Rise of the Empire Total War

"What's the matter? Looks so happy."

Inside Ippolito Palace, Stephanie, who was holding little Elizabeth in her arms, couldn't help asking when she saw Richard's raised mouth.

"Nothing." Richard, who was suddenly asked, was slightly startled, and quickly reacted, shaking his head in denial. Seeing Stephanie narrowing her beautiful eyes, he felt a little guilty, paused, and said, "I said I'm glad to see you, don't you believe me?"

"Tch." Stephanie didn't answer, but that slight sneer still showed her attitude.

Richard blinked, and stepped forward to Stephanie's side. He glanced at the sleeping porcelain doll-like little princess, and said, "Honey, speaking of it, we haven't had sex for a long time."

"!!!"

Listening to Richard's words, Stephanie blushed suddenly, reaching the back of her ears. She glared at Richard and spat, "What are you talking about, Elizabeth is still here!"

"She, didn't she fall asleep?" Richard scratched his chin and said angrily. Since he came back from the Kingdom of New Burgundia, Stephanie seemed to be angry that he had raised his illegitimate son to be a king without authorization, and had never slept with him. Every time Richard leaned forward to sleep with her, Stephen Ni would always drive him out with a tough attitude, or use various excuses to escape. But Richard was helpless, because he knew it was his fault.

Having an illegitimate child is disgraceful, and Richard also supports him as the ruler of a new kingdom. Speaking out will definitely cause criticism in the noble circle. For the nobles, you can have an illegitimate child, because most nobles will have one. But it was not enough to expose him, not even the ruler himself.

As soon as Richard finished speaking, the little princess in Stephanie's arms suddenly moved. Her slender and thick eyelashes moved. A few seconds later, she slowly opened her eyes, looking sleepily at the mother who was holding her and Richard, who was standing aside, paused, then stretched out his fleshy little hand to Richard, and shouted, "Daddy, I want a hug!"

Richard and Stephanie were stunned for a moment, and the former immediately followed the little princess's voice and hugged her from Stephanie's arms. He looked at his daughter, and loved her so much. Her big eyes were like mosaic. Like obsidian, the eyelashes are curled and thick, and the small mouth is grinned because of being hugged by his father, revealing two rows of white and flawless teeth, like a delicate doll in a fairy tale.

Although little Elizabeth is 9 years old this year, she still likes to rely on her mother and father who love her. Every day, she finds opportunities to let Stephanie hug her to sleep. The attention was diverted, which made Stephanie always treat him lukewarm.

Elizabeth is awake,

Richard was also embarrassed to continue talking about inappropriate topics with Stephanie, perhaps seeing that Richard was in a low mood, Stephanie stretched out her hand and pinched Elizabeth's face, coaxing: "Honey, go How about playing with your brother, mom wants to talk to dad."

"Okay!" Elizabeth nodded, jumped out of Richard's arms, stood on the soft carpet, showed a big smile to the couple, turned and ran out of the room. Seeing her leave, before Richard could breathe a sigh of relief, Stephanie's voice sounded from the side.

"You can go on, Elizabeth is gone."

"Yeah." Richard responded, looked up at Stephanie, found that her face was a little red, couldn't help laughing, stretched out his hand on her shoulder, pulled Stephanie into his arms with force, and said : "Honey, we have been sharing beds for almost a year, let me move back to sleep tonight."

"You think it's beautiful." Stephanie rolled her eyes, but she didn't push Richard away, still leaning in his arms.

"Because you are beautiful, I can think of beauty." Richard said as a matter of course.

Hearing this, Stephanie rolled his eyes at him again, but blushed even more. She slapped Richard lightly, and spat, "When did you become so talkative?"

"Have I never been able to speak?"

Richard was a little uncomfortable. He always felt that Stephanie was insinuating that he was a straight man of steel who couldn't talk sweetly.

"Can you talk?" Stephanie asked with a smile.

"No, I will not."

Richard quickly surrendered. He felt bad when he saw Stephanie's smile. Seeing Richard's cooperative admission, Stephanie nodded in satisfaction, snorted softly, and leaned her head on Richard's shoulder. Said with a somewhat arrogant tone: "If you want, you can move back to sleep tonight."

"Really?" Richard was overjoyed. He thought he would sleep alone again these days, but he didn't expect Stephanie to agree.

Seeing that Richard still dared to question herself, Stephanie snorted coldly and said, "If you don't want to, forget it."

"I think, I think." Richard quickly agreed. He hugged Stephanie tightly, but suddenly felt a touch of softness in his hand. He was slightly startled, and it took a while to realize what it was. Swallowing saliva, the protruding Adam's apple surged up and down, and said: "Honey, I want to..."

"What are you thinking?" Stephanie looked at Richard suspiciously, but when she saw that he was about to move, she immediately understood his intention, and subconsciously refused, "No, it's daytime..."

Before finishing speaking, Richard directly kissed her lips, swallowed her next words abruptly, and then pressed down under Stephanie's weak struggle.

...

A few hours later, Richard walked out of the bedroom refreshed. He glanced at the two Imperial Guard soldiers standing outside and saw that their expressions were normal, so he didn't say anything, but lifted his legs and left. The two soldiers looked at each other, still holding their muskets tightly, and silently followed.

When he came to the study, a report was just delivered here. Richard walked around the desk, sat on the chair, picked up the unopened report, took it out and looked it up, the expression on his face followed. There was a change, and a look called joy crawled between his brows and eyes.

"Good! Good! Good!"

With a face full of three voices, he walked out of the study and was heard by the two Guards soldiers standing guard outside. They glanced at each other again, and then turned their eyes forward again, pretending that nothing happened.

Richard did have reason to be happy, because the Firearms Research Institute finally had a new achievement. According to Richard's suggestion, the craftsmen tried to engrave the rifling inside the musket barrel. After several months of trying, they finally made a gun. The finished product, a spiral-rifled gun that allowed the projectile to spin steadily through the air, improving accuracy and range, was Richard's ideal weapon for the skirmishers he was about to form.