After Defeat, the Empress’s Negotiating Chip Turns Out to Be Me

Chapter 163

163~ Bargaining Chip~

"Your Highness, the situation is urgent. I feel you need to know and make a decision about this."

"Hm?"

The little Princess was somewhat puzzled. What matter was urgent? Could there actually be someone who dared to attempt assassination within the royal capital?

"It's like this, Your Highness. The sentries arranged all around have increased. It seems they're planning to 'capture' us."

"Oh?"

The little Princess became interested.

Were they already planning to forcibly keep them here? As expected, the Midias Empire's king couldn't possibly be so kind. Wanting to exploit her?

"Then let's go out. Help me change clothes."

Go out for a stroll to confuse the information, and incidentally clear her mind.

"Yes."

Before long, the entire outfit was changed. After she briefly admired herself in the mirror, she grabbed Maid Xiao Xi's hand.

"Let's go."

......

"Hey hey, that Eastern Region princess came out!"

"I'm not blind!"

Their surveillance target suddenly went out, and right when they were preparing to act. This disrupted their original plan.

"Pass it down, execute Plan Two!"

This princess from the Eastern Region must be kept here!

"Understood."

On the other side, the little Princess held Xiao Xi and Xiyan's hands as they arrived before a restaurant's entrance.

She didn't plan to go in and spend money. It was just to slightly obscure their trail. In a moment, she planned to directly rely on Xiyan's magic to evade these sentries' line of sight.

"Xiyan, after we go in, immediately use magic to make us invisible, then use teleportation magic to teleport us out. Got it?"

The other party's intelligence didn't know an Archmage followed by her side, so when they couldn't find her, they would definitely be confused for a while. No need to worry about being pursued too closely.

Since the other party had already blatantly prepared to make their move, her side also had to take some countermeasures.

Xiyan nodded, indicating to the little Princess that she already understood what to do in a moment.

"Very good."

The instant they entered the shop and closed the door, when no one was paying attention to them, the three people's figures instantly disappeared at the restaurant's entrance.

"Target disappeared!"

"What? Didn't I tell you to watch them? How are you suddenly telling me now the target disappeared!?"

This was an order His Majesty the King personally issued. If they didn't complete it, when they returned, wouldn't they face his wrath?

Once angered, the light punishment would be disciplinary action. The heavy punishment would be directly losing their rice bowl entirely.

"Damn it, hurry and search inside for me!"

On the other side, after using magic to teleport to another location, the little Princess placed one hand on Xiyan's shoulder:

"Thank you for your hard work. But going forward, we'll have to rely on you a lot, so I'm troubling you, Xiyan."

"Hehehe, then Your Highness, please pat my head."

How would she dare let the little Princess go through trouble?

The little Princess very satisfiedly rubbed little loli maid Xiyan's head for a while, thinking this little loli was truly easy to satisfy.

"Ahem, well, Your Highness, time is of the essence. Let's hurry and move toward the army."

"No, we can't."

The little Princess shook her head.

They absolutely couldn't just directly head toward the army like that.

Although she didn't know what sudden madness seized the Midias Empire, yesterday everything was still fine, but now inexplicably they wanted to mess with her. However, she also wasn't raised on vegetables.

"On the way there, people will definitely be watching. Going directly definitely won't work."

"Then Your Highness, where should we go?"

"The palace."

The little Princess slowly uttered two words.

"The palace!?"

The little Princess's bold idea plunged the two of them into tremendous shock.

The Midias Empire already wanted to keep the two of them here, yet she was actively going to the palace. Wasn't that delivering herself to their doorstep!?

"Trust me. Nothing will happen."

Seeing the two were somewhat hesitant and indecisive, she used a commanding tone to have them follow her to the palace.

This time wasn't walking into a trap either. Rather, she had other plans.

No matter how shrewd the Midias Empire's King Darvien was, he couldn't possibly imagine she would suddenly turn around and make a counter-move against him, right?

She had sufficient bargaining chips in hand to threaten this so-called king of Midias. She believed that the moment she produced her bargaining chip, Darvien would definitely respectfully serve them and withdraw the sentries.

"So you two's objective is to deliver me before the king. As for Xiyan, try not to use magic if possible, unless it reaches an absolutely unavoidable situation."

"Mm mm!"

Little loli maid Xiyan nodded in agreement.

......

"How is it? Did you find them?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, not yet. However, we've already implemented strict controls on every exit of the imperial capital, and we've also set up measures to interfere with teleportation magic at the city walls."

This way, they could basically ensure the three people couldn't escape even with wings. As long as they continued searching like this, they would eventually find them sooner or later.

"Then how should that army be handled?"

"Just continue relaying messages as usual, saying their Highness is still negotiating with me. If we can't stabilize them, then directly refuse conversation and isolate them outside the defensive line."

Although this army also possessed firearms, a small army was ultimately a small army. Even with the addition of firearms, it couldn't change the essence of its small scale.

Moreover, the defensive line was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Even possessing firearms, as long as the supply line on the defensive line wall didn't break, there was no possibility of being breached.

And this was only the worst-case scenario. In fact, even if they finally noticed something was wrong, as long as he indicated the little Princess had already been placed under house arrest, wouldn't he be able to handle this army as he pleased?

"By the way, Yingxue, go prepare the sacrifices needed for the ceremony."

His reason for wanting to keep the little Princess wasn't coveting the gun design blueprints. On the contrary, he didn't value that thing at all.

After strengthening army strength, did it mean you could become tough?

That was highly impossible. Before the next great reshuffling on this continent, another Scarlet Phoenix Nation couldn't possibly appear. Scarlet Phoenix Nation was one where even the ruler was Great Archmage-level existence, possessing absolute military force, which was why they could subsequently upgrade all army weapons.

For nations like Midias that weren't famous for military force to begin with, if they greatly enhanced military strength at this time, what would other nations think?

Of course, they'd suppress it firmly before the Midias Empire's military strength fully grew.

The Western Region's largest nation didn't wish for the current situation to change. They still wanted to be their own hegemon.

So, just enhancing his own nation's military strength from the little Princess couldn't make his country soar to the sky like Scarlet Phoenix Nation. Instead, it would also draw the dissatisfaction of the Western Region's militarily powerful nations.

His goal from the beginning wasn't the knowledge in the little Princess's mind...