The next morning,
Elara woke up from her sleep and saw Mathias, who had returned to normal, lying beside her.
Because his addiction had built up for nearly three months, she had spent a lot of effort and time detoxifying him last night. By the time they finished, it was nearly dawn. Mathias had collapsed in her arms from exhaustion and had fallen asleep tightly holding her.
At this moment, he was peacefully sleeping with his eyes closed. The morning light coming through the window shone on his smooth and gentle face, making him look even more elegant and serene, completely different from the terrifying appearance he had during the episode last night.
Elara looked at his peaceful face and couldn't help but smile slightly. She reached out to touch him, making sure his body temperature was normal and the addiction was completely suppressed. Then she sat up from the bed.
She had planned to get dressed and leave by herself, but even while asleep, Mathias was still very sensitive to her movements. As soon as Elara got up, he fluttered his eyelashes and woke up. Seeing her already sitting up, he immediately sat up too, not caring that he had no clothes on, and with his long black hair loose, he carefully began dressing her.
"You said you'd sleep a bit longer"
Elara turned to look at Mathias, who was kneeling by the bed and helping her get dressed piece by piece.
Mathias smiled slightly. After helping Elara finish dressing, he returned to the bed and began putting on his own clothes.
"Your Majesty already let Yu sleep well last night"
Mathias had always been very thoughtful and proper. Seeing the gentle smile on his face, Elara said nothing more.
After finishing the breakfast delivered by the palace servants with Mathias, Elara looked at the sky outside, calculated the time, and got up to head out of the sleeping quarters, ready to attend her first morning court after three months.
But shortly after stepping out of the hall, her gaze suddenly landed on the Tahe Hall behind her bedroom, the special sleeping quarters for the retired emperor.
After Commander Shu returned to the capital with her, she had arranged for him to live in the Tahe Hall.
Yesterday, after returning, she had been caught up with Oswyn for a while. In the afternoon she reviewed the exam matters, and at night she detoxified Mathias. She hadn't had time to visit Commander Shu yet.
Elara looked at the quiet and still Tahe Hall for a moment then gave up on the idea. Going to court was more important.
She decided to attend the court session first and deal with all the important matters that had piled up over the past three months. She would think about the rest afterward.
Inside the main hall
Elara wore a lavish imperial robe embroidered with golden phoenix patterns and sat high on the throne.
Below, all the ministers stood respectfully with their heads lowered, dressed neatly and solemnly.
After months of rest and treatment, Mathias had mostly recovered and had come with Elara to the court today. He wore the official robe of the Ministry of Sciences and stood at the front of the officials from that department, reporting to Elara on behalf of his father Minister Old Pei and younger brother Maurice about the department's work over the past three months.
"Your Majesty, over the past three months, the Ministry of Sciences has followed your orders closely and sent staff alongside the Ministry of Works to various major cities and regions across the country to establish local offices"
"So far, in addition to the main office in Plumera City and the branch office in Marigold City, seven major regions, Petunias County in the central south, Nasturtium County in the central east, Lupine County in the central west, Belladonna in the southeast, and the three southeastern cities of Peony County, Lobelia County, and Pansy County, all have officers stationed to set up regional science offices"
"The university in Plumera City was also fully completed two months ago. The professors and lecturers there include scholars from various fields across the country and top candidates from the first national examination"
Elara's newly established university not only focused on traditional studies but also taught mathematics and martial arts. In addition, each student was required to choose one practical skill to study.
These skills could range widely from craftsmanship to performing arts or even martial disciplines.
So both the Ministry and Plumera Kingdom University differed from the private academies in other nations of that era. In addition to traditional literature and history teachers, they had specialists teaching math, martial arts, engineering, geography, agriculture, embroidery, sculpture, weaving, and many more.
The students were required to study three basic subjects, literature, mathematics, and physical training, and one chosen practical skill as their main subject.
When they graduated after a few years, they would be tested on these four areas, literature, math, physical skills, and their selected specialty.
Three months ago, while the university was still under construction, Elara had already told Mathias and the ministry about her new standards.
Now, Mathias and the department had presented her with an excellent result.
"Additionally, Your Majesty, the university in Plumera City has already enrolled over 3,000 students from various regions. Many more are continuing to apply. To ensure enough schools to educate students across the country, the national university branches in various cities you once mentioned are being built alongside the local offices of the ministry"
"The university in Marigold City was already built earlier and has enrolled nearly a thousand students. During the recent exam, the largest number of test takers came from Marigold City"
"The other seven major regions are also constructing universities along with their regional offices. Within another month, most of them should be completed. The instructors for various subjects are also being selected during this national exam to prepare for teaching in those regions"
"If there are still not enough teachers, the local governments in each region can find additional qualified people, but all new hires must first pass the review by the local science office and submit personal registration records to the local household department before they can officially teach"
With Mathias managing things, Elara didn't need to worry much about the ministry's matters. He had already handled everything thoroughly.
Elara was very satisfied. She continued listening as Mathias, with his calm and clear voice, reported other matters of the ministry.
Since he had already privately reported to her in detail last night about the second national exam, he now briefly summarized the other key issues before respectfully bowing and stepping back to stand with the other ministry officials.
After the Ministry of Administration finished its report, the other departments also stepped forward one by one to report on their progress over the past three months.
During the three months when Elara was away, each department worked overtime and pushed hard to develop and build.
The Ministry of Works still had no top-ranked official, but the new young officials under it were full of energy.
In just three months, not only had they built a brand new capital city, Plumera City, but several satellite cities outside the capital meant for commerce, the military, and major factories had also been mostly completed.
The Agricultural and Labor Division under the Ministry of Works was the first to send people to establish its offices in the major regions.
After being assigned, the officials of Agriculture renovated and opened all fertile fields in Plumera City and the major cities.
Within Plumera City, the agricultural officers also used the construction knowledge Elara had given them to build public toilet channels and large compost pools near major farmlands.
Around the main fertile fields in several cities, they also dug canals and built many large wind-powered irrigation waterwheels and other farm structures.
All the old, dull, and heavy ancient stone tools had been replaced and upgraded.
With the Iron Refining Plant producing a steady and strong supply of iron, the Agricultural and Labor Division used the various farming tool blueprints Elara had left behind to cast new iron tools.
These included iron shovels, hoes, plows, axes, spades, sickles, rakes, and more.
The improvement of farming tools directly sped up the development of agriculture in the kingdom.
It not only greatly improved the efficiency of planting and harvesting, but also made the overall crop yield rise visibly fast.
As Elara led her army back, she noticed along the way that many previously abandoned fields had been reopened and renewed.
The high-yield crops that Kristof had once retrieved in Belladonna, like high-yield potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, peanuts, and both dry and wet rice, had already been neatly and densely planted in the fertile lands of each major city.
Most of these crops had already sprouted long green shoots, and some had even grown half as tall as a person, looking very promising.
When Elara was approaching the city gates earlier, she also noticed several greenhouses in a field not far from the city.
Those greenhouses were based on knowledge she had given the Agricultural and Labor Division before.
They were built using bamboo, stone, and animal skins that had been specially treated.
Sadly, she hadn't yet obtained the technique for making glass, or else they could've made real glass greenhouses.
But this time, she had gained a lot of new technology from the Core Palace in the Ruins of the Gods.
She hadn't had time to go through them or upgrade anything yet, but she planned to check if glass-making was among them.
If not, she would open a custom tech box to get the glass-making technique and assign a team from the Ministry of Works to start producing it.
Since glass didn't exist in this era yet, once it was made, it would be both practical and valuable as a luxury product to sell.
Just thinking about it made her feel optimistic.
After hearing the report from the Agricultural and Labor Division, Elara no longer worried about Plumera Kingdom's future food supplies.