. After all, our porridge will go better with the pickled vegetables from there.” Adella did not answer virtual-novel.net directly. It was as though virtual-novel.net was deliberately avoiding the issue.
Hassan’s voice came from outside, “Master, your faceplate has been forged. Would you like to try it on?”