Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Evelyn pressed the button while getting down to business.

“Guilliman, this Lawson has quite the ambition.”

"What do you mean?"

"His communication system is real-time and unaffected by the Galactic Rift, right?"

"Correct."

"Have you considered this? Dante's handwritten report took almost a year to reach you. It went through several transfer points and almost got lost in the warp."

Her fingers moved to Guilliman's neck and pressed down.

“But if Lawson wanted to contact you, he wouldn’t need to go through all this trouble. When your Chapter Commander, Calgar, returned from Vigilant Planet, he was accompanied by Lawson’s communications officer, who is still fighting with the Ultramarines’ company.”

Guilliman's body tensed slightly.

“If Lawson wanted to contact you, he could have done it easily, but he didn’t. He built a supreme war court on the dark side of the empire. In your human political lexicon, this is called having an army to support you and creating a rival power.”

Guilliman shook his head.

“Everene, you’re overcomplicating things.”

Evelyn raised an eyebrow.

Guilliman turned his chair around to face her.

“From a political perspective, these moves can be interpreted as separatism, rivalry, or even an expansion of ambition.”

"But you've overlooked one thing."

"what?"

"Everything he did was what the dark side of the empire needed."

Guilliman stood up and walked to the window.

Terra's skyline stretched into the twilight, with the spires of the Imperial Palace in the distance glowing with an ever-burning light.

“Lorson did what I couldn’t do. He proved his ability and loyalty, and the Lion King was willing to be his second-in-command.”

“In fact, if he is willing to come to the Imperial Palace, I can recommend him to be the Emperor of the Empire, second only to the Emperor in power. I am also willing to cooperate with his arrangements. The Empire does not need power struggles now, it needs people who can get things done.”

Evelyn looked at him, a glint in her eyes.

She has met many political figures.

When faced with something that might threaten their position, most people's first reaction is to defend against and contain it.

Guilliman's qualities are extremely rare in the galaxy, which is what attracted her to him.

Evelyn sighed.

"You're just too honest. Don't you humans have a saying, 'You can never be too careful'?"

Guilliman laughed: "As long as he remains humanity's sword, I'm willing to entrust my back to him. Internal strife is the luxury we can't afford to gamble with right now."

"Humph……"

Evelyn pouted unhappily. She suddenly leaned forward, placed her hands on the edge of the desk, and approached Guilliman's face, her aggressive fragrance wafting towards him.

"You really have a mutual respect, trusting him so much even though you've never met him. What about me? What's our relationship?"

Guilliman leaned back slightly and replied seriously, "We are friends who fight side by side."

Evelyn's smile froze for a moment: "Just friends?"

Guilliman's gaze shifted, but he decisively chose to exercise the Primarch's right to remain silent.

Evelynn straightened up, crossed her arms, and sneered, "Do you know what those nobles and judges in Terra are saying about you and me behind our backs?"

"They say I'm relentlessly pursuing you, and that you, Regent, would never even look at a foreigner like me!"

Without giving Guilliman a chance to speak, she deliberately lowered her voice and imitated Guilliman's usual deep, serious, and rigid official tone:

"Thanks for your rescue, alien. Now you can get lost!"

Guilliman's face immediately fell, and he coughed lightly: "I absolutely did not say such vulgar things."

"is it?"

Freyne suddenly pressed close to him, their noses almost touching, so close that Guilliman could see the trembling of her purple eyelashes.

"Then kiss me to prove you didn't say it."

Guilliman froze.

As the original genetic entity, his neural reaction speed is in the millisecond range, allowing him to instantly counter even the demon's slashes.

But when faced with this smiling female hooligan, his brain processor completely shut down.

"Stop fooling around, Evelyn... This is the Regent's office."

"I don't care where this is or whether we're related or not."

"You..."

"To kiss or not to kiss?"

Looking at that exquisitely beautiful face so close to his, full of provocation, Guilliman finally sighed in defeat.

He seemed to have made some extremely difficult tactical decision, and slowly, tentatively, leaned forward.

Just a fraction of a second before his lips were about to touch...

Evelynne dodged away with the agility of a phantom.

Guilliman kissed a wisp of air.

"Ah!"

Evelyn stepped back to a safe distance, haughtily raising her chin as if looking at a clumsy bear that had fallen into a trap: "You think you can just kiss me like that? Don't you know who I am, you stupid monkey?"

Realizing he had been tricked again, the Imperial Regent sat back in his chair with a stern face, deciding to cover up his embarrassment by handling official business.

Evelyn remained silent behind him for about five seconds.

Then she leaned closer, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her face against his.

“Guilliman, I want to go to the dark side of the Empire.”

Guilliman stopped.

Evelyn said in a low voice, "Look at you, you're exhausted every day like a necromancer's laborer. If that Lawson really has some secret to efficient management, I'll go and learn from him and bring it back for you to use, okay?"

"You're not allowed to go!"

Guilliman decisively refused, his reaction so fast that even Evelyn was stunned.

"Why? Didn't you just praise him to the skies and say you trusted him completely?"

Guilliman put down his pen, crossed his arms, and frowned, seemingly trying to come up with an official statement that neither contradicted the objective facts nor made him seem gossipy.

“I trust his loyalty and believe he can represent the Emperor’s will, but that doesn’t mean…”

Guilliman took a deep breath: "That doesn't mean he's a decent person."

"Oh?" Evelynne perked up, her purple eyes flashing. "How is it improper?"

Guilliman began with difficulty, “Intelligence indicates that the order of nuns serving him has grown to over a hundred people… and they are all handpicked.”

"Hmm, youthful vigor is just part of it!"

"He also kept two Slaanesh Keeper Demons! They were used to wash his feet and massage his back..."

Guilliman gritted his teeth: "They even put a collar on the Great Demon!"

Wow, that's pretty fancy...

"Not only that, he kept one of the female assassins from the Saim-Han Ark by his side as his personal liaison. The latest intelligence says that the Ark just sent him a pair of Eldar twin sisters!"

Guilliman concluded sternly: "This man's conduct is completely unrestrained by the traditional morality of the Empire, and the origins and number of women around him fully demonstrate..."

A cool, slender finger gently pressed against Guilliman's lips, silencing him from saying the rest of his words.

Evelyn stared at him with interest: "You seem very nervous, my Regent."

"I was just stating the tactical risks objectively."

Are you afraid that philandering creditor will make a move on me?

"Absolutely not!"

Guilliman raised his voice, trying to cover it up: "I'm warning you, he's extremely dangerous, this kind of person of unknown origin and with no scruples..."

What does this mean?

Evelyn interrupted him with a laugh: "Does that mean he's very charming and popular with women?"

Guilliman shut up completely.

Evelyn stared at his discomfiture for a full three seconds.

Then, she let out a crisp chuckle, straightened up, and turned to walk towards the door.

"Old-fashioned, hypocritical!"

As she reached the door, she turned back and smiled, her eyes revealing an arrogant and domineering air: "Don't worry, don't forget who I am. I'm the Ark General of Yetan, the Pirate Queen of the Star Sea, the Gladiator Champion of Comoros, and the leader of the Death Army. Anyone who dares to mess with me is already dead, their grave covered in grass taller than the data board on your desk."

The door slammed shut, blocking the Regent's unspoken instructions from inside.

After Evelyn left, Guilliman approved three more data boards.

Then he put down his pen and stared at the door for a while.

He finally couldn't help but worry, so he picked up the communicator and connected to the Ultramarines' internal encrypted channel.

"Get to Calgary."

A voice that wasn't Calga's came from the other end of the channel.

"Your Majesty, Commander Karga was ambushed by orcs on the eastern defense line of Maclag half an hour ago. He suffered fractures to his left arm and three ribs and has been rushed to the Sanctuary Medical Area for emergency treatment. It is expected that..."

"He's injured again."

Guilliman was not surprised, nor was he particularly worried.

Calgar was among the most frequently injured Space Marine commanders in the entire Empire.