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

Chapter 28

28~ Frail~

Tsk...

Saying it was to prevent her from being abducted was really just an excuse to keep her properly locked by her side.

But even if she understood the Empress's purpose, what use was it? She had no way to deal with it and could only glare with wide eyes.

"Time to go eat."

The Empress picked up the rope, the other end tied to the collar on the little Princess's neck. The justification was "to prevent you from wandering off and getting lost." As long as they were within the Inner Imperial City's range, she would lead her like this. Only when they went outside the Outer Imperial City would she untie it.

Being led by the Empress, due to the shackles she could only quickly take small rapid steps to try to keep up. When she couldn't keep up, the Empress would slow down slightly. After she caught up, the Empress would speed up again.

After several rounds of this, the little Princess was already exhausted, almost about to fall to the ground.

"Slower..."

Not knowing whether her call was answered or the Empress had thought of a new way to tease her, the thin rope tied to the collar finally stopped pulling.

The Empress picked her up and carried her the rest of the way, only placing her on her lap when they reached the dining table.

"Mo, open wide~"

The Empress scooped up a spoonful of rice to her face. Everything seemed to have returned to when she first arrived, except for the two additional restraining implements on her body... She feared that once she created some more powerful weapons, they would tie her up entirely.

"So obedient~"

After easily feeding the little Princess a mouthful of rice, the Empress vigorously rubbed her head.

"I want to take a nap later."

"No problem."

The Empress agreed.

After being further restricted in her freedom, she was now locked by the Empress's side twenty-four hours a day, anytime, anywhere. Even taking a midday nap required applying for permission to return to the bedchamber for a peaceful sleep.

This life wasn't even as good as before. Had she known it would be like this, she would have thought of other methods to strengthen the military's power rather than creating the flintlock musket.

After eating, the Empress brought her once again to the place where she usually reviewed and approved memorials.

"Didn't you say you'd let me take a nap..."

"Your sleeping place is here."

The Empress pointed to the small bed beside her. This was the same UltraProMAX version small bed as Chocolate and Vanilla's, just big enough to accommodate her, and also equipped with a small pillow and small blanket inside.

Mo: "......"

"Sleep when you're tired."

While saying this, she also tied the rope to the table edge, the length just right to let her sleep beautifully in the small bed for a nap.

Was she really raising her as a pet...

A dignified princess of a nation had now fallen to the point of only being able to serve as someone's pet...

If she could do it over again, she absolutely wouldn't draw out the flintlock musket design, wouldn't write out the gunpowder manufacturing process, and wouldn't personally come to Scarlet Phoenix Nation to negotiate in order to secure Glaze Nation's stability at the smallest cost.

But she was really too tired. The Empress refused to let her return to the bedchamber to sleep, so she could only make do by crawling into the small bed, covering herself with the blanket, and sleeping first.

......

......

When she woke up, it was already close to the afternoon mealtime. She had slept for quite a while. Perhaps it was because the fatigue accumulated over several days had all been released today?

"Awake?"

"Mm."

It seemed the Empress had also been reviewing and approving memorials for almost the entire afternoon.

After the Empress finished approving the last small stack of memorials, she untied the thin rope bound to the table, then somewhat excitedly picked her up and said:

"Mo, want to go see the new weapon training?"

It was as if she couldn't wait to show her how the soldiers were adapting to the new weapons. The training still had some time before it would end.

Ever since the flintlock muskets were mass-produced in batches, she had handed them over to General Qin for new weapon adaptation training. Even the afternoon arena matches were canceled, all to quickly become proficient at using these flintlock muskets.

And the soldiers under General Qin's command, as the first military force to use flintlock muskets, after witnessing their power, all called them "Thunderclap Fire" because of the sound the flintlock muskets made when firing.

The little Princess touched the collar on her neck and shook her head:

"Next time. I'm hungry."

She could roughly imagine what those soldiers who had never seen the world looked like.

After thinking for a moment, she continued to ask:

"Can you take off the shackles? They're very inconvenient."

"No way. Mo wearing shackles is very cute~"

As expected, she was refused. She had anticipated this situation, but saying she was cute was completely the Empress's twisted sense of humor. What normal person would think wearing shackles was cute? It was purely wanting to bully her.

The third meal of the day arrived, but the food brought to her mouth, she only felt bland and tasteless. Although her stomach uncooperatively protested, looking at the food she just couldn't eat it.

"Eat."

The Empress poked the edge of her mouth with the spoon.

"......"

The little Princess remained silent, covered her forehead with her hand to check the temperature. It was a bit hot. She had a fever.

A bit strange. Clearly these past few days she hadn't caught a cold, and the season hadn't even reached winter yet, but she had caught a fever so unexpectedly.

"What's wrong?"

"...I'm sick. That is to say, I've received Divine Punishment in your terms."

This was the first illness since coming to Scarlet Phoenix Nation. Still not too bad, at least it had been more than a month and a half since the last illness.

Loss of appetite and a bit of a headache. This fever's temperature shouldn't be too high. She estimated it was probably about a moderate fever. As long as she rested well, then soaked in hot water to work up a sweat, she'd be fine in a couple days.

Unless it reached a certain degree, there was no need to take medicine to reduce the fever. Moreover, she didn't know how to brew fever-reducing medicine anyway, since she hadn't studied medicine. Her postgraduate exam direction was history.

After she told the Empress the recovery method, the Empress stopped eating and immediately carried her back to the bedchamber to prepare.

"Actually, we could finish eating first before doing this..."

"No, your body is more important. We can eat while doing this."

If something happened to Mo, where would she find another one exactly the same?

"...Do whatever you want. I want to eat something light, preferably hot rice porridge, add some salt... just add something salty to it."

Considering that Scarlet Phoenix Nation didn't yet have mature salt-making technology, her requirements weren't that high.

It seemed she not only needed to have Glaze Nation's development catch up with progress, Scarlet Phoenix Nation here also needed the same. Otherwise, many things here she couldn't enjoy, and when she needed them she couldn't find them to use.

After briefly formulating a plan in her mind, she closed her eyes, waiting for the Empress to feed her hot porridge.

......

......

It had to be said that after two days of rest, her illness had mostly recovered. And in these two days, the Empress hadn't teased her much, nor continued to lock her by her side, just left her in the bedchamber to rest quietly. When bored, she could even sit on the carpet and pet the cats. It was quite pleasant.

"Mo."

"Mm?"

"Do you want to completely cure your Divine Punishment... illness?"

The little Princess tilted her head in confusion.

"Immune system deficiency."