I! Cleaner!

"Your mom's dead."

Looking at the Ironskin Queen on the ground, Leon couldn't help but sigh.

This wasn't an insult; it was merely stating a fact.

The Ironskin Queen had fallen from a great height, landing directly on the stone tablet beside the garden, shattering into pieces, with some parts even scattered into the garden. Not far off, a large iron butt clad in red shorts was hanging on a tree branch, seemingly dead beyond doubt.

"..."

How...how could this happen...

Seeing the Ironskin Queen broken into pieces on the ground, Joshua, who had woken up not long ago and whose mind was still in a fog, couldn't help but move his lips, feeling a bit like crying.

But after trying to work up some feelings, and with two downward turns of his mouth, he found he couldn't cry, so he just stared dazedly at the fragments of the Ironskin Queen.

Even though Leon had explained that this large red iron doll could very well be the real queen, there was still a big difference between an iron doll and a person, making it difficult to truly stir up the emotions.

...

This is truly...an utterly unexpected development.

Although he had a terrible impression of the queen and an average one of Joshua, at the end of the day, the dead were supposed to command respect, and Leon, who had a decent level of morality, refrained from speaking ill. Instead, he helped pick up the queen's iron head and handed it to the bewildered Prince Freckles.

"Here, take this."

Due to the Ironskin Guards' unique senses, they didn't recognize Luke temporarily inhabiting Joshua's body, thwarting his plan to take over as the guards' leader.

However, the good news was that while the Ironskin Guards didn't recognize the prince's body, their obedience to him as a prince was incredibly high.

It seemed that for the Ironskin People, once transformed, the priority of "tags" like identity, status, and occupation was elevated to the highest level, such that commands from people with higher status and duties could not be defied.

If they were regular guards, there would be a million reasons why he couldn't redirect them from their posts. But for guards transformed into iron dolls, as long as their orders didn't conflict with those of someone with higher status, they had to follow them.

So now, it seemed that he didn't need Luke to command these guards to leave their posts, thus allowing the rebels waiting outside the palace to storm in, which could be considered a blessing in disguise... or perhaps indeed a blessing?

Seeing Joshua sitting dumbfounded on the ground with the queen's iron head, Leon couldn't help but sigh helplessly.

Though it seemed a bit cruel to think this way, for him, the queen's demise was indeed a good thing, and the fact that she died due to an anomaly was even more so.

Nonetheless, while both Joshua and his mother were unpleasant, witnessing his own mother's sudden death was somewhat harsh for the young Prince Freckles.

"My condolences."

Considering that they were all human, Leon patted Joshua's shoulder as a gesture of comfort, then took out the [Witch's Broom], climbed on, and prepared to fly to the window of the princess's bedroom to check on the situation, but...

"Ah!!!!!!!"

Accompanied by a hysterical scream, the iron head in Joshua's hand suddenly opened its eyes, furiously shouting:

"I'll kill you! Damn Veronica! How dare you push me off the building!"

"What the hell!"

Wait... You were hanging on a tree, and you didn't die? Your soul was quiet just now! Check for the latest updates on My Virtual Library Empire (M-VL-EMP-YR).

Shocked, Leon turned back and looked at the iron head that bizarrely came back to life, swearing in Joshua's arms, and couldn't help but say with extreme speechlessness:

"You're still alive?"

"Of course I'm alive! If she hasn't died, then why should I... are you... that Duke of Lionheart?"

With a blink of the red ruby eyes on its face, a touch of malice crept onto the Ironskin Queen's face as she suddenly shouted with full malice in her eyes:

"Great timing! I now order you! Go upstairs immediately and kill that damn..."

Wait! You're going to command me?!

Upon hearing the Ironskin Queen's words, Leon's eyebrows suddenly raised, recalling how the Ironskin Guards at the palace door exhibited exceptional obedience to him as a prince.

This isn't good!

Though he appeared human, it was only through his own eyes; in reality, he had been affected by the anomaly as well. According to the "Ironskin People" rule he had discovered, an Ironskin person of higher status could easily command one of lower status.

And when it came to status, the queen, who ranked just below the old king, was clearly above him, a prince chosen by the princess, so there was no way he could let her finish her command!

Here you go!

In Joshua's stunned gaze, Leon, who was already preparing to leave, suddenly turned and raised his leg, executing a powerful kick that sent the iron head flying out of Joshua's hands.

With ten points in his Contamination Value, Leon's physical ability had already surpassed that of ordinary humans. The force of that kick was astounding, and the speed terrifying, issuing an extremely sharp whoosh as it sliced through the air.

Facing this kick that exceeded human limits, the vengeful Ironskin Queen didn't even manage a scream before her nose was slammed into, her entire head shooting up like a meteor, streaking into the palace's garden and completely disappearing.

"?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Seeing his biological mom being kicked and disappearing with a whoosh into the Iron Garden, the unfortunate Prince Freckles was dumbfounded.

From the Ironskin Queen crashing to the ground with a thump to taking off with a bang, though it all happened within a brief two minutes, for Joshua, it was a bizarre experience of unparalleled twists and turns.

Within those short two minutes, the emotional upheaval in Joshua's heart was indescribable, but if forced to summarize, it would likely consist of three stages.

My mom's dead?

My mom's alive?!

My mom flew!!!

"Plop!"

Until he heard the splash of a heavy object falling into a lake from an unknown distance, the Prince Freckles, whose mom had died, lived, and then catapulted away in those two minutes, finally snapped out of his trance, scrambling over the fence and running frantically toward the artificial lake in the garden.

"Mother!!!!!!!"

"..."

It's not my fault; your mom started it.

Watching Joshua run into the garden crying, Leon couldn't help but shake his head helplessly.

Kicking someone's mom away face-to-face was indeed overly harsh, but if he didn't kick, allowing the Ironskin Queen to give her command would have been more than just overly harsh.

"I need to ask you something."

Leon quickly walked back to the palace entrance and addressed the Ironskin Guard still standing there:

"What happens when you Ironskin People go into water? Do you die?"

"Not quite."

The Ironskin Guard shook his head and replied:

"We'll just rust, and if we stay in too long, movement will be difficult until we get polished again."

That'll do.

Nodding at the response, Leon gave orders:

"Do me a favor, the queen fell into the lake; get all the guards to go into the garden and help Prince Joshua fish out the queen. After retrieving her, stay in there and swim for a while before coming out.

Also, find a couple of the fastest guards to the street at the palace gate and see if there're any rebel lurkers; if there are, tell them they can now storm the palace."

"Understood, I'm on it!"