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

Chapter 352

352~ Framing and Shifting Blame~

"Lady Liuli, should that be about enough?"

"Mm."

After visiting several shops, she had basically completed her incognito investigation about as much as needed. Everything that should be understood had been understood.

Right now, Glaze Nation up and down was still considered stable, but commerce absolutely had problems. Commodity prices were already in the realm of artificially inflated, and not just ordinary inflation. Everyone said Glaze Nation's environment was getting better and better, people were living and working in peace and contentment. Although the vast majority couldn't live particularly affluent lives, it was still enough to have a fulfilling daily life.

But she discovered the problem within this: Glaze Nation's economy had been going downward during this recent period. This couldn't possibly be a manifestation of Glaze Nation's environment getting better and better. The only explanation was that the surface was an illusion. Only by seeing through the illusion to the essence could one see Glaze Nation's true appearance.

But just where exactly was the problem?

She didn't quite understand exactly where the problem had occurred. Logically speaking, Glaze Nation should be gradually shaking off its previous decline and continuously developing and becoming stronger in commerce. Why was it now going downhill instead?

She had clearly already carried out reforms using the best methods. The only thing with some problems was that embezzlement and corruption chain...

But if it was only this, it shouldn't be enough to drag down Glaze Nation's economy. There should still be other problems underneath dragging down Glaze Nation's overall economy.

"Lady Liuli?"

Just as she was lost in thought, He Yan behind her suddenly called out to her.

"What is it, He Yan?"

"There's killing intent, so please hide well behind me now."

"Killing intent?"

The Little Princess was somewhat shocked.

Was someone trying to assassinate her? She clearly hadn't done anything with this identity yet. How could someone already want to assassinate her? Moreover, this time they were making a move directly within Glaze City. Was the other party truly not afraid of death?

"Princess Liuli, first time meeting. My name is Elseri."

Elseri?

"Then what's your purpose in coming to find me?"

"Two choices. I'll give you two choices. Today, either submit to my master or die."

"Mm? Who gave you the courage? Attempting to provoke Lady Liuli!"

He Yan further blocked in front of the Little Princess.

"A mere Great Mage dares make noise here?"

He Yan: "???"

Being looked down upon for the first time, she momentarily felt she had been insulted.

She, a dignified Great Mage, actually had a day of being looked down upon by someone? Great Mage was already an extremely high level. There weren't too many to be found within Glaze Nation. Unless it was an Archmage, those extremely rare senior mages in Glaze Nation, otherwise no one had the qualifications to look down on her!

"Today, let me teach you a lesson, presumptuous maid."

After speaking, he condensed a fireball in his hand, then continuously compressed magic power until the fireball's color changed from the original reddish-brown to blue-purple, his palm facing He Yan.

"Fireball Spell."

Boom------

Although it was merely a simple Fireball Spell, the most elementary type of magic among the magic that mages learned, anyone who could play an entry-level magic like Fireball Spell to this degree was absolutely Archmage level!

"Lady Liuli, you leave first. I'll hold him off."

He Yan quietly said to the Little Princess behind her.

This Archmage very clearly didn't plan to let them go. The only way out was for her to stay behind to provide cover for the Little Princess, creating an escape opportunity for the Little Princess.

She could die, but the Princess absolutely couldn't have anything happen to her!

"He Yan."

"Princess, what are you still waiting for? Run quickly!"

"He Yan, let me finish speaking!"

The Little Princess forcefully tapped Maid He Yan's little head.

"I don't need to run. The one who needs to run is him."

The Little Princess smiled with narrowed eyes, looking at Elseri somewhat playfully.

Run? Why run? Right now, as long as there wasn't a Great Archmage here, she was invincible!

Not to mention how many defensive magics had been set in the crystal necklace and ring she wore, just relying on the Magic Scrolls in her hand, the highest-grade Magic Scrolls that could rival a Great Archmage's full-power strike, she fundamentally didn't need to run.

"Lady Liuli?"

Although she didn't quite understand why her Princess was so confident, seeing the Little Princess completely unfazed, she still chose to believe her Princess.

After all... the First Princess of Glaze Nation's style of conduct was widely circulated, which was to absolutely not do things without certainty!

"Are you looking down on me?"

Elseri asked.

"Of course. A mere Archmage dares be presumptuous before this Princess?"

"A mere... Archmage!?"

He was about to explode with anger.

How dare this woman? How dare she look down on him? Just because she was a royal princess? Could she look down on him, an Archmage, by relying on her identity?

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He simply directly hurled the fireball condensed in his hand, with temperature sufficient to instantly melt steel, toward the Little Princess.

"Go die!"

This was... he got anxious? Not even caring about his master's orders anymore?

She still hadn't asked any valuable information yet. She couldn't let him be taken out with a Magic Scroll so quickly.

"Princess!"

He Yan immediately deployed a Magic Shield, almost using nursing strength to crazily squeeze her own magic power to reinforce the Magic Shield before barely managing to block this strike.

Cross-level combat was inherently unrealistic. This wasn't like some fighting spirit-to-horse novels where one could casually cross one or two, or even seven or eight realms to fight. Being able to block this strike was already top-tier level among Great Mages.

"He Yan, stay behind me. You don't need to make a move."

The Little Princess commanded He Yan.

"But if this happens, Lady Liuli, you will..."

"Don't worry. Trust me."

The Little Princess gently stroked He Yan's head and said tenderly.

"Yes..."

As if possessed by ghosts, she actually directly agreed.

"Now that you've agreed, you're not allowed to make another move. Leave everything else to me."

After appeasing the Little Princess, she immediately turned her gaze toward Elseri.

"Who is your master? What do you want to do by coming to find me to submit? Want me to completely follow your master's orders? Or are you saying you want me to dedicate everything to your master?"

"Of course, it's to dedicate everything to my master! My master is Glaze Nation's strongest prince. If you don't submit, then there's only one outcome, which is death!"

"Is that so?"

Bragging so much, the strongest prince and such, she could probably guess who it was.

Then the reason for her to take action to eliminate that guy also existed. At that time, she could directly complain to her cheap Father the King. She might not even need to make a move herself for the matter to be resolved.

However, this kind of thing was still more interesting to handle personally, especially when the other party had such a foolish subordinate who easily exposed his own master...

Something seemed not quite right about this?

The Little Princess suddenly paused. She seemed to smell a whiff of conspiracy.

"You mean your master is Cui?"

"Correct!"

Little Princess: "..."

After suddenly realizing the problem, she momentarily didn't know how to complain.

Could someone really be foolish to this degree? Shouldn't the normal procedure be to bring her before that so-called master before knowing his identity? Those royal family members understood this deeply. They belonged to the type who absolutely wouldn't let their subordinates tell the other party their identity until the person was bound by their side, to avoid being resented when the plan failed.

The guy before her was clearly throwing dirty water, wanting to divert disaster eastward.

Jiu stood on Cui's side. She had prepared to eat at the same table with her, although they didn't succeed in eating. But she should also be able to sensitively perceive that this vest of hers was absolutely not some naive fool royal family member.

Just after separating from her for a short while, she directly united with Cui to call people planning to coerce her. This very clearly didn't match Jiu's character. Jiu couldn't possibly so obviously directly provoke her.

Then the answer was clear. This Elseri was absolutely sent by some prince wanting to throw dirty water on Jiu and Cui, so he could bloodlessly resolve a competitor at that time.

Normal people also couldn't possibly send this kind of goods missing a screw in the brain to carry out an assassination on her.

"Last time asking you, who exactly is your master?"

She was somewhat impatient.

"Of course, it's Prince Cui!"

"..."

After falling silent for a while, the Little Princess pulled out a scroll from her Magic Storage Ring and held it in her hand.

"Flame Emperor!"

Flame Emperor, a super-giant Fireball Spell, which was violently stacking magic power on the basis of the original Fireball Spell, implementing the philosophy that quantitative change produces qualitative change. Only an Archmage's magic power storage limit could hold the magic power consumption.

As the Magic Scroll in the Little Princess's hand burned to nothing in the air, the magic matrix rapidly took shape before her and crazily gathered the magic power stored in the Magic Scroll to fire this powerful strike.

When magic power was gathered into a single point, a massive amount of flames burst forth, instantly engulfing everything before it, wanting to incinerate everything to nothing.

An Archmage's full-power strike was nothing more than this...

As for Elseri, he hadn't even constructed a defense just now.

As everyone knew, mages were a high-attack, low-defense profession. An Archmage who hadn't constructed a defense of course couldn't possibly use his physical body to withstand a full-power strike from the same level of combat power.

When the flames completely dissipated, nothing remained at the original location. Even in the giant crater blasted out by "Flame Emperor," not a single bit of residue could be found.

"Princess..."

"Mm? What are you calling me?"

The Little Princess turned her head.

She had wanted to say this for a while now. Why did He Yan suddenly start addressing her as "Princess"?

"Nothing... Sorry, Lady Liuli. I accidentally changed how I addressed you."

Maid He Yan hurriedly apologized.

"...No harm done. Call me however you like, as long as it's comfortable to say."

Anyway, this vest's identity of hers was also a princess! Although hanging the label of her cheap Father the King's illegitimate daughter from outside, in the setting, she still flowed with the noble Glaze Royal bloodline.

She didn't care how He Yan addressed her. At the beginning, it was only to better fit the character setting that she had Maid He Yan call her "Lady Liuli."

"Then... I'll call you Princess from now on?"

"Mm, whatever you like."

Right now, she just needed to wait for the Military Police to come over, then explain the situation at the scene. Leave the matter of investigating the guy behind who wanted to frame and shift blame directly to Cecilia. She believed Cecilia absolutely had a way to find out.