Book 7: Chapter 28


    I didnt sleep wellst night, not because Lorana woke me up, but it did have to do with her.


    What she said had sent a cold chill up my spine, at the end. I always thought that Elizabeths people should also be loyal to me. At least that was the case with Nier. At least she wouldnt hurt me.


    But then I realised that, at the time, it wasnt that she wouldnt harm me, but that she was under orders to protect me, which is why she didnt harm me. When we first met and she said to me please kill yourself, she was being sincere.


    Nier really disliked me at the start.


    Although I feel bad towards the current Nier, theres still a wall between us because her please kill yourself request had hurt me.


    If Nier was like that, then the others wouldnt suddenly like me more.


    Needless to say, the Valkyries most certainly didnt. They disliked me for a number of different reasons.


    I dont see an issue with Castell, but as for Alice a strange gut feeling makes me very vignt of her.


    So, indeed, those in the empress faction were very vignt of me, and its safe to assume that theyre even more vignt after the banquet I had held. I had forgotten about the fact that I was the next emperor.


    No, thats not what I forgot. What I truly forgot was what I should do as the next emperor.


    If I be the emperor, then those in the empress faction will lose power. As her trusted vassals and servants, I have to get rid of them. I cant allow other opposing powers to exist around me as the emperor. When the timees, the people around me will definitely be Nier, Lucia, Castell and my personal guard unit.


    But thats not all.


    At present, I am nurturing my own powers. Yes, I have no intention of contending for the throne, and Mom isnt afraid or suspicious of me, but her people dont think the same way. Mom views me as her child, while they view me as a contender for the throne. Since they are loyal to the empress, they have to be vignt of me.


    Thus, what Lorana said was correct. It was my first time realising that humanitys political structure dictated that they would take action for their own loyalty, despite the likelihood of Mom and me harming each other not existing.


    Luna ced my breakfast in front of me, then looked at my face, frowned and asked, Your Majesty, you do not look too well How about we rest for one more day? Your Majesty, your face is very pale. It will be most dangerous if you get sick on the road. Your Majesty, are you ill, at the moment?


    <em>Im fine physically, just a little tired. Mentally, I took a heavy blow, though</em>


    I shook my head and replied, Im alright, Luna, you dont need to worry about me. Im fine. Time is precious. I have no time to stop here. Oh, Luna, give me pen and paper.


    Ah oh pen and paper. Luna hesitated for a moment, but then quickly grabbed a pen and paper from the side. She ced it before me and I swiftly wrote down my orders while Luna quickly heated up the stamp.


    I stamped my orders once I was done writing and then ced it aside.


    Luna picked up the letter and asked, Your Majesty, where do you want this letter sent to?


    Tell a soldier to send it to the royal capital wait no I cant send it to the royal capital.


    While that goods carriage was definitely headed to the royal capital, my orders held no weight in the royal capital. The empress was too far away. She couldnt do much to them from there. The empress was absent and so was I.


    If Castell sides against me, not only will my order be ineffective, but Ill have alerted the enemy, too.


    Send it to Troy City and hand it to Her Majesty.


    Its best to inform Her Majesty about this sort of stuff since it involves both of us. Im confident that the empress never gave any order to harm me. If Castell is the mastermind, hes definitely proceeding secretly. All his schemes will be halted if Her Majesty finds out about this.


    Im not going to stop my journey here because of this. I want to be a qualified king. If I stop because of this kind of threat, or because theres danger lurking, then wouldnt I have let Mera, who I ran a sword through, down? My courage isnt limited to just killing someone. I can eliminate all dangers until there are no more.


    I think this matter involves Her Majesty. However, I dont have any ns to use this opportunity to eliminate people from the empress faction, as that would prompt conflict. At present, we can at least maintain peace between our factions.


    Humanitys situation ispletely different to the situation with the elves. On the elven side, theres only one faction, but with humanity, were keeping each other in check, and trying to maintain a bnce of power.


    I couldnt instigate conflict. Hence, I could only tell Elizabeth that Castells merchants didnt salute me when they met me on the road and mention their cargo.


    I think Elizabeth would understand what I was getting at, given how smart she is, and she would also know what to do on her end.


    Alright. Luna, we wont have to worry anymore, now. I sighed a breath of relief and started eating my breakfast.


    Luna hesitated for a moment then questioned me, Are you worried about what Miss Lorana saidst night?


    We woke you? Sorry, Luna.


    No Luna shook her head, then looked at me with a nervous expression. In a slightly concerned tone, she said, I agree with what she said. Your Majesty, did you write the letter just now to sort this out? If not, I hope that you will be wary of your surroundings.


    I nodded and replied, Yes, thats right. I know what Big Sis said is right. But its pointless for me to be fretting about it, right now. The people around me right now are all my people, so I dont have to worry about someone in our group trying to harm me. To avoid trouble, the empress didnt interfere with my guard unit in any capacity. That I can guarantee.


    Luna nodded silently and then said, If you manage to locate the mine and transport the ore back, I think that you will be in even more danger. Previously, the weapons for your guard unit were provided by the royal family, which was a bit better. However, once your guard unit gains ess to such a valuable resource, I think you will be in more danger.


    I chuckled and responded, Youre really smart, huh, Luna. Youre absolutely right. Everything Im doing is to enable me to be a better sovereign. But the more impressive I be, the more the empress people will fear me. This is a paradox that cant be resolved. I cant do anything about that. I cant get the Valkyries to trust me, nor can I get Castell to not be wary of me, because I have no way of destroying their loyalty.


    Your Majesty, what are you


    I want to continue growing and expanding my power. Im not consolidating my power to threaten Her Majesty. Im consolidating my power just to protect myself and for the sake of my dream. I looked at Luna, who stood before me, and sincerely said, What I need is the power to protect myself. That will grow more and more powerful as I grow.


    Uhm! Luna gave a firm nodded. She then proudly eximed, Your Majesty, I am your most loyal personal servant. For you, I am willing to be your shield! I will never back down!


    Dont say that. That hurts my heart. I smiled and stroke Lunas head. I then added, Youre my only personal servant. Whos going to take care of me if something happens to you?


    Luna giggled, then grabbed hold of my hand and replied with a smile, Hmm I want to stay by your side forever. Forever like this Forever