Episode(37)~ It logically makes no sense but it might still happen!
SOVEREIGN OF DEATH~(37)
'Hm?'
The sudden outburst startled the nobles and the whole venue went quiet in that single moment.
Everyone looked at Maria like a strange creature in the zoo.
They all wondered what happened for the princess to suddenly blow up like this.
On the other hand, Maria who had suddenly become the center of attention couldn't help but cough awkwardly.
She smiled wryly at the crowd and apologized.
[Ehem, do forgive my sudden fit. I was just thinking how preposterous it was not to enjoy such a joyous occasion!]
Waving her hand she smiled.
[Don't mind me and continue with what you were all doing]
The crowd gave her a second glance before they all went back to what they had been doing. Although most of them were curious, none of them had the status to pry.
Rather than causing trouble for themselves they would rather just enjoy the party.
Just as Maria had said, it wasn't every day you get the chance mingle with a hero. None of them wanted to waste the opportunity.
Seeing that no one was paying any heed to her, Maria heaved a sigh.
Thank goodness no one thought she was crazy. As the acting ruler, how devastating would be for others to think she was mentally unstable.
She shook her head.
Soon the thought was in the back of her mind and she focused on Duke Rant again. With a stern and furious expression, she asked him in a calm yet cold tone.
[How can the senate not figure anything out when it happened inside their own jurisdiction? Are they saying that they don't care what happened as long as it's not a noble citizen from their state?]
It was like directly slapping them in the face. She could understand it if they claimed it to be a mistake, but the very fact that they hadn't taken and actions to rectify the situation simply meant they were just looking down on Floren.
Even if Maria was an idiot it wouldn't be hard for her to figure out what was happening behind the scenes. It was because she understood that it made her even more furious at the thought.
Utter b*llshit!
'Are they trying to test our forbearance? Aren't they afraid of sparking a war? They must be mad!'
Even if she was a kind person who didn't take life lightly, Maria was still the acting ruler of a nation. As such she had to uphold the prestige and honor of the nation.
However, it seemed to her as if these nations were taking her lightly. It was as if they believed she would never start a war if there was a way talking it over could fix things.
They didn't know how crazy she could become because she always showed them a smiling face and they were terribly wrong.
Duke Rant saw the anger on her face and when he recalled something his face paled. Although he didn't know all the notoriety of this princess before him, she had seen when she got angry once before and knew it wouldn't be pretty.
He hurriedly tried to soothe her rage with logical and rational argument. After all, it wouldn't be pretty for a war to break out now of all times.
[Please, your majesty soothe your rage! Even if they really were the case that they were purposely making things difficult, without a cause and with the Empire's current standing around the surrounding kingdoms and Empire's, I really don't think of it a good choice to act willful!]
Maria wanted to chuckle and say even if they didn't have a valid reason she would still march with an army to crush those good for nothing monarchs. However she knew that she really couldn't be willful in the current situation.
Firstly, ever since her father had stolen the summoning circuits for the other nations, Floren had been marked as a place of conflict for every nation on the continent. Even the ones that were once friendly with Floren now viewed them as enemies.
'With and empire bordering our north and an upper level kingdom at our south, if they were given reason then no doubt they would pincer us'
That would be a terrible situation.
Although with mountain ranges and forest and plains providing a large distance between the three huge powers and Floren, with new inventions like vehicles and airships it wouldn't take long for either of these nations to deploy an army to attack Floren at all.
And it wasn't just the two huge powers at their north and south. There were also smaller nations with considerable military power and no one knew what the other had for a trump card so Mara needed to be careful.
If Maria were to suddenly attack the Henkel nation, the others would immediately act. For one, even though Duke Rant's goods were stolen no one in his group was hurt so this alone would give them reason to say Floren was acting arrogantly and attacking nations without a purpose.
That way they could easily gang up on Floren and the situation would mean instant death.
'Even if I claim that my father is taking his just punishment that still won't stop the countless enemies that have already set their sights of Floren'
Maria clicked her tongue. The situation where even with people screwing around with her she couldn't do a thing about it, it was nothing short of infuriating.
But so what? What could she even do?
'Just one wrong move and its game over….'
As for war, if they were to enlist the heroes with the army the chances of winning might be good. However when she thought that they might even die, her desire for a war dwindled.
If the heroes were to actually die in a war between humans then what of the war between demons and humanity? When humans were already destroying themselves did the demons even need to lift a finger?
All they needed to do was sit back and watch the show. When all was said and done they could just destroy the victor and that would spell the end for humanity.
Maria was frustrated but it was the truth. Humanity, no. As one of the closest to the border of the demonic plains Floren really didn't have the means nor the resources for such a war.
What humanity needed to do was join forces to challenge the threat of all demons. But the moment her father made his decision to steal from the other nations that was off the table.
'My father completely ruined the chances of us working together and eventually forming relations with those countries we weren't on friendly terms with. What's worse is how he left me in charge of cleaning up for his mess!'
Meanwhile all he could think of was ways to sell his daughters away to scum. Maria really had a deep hatred for her shameless father now.
[Sigh...it's such a headache I don't even know how that man became the king, is his head on backwards]
If he were aware of his position and took his role seriously the situation Floren ended up in wouldn't have happened. Just one hero was enough. It was random which one would be summoned but instead of making enemies, it would have just been better to summon a single hero.
Who knew, they might even have ended up lucky and summoned two or three heroes at once. But no, that greedy fellow just had to act on his own.
Duke Rant heard Maria defaming the former Emperor and began to sweat profusely. What? Was he supposed to answer that statement?
Even if he wasn't still the king, he was the former king was he not? If he answered he might please Maria but what of his life?
[I... I'm not sure how to respond to that statement]
In the end her could only say this while laughing awkwardly. Maria smiled.
[Don't bother, even if he's almost dethroned, he's still the king]
She wasn't trying to get him to talk bad about her father. Even if he was deposed, he was still the former Emperor nonetheless and it wouldn't look good if the head of the duchy besmirched his name.
[They might just behead you for accepting my words and further stating your own thoughts on the matter. Just laugh it off as my foolish thoughts]
Maria chuckled. On the other hand the Duke felt his spine tingle and cold sweat poured down his face as he thought about the future had he really said anything bad.
[Anyways, where is your wife?]
Deciding to deal with the issue of Henkel later, Maria looked around for the kind aunty she always remembered in her memories. She turned her head left to right but didn't see her anywhere.
Duke Rant, happy the conversation had been switched hurriedly replied. He wanted to make sure the conversation never returned to what they were talking about before.
After all, who wanted to entertain a chat that might have them killed?
[If it's my wife then, she's currently having a chat with her friends, since she managed to come back after all these years. She wants to catch up with them and all the gossip meanwhile we are here in the Empire]
Seeing Maria eager to meet her, his tone was quite apologetic towards this fact.
[She should be back soon though...but, if your majesty wishes then should I go call her?]
'So she's with her circle'
Thinking about all the juicy topics that exploded in the empire while they were away, Maria thought it couldn't be helped. So much happened in the past few months that it almost felt as if a year had gone by.
'Even though I wanted to greet her'
Maria thought about calling her, but thinking that she might be having a fun chat she immediately threw thought out the window and shrugged.
[It's fine]
Waving her hands with a smile she thought it was okay and just said with contentment.
[As long as she is alive and healthy, just give her my greetings]
Just like Duke Rant, she was a person that Maria deeply admired.
Both Maria and Elaine had grown up around Royal aunties that showed them nothing but hatred. To them, the two princesses that were lucky enough to gain right to succeed the throne were reminders that they never even had the chance to fight for the throne but were instead sold off as a bride to some other nation.
Even with the same royal blood, they had lived totally different lives. Still, it wasn't their fault that Maria and Elaine were too competent that they even received succession rights as girls. It was just that the royal aunties weren't as competent.
The Duchess was also their royal aunt, however her behavior compared to the others were so different it was like comparing night and day.
The duke nodded. Seeing that Maria was even considerate enough not to interrupt his wife, his respect for her had reached another level.
He bowed respectfully with grace and poise.
[Well, if that is all then I will see you again, your majesty]
[Yes, goodbye]
Afterwards, Maria nodded at him before he turned and walked away.
After this, Maria and Elaine made and effort of talking to various nobles and greeting them before engaging in a conversation. Although, unlike before the conversation was about business and Maria only showed a fake smile as she conversed with them.
There were even those that forced the issue of marriage. Maria however used the convenient excuse that if they could slay the demon king then she would marry them.
This made even the usually cocky noblemen back off with fear and helplessness in their expressions.
Fortunately, that worked and Maria was no longer bothered about marriage talks.
She sighed.
The men in this empire were either power hungry or crazy for women. It was hard to find a good man in such an environment and it would be even rarer for a fairy tale prince to appear before her.
Maria shook her head with a wary smile.
'Only children immerse themselves in the belief of the perfect soul mate, but….'
Maria wanted to think that somewhere out there her soulmate was working his best even now. She wanted to believe that when they met it would be like a hundred flowers blooming in spring.
But she was sure this was only her imagination and wouldn't come true in reality.
She then glanced at her sister, only to see Elaine glancing at Renji like a puppy lost in the wild. Maria furrowed her brow and turned a gaze at the target of that gaze and she was stunned.
Amongst the crowd of girls, several already had heart signs in their eyes not to mention he was already fondling one of the lady's chest.
Maria was taken aback.
In broad daylight?
It was literally in public and this guy was acting like it was any other time in private. He didn't even care about the countless stares and not to mention the father of that noble lady. Although he seemed calm there was no hiding that green expression and the vein that was about to pop.
[No, the hero is one thing but those women are really...ugh]
She almost couldn't believe they were nobles. Maria almost thought a group of harlots had snuck into the venue however she knew all the women that were there and they were all indeed nobles.
Curse the debauchery!!!
[Sister, are you okay?]
Elaine looked at Maria who was also looking at Renji strangely. She was confused and wondered if Maria also had feelings for Renji as well.
[I'm fine, just a small disturbance. Anyway, as I said before the party, I need to have a small talk with you]
[That's...]
Elaine glanced at Renji reluctance to leave before having a chat with him. It was as if she wanted to go join that crowd immediately and this made Maria all the more exasperated. Just what kind of curse did this demon cast on her sister?
'At this rate just letting them touch each other might get her pregnant again!'
Logically it made no sense. It made no sense logically but even if it made no logical sense Maria was all to terrify that such a thing might actually occur!
[Sigh...alright, shall we then sister?]
Elaine noticed that Maria wouldn't let her go and could only give a small sigh. Hearing her agreement, Maria also smiled.
[Yes, lets]
Both princesses left the venue, even so. Renji was having too much fun with other women to even notice that the mother of his future child had already left.
In fact, he had even long forgotten that Elaine existed in his life.