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

Chapter 52

52~ Secret Passage~

"Please don't move, Your Highness."

"But..."

But how can anyone endure you touching that place!?

"I'll do it myself! Don't move!"

"Please endure a bit longer, Your Highness."

"Let go of me! Let me do it myself!"

...

After a whole ordeal, the Maid Ling finally finished applying the ointment. After washing her hands clean, she used magic to accelerate the drying of the ointment.

After helping the little Princess put on her clothes, the Maid Ling carried her back to the bedchamber, placed her on the bed, then woke the Empress.

"...What time is it now?"

The Empress asked while supporting her head.

She had indeed played too late last night, causing her to be unable to get out of bed today.

"It's already the Hour of the Serpent, Your Majesty."

The Hour of the Serpent already. Then if she went to the Council Hall now it would be too late anyway. She might as well just let the Council take full responsibility for handling state affairs for the entire morning.

"Mo, how did you feel last night?"

The Empress licked her lips as she finished speaking.

"Very bad."

Bad in every sense. Not only physically bad, but psychologically as well. However, at least no bleeding incident had occurred, otherwise she would definitely have had to be emo for a while this morning.

"By the way, Ling applied the ointment for you, right?"

"Mm."

"Then we won't bathe."

Purification Magic could quickly take care of all dirt on the body, so some mages often didn't bathe. When they felt their bodies were dirty or their clothes were stained by something, they would just directly use Purification Magic to solve it. Simply put, they found it too troublesome and used Purification Magic as a lazy person's magic.

However, the Empress didn't really use this magic much. First, she personally quite enjoyed the feeling of bathing, especially sleeping after bathing. That kind of comfortable feeling couldn't be compared to Purification Magic.

After using Purification Magic to clean both of them, the Empress led her to the back garden and opened the tunnel.

What are we doing here again? She remembered telling the Empress that there was nothing inside that could actually be used, and it had almost no reference value. Everything was already unusable.

"During my free time recently, I discovered a secret passage inside here, so I called Mo to come take a look."

Regarding matters of Scarlet Radiance Nation, there was still no progress for now. Searching slowly by herself alone was really too difficult. If she called people to search, she was afraid that if they discovered some secrets, something might go wrong. In the end, she could only call the personal Maid Ling and the maids of the Scarlet Maid Corps to slowly search.

The nine puzzle pieces had already been put together, but the answer within still needed to be slowly sought. Hopefully they could find that answer within the next month before sending out troops. Both to fulfill the promise she made to the little Princess, and also to strengthen Scarlet Phoenix Nation's power, to make full preparations in advance for the expedition to the Western Region after unifying the Eastern Region.

The little Princess followed behind, already somewhat anticipating what was hidden below the secret passage the Empress mentioned. If it was the answer she wanted...

"It's right here."

The Empress pointed to a large stone brick ahead covered in moss.

"However, it seems impossible to open it by normal methods. The original mechanism has become completely useless due to time. The mechanism is here."

Looking in the direction the Empress pointed, the little Princess reached out and pressed on the mechanism. Sure enough, there was no reaction.

"So does Mo think we should break in?"

Although a long time had passed, and even if there were mechanisms inside, most would have failed due to age and lack of maintenance, no one could guarantee whether all the mechanisms inside had really failed.

"Can you open it?"

"Of course."

As a Great Archmage, destroying a wall was completely effortless, not even requiring any effort.

"Mo, step back a bit."

The little Princess obediently retreated some distance and found a cover to hide behind.

"Flame spirits heed my command... devour everything blocking the way ahead with blazing fire!"

After finishing the chuunibyou lines, a small flame condensed in the Empress's hand, then shot toward the large stone brick at extremely fast speed.

"BOOM———"

With a loud explosion, the little Princess quickly crouched down to avoid the heat generated by the blast. Only after the aftershock ended did she poke her head out.

The blasted wall had been blown into a giant crater with a radius of three or four meters, and the entrance to the secret passage had also been destroyed by the explosion. This scene left the little Princess dumbfounded.

So was it really necessary to use magic with this much power? The secret door of the secret passage couldn't possibly be that thick! Is this the destructive power of a Great Archmage's magic? Judging from the chant content, this was still just a low-tier magic?

Although she couldn't use magic herself, she still understood what needed to be understood.

"Sorry, I haven't used magic in a while, so I'm not very used to it."

Since she became Empress, she rarely needed to personally take action. The last time she used this kind of offensive magic was two years ago.

"I'll carry you over."

With such a deep pit blown out, presumably with the little Princess's physical fitness, she couldn't possibly climb over.

"Mm..."

After being carried into the secret passage by the Empress, the little Princess looked around the secret passage. Then she surprisingly discovered that the crystal lamps on the walls were actually still lit! How on earth did they manage to keep working for several hundred years and still be bright?

This was very unscientific. Logically speaking, even if these crystal lamps were durable, they shouldn't still be usable after several hundred years, right?

The Empress opened the cover of a crystal lamp. Inside lay a precious Magic Core, which was the magic power core condensed inside a high-tier magic beast's body. Because only high-tier magic beasts could possess them, they were extremely precious anywhere. And here they were being used as lamps???

Moreover, looking ahead, there were still many more. Every few meters was a crystal lamp, each one using a Magic Core to serve as an illumination lamp. These were Magic Cores, damn it!

She didn't know what method the creator used to make the Magic Cores glow. She only knew that a single Magic Core was enough for an ordinary family to live comfortably for a lifetime without even needing to work.

"Strange, with these Magic Cores here, I should have been able to sense them before."

The Empress thought for a moment but couldn't figure out a reason.

Not knowing what method was used, it could actually block her perception of magic power, making her, a Great Archmage, completely unaware that so many Magic Cores existed inside, and not detecting that there was also a secret passage here.

If it weren't for the secret door falling off a bit due to age and lack of maintenance, she might not have been able to discover it at all, right?

"Let's go see what exactly is hidden inside."

As she spoke, she had already layered several defensive magic spells on herself and the little Princess, to guard against any remaining mechanisms inside.

The Empress took the little Princess's small hand and walked deeper into the secret passage.

...

"So, what was that explosion sound just now?"

Xiyan tugged at Ling's clothes and asked.

That explosion was so loud, it even made the ground shake twice, and judging by the sound, the explosion point was underground! Yet when she ran to find Lady Ling, she was told it was nothing?

Xiyan didn't understand.

"That was Her Majesty's magic. No need to worry, Princess Mo is very safe beside Her Majesty."

"But this..."

"No more buts. Don't ask what you shouldn't ask. Just do your own job well. If Her Majesty wants you to know, you'll naturally understand."

"Mm..."

Knowing that asking further would be futile, Xiyan could only close her mouth, hoping that Princess Mo was really fine as Lady Ling said.