novelraw Chapter 1
Chapter 1
1~ House Arrest~
"Your Majesty the Empress, we are very satisfied with the conditions your nation has offered, it's just that our side needs to discuss things for a while longer..."
The young girl standing in the center of the hall spoke respectfully to the Empress on the throne.
She knew she absolutely could not anger this Empress, otherwise her country would very likely be wiped off the map.
"..."
The lofty Empress did not respond to the girl, only furrowing her brows slightly, seeming somewhat displeased.
Seeing this, the girl hurriedly lowered her head and added:
"We have no intention of delaying, it's just that regarding certain details we still need to consult with my father the King..."
"..."
The Empress's brows furrowed even more, but her indifferent face still showed no expression, only coldness.
The girl's legs were already trembling somewhat, and the minister behind her was already dripping with cold sweat.
"Heh..."
The corner of the Empress's mouth lifted slightly in an extremely rare occurrence.
"I also feel these conditions are indeed somewhat unsuitable, why don't we discuss modifications right here."
"Wha... what?!"
The girl froze for a moment.
Her original purpose was precisely this calculated move, to renegotiate with the Empress so that her side could minimize losses in the negotiations, but this Empress actually directly put what she wanted right on the table?!
"Gulp..."
The girl swallowed.
As the saying goes, when things are abnormal there must be something strange! The Empress changing her mind at the last minute probably meant she had discovered something interesting...
During her moment of contemplation, the Empress took the initiative and stated the new condition:
"As long as you stay, I can consider withdrawing troops unconditionally..."
What?!
The girl nearly stumbled and fell right to the ground.
"This, this, this..."
How could she possibly accept this condition?!
The girl snapped out of her shock and hurriedly spoke:
"Your Majesty, I believe the matter of conditions can be discussed further..."
"I only want you."
!!!
The ahoge on top of the girl's head nearly bounced into an exclamation mark.
...
...
At night, the girl sat at her desk in a daze.
Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night...
Originally coming to negotiate as the defeated nation, she had already prepared herself to deal with the victorious nation's Empress making outrageous demands, but she never imagined it would end with this kind of result...
Running away was impossible. She was probably already under complete surveillance, and even if she ran... her country would very likely be destroyed...
"Your Highness?"
A knock suddenly sounded, interrupting her thoughts.
"Enter."
The one who entered was a female attendant dressed in a plain white gown, her maid who had come with her to this empire to seek peace and had been taking care of her along the way...
As a princess of a nation, bringing a personal maid wasn't excessive, right?
"Your Highness, His Majesty has sent a reply!"
The Maid Xiao Xi said excitedly.
The "His Majesty" referred to here was naturally not the Empress, but this princess's father the King, far away in their homeland...
"Mm, I understand, erase the contents."
"But..."
"It's nothing more than telling me to decide for myself."
The maid froze slightly.
The contents were indeed so...
But Your Highness, are you sure you really don't want to look at it even once?! This is a message from His Majesty!
"Erase all recent records too, don't let the Empress's people see them."
The girl said casually.
That should have been heard by the people lurking nearby to monitor her, right?
The jade slip actually recorded mostly useless information, but using it to disgust these "dogs" outside wasn't bad either...
"Yes."
The Maid Xiao Xi answered with a disappointed look.
"If there's nothing else, go back. I'm going to sleep."
After the Maid Xiao Xi left, the girl pulled out the small suitcase she had her maids bring, and as expected, it had been searched.
Originally she had placed a thread in the gap precisely to prevent someone from tampering with her small suitcase without her knowing, and now it had come in handy.
The thread that was originally stuck in the gap had fallen inside the small suitcase, and the creases she had deliberately made in the clothes had been smoothed out.
She pretended not to notice anything, took out a piece of paper and looked at it perfunctorily, then used a candle to burn it, letting the ashes scatter with the wind outside the window...
Everything's done! Time to sleep! Let those "dogs" outside worry about it themselves!
The contents of the paper were nothing special, just things like "Idiot! You've been played!" Even if those "dogs" later used some method to restore those ashes, they could only swallow this frustration.
After all, even though it was a defeated nation, she was still a princess of another country, and a distinguished guest specifically named by the Empress, who could not be treated carelessly.
So, although these "dogs" would search through her things, they couldn't cause her any real impact.
After all, she hadn't come to assassinate the Empress.
She didn't have that ability, and she was too lazy to bother with such things.
You should know that assassination was work requiring both skill and stamina. Forget about her mediocre skills, just talking about stamina alone, it wasn't something she could handle.
The girl rolled around in her blanket, truly unable to sleep.
Thinking about how tomorrow all the other envoys who came to negotiate except her and Xiao Xi would be going back, leaving just the two of them in a foreign land, she couldn't fall asleep.
Just like that, she didn't gradually drift into dreamland until nearly the latter half of the night...
...
In the middle of the night, the door was knocked three times.
It seemed as if afraid to disturb the lovely person in the room, but she had matters that needed to be reported...
"Your Highness?"
After a long while, the breathing inside the room remained steady.
Although it was very rude, this matter had to be reported to Princess! At least the Princess had to know! The sooner the better!
With an uneasy heart, she opened the door. The Maid Xiao Xi walked timidly to the bedside.
The girl on the bed was sleeping soundly. Perhaps because she had been somewhat exhausted these past few days, her breathing was accompanied by some cute snoring sounds...
"Your Highness? Wake up quickly."
Xiao Xi gently pushed her princess and said softly.
"Mmph..."
"Your Highness, wake up quickly, there's an emergency!"
"Mm...?"
She sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes.
Being disturbed halfway through a good dream truly felt terrible.
Looking at the sky, it was probably still the middle of the night, right? Why wake her up at this hour?
It seemed... she had vaguely heard Xiao Xi say there was an emergency earlier?
"Mm... what's the matter?"
"It's like this, Your Highness... all those diplomats who came to negotiate with us have been driven out of the city by the Empress!"
Driven out of the city? Who was driven out? The diplomats who came with us?
Her head gradually cleared, her thoughts began to turn, and she suddenly clenched her fist and pounded it on the pillow beside her.
"Damn it!"
"Your Highness..."
"Go back, let me calm down alone for a while..."
"Yes...!"
After the Maid Xiao Xi closed the door, she was like a deflated balloon, collapsing onto the bed.
Damn it, what does this Empress want to do? Why did she suddenly drive all those diplomats out of the city?
If that's the case, then those diplomats would inevitably return to their home country. The Empress had already issued an order to leave, they couldn't forcefully demand to come back, right? Only those who didn't value their lives would do such a thing!
If the Empress became displeased and directly had all their heads cut off, and their home country, as the defeated nation with almost no say in matters, and with the princess still in the opponent's hands, even if all these diplomats were beheaded, they could only endure it in silence!
Damn it! What does this Empress want me to do?!
She really couldn't figure out what this Empress was thinking...