The Northern Mountain Range.
The frontline encampnt of the Gulad Empire.
A streak of fire plumted from deep within the clouds, tearing through the sky with a sharp whistle.
It was sixteen-year-old Amilia, slowly descending on her Companion Ancient Dragon, "Thunder Fire."
The heat rising from between its Dragon Scales enveloped her red twin-tails. The braids danced over her shoulders like two flickering flas. When the tips of her hair brushed against the dragon’s neck, they kicked up fine specks of golden light, as if soone had crushed a handful of stars and woven them into her hair.
Although she had just held her coming-of-age ceremony in the Imperial Capital, her fra was as petite and delicate as an unsprouted spring bud, inspiring a sense of pity.
Paired with a face as exquisite as a porcelain doll’s, it would be no exaggeration to say she looked like a little girl not yet ten years old.
The people around her cast looks of reverence, their gasps filled with unconcealed awe:
"Princess Amilia!?"
"A noble royal such as yourself—why would you deign to co to a place like this?"
Amilia wore an innocent and adorable expression, but her tone was mature as she said:
"My brother sent ."
"He said these Forest Sub-humans in the north refuse to surrender to our Gulad Empire."
"He needs to help you liberate them."
A nearby frontline officer, startled by her words, quickly bowed and asked:
"Then?"
"Princess Amilia?"
"Should I organize a new offensive imdiately?"
"We previously received the order to attack from His Majesty the Fla Emperor. We’ve already attempted to assault the Northern Fortress five tis, but we were desperately repelled by those barbarians from the Minotaur Kingdom every ti..."
Amilia waved her hand gently, her clear eyes filled with a calmness that belied her age:
"No."
"That won’t be necessary."
"It’s too late today."
"Tomorrow, I will personally go and speak with their Sub-human leader."
"This war is aningless."
"The Oracle has descended."
"My brother becoming the Heaven’s Chosen Ruler is an irreversible tide of fate."
"Therefore, their resistance is futile. It will only lead to more sacrifices among their own people. It would be better to seek a peaceful solution..."
Hearing this, the frontline officer couldn’t help but sigh to himself.
’In his eyes, Princess Amilia was still just a little girl who had lived a sheltered life in the palace, ignorant of the ways of the world. She was so naive as to delude herself into thinking she could hold peace talks with the Forest Sub-humans.’
’How could those uncivilized barbarians possibly understand the logic of negotiation?’
’Besides, the blood debt from the invasion decades ago was still unpaid. The old resentnt from their failed counterattack ten years ago had only added new hatred. And on top of all that, there were the constant skirmishes, big and small, along the border over the years.’
’The hatred between the two sides had long since frozen into an impenetrable block of ice. How could it possibly be thawed with just a few words?’
’It would be better to just crush them completely!’
’Demote them all to lowly slaves, forced to chisel stone and dig earth in the mines!’
’Let this lowly, barbaric trash see for themselves the vast, insurmountable gap between them and the citizens of the great Gulad Empire!’
Of course, these thoughts could only churn in his mind.
Facing Princess Amilia, who was so keen on "peace," he didn’t dare voice these discriminatory words that would obviously displease her.
Amilia, for her part, didn’t notice the contempt and discrimination for the Forest Sub-humans hidden in the eyes of these Gulad officers from the border regions at all.
She simply instructed her personal guards to set up her exclusive tent, then prepared to get a good night’s sleep to be well-rested for the next day’s talks.
However, no one noticed a shadow, unseen by all, slipping silently into her tent from the Darkness.
...
Late that night, Qin Feng gazed at the sleeping Amilia on the bed and reached up to remove the Phantom Marching Badge pinned to his chest.
As the badge left his body, the distorted light and shadows around him instantly settled, and his figure materialized inside the tent.
Qin Feng stood silently in the tent, unconsciously rubbing the empty lapel of his clothes as he pondered how to address the princess of the Gulad Empire.
’Hello?’
’I am the current Emperor of the Holy Empire?’
’Thinking this, he couldn’t help but frown slightly. All these opening lines felt rather strange—especially considering he had just appeared at her bedside. He’d surely be mistaken for a lecher and t with a full-blown attack.’
However, the scene he had just witnessed did confirm that the report from Fenrir’s secret spies within the Gulad Empire was true.
Amilia was indeed a staunch "Peace Warrior" who always advocated for all races to coexist harmoniously as equals. She was nothing like the typical nobles who harbored deep-seated discrimination against the Forest Sub-humans.
’He didn’t know if this was just her overly naive and childish way of thinking, or a secret disguise she had deliberately put on to gain greater benefits.’
Qin Feng was more inclined to believe the latter.
’After all, she was an imperial princess of royal birth. She had grown up imrsed in the treacherous arena of political power struggles and had received the most elite education. How could she not understand how to weigh pros and cons?’
’She had probably long since beco a calculating egoist!’
’She was likely faking her role as a Peace Warrior close to the Forest Sub-humans, only to later act in concert with the Fla Emperor, Galukasa. One would play the good cop, offering a gentle hand, while the other played the bad cop, applying pressure.’
’In this way, they could easily control the Forest Sub-human populations they would eventually subdue, holding them firmly in their grasp to be manipulated at will.’
’"All n are equal."’
’A concept like that is never so easily achieved.’
’The best-case scenario... is that so people are completely equal, while another group stands high above them, using invisible shackles to dictate the code of conduct for those "equal" people.’
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