I was so stunned that I asked again.

“King of Dai Viet?”

“That is correct, Imperial Son-in-Law.”

“But the Crown Prince of Dai Viet still exists...”

Dai Viet had already been utterly destroyed.

A portion of its people had undergone what the Blood Cult called baptism, becoming cultists—then all of them died. The rest were used as materials to breed more of them and also met their deaths.

There might still be a few survivors, but only a very small number—those who had fled across the border or hidden deep in the mountains and jungles.

Maybe one-tenth of the former population, if that. Possibly even less.

So most of the cities would now be empty, and the only way the capital could still function at all was by gathering all the survivors in one place.

Compared to my previous life, it was like Seoul during a long holiday—deserted, silent, with no cars or people on the streets.

'No, maybe even worse than that.'

That was just my guess, but it might actually be far worse.

And not only that—there was no army left to stop foreign invasions, so the country could only be considered fallen. Still, the Crown Prince was alive.

Because I had saved him.

But now they were saying King of Dai Viet?

I didn’t know much about ancient politics, but in times like these, legitimacy mattered, didn’t it?

In my previous world, talk of “royal blood” or “legitimate lineage” meant nothing, but here it was extremely important.

There was already a Crown Prince of Dai Viet, so how could I become its king?

It felt a bit like swallowing up an entire country during its hardship.

The official, who had introduced himself as Vice Minister of Rites So Pung-baek, smiled as he answered.

“The Crown Prince of Dai Viet declared himself unworthy of ruling, saying that since he failed to protect his nation, he no longer had the right to govern his people. He entrusted Dai Viet to His Majesty the Emperor, so there is no need for concern.”

“...What the—”

I could roughly understand what the Crown Prince was thinking.

With no army left to defend against invaders, he must have chosen to offer his country to the Emperor and let it become just another province of the Central Plains.

A nation can only exist with its people. You can’t just call yourself king when there’s no one left to rule.

Unless, of course, my father-in-law had found an excuse like that to seize it outright.

Political language was never meant to be taken literally.

With no people or army left, threatening the prince into submission would have been easy.

'Still, why not simply send an administrator...?'

Even so, what I couldn’t understand was why the Emperor was giving me that land for free.

He ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) could have just reduced Dai Viet to a prefecture and dispatched an official to govern it.

“Why would someone like me be given such a heavy position?”

“The matter of the earthquake before, and now this incident—both were handled almost entirely by Your Highness. The capital was even considering mobilizing the northern army, yet you resolved all worries single-handedly. How could His Majesty not reward such merit?

Hearing this, the Emperor rejoiced greatly and made his decision.”

'Sigh...'

From what I heard, it sounded like the Emperor—my father-in-law—was so pleased with my deeds that he wanted to bestow me a grand gift.

Just like the last time, with those three wives.

Gifts from my father-in-law the Emperor always went beyond imagination.

'Why are the Emperor’s presents always so outrageous?'

It was nice to be favored by him, but this was giving me a headache.

To outsiders it might look like I’d married well and even been made a king, but they didn’t know what that really meant.

Becoming a king came with countless suffocating restrictions.

First of all, I’d be confined to the palace, unable to go outside.

My joy in life was collecting spirit beasts and venomous creatures—those days would be over.

Well, maybe the scale of breeding would increase.

I could create something like a national park and raise all my children there.

I could even send people out to gather new specimens.

But I’d never be able to do it myself again.

'A national park sounds tempting, but collecting should be done personally...'

And even the nights with my wives would be recorded by eunuchs for the royal archives.

Like this:

“Year of Gapshin, Fourth Month, this day—the King So-ryong collapsed upon the Queen’s bosom within one quarter of an hour. It seems he could not resist the Queen’s beauty in her black veil.”

If I ever felt unwell and showed weakness, that too would be recorded and passed down for generations.

Not only that—though I wasn’t sure, I’d heard that in Joseon the eunuchs even stood by to watch when the king slept with his consorts.

That would be like a live broadcast.

'A live stream!'

I wasn’t a porn actor.

Maybe someone born and raised in a royal palace like the Emperor could endure that, but how could an ordinary guy like me handle it all of a sudden?

While I was thinking that, Vice Minister So Pung-baek smiled and said,

“The imperial decree will be formally announced tomorrow in front of the assembled people.”

He meant the coronation ceremony would be held tomorrow before all the martial artists.

Just then the door opened and my wives entered the main hall.

They hurried up and stood behind me.

When Jiryeon appeared, So Pung-baek quickly bowed politely.

“Your Highness the Princess, it has been a while.”

“Vice Minister So, it has been a long time. What brings you here?”

Apparently, he had held his position for quite a while, since Jiryeon knew him well. To her question, he gave the same answer he had given me.

“I have brought His Majesty’s decree—to confer upon the Imperial Son-in-Law, who slew the leader of the Blood Cult and ended the Second Blood Cult Uprising, the title of King of Dai Viet!”

“What?”

“A king?”

“He’s making our lord a king?”

My wives all gasped in surprise.

Then they rushed to embrace me with delight.

“So-ryong, congratulations!”

“So-ryong, King of Dai Viet... incredible.”

“Amazing, Master.”

It seemed they were simply happy about it.

After all, becoming a king was the greatest form of success.

Ordinary people could never reach such a height; even passing the civil exams could only raise them to the highest bureaucratic rank, not royalty.

I calmed my wives down, exchanged farewells with So Pung-baek, and stepped outside.

“So-ryong, you’re going to be a king! I’m so happy.”

“Truly overjoyed, my lord.”

“Master, this is wonderful!”

They followed me, clinging to my arms, too excited to contain themselves.

The princess climbed onto my back; Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin hung from either side, their feet almost dragging.

After reaching the Life-and-Death Stage, their weight barely registered.

Carrying them back toward our chambers, I said gravely,

“This isn’t entirely a good thing, you know.”

“Why not?”

“Why not, Master?”

“Why, So-ryong?”

When I said it wasn’t a good thing, they all tilted their heads at me in confusion.

“If I become king, I’ll have to follow royal etiquette. I won’t be allowed to go outside or hunt spirit beasts anymore.”

When I explained in a serious tone, they pressed their fingers to their foreheads. Apparently my reason wasn’t convincing enough.

“Master, you’ve already caught enough. Shouldn’t you take care of your family now?” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“That’s right, So-ryong. Focus on raising the ones you have.”

“Yes, yes, So-ryong.”

Clearly this was only a problem for me.

I tried another argument.

“Jiryeon, from what I’ve heard, when the Emperor sleeps with the Empress, eunuchs are present to watch, right? Isn’t that terrible?”

I mentioned it, thinking that if they knew such things were involved, they wouldn’t support the idea so blindly.

But Jiryeon looked at me, puzzled.

“What are you talking about, So-ryong? No one spies on the Emperor’s bedchamber—that’s absurd.”

“No, maybe it’s nothing for you, but the others—wait, really? They don’t?”

At first, I thought she only said that because she’d been educated in royal customs and was used to it. But then she added that I was mistaken.

Apparently that kind of thing only happened in Joseon.

“I don’t know where you heard such nonsense, but no, that’s not true.”

'Damn, this isn’t good.'

I had planned to refuse the decree.

An imperial order didn’t have to be accepted.

Even if you received an appointment letter saying “You are hereby designated official,” you could still reply, “This humble servant is unworthy and cannot bear such a task.”

But since my wives were so happy, I couldn’t decide on my own. I needed a convincing reason to persuade them—but now that excuse was gone.

Then Jiryeon continued, “There is something else, though.”

“Something else?”

“What do you mean, something else?”

“When the Emperor summons the Empress to his bed, the Chief Eunuch of the Bureau of Attendants immediately runs to the Empress’s palace to inform her. The Empress must then bathe naked, and a eunuch inspects her body.”

“Naked inspection?”

“Yes—to check that she’s carrying no concealed weapons or poison. After that, three attendants from the Bureau of Attire wrap her naked body in red silk and escort her to the Emperor’s chamber.

At the door they remove the silk, and she climbs naked onto the Emperor’s bed.”

There might not have been a live broadcast, but the mention of naked inspection made my wives gasp.

“What—what did you say!?”

“Is that... true?”

'Nice.'

I cheered inwardly. This would make a perfect reason to refuse.

“In that case... I must decline His Majesty’s offer to make me King of Dai Viet.”

“Decline? Why?”

“Why decline?”

They blinked at me, confused.

“Yes. The three of you are more precious to me than anything. How could I let other people see you naked? Absolutely not. Even if the Emperor offered me his own throne, I would refuse.”

Fortunately, they seemed pleased with that reasoning; my wives smiled brightly and hugged me tight.

What woman wouldn’t be happy to hear her husband say he’d refuse even the Emperor’s throne for her sake?

“Oh my...”

“Ahem...”

“So-ryong...”

Just then, another voice spoke.

[ My dear, what are you discussing? ]

Turning my head, I saw Zihwa watching us from beside the nest.

Apparently we had already reached our quarters while talking.

From her expression, she seemed curious about our strange conversation.

Of course, she was also the mother of my child, so I owed her an explanation.

Since she never came to the bedchamber anyway, I summarized briefly.

“Oh, nothing much. The Emperor wants to reward me for ending the Second Blood Cult Uprising by naming me King of Dai Viet.”

[ Ho... a king? If you are my mate, being a king of the lower world is only fitting. Well done, my dear. ]

I hadn’t even finished explaining before Zihwa’s tone brightened with joy.

Judging by the way she spoke, she must have held a high status back in the Immortal Realm, because she seemed genuinely pleased.

But she must also have heard the part about my refusal, for she tilted her head.

[ Wait—refusing? Why would you refuse? ]

“They said I’d have to show my wives’ naked bodies every night.”

[ Show their naked bodies? ]

“Yeah.”

When I explained, Zihwa looked utterly baffled.

[ That’s nothing. You’d refuse over something so trivial? ]

Easy for her to say—she had feathers, and besides, she’d never need to enter the bedchamber anyway. For humans, that was a big deal!

As I was about to explain, she continued,

[ No wife would block her husband’s advancement over such a thing. You needn’t worry. ]

At those words, Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin exchanged glances, their faces flushing red.

They had been happy at first, but the thought of exposing themselves embarrassed them—except for the princess, who had received imperial training and looked unbothered.

'Hey, come on!'

I had been trying to convince them to refuse, but now Zihwa had jumped in and ruined everything.

Flustered, I didn’t know what to say—when suddenly Zihwa startled and flapped her wings.

Flutter!

Startled myself, I asked, “What’s wrong?”

Her voice trembled.

“It—it’s hatching!”

Everyone’s eyes turned toward the egg beneath her.

A brilliant violet light burst out as the shell cracked open, and a tiny chick emerged.

Peep!

My first child—Jayo—was born.