A week later, Mr. Chief Councilor once again experienced the pleasure of being handcuffed by his husband and dragged to work.
On the starship, the Lord Saint crossed his arms, coldly raised his chin slightly, and delivered a ruthless verdict: “Defendant Mr. Orwell, due to your evasion of public duty and dereliction of duty, with conclusive evidence, you are now sentenced to return to the Chief Councilor’s office immediately to handle public business. You are not permitted to eat or leave work until the piled-up work is resolved.”
He asked, “Defendant, do you have anything else to say?”
Igris raised his hand: “Reporting to the Judge, may I file an appeal?”
The Judge was very cold: “You may not.”
“Alright then.”
Mr. Chief Councilor sighed, skillfully found a seat, sat down obediently, and honestly waited for the impending imprisonment. He showed no intention of resisting or questioning.
Seeing that the defendant’s attitude toward admitting his mistake was quite good, Noah, as a husband who considers himself reasonable, would not really let his husband go to work in handcuffs. After the starship arrived at the Capitol District, the Lord Saint took out the key and removed the handcuffs that were symbolically binding the other party.
The female insect opposite him seemed not only unbothered but also appeared to find it quite fun.
Noah: “.”
He put the handcuffs and key into a locked drawer and stored them away carefully. He wanted to avoid a situation where these handcuffs, which he had asked for temporarily, suddenly appeared in some strange places one day without his knowledge.
Under the slightly surprised gazes of the insects passing by, they entered the Capitol building one after the other.
Noah looked to the side and raised his head, curiously examining his surroundings. For the Lord Saint after his amnesia, this was his first visit to his husband’s workplace.
The room before him was called an office, but it looked more like a vacation cabin. In addition to standard office furniture and items, it was specially embedded with a set of holographic simulation equipment. As the master entered, the curtains opened automatically, and the empty ceiling instantly simulated thick, interlacing tree shades, with a few larks resting among them, occasionally making subtle, pleasant chirps.
It felt as if this were a treehouse in the forest rather than a cold office. The style was fresh, leisurely, and relaxing.
Noah recalled his own bare office, paused for a moment, and looked away as if nothing had happened.
Heh.
The office is decorated so comfortably; his work attitude must be problematic.
He muttered to himself, strengthening his resolve to put more pressure on the other party.
Scanning the room, the Lord Saint lowered his eyelids and methodically organized the loose files and materials in the office. Like the tree shades and bird sounds, these files did not exist in physical form; they were the result of using specialized holographic projection equipment to simulate them one by one for easy processing.
He arranged and stacked the organized files on the desk.
The Lord Saint narrowed his eyes, compared the height of the stack to the one in his own study, wandered around the bookshelves, and found a few non-urgent files to push in front of the Chief Councilor.
Very good.
Now it looks as high as the stack in his study.
Thinking this, the expression on the male insect’s face remained cold and indifferent. He picked up the top file, tapped his index finger on the desk, and said in an indisputable, concise tone: “Write.”
He looked exactly like an invigilator watching a student take an exam.
The gaze of the husband-teacher was too severe, and the problem student dared not be negligent, so he reluctantly sat up straight and resigned himself to writing the exam paper.
At the same time, the news of the “vicious couple” appearing in the same place for the first time since the amnesia spread rapidly through the circle of the privileged species.
“Laugh to death, I heard the Chief Councilor skipped work to go fishing and was caught red-handed by the Lord Saint, who dragged him back to the Capitol District on the spot.”
“Didn’t they say the vicious couple had a falling out? Why did the insects in the Capitol District say that just a moment ago, the Lord Saint pulled the Chief Councilor’s ear and dragged him into the office all the way?”
“What, what? You said the Chief Councilor committed a serious crime with conclusive evidence? Just a few minutes ago, in full view of everyone, the Lord Saint, who upholds justice over family, handcuffed him and dragged him out of the office to detain him personally, and he will be tried in the Supreme Court in a week?”
The rumors outside were rampant, and all kinds of conspiracy theories were flourishing. However, in the Privy Council office next to the center of public opinion, it was a different scene.
A small chat group that gathered the Federal Cabinet and all the secretarial assistant teams under the Chief Councilor, except for the Secretary General and the Chief Councilor himself, was jumping madly at a speed of 99+ messages per minute.
“Did the Chief Councilor get scolded today?”
“Hehe, he did.”
“Let’s place a bet. How long do you think the Chief Councilor can behave this time? I bet a week.”
“A week is too long. I think three days at most. The Lord Saint after his amnesia is still too gentle. The original Lord Saint was more fierce, I mean, the original Lord Saint had a stronger aura and more principles; he could suppress the Chief Councilor with just a glance.”
“The current one seems a bit fierce too.”
“How is he fierce? He just pulled his ear, and it looks like he didn’t use any force at all!”
“Damn it, I also want to have my ear pinched by my husband!”
“I have tried it for you. Just now, I asked my husband to pull my ear, and he told me to roll up my bedding and get out, saying if I am sick, go get treated and don’t go crazy here. Brothers, is this right? [Crying.jpg]”
In the office, Noah sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the vines simulated on the wall.
Damn it.
It is all because the overtime work confused my mind. I accidentally went too far. Is it too late to let Igris go back to fishing and pretend nothing happened?
While he was depressed, a knock sounded at the door.
Igris: “Come in.”
Those who would come over at this time should be his subordinates. For some reason, the Lord Saint felt a little nervous. He projected a file, opened it, and pretended to be working earnestly. His peripheral vision turned toward the door, quietly observing the movements of the visitor.
Unexpectedly, the working insect who entered showed no surprise, his expression normal, and he was even focused on his task, handing over the data and leaving without stopping.
One, two…
When the third working insect knocked on the door and came in with information, Igris made an impatient “tsk” sound, tapped the desktop, and warned: “I say you guys, that is enough.”
Unlike most councilors who are condescending and have a clear sense of distance, the current Federal Chief Councilor has always been casual and approachable and is not easily offended. Being warned by his boss, the working insect was not nervous at all; he just gave a snicker and turned to run away.
Noah’s heart stirred.
A bit strange. He thought.
Whether it was Igris’s attitude or the attitude of these secretaries and assistants, it was too familiar and natural. No one seemed to think there was anything wrong with the dignified Chief Councilor being pulled back to his office by his husband in public, as if similar scenes had occurred countless times before, so that both the parties involved and the bystanders were used to it.
The Lord Saint was slightly confused but did not think much about it.
He stared for a while in the office, confirmed that the Chief Councilor was honestly working and not slacking off, called the Secretary General to let him supervise on his behalf, and hinted that he might come to check at any time before getting up to leave.
Returning to the starship, Noah ordered: “Go to the Orwell main residence.” Dragging the overly leisurely Chief Councilor back to his post was secondary; what he really wanted to do was to lure the tiger away from the mountain and inspect this place where he lived before his amnesia while the other party’s focus was not here.
Back at the main residence, Noah did not rush to observe the surroundings but immediately found the butler of the Orwell manor and asked for the recent account records.
Compared to tangible clues, intangible financial flows are sometimes easier to find clues hidden under the undercurrents.
He skipped the formal expenditures related to official business and focused mainly on several slightly strange and subtle controversial expenditures:
Date: X Month X Day: Custom-made extra-large crystal palace transparent fish tank for koi, equipped with a full set of the latest holographic simulation equipment, total expenditure 50 million star coins.
Date: X Month X Day: Acquired more than 1,000 wineries distributed on 321 planets, total expenditure 9 billion star coins.
Date: X Month X Day: Purchased fishing rod (glow-in-the-dark version), total expenditure 30 million star coins.
Noah closed his eyes, and the veins on his forehead jumped.
Calm down. He told himself.
A mature male insect should not have too much desire to control his husband’s wallet, not to mention that they were just a political marriage, and both sides had their own sources of income. Regardless of how outrageous the projects the other party spends his income on, it is the other party’s freedom and has nothing to do with him.
What is more, the account flow can be faked.
For example, this fishing rod that claims to be 30 million star coins might just be wearing the name of a fishing rod, but it is actually some kind of special weapon newly developed by some academy?
He opened his light-brain, casually found an intelligent AI belonging to the online shopping mall, and sent a screenshot of the full name and model of the fishing rod.
“What is this?”
AI: “Searching… collecting relevant information… collection complete! Hello, this is an exclusive customized limited edition fishing rod for the entire Star Sea released by a fishing gear brand called Carp King in the Wisdom Alliance, with an initial selling price of 30 million star coins. Currently, the sales volume in the Star Sea Alliance is 1…”
Noah took a deep breath and smiled.
“So the meaning of this glow-in-the-dark version is…?”
AI replied immediately: “‘Shine at night, catch fish continuously! Glowing fishing rod, your eternal night fishing artifact!’—That is the advertisement tagline.”
Noah touched his forehead with his hand and laughed out of anger.
He stood up straight, not looking back. His expression was calm, his tone was calm, and his movements were calm: “Butler William, starting today, freeze the authority of all bank accounts under my husband’s name, keep only basic living expenses per month, and any additional expenditure exceeding 300,000 star coins must be submitted to me for written application.”
“If he asks, just say this is my decision.”
The butler hesitated slightly.
The Lord Saint raised an eyebrow, and a rare faint smile appeared on his usually cold face, gentle and kind, but with a certain dangerous message that made insects shudder for no reason.
He laughed and said: “Why, do I not have such authority?”
Of course not.
From a legal point of view, a married male insect has full control over his husband’s property, but usually, whether it is a commoner male insect or a noble male insect, they will not fully control their husband’s property to the point of requiring the other party to apply for every large expenditure.
For the privileged species, this is a considerable degree of offense. Unless the relationship is completely broken, few male insects will really use this power.
However, the butler secretly looked at the Lord Saint’s expression, which could not be described as happy by any means, and swallowed the words of discouragement.
The servants also lowered their heads.
For a time, the Orwell main residence was silent.
Noah felt it was still not enough.
After a short pause, he raised his hand to make a call.
The video was connected.
A small conference room quickly appeared on the screen, and the square long table in the center was now full of privileged species. In the past, the Lord Saint might have had some scruples, but now he was too lazy to pay any attention to the insects at all. He did not even look at any of them, raised his chin slightly, and declared ruthlessly:
“Igris Orwell,” he calmly called out his husband’s name, word by word: “Your pocket money for this month is gone.”