When Celestina Balfour touched down at the palace stables and leapt off the Golden Hawk she had been riding, she was greeted by a large entourage headed by small boy and two regal women.

Although as a Marquess, Celestina’s rank was technically lower than that of a Royal, strength was the greatest symbol of authority on Servist, so as one of the oldest and strongest Spirit Adepts in the Rockwell Kingdom, Celestina wasn’t required to bow to anyone, not even the ruling monarch.

As such, Celestina simply nodded to the familiar women before her.

Cynthia Morgan returned the gesture with a light smile.

The Third Queen was naturally outgoing and sociable, so she didn’t have any issue with Celestina’s attitude; in truth, she welcomed it. Any time she could relax and just be herself was a good time in her opinion.

The other woman, however, flashed a big, toothy grin, clenched her right fist tightly, and pounded it across her chest in a formal military salute, "It’s good to see you again, Teacher. It has been too long."

Smirking faintly at her former student turned Queen, Celestina saluted back, "You’re looking well as well, Anne."

The Campbell Earl Family had a long history of its members serving in the military, similar in many respects to the Balfours.

Much in contrast to the innocent beauty Cynthia possessed, the First Queen had a wild appeal to her.

Marianne was tall and had well defined muscles, along with numerous faint scars across her body from both intense training and actual combat, but she also had wide, shapely hips, long, perfectly toned legs, and a towering pair of peaks that seemed to defy gravity itself.

With her reddish-brown eyes, shoulder length dark-brown hair tied back in a neat pony-tail, black metal armour, and a blood-red two-handed battleaxe on her back, Marianne looked more like a berserker heading out to war than a Queen.

Her strength was also nothing to scoff at, being a Low-Rank Spirit and Soul Adept, while her Martial Cultivation was even higher at the Mid-Adept Realm.

Given her fierce appearance, it would be natural to assume the First Queen was a brutish warrior who solved all her problems through force and violence; however, anyone who thought so was sorely mistaken.

While King Nathanial Rockwell was technically in charge of all affairs in the Rockwell Kingdom, he had delegated many responsibilities to his ministers and wives, allowing them to use their own expertise and skills to contribute to the nation’s prosperity.

It also had the bonus effect of decreasing the enormous amount of work Nathanial had to deal with each day.

Marianne was one of the Rockwell Kingdom’s finest military strategists and tacticians, and with experience training and commanding troops in both peacetime and war, the First Queen served as Minster of War and Vice General of the Royal Legion.

Again, by tradition, the ruling monarch was always the official General of the Royal Legion in the Rockwell Kingdom, but for all intents and purposes, Marianne was the one in charge of the nation’s largest and most powerful army.

With her skills, strength, and position, Marianne was extremely influential in the deployment and distribution of the kingdom’s military mighty.

It was also for these reasons that the First Queen had always been close to Celestina Balfour, her former instructor in all things combat and military related.

Glancing around, Celestina raised her brow slightly and asked, "Where’s Natasha?"

Celestina wasn’t one for formalities or ceremonies, so she would’ve been fine if no one had been here to greet her at all, but she did find it a bit odd that both Marianne and Cynthia were here, yet Natasha wasn’t.

"Second Sister is currently stuck in meetings with the other heads of the Treasury," Marianne replied with a shrug.

"En," Cynthia followed up, a slightly mischievous smile creeping onto her face, "The kingdom’s finances are a mess right now, so Sister Tasha hasn’t been getting much sleep as of late."

"Ah... yeah, right," Celestina scratched the back of her head awkwardly when she heard this. She knew that a huge part of why the Second Queen had been kept so busy as of late were her actions in the South-West Province.

Natasha Summers was the most reserved of the three Queens, but objectively speaking, her power and influence were the greatest.

Unlike the First and Third Queens, Natasha wasn’t from a noble house, or even from the Rockwell Kingdom, making her something of rarity.

Throughout the history of the Rockwell Kingdom, it wasn’t unheard of for a ruler to marry a foreigner. Sometimes it was for love, sometimes it was for politics, but male and female consorts from other nations were not unheard of.

However, no such individual ever rose to a position of real power, until Natasha Summers.

Serving as Minister of Finance and head of the Rockwell Family’s private treasury were certainly factors that made the Second Queen a formidable force to deal with, but the real reason for her outsized influence was very simple, her background.

Just because Natasha wasn’t a noble per-say didn’t mean the force behind her was weak; quite the contrary, in fact.

The Rising Sun Merchant Guild was by far the biggest and most powerful chamber of commerce on the Blue Sky Continent, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other, powerful merchant guilds and trade organizations scattered throughout the various kingdoms.

The Vast Ocean Trading Company was one such chamber of commerce.

Headquartered in the Kore Sovereignty, a Large-Sized Nation hundreds of times more powerful than the Rockwell Kingdom, the Vast Ocean Trading Company was a maritime powerhouse that owned an enormous merchant fleet, thousands of trade caravans, and had branches in every major city across the continent.

It was also the force Ariana Rockwell, Nathanial Rockwell’s Grandaunt, happened to be an Elder of.

With over 30 publicly acknowledged powerhouses in the Spirit Elite Realm and enough wealth to buy out entire Small-Sized Nations, the Vast Ocean Trading Company was one of the most formidable forces in the Kore Sovereignty and even ranked highly amongst all the independent organizations on the Blue Sky Continent.

The Summers Family was one of the 3 founding factions of this commercial juggernaut, and it was also the largest and most powerful of the trio.

3 of the 8 Peak-Rank Spirit Elite Supreme Elders of the Vast Ocean Trading Company were surnamed Summers, with Natasha Summers being a Direct Descendant of one such powerhouse.

Even if she was only the eldest of that Supreme Elder’s sixth generation, just being related to such a figure gave Natasha Summers’ words an incredible amount of weight.

The question most people would ask then is, why would such a privileged young lady accept the equivalent of a demotion and marry into the royal family of a mere Mid-Sized Kingdom?

The answer was complicated, involving a number of different factors, but the biggest reason was her innate timidity.

Natasha was naturally reserved, preferring to work in the background, avoid the limelight, and not get involved in conflict whenever possible; this made her an excellent administrator, but a mediocre merchant.

Unfortunately, her quiet personality made Natasha’s life in the Vast Ocean Trading Company quite uncomfortable.

Due to all the fierce internal competition, Natasha constant felt stressed and pressured, with everyone around her constantly eyeing her as either a potential asset to acquire, or enemy to destroy.

Wanting to escape from this cutthroat environment, Natasha went to her favourite aunty and asked her for help.

The relationship between Ariana Rockwell and Natasha Summers was formed by coincidence, but over several decades they had developed a solid friendship, with the former queen of the Rockwell Kingdom doting on the somewhat shy young girl quite heavily.

When Natasha came to her, looking for a way out of the trading company, Ariana immediately thought of her nephew’s son Nathanial, an outstanding young man who seemed poised to one day succeed his father as king.

A few meetings and negotiations later, Natasha was betrothed to Nathanial Rockwell as his second wife, removing her from the line of succession of the Vast Ocean Trading Company and allowing her to live the relatively peaceful life she had always dreamed of.

By the Kore Sovereignty’s standards, Natasha Summers’ Innate Cultivation Talent and her abilities as a merchant could only be considered a bit above average.

She was strong, competent, and capable, but hardly stood out amongst her peers.

By the Rockwell Kingdom’s standards, however, Natasha was outstanding.

At just 129 years old, Natasha was one of the youngest Complete Peak-Rank Initiates in the kingdom, and when it came to wealth and connections, no one even came close to her.

As for how she dealt with the politics that came with being the Second Queen of the Rockwell Kingdom, while Natasha didn’t like conflict, that didn’t mean she was some kind of pushover who could be easily bullied.

There had been more than one noble family or merchant company that had thought themselves clever and tried to cheat the ’soft’ Second Queen, only to be swiftly brought to complete financial ruin by the quiet maneuvering of Natasha.

Even the King and the other Queens didn’t dare to piss Natasha off, for although she almost never raised her voice or got visibly upset, it wasn’t unusual for the budget for some project they were dealing with to suddenly be ’misplaced’ the day after they angered her.

Celestina herself had been the victim of such financial wrath from the Second Queen before, and it had taken quite a bit of effort from herself, Allina, and the Balfour Family’s Treasurer, to earn Natasha’s forgiveness.

That being said, Celestina wasn’t worried about Natasha taking out her frustrations on her for the mess in the South-West Province.

She might be ruthless with her enemies, but the Second Queen was also incredibly kind and compassionate, personally running a large number of charities and orphanages throughout the kingdom.

This natural benevolence might have been a detriment to Natasha as a merchant, but it was a huge boon to her as a Queen. In fact, of all the current Royals, Natasha was by far the most beloved by the commoners of the Rockwell Kingdom despite rarely showing her face in public.

Natasha might be upset over all the additional work she had to do right now, but she would also understand the circumstances and not hold that against others who were trying to help the innocent citizens of the kingdom.

Still, I should probably talk to Tasha before the meeting tonight to clear up any questions she might have, Celestina though to herself before finally turning to the young boy who had been patiently standing there, waiting.

"Lucas," Celestina tilted her head curiously, "What happened to you?"

Lucas, who was now sporting a black eye and several other fresh bruises, along with an extremely haggard expression, held his back straight through sheer force of will and responded flatly, "Nothing, Master. I’ve just been... busy, since yesterday."

"Busy doing what, exactly?" Celestina pressed.

Working hard to keep his face straight, Lucas replied, "Oh, meetings, negotiations, sparring... that sort of thing."

Raising her brow slightly, Celestina glanced up just in time to see Queen Marianne avert her eyes slightly.

Queen Cynthia kept smiling happily, but there was a subtle flick of guilt that also flashed across the depth of her eyes.

Oh Lucas, Lucas, Lucas... what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now, Celestina laughed to herself, shaking her head in amusement.

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious, but considering time was short, Celestina decided she would only ask her First Disciple for the details if she found a spare moment later.

Right now, she needed Lucas to help her finish her preparations for the Royal Summit, which was scheduled to begin in just over 2 hours.