Chapter 11: Chapter 11

“Grand Duchess Leonora, it’s been a while since you’ve shown your face here. Have I not called for you, other nobles will think that I confined you in your land.”

When Adam said that I’ll be meeting the king today, I didn’t expect it to be at breakfast. I can’t even bring myself to lift the utensils even though the food being served looks delicious. It is so awkward being thrown in the middle of people you only know by name.

“Why are you not eating? Is the food not appetizing enough?” The queen asked. She really had to bring it up. Ah, whatever.

“No, no. It’s quite the opposite, Your Majesty. The food is mouthwatering that I am unable to decide which I should eat first. Please do not worry about me.”

The table roared with laughter. Oh, guess I am a clown now. That must be really funny. Heh~ The humor of these people is as narrow as my navel.

“She must be nervous, Mother. As Father said, we haven’t seen her for a while.” He is the first prince whose name is William. What a generic name.

“Ha-ha! It must be comfortable in your land! It was only last year when you cannot stop visiting the palace to pursue my son! What a turn of events!”

*cough* Say what now?

“It must-”

“It was a fleeting moment, Father! I can guess that Leonora doesn’t want to talk about it now.” Oh wow. He doesn’t even let me finish. He also called me by my first name.

I glanced at him and I almost rolled my eyes. He is trying to provoke me with that smug expression he has.

“William is right, Your Highness. It was a fleeting moment.”

He looked surprised when I called him by his name. I don’t know what’s his past relationship with Leonora but I can guarantee it wasn’t a pleasant one.

The king laughed so loud that the noise of my stomach grumbling wasn’t heard. Come on, it’s already 8 am and I haven’t drunk or eaten something before coming down.

I stared at William who is pouting his lips and brows furrowed. The laughter died down so I picked up my spoon and started eating. I don’t want anyone to hear the sound of my hunger.

“How’s the food, Grand Duchess?” The other wife of the king sitting beside me asked. Oh, have I mentioned that the king’s whole family is at the table? The king’s 3 wives and their children. The Queen Mother is also at the table. He had 4 children with his first wife—which is the queen, 2 with his second wife, and 1 with his third wife. A total of seven children. He sure is very energetic in that particular activity.

“It’s delicious. As expected of the food in the palace.” She smiled and continued eating. If I remember correctly, her name is Charlotte—the second wife.

The food is a 10 overall but the atmosphere is a 2. They kept asking me random questions and none of them was related to my land.

“How was the breakfast, Madame?” I am back in the room assigned to me. Lyra is currently arranging the stuff we put on the cube while Adam is, as usual, fixing his monocle while asking me a question. He is definitely coded to do that every time we met.

“Nothing much happens aside from them laughing at the absurdist thing possible. Are all royals like that?”

He cleared his throat. “Do not say those words so easily, Madame. The walls have ears.”

I rolled my eyes. “Are those ears pointed?”

He sighed. “The king’s adviser told me that your presence is needed at the throne hall by 10. It is of his highness’ orders.”

My face crumpled. It’ll be in an hour. What is it again? They’re not going to give me quests this time, right?

They did. They freaking did.

“It shouldn’t be that hard. Considering how the Grand Duchess managed to kick them out so easily.”

Why now? I haven’t had anything to do ever since I arrived in this game. Is this how the game actually starts?

“Is there any objection?”

I stood up and bowed my head. “There is none, Your Highness.”

When I sat back, the king’s officials turned to me.

“How were you able to do that, Grand Duchess? Had we not gone to this meeting, we wouldn’t have heard about the Earl of Gamaras paying you a visit.”

“That was admirable. If they’d done such a thing to my land, the war would’ve started.”

“That’s right. Not only was she able to settle things quietly, she also overpowered the earl of a powerful country like Gamaras.”

“But is it true that Cerres and Gamaras are going to have a war in our borders?”

“If it is, should we send our soldiers to the borders? This could be our only chance to forge some connections to Cerres.”

“Yes! That’s also applicable! Your Majesty, what do you think of sending our soldiers?”

The king nodded. “What a brilliant idea! Grand Duchess, despite you being a field marshal, you just do your job well on Gamaras and I will take charge of the army in the meantime. I will also accompany them in the event that the Emperor of Cerres will be present. I want the preparations done by next week.”

Is this a meeting of blockheads? I’m ashamed to be sitting right beside them. Didn’t I tell them that the King of Gamaras wasn’t informed of that situation? Can’t they distinguish the difference between a war and a skirmish? Their way of thinking is very similar to that flamboyant man. Did they use a similar code on these characters? They are this country’s officials for god’s sake. What do they mean by war? War against Gamaras? My need to smack their heads is raging on my nerves. I feel like this is the reason why Aswain did not make it to the book.

Stolen story; please report.

I stood up before I lose my cool.

“Please excuse me, Your Majesty. I feel the need to shit after hearing this silly conversation.”

The whole room buzzed when I walked out of my chair. Some of them were asking what shit means. It’s your opinions, you knuckleheads.

I am extremely annoyed by the fact that they are that stupid. If I were the game writer, I would create the most complex character to ever exist even though it’s just an NPC to keep the players on their toes. This may only be a game, however, this also happens a lot in real life. Hundreds of lives will be sacrificed because of how people in power think.

“You are back, Madame. How did the meeting go?” At least Lyra is coded just fine.

“It was horrific.”

“Oh my, should I get you tea? I bet you haven’t fully digested your breakfast.”

My mood lightened up when I heard that.

“Please brew it yourself, Lyra. I love your tea.”

She blushed and nodded.

“I’m glad. I will be back with your tea, Madame.”

When she opened the door to leave, Adam appeared out of nowhere.

“Let him in, Lyra.”

“Madame, I heard the details from the king’s aide. Will you be going immediately?”

“No. I don’t think so. Adam, what do you think of me gaining a new title?”

His confusion is shown all over his face.

“What do you mean, Madame?”

I shrugged. “What else? Dethrone the king.”

I don’t want to bother with this world’s problem at first but since I want to throw the developers into confusion, it’s as I said before, I’m going to flip this game upside down. There will be no peace in my hands. Sending a weak-ass code isn’t enough to kill me. Let’s try to aggravate them to see how far they can go.

Adam froze and then looked around as if someone was eavesdropping.

“There’s no one around, calm down.” I said as I scratched the insides of my ears.

“M-Madame! You can’t just say something like that! That’s treason!” He nervously uttered while massaging his knuckles until it was red.

“How does Leonora the Usurper sounds like?” I added.

He froze once again and his forehead is now sweating. I laughed when I noticed he is also trembling a bit.

“Madame! It is not a good joke!”

I raised my eyebrows at him. Do I look like a clown to make lame jokes like that?

“Do I look like I’m joking? I am serious, Adam. Do not question my resolve like that again. I feel like I am not someone whom you shouldn’t take seriously. I feel silly.”

He dropped his knees and bowed to me.

“I-I APOLOGIZE, MADAME!” He shouted. My, even Adam can act like this. Aren’t elves usually prideful and bow to no one?

“That’s enough. Take a sit, Adam.”

He did as I told him and sat on the empty chair in front of me. I was about to speak when Lyra came in with a trolley. She glanced at Adam who looked so stressed. She scratched her cheeks before talking.

“Did I come in the wrong time?”

“No, no. It’s perfect. I see that you also brought some cookies.”

“Hahaha, the head maid insisted even though you just had your breakfast. I cannot refuse.”

“I see. Did you brew it personally? The tea.”

“Of course, Madame. You can tell it once you take a sip from it.” She poured the tea into the teacup and placed it on the table.

“Oh my, it is indeed. Thank you, Lyra.” I looked at Adam. “Give Adam a cup of tea too.”

Adam shook his head at Lyra. “It’s all right.”

“So… you can start asking me now why I decided on something like that, Adam.”

He hesitated a bit before asking.

“I won’t be mad. Just ask questions one by one.”

He nodded. Looks like he is willing to have a conversation now. Just a minute ago, he was willing to risk it all just so he could get away from me.

“What made you come to that conclusion, Madame?”

If there is anyone who knows about this kingdom more than I do, it will be him. I’m sure he is coded to be one.

“How many years did the king rule this land?” I asked back.

“70 years, Madame.”

He is that old yet his appearance looked like someone in his 40s. His exact age wasn’t written in the book I found in the manor so I had to ask to make sure.

“Exactly. He’s lived that long but he’s still stupid. Why would he want to go to the border just to catch a glimpse of the Cerres’ Emperor?”

He was surprised by my choice of words but did not dare oppose what I said.

“The king ordered me to personally spy on the King of Gamaras. Personally. Me, the Grand Duchess, yet it was so easy for him to take the soldiers just to check if the Emperor was at the borders or not.”

I took a sip of my tea. Lyra brewed it well as usual.

“It doesn’t really matter whether he sends someone else or me. What I am concerned about is his incapability to understand the situation quickly. He is a king. He has the power to use anyone at his disposal. He could use one of his people to spy on Gamaras and send me to the borders instead so he wouldn't be put in dangerous situations since I am in charge of the military. What’s the use of my title as a Field Marshal if I myself would walk into the lion’s den? Who would order the remaining people then?” I only found out about this earlier at the meeting, before the king gave his orders to me.

“I was also confused when I heard of the details from the King’s aide. Sending you there personally would only mean that he could dispose of you anytime he wanted to. That is insulting.”

Way to go, Adam! Good thing you were coded this way!

“Not only that. At the meeting, I noticed how dull-witted the officials were. All they talk about is how to fill their pockets with gold. Not a single time did they talk about how to improve the state of this country. The towns we passed by are also in a shocking state compared to the palace walls that are covered with gold. Isn’t it about time to change that?” I continued.

Adam nods his head.

“I see. I also thought about these things by myself a lot of times but wasn’t able to talk of it to the king since he wouldn’t see me unless Madame was present. Had I known that you had the same thought as me, I would’ve talked about my opinions more.”

Oh, I wonder how was his relationship with Leonora before.

“Is this the reason why you decided to dethrone the king?”

I put the teacup down.

“Huh? No. It’s not.”

Confusion is written all over his face.

“I can’t understand, Madame. If that’s not the reason, then what?”

“It’s simple. Because he is stupid and stupid people hurt my brain so much. Is that enough?”

His forehead sweated once again. This time, it's probably not about my plan.

“You don’t need to worry about that though. Elves are naturally intelligent.”

“T-T-TH-THA—”

I turned my head to Lyra and saw how she was trembling in fear.

“What?” I asked.

“Y-You were going to d-d-d-dethrone… the… king…?” Her voice went smaller as her question went on.

I almost laughed when I saw her expression.

“Yes, Lyra. You heard what I and Adam discussed. I am going to dethrone the king. I was invited to the ball that’ll happen in three days and I am planning on doing that at that ball so I wish to wear the best dress that we brought here.”

Besides, if I kill the king, he’ll be spawned just like Trevor. Killing him once should be enough to make the developers more confused.