Chapter 1282: An Uphill Battle [Part 1] Thirteen had no idea how long he’d been asleep, only that he felt very refreshed when he woke up. When he opened his eyes, he found himself leaning against the chest of Queen Miriamele, who gently patted his head as soon as she realized that her child had woken up. "Good morning... is what I’d like to say, but it’s already ten in the evening," Queen Miriamele said with a smile. "You slept for twelve straight hours. Do you still want to sleep?" Thirteen felt so comfortable in the Queen’s embrace, so he frankly felt very reluctant to leave. "Just ten more minutes," Thirteen replied before once again closing his eyes to bask in the warmth and softness of the Queen, who treated him like her own child. Erasmus had come to check on him two hours ago, but when he saw that Thirteen was still asleep, he decided to leave the room and return after a few hours. Thirteen had declared he’d only sleep for ten minutes more, but in the end, his nap lasted for a whole hour. Fortunately for Erasmus, the young man opened his eyes not long after he made his visit. "Zion, how long do you plan to sleep with my wife?" Erasmus asked in a teasing tone. Queen Miriamele gave Erasmus the "who are you calling your wife?" glare while hugging Thirteen tighter. "Thanks, Mom," Thirteen said, making the Queen feel something warm bubbling in her chest—happiness she’d never experienced until now. She’d been waiting to hear the word Mom, Mama, or Mother for a very long time, and now that she had heard it, she couldn’t control her impulse out of joy, hugging her son a little bit tighter, burying his head on her chest. Erasmus clicked his tongue, feeling a little envious of the teenage boy. After receiving a body, all of his human emotions returned in full. When he was still an Undead, he didn’t really care about love or anything of the sort. Perhaps he knew his body was not meant to enjoy the simple pleasures of being human. Of course, he had more than enough self-control to hold back his urges. But Queen Miriamele was truly an exceptional lady with otherworldly beauty. Frankly, he was half pissed and half thankful that King Astrion only treated her as a tool to meet his goal. And since Queen Miriamele treated Thirteen as her son, he wouldn’t mind treating him as his son as well. Thirteen could vaguely tell what Erasmus was thinking right now. However, instead of teasing him, he was more inclined to support him. After all, Erasmus was once his Host. He knew better than anyone that Cassiel never experienced romance, even until he had been killed. If he and Queen Miriamele could be together, Thirteen would happily give them his blessing. "Okay. Let’s talk about important matters," Erasmus said. "But before that, I’ll call Azrael first." Just as Erasmus was about to leave, he made sure to remind Thirteen not to fall asleep again while he was away. "Zion, call me Mom again," Queen Miriamele said softly. "I love you, Mom," Thirteen said. The Queen didn’t expect that being told "I love you" by Zion was enough to make her tear up. She was also waiting for her child to say those things to her, and it seemed that Thirteen understood the words that she wanted to hear. When Erasmus returned with Cranky, she saw Queen Miriamele crying, holding Zion as if her life depended on it. The two men glanced at each other and unanimously decided to wait until she finally calmed down before they started to discuss the important matters regarding the world of Artem. "First things first, Mom, please summon your Astral Clone," Thirteen said. "Okay." Queen Miriamele nodded and summoned her clone, who had the strength of an Archon. "I will now send your clone inside Rocky’s Mobile Fortress," Thirteen stated and ordered Rocky to take the clone so it could talk to his lovers while he was away. Since Queen Miriamele shared the senses of her clone, she was finally able to meet her beautiful daughters-in-law, whom she had wanted to meet for a very long time. Thirteen had propped himself up from the bed, but the Queen continued to hug him and asked him not to mind her. "First and foremost, we need to discuss what we’ll do in the upcoming civil war of Artem," Thirteen said. "Should we put a stop to it or let it happen?" "If it were me, I’d rather let it happen," Erasmus replied. "I don’t know what our enemies are planning, but we can only fight with our full power if we stay in the capital." Queen Miriamele nodded. After all, she had previously signed a magical contract that prevented her from leaving the City of Velgrande without the King’s permission. With Erasmus in King Astrion’s body, that was obviously no issue—he had even torn the contract right in front of her, giving her back the freedom she rightfully deserved. But Queen Miriamele understood that it would be better if she remained in the Inner Palace, hiding to later serve as a trump card if needed. With Azrael and her working together, they should be able to handle the two Celestials. As long as Rana didn’t join the pair as a third, they shouldn’t have much of a problem. The only concern they had left was the High Archons. While not as strong as Celestials, they still posed a threat to their forces. According to the documents Thirteen had read a few days ago, out of the Five High Archons who ruled as Overlords in Artem, three had agreed to support the two Celestials in their rebellion. As for the remaining two, they were loyal to Rana Avior, whom the two Celestials also wanted to bring under their umbrella. The twenty Archons, who played a role that was similar to the Prestigious Families of Pangea, were also being poached by the two Celestials. According to what they had gathered, fifteen of them had already pledged their allegiance to Castor Deneb and Regulus Serpens. The five remaining Archons had decided to remain neutral under Rana’s banner. No matter how they looked at it, they were fighting an uphill battle. However, Easmus believed that Thirteen would be able to come up with a plan that would flip the battle into their favor.