Chapter 410: Doraemon the Emperor?

She still can't forget the fervor.

Zhou Yun looked at the promethium flame cutter piled in the dim corner of the room and couldn't help sighing.

The room wasn't large—indeed, it was cramped, with only one tightly shut small window, seemingly converted from an old nun's confinement cell.

But Zhou Yun learned from Ye Ruite that living in this room was Jeanne's own request.

At first, the nuns had assigned Jeanne a spacious, bright room with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the entire Primaris Monastery and the dim yellow sky of Terra.

Yet when Jeanne awoke, she curled up under the covers all day, too terrified to peek out.

Zhou Yun and Ye Ruite understood Jeanne's reaction.

After living long in the hive, one inevitably grew fond of that dark, cramped world, finding safety in its confines.

After leaving the hive, the world felt too vast—so vast it caused dizziness, intense discomfort, a sense of instability, and eventually, fear.

Especially since Zhou Yun knew Jeanne had essentially been raised by the Emperor.

The Emperor's parenting skills were roughly on par with Leina's psychic spells; that Jeanne showed no obvious psychological issues was proof enough of her innate resilience. To awaken suddenly in such a vast, unfamiliar place, she was right to feel fear.

Zhou Yun looked at Jeanne lying on the bed.

She was much as he remembered: dry, straw-yellow hair streaked with burn marks, skin neither smooth nor fine, covered in faint scorch scars as if flames writhed beneath it, freckled face, not particularly beautiful, only plainly lovely.

Jeanne's eyes were half-closed, lost in sleep.

This was a lingering effect after the Emperor had possessed her. Zhou Yun had once tried physical methods to wake her—none worked well.

But—

"Ding-ding-ding-ding! Bacteria that forces a person to wake for one hour!"

Zhou Yun slipped the bacteria into his fourth-dimensional pocket.

【Item Name: Bacteria That Forces a Person to Wake for One Hour】

【Origin: Macragge】

【Production Date: 999. 41】

【Function: Forces a person in a coma to awaken for one hour. Effective only once per day.】

【Value: 336, 00 credits】

This was bacteria Zhou Yun had created back on Macragge using his aimless bacterium generator.

Its effect was bizarre: it forced the sleeper awake for one hour, and only once daily. He hadn't expected it to be useful here.

"Wow." Ye Ruite, utterly baffled but impressed, clapped enthusiastically as she watched the petri dish in Zhou Yun's hand.

Zhou Yun dipped a finger into the petri dish, lightly sprinkling a bit of the viscous liquid onto Jeanne's exposed skin.

The sticky fluid wriggled gently on her skin, then vanished into her flesh within seconds.

Then, under Ye Ruite's astonished gaze and Zhou Yun's watchful eyes, Jeanne's eyelids fluttered. She frowned slightly, as if resisting a faint pain.

The girl slowly opened her eyes, gazing at Zhou Yun with eyes so blue they were nearly black—clear, just as before. It was hard to imagine such clarity could arise from the hive.

"You've come." Jeanne's ethereal voice carried a touch of joy.

"Was this in your prophecy?" Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow slightly.

"No. You're too far away, and your fate is too complex—I can't see it clearly."

Jeanne's voice trembled, like a child haunted by nightmares:

"Even the glimpses I catch are mixed with strange, terrifying visions."

"In those visions, I saw you become an alien god, saw the Dark Prince invite you to mate with her, saw you drink the Plague God's thick broth, saw your schemes cause the Great Unclean One to suffer diarrhea of knowledge. Truly terrifying and nonsensical visions."

"Especially when I saw you drinking broth bowl after bowl—I was terrified. In my dreams, I screamed for you not to drink, I was afraid."

"But I believed—I always believed these were false. You would come to Terra. I would see you."

"I always believed."

Zhou Yun's lips twitched slightly.

But after so long apart, he hoped his image in Jeanne's heart was that of a loyal, reliable adult—not some weirdo showing off Nurglite broth.

"Fenrisians say, 'We'll meet again in winter.'"

Zhou Yun's fingers brushed imperceptibly against the Hot Stage Notepad & Robot Director in his pocket, making his words sound sincere, warm, and compelling:

"But we don't have to wait for frost to reunite."

As he spoke, he gently stroked Jeanne's charred hair.

Beside him, Ye Ruite clasped her hands together, pressed to her chest, watching the reunion with tearful emotion.

If Jeanne hadn't mentioned the broth, Zhou Yun himself might have felt a touch of sentimentality.

Ye Ruite brought in a tray of dorayaki and placed it in the small room.

Zhou Yun and Jeanne ate the dorayaki while exchanging a few words about recent events.

Jeanne already knew roughly about Zhou Yun's resurrection of Saint Guilliman and Primarch, but only now learned the details from his own lips.

As the girl listened to his account, her eyes glowed with admiration—Zhou Yun had glossed over the more grotesque, image-damaging parts of his experiences.

"And what about him?" Jeanne couldn't help asking.

She knew Zhou Yun had gone to the Throne Room and met the Emperor.

Zhou Yun hesitated, then recounted his conversation with the Emperor without much embellishment.

Jeanne's reaction was muted—she'd often heard the Emperor's voice since Asford, and already had a basic understanding of him.

But Ye Ruite trembled violently, her faith visibly shattered.

Zhou Yun couldn't help smiling. He picked up a dorayaki made by the Battle Sisters and popped it into his mouth.

Honestly, this dorayaki wasn't as good as the ones prepared by Kanya Danda.

Zhou Yun was about to tell Jeanne this, when suddenly a bell rang through the air.

Outside, a clamor erupted—the Battle Sisters seemed startled by the bell.

Zhou Yun raised an eyebrow, puzzled at what had happened.

He shoved the half-eaten dorayaki into his mouth and said to Jeanne and Ye Ruite: "I'll go see what's going on."

For safety's sake, Zhou Yun left Doraemon behind in the dim room, ensuring the two girls' security.

Then he opened the door and stepped out, leaving Jeanne, Ye Ruite, and Doraemon alone in the room.

Jeanne tilted her head slightly, glancing at Doraemon standing in the corner.

At the figure wearing a cowboy hat and glasses, wrapped in a scarf, with a revolver hanging at his waist—the avatar of Saint Doraemon.

Jeanne had once been possessed by the Emperor. His power had flowed through her blood and flesh. For over a decade, she had constantly sensed his presence, immersed in his psychic energy.

She was fated to be his vessel, intimately familiar with his power.

So when she saw Doraemon, she instantly sensed: this body carried the Emperor's power.

No—not just power. Occasionally, she sensed something else.

A gaze. A glance. A faint, elusive will.

"..."

Jeanne tilted her head slightly, hesitating as she looked at Doraemon:

"Your Majesty?"

Doraemon remained unmoved.

"Are you here, Your Majesty?" Jeanne asked again.

Doraemon's gaze flickered slightly.

In a motion too fast for Jeanne to follow, he snatched a dorayaki from the tray and shoved it into his mouth.

"Not as good as the ones the Rogue Trader's family makes."

He chewed as he spoke to Jeanne:

"Don't tell Zhou Yun about this."

"Don't let him know my will can occasionally enter this body."

(End of Chapter)