Samuel let out a loud, genuine laugh that echoed across the serene marble pavilion, completely shattering the heavy imperial decorum. He threw his head back, his dark hair catching the sunlight.
"Irritating?" Samuel wheezed, wiping a tear of mirth from the corner of his eye. "Gods, Elara. Only you would summarize the continuation of the imperial bloodline as a 'profoundly irritating maintenance task.' Most people just say they don't like kids."
"My phrasing is factually accurate," Elara replied, her face a mask of perfect, unyielding slate. "A human infant requires constant caloric monitoring, sleep cycle regulation, and temperature control. It possesses zero strategic utility for the first sixteen years of its existence. Why would the nobility expect either of us to voluntarily initiate such a catastrophic drain on our administrative resources?"
