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

Chapter 31

31~ Consideration~

"......"

"......"

The Empress and the little Princess stared at each other with wide eyes, both sides silent, not knowing how to speak.

The little Princess still sat in front of the table in an extremely arrogant posture, holding a history book in her hands, while the Empress had a stern face glaring at her.

"Your Highness... uh..."

Xiyan, seeing the atmosphere wasn't quite right, retracted the half foot she had just extended into the bedchamber.

"So, this is how you rest and recover from illness?"

Facing the Empress's interrogation, the little Princess's previously arrogant air immediately deflated.

Being arrogant when no one was in the bedchamber was no problem, but now the Empress had returned and seen her reading in an extremely arrogant sitting posture, feet casually propped on the table where the Empress usually wrote diligently, and was caught in the act. This was a big problem.

"Answer my question, Mo."

"It was just too boring. Besides, I've already recovered quite a bit, so I wanted to read books to pass the time."

"Recovered quite a bit?"

The Empress raised an eyebrow slightly, extending one hand to press on the little Princess's shoulder while the other hand rested on her thigh.

"Since you've recovered quite a bit, let me check?"

"Gulp..."

Swallowing, the little Princess immediately indicated she would go lie back on the bed to rest right away. She was afraid that in a moment it would be like before, being pressed down and ruthlessly rewarded. She didn't want to experience that suffocating feeling again.

"Don't move. Let me see how well you've actually recovered."

"Don't, I'll go rest and recover..."

The words had barely left her mouth when her body once again moved uncontrollably back before the Empress and sat down obediently.

"Mm... the recovery is pretty good."

Unexpectedly, the Empress didn't do anything outrageous. Just as she said, she merely used magic to check how well her body had recovered.

Just letting her go like that?

The little Princess was somewhat incredulous, but this was a good thing.

Afterward, she was wrapped in the Empress's embrace again, forced to sit on the Empress's lap, as if returning to a month ago, to the days when she was used as a hug pillow every day.

At least the Empress really didn't do anything to her...

Just like that, she actually sat quietly in the Empress's embrace, leaning against her, until the Empress stopped writing.

"Your Majesty the Empress, Princess Mo, dinner is ready."

Ling knocked on the bedchamber door and called.

The Empress was somewhat displeased. She had only just started petting the little Princess for a bit when dinner was ready. She could only pet her more after finishing the meal.

"Your Highness, Your Highness~ Is tonight's dinner good?"

"Xiyan, don't be rude. If you have something to say, wait until Her Majesty and Her Highness have finished their meal."

Ling placed her hand on Xiyan's shoulder, gripping with slight force in warning. Frightened, Xiyan hastily apologized and retreated to the side to wait for the two to finish dinner first.

"Mo, tonight's dinner was made by Xiyan. What do you think?"

"Mm..."

The little Princess put another mouthful of food in her mouth, carefully tasted it, then gave her evaluation:

"It's quite delicious. Compared to Ling's cooking, it's not far off. The flavor is somewhat different from Ling's, but overall quite similar."

Hearing the little Princess's evaluation, Xiyan nearly cried. She never expected Princess Mo would give such high praise!

Acknowledging that her cooking wasn't far off from Lady Ling's meant she cooked super deliciously! After all, Lady Ling's cooking skills, if placed outside, were already at the level of a top-tier imperial chef!

"As long as Your Highness is satisfied!"

Xiyan said happily. Then, as if remembering something, she looked toward the Empress and received the Empress's nod of permission.

"I want Your Highness to reward me with a head pat. Is that okay, is that okay?"

Head... head pat?

The little Princess froze for a moment, then put her gaze back on Xiyan, discovering this little loli looking at her with an expectant face, craving the pats.

In the end, she was still just a little loli.

Once she thought of Xiyan as just a little loli, she felt this was quite normal. Little lolis wanting to receive praise for doing good things was a perfectly normal matter, the same in any life.

Lolis are great! Lolis are innocent! Long live lolis!

"Then bring your head over."

Xiyan moved closer and extended her head. Under expectant eyes, the little Princess's hand rested on top of Xiyan's head, gently stroking.

The Princess touched me! Her appearance rewarding others with head pats is also so cute, so cute!

......

After finishing dinner, the little Princess leaned against the bed not wanting to move at all. This meal, because she had just recovered from a serious illness, her appetite had greatly increased. Having regained her appetite, she ate exceptionally much, a full bowl and a half of rice, half a bowl more than usual!

After eating, the Empress didn't rush to bathe and sleep, but picked her up again, standing before a map with a somewhat serious expression.

"Mo, war is about to begin."

"Mm..."

She had long thought this day would come, but she truly hadn't anticipated the Empress could reassemble military forces and launch war on the next country in such a short time after withdrawing troops from Glaze Nation. It had only been a month and a half since Scarlet Phoenix Nation's military completely withdrew from Glaze Nation!

"What do you think is the most suitable way to attack Donglai Nation now that we have the weapon you invented?"

With brand new weapons, of course they couldn't use the same tactics as before. That would fail to demonstrate the new weapons' power. Moreover, if they could exchange smaller losses for greater gains, why wouldn't they?

"Sigh..."

Originally the little Princess didn't want to talk about it, because this still required her to constantly recall memories from the postgraduate exam in her previous life, then transform them into things the Empress could understand, and make certain adjustments based on the current situation. This was undoubtedly very mentally taxing for her.

But considering Glaze Nation's currently unstable position, if the Alliance Nations launched an attack, the flames of war would definitely engulf Glaze Nation first. Even if Scarlet Phoenix Nation could provide support, it would be to no avail. An alliance of over ten countries wasn't something that could be weathered just by relying on Scarlet Phoenix Nation's support.

So the best method was through the Empress's hands, continuously weakening the Alliance Nations' strength while trying to attract attention, reducing the Alliance Nations' focus on Glaze Nation, making the remaining forces insufficient to pose a threat to Glaze Nation.

She didn't know if it would work either, because this was too idealistic. When the Alliance Nations truly launched an attack, the actual situation would definitely deviate from imagination. But under the current circumstances, it seemed she couldn't think of other ideas. At worst, when the time came they could stage a "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao."

However, before that, she still needed to think it through carefully, trying to take possible situations into account as much as possible to reduce the likelihood of errors.

"Are you in a rush to launch war now?"

"A bit urgent, but if you have better suggestions, delaying a bit is also fine."

After all, although she was eager for success, she hadn't become so anxious as to lose composure. War was something that was better approached steadily.

Don't look at how Scarlet Phoenix Nation had conquered many countries over these ten years, with the intervals between wars getting shorter and shorter. But all this was built upon Scarlet Phoenix Nation's strength continuously increasing and confidence continuously growing.