Chapter 100: My Vassal's Vassal Is an Elven Queen
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Everyone present stared blankly at the drowsy Elf sitting atop the cloud, and a single question erupted in all their minds simultaneously:
Who on earth is this person???
Sensing the gazes of everyone around her, Cocotte snapped back to awareness, stuck out half her tongue, scratched the back of her head, and said with a grin:
"Oh oh, sorry about that, I forgot."
"You've long since beco Emperor by now—when in Ro, I should be calling you Your Majesty."
The others were utterly bewildered.
That casual, familiar tone—and the feeling behind those words.
It seed as though......the person who had arrived was so kind of remarkable figure.
Aubery was all smiles, giving absolutely no impression of an Emperor with any sort of authority.
"Council mber Cocotte."
"I still rember the last ti we t—my father had not yet passed away at that ti."
Coun......Council mber?
Another one?
The entire crowd turned to look at Cocotte, hearts lurching with surprise.
Most importantly, she had been brought here by Leah Clavena.
Just how many Council mbers does the Clavena Family have?
So among them paid even closer attention to His Majesty's words.
His Majesty said.....that at the last ti they t, the previous Emperor had not yet departed?
That ant.....His Majesty and she were old acquaintances.
That would be at least 30-so years ago.
After all, Emperor Aubery had only ascended to the throne in his 20s.
So just how old was this Council mber???
Aubery said slowly:
"Given your standing, you deserve a seat.....but it seems, judging by the look of things, you don't particularly need one."
Aubery was referring to the fact that she had co in trailing behind Leah—behind a vassal of his own subject.
But this reclusive Elf evidently hadn't caught the deeper aning behind the Emperor's words. She simply yawned, gave a lazy stretch, looked down at the cloud beneath her, and said vaguely:
"Ah, right, don't need one."
"But you don't need to call Council mber anymore either—I'm working for Viktor now."
!?
After a mont of stunned silence, the entire Imperial Palace erupted.
"What!? A Council mber of the Mage Council is working for Viktor?"
"Just what is Viktor capable of, that he can get a forr Council mber to do so willingly?"
"This Council mber is even an old acquaintance of His Majesty!"
People in the Grand Hall began chattering among themselves all at once, and in an instant, the entire Imperial Palace descended into a kind of chaos.
And then the thing that shocked them even more ca next—the Emperor spoke as if with deliberate intent:
"That young Viktor—even the next Elven Queen is going to work for him?"
The next Elven Queen!?
The bombshells were dropping so fast and so dense that the assembled nobles couldn't even process them all at once.
The entire Imperial Palace seed to have beco the setting for a private conversation between 2 people, each remark tossed out one after another like explosives lobbed into a still lake, sending waves surging dozens of ters high.
Viktor wasn't even here, and yet every sentence, every single word—
All of it pointed straight at Viktor.
In that mont, everyone understood.
The Elf standing before them was a Queen who had originally been set to ascend the throne.
No wonder she looked so young, yet spoke with a worldliness that felt older than even the Emperor's.
Because an Elf's longevity cannot be faked.
Even an Elf over 300 years old still carries the radiant bloom of a human in their teens.
Elves are extraordinarily mysterious beings. They can sense powerful natural energies, and are even more receptive to divine blessings than humans.
Moreover, people who have received an Elf's favor tend to be extraordinarily fortunate.
These special beings live in great secrecy, rarely noticed by the outside world—let alone would anyone dare to capture one.
Such an act would easily invite catastrophe of enormous proportions.
At this mont, all the fanfare surrounding the First Prince's return was completely eclipsed by the Elf's appearance.
She made everyone present feel, just slightly, as though none of this could be real.
"Nothing to be done about it—I'm not exactly my own master anymore."
Cocotte grumbled with a touch of exasperation, then seed to catch herself.
"Oh oh, were you all in the middle of sothing? I must have interrupted—I'll keep my mouth shut then."
"You carry on. I only ca to watch over this girl."
Cocotte pointed at Leah beside her, flopped back down onto the cloud, and went right back to sleep.
And yet......
At this point, no one had any idea what to say next.
The First Prince was still kneeling on one knee where he had been all along, and almost everyone had forgotten he was there.
This mont was supposed to have been the First Prince's mont of glory.
Sensing that all eyes had shifted toward her side, Leah finally made her move.
She smiled, gave His Majesty a bow, and said slowly:
"My apologies, Your Majesty. My elder brother is currently preparing Her Highness's lesson, so I have co in his stead."
There was nothing wrong with that statent whatsoever. The one who had appointed Viktor as the Princess's teacher was the Emperor himself—with the Princess's lessons as his reason for not attending, no one could reasonably find fault.
All the more so because—
Viktor Clavena was a sitting Council mber.
A single prince was simply not enough to summon a Council mber.
Leah turned her gaze toward the First Prince still kneeling on one knee, and raised an eyebrow slightly. Her tone, however, carried the most earnest-sounding congratulations.
"His Highness's na has spread far and wide—the news of your slaying a dragon has traveled from the Empire's north to its south, known to all without exception."
"My elder brother also said that you already possess half the authority of His Majesty in his pri."
Yet many among them caught the dry sarcasm laced through her words.
Half the authority.
And wasn't that exactly right—only half?
His Majesty Aubery had slain a dragon single-handedly at 17. Here was this man, past 30, who had needed to bring an entire army along......
Might not even be half, co to think of it.
Those words carried a rather cutting edge to them.
But Leah seed entirely unbothered, covering her mouth with a light laugh as she continued:
"Your Highness."
"You truly are a great hero."
Aubeny remained kneeling on one knee where he was. All anyone could see was his back—still straight and upright.
No one knew what thoughts were running through this First Prince's mind. But everyone knew.
The glory that was ant to belong to the First Prince had, from the mont the Clavena Family's representative arrived, been demolished without even a crumb remaining.
Aubery waved a hand and looked down at Aubeny, still kneeling with his head bowed, and said indifferently:
"Rise, Aubeny."
"You've traveled a long road—you should go back and rest."
"......Yes, Father."
Aubeny slowly rose to his feet, the clank and clatter of his armor trailing behind him as he walked slowly out of the Imperial Palace.
And Owaise, watching his elder brother depart, found little joy in his heart either.
In that mont, with the Emperor's attitude as the unmistakable signal—
Many nobles began to dimly grasp sothing.
Without anyone quite knowing when it had happened, the Clavena Family had long since ceased to be confined by their rank as Counts.
With all the titles and standing they now carried, they seed to have no need to play the petty gas of succession politics with these princes—not the way ordinary nobles did.
***
"Ha! Ahhh, that felt good!"
Leah raised a cup of ale and poured it down in great gulps.
In the dim interior of a tavern, Leah sat before a wooden table, hoisting an oversized cup and letting out a cheer.
After 1 cup, her complexion had already flushed rosy.
Leah had never drunk before. As a rchant, she needed to keep a clear head at all tis.
But today, she truly understood what it ant to feel truly, deeply satisfied.
The looks of shock on the faces of those ugly nobles, one after another.
The rush of not having to exchange hollow pleasantries with any of those people.
She hadn't even needed to care about a prince's attitude—she'd openly mocked the First Prince right there in front of His Majesty.
Of course, Leah was perfectly clear about where all of this ca from.
She had an elder brother who stood head and shoulders above the world.
But the person who had made it all possible couldn't be forgotten either. Leah raised her cup and called out loudly:
"All thanks to you, Cocotte—have a drink yourself."
Cocotte was hugging an enormous cup and sitting across from Leah, staring at the large cup of ale before her with a look of so distress.
Wheat ale—she had never drunk it before.
As an Elf, even back among her own kind, what she drank was dew and fruit wine brewed from fresh, sweet fruits.
Leah smiled at Cocotte with a grin, then raised her own cup and poured herself another mouthful.
Indeed—this had been a matter of borrowing influence.
When Viktor had told her to bring Cocotte along, Leah had imdiately understood his intent.
A forr Council mber—Cocotte's value lay not only in her past status as a Council mber, or in her current 4th-Tier strength.
Having spent decades inside the Mage Council, even if Cocotte had been a complete fool all along, her followers would still be countless.
And she was an Elf, at that.
With Cocotte by her side, Leah could completely ignore the ugly faces of those nobles—she could even freely mock the First Prince she despised most.
As for why she despised him—
We've never even t, and you already want to marry ?
Leah had no desire to beco a political pawn in an Arranged Marriage. And once she had gained the backing that allowed her to disregard a prince, she would squeeze every last drop of advantage out of it.
None of this even needed Viktor to teach her.
Before long, Leah had drunk a touch too much. Her head felt less than clear, and things in front of her had grown a bit blurry.
Her words began to drift into incoherence.
In the end, she forgot entirely where she was, and toppled forward onto the table, snoring soundly.
She didn't even notice a hand settling onto her shoulder.
"How much did she drink?"
Viktor's voice ca through, quiet and even, and Cocotte hugged her enormous cup and let out a yawn.
"Only about 2 cups, I'd say. Honestly, she can't hold her drink nearly as well as I can."
Viktor glanced at the 8 empty cups lined up in front of Cocotte and raised an eyebrow.
"That's modest of you."
Cocotte had been yawning repeatedly—she had clearly far exceeded her quota of activity for the day—and continued from where she sat:
"Since you're here, I'll head back first."
The cloud outside drifted and floated its way in through the window. Cocotte toppled onto it headfirst, and the cloud carried her drifting out through the window and away from the room.
Viktor looked at Leah, thoroughly drunk, and considered how to get her ho.
Looking at Leah completely slumped across the table, he ultimately abandoned the idea of teleporting with her in tow.
Teleporting with another person required that person to have a clear head, and to be fully aware that they were in the middle of a teleport.
Otherwise, there was a very real risk of getting thrown off into so random pocket of the void amid the turbulence of space.
He attempted to prop Leah up, but it was quite clear that she was in no state to walk on her own.
And so he had no choice but to bend down, drape Leah's arms over his shoulders, and carry her on his back.
With his shoulders occupied, Weija had nowhere to stand anymore.
It could only perch atop Viktor's head instead, and turned his hair into a bird's nest in the process.
"......Viktor?"
Leah's voice ca, faintly puzzled. But it was quickly t with a reassuring response.
"Mm."
Carried on his back, Leah narrowed her eyes slightly, pressing against his broad back with a dopey smile spreading across her face.
"I know......hic, you wanted to properly let it all out—that's why you had......Cocotte co with ."
"Thank you."
Viktor didn't reply. He set a pouch of Geo down on the table without looking, then conjured a wind-riding spell between his fingers that made his body feather-light.
And like that, he carried Leah out through the window.
Beneath the night sky, Viktor carried Leah on his back and glided steadily howard.
His speed was perfectly asured. With the magic keeping everything smooth, not even a whisper of wind could be heard around them.
And so Viktor heard it clearly—the soft murmur of the girl on his back:
"Brother......when we were little......"
"Why......didn't you like ."
Whoosh......
The magic seed to waver, just slightly.
Gradually, the wind—long absent—brushed past Viktor's ear.
Like an answer. Like silence.
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