Noelle knew that while Emilia may wave off the matter of being the newly established empire’s monarch as something that hadn’t truly happened yet, in most people’s perception, that wasn’t the case at all.
After all, not only was Emilia the leader of the rebellion supported by the majority, but she was also widely accepted as Blue Dawn’s ray of hope.
Not to mention people being unable to accept her as their monarch, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that her position was completely unshakable.
Unfortunately, General Green realized it a little too late.
But even though he didn’t like Emilia at all, the fact that she didn’t immediately send the forces that had surrendered to her to attack the ‘resisting regions’ was still something he could appreciate.
Regardless of their disagreements, spilling the blood of innocents wasn’t something they enjoyed, after all.
Of course, whether he would still think the same if it had been his side at an advantage in terms of military strength remained unknown, though Emilia’s passive stance quickly sparked a feverish discussion in General Green’s base.
”Since she’s softhearted and weak right now, isn’t this the best time to strike?”
Naturally, the lieutenant who spoke out in Emilia’s favor in the previous meeting was nowhere to be seen.
”No no, no matter how stupid this little girl is, don’t forget that the five rebel leaders are now the ones controlling most of the country’s forces!”
Moreover, the fact that most of the people in the ‘rebellion’ called Emilia ‘princess’ was no secret, and her status in their hearts as some sort of holy angel was clear to anyone with functioning eyes.
The lieutenant who had proposed an attack first hesitated. “If we were to take an elite force and sneak into the capital…”
This time, the general himself shook his head in denial. “The entirety of the central zone is on high alert, and the likelihood of success is abysmal.”
The rest of the lieutenants quickly agreed. “Right. We might even aggravate them further, endangering the life of the president!”
As both the cornerstone of their democracy and the greatest hope of restoring order, the president’s life definitely had to be their top priority, so no one refuted that point. After much back and forth, they finally came up with a somewhat acceptable solution.
The first lieutenant smiled grimly. “The only reason that little girl got to that position was because of her reputation and image in the people’s hearts, and as long as we destroy that… she’s as good as done!”
The third lieutenant nodded. “Right. With the general’s popularity as the ‘war hero’, as long as we keep denouncing her using his name, it won’t take long for the people in our region to change their views. And from there, we just have to fan the flames!”
Chuckling, the first lieutenant couldn’t help but shake his head in amusement. “I’d give it a week at most before she realizes how short-lived her fantasy was, and runs away crying.”
The general considered it carefully before nodding. “Let’s do that, then. Once she’s gone, we can then move on to creating conflicts between the five rebel leaders. Start the preparations now.”
With a plan in mind, everyone was in high spirits, and quickly left after saluting the general. It won’t be long before their democratic government was restored… or so they thought.
Unfortunately, the reality turned out to be the complete opposite of their imaginations.
”Am I hearing this right? General Green refuses to accept our princess as the ‘Empress’?”
”Why didn’t I hear a word from him when that slimy bastard president was ruining our country before?”
”Right? Standing up for our ‘democracy’ now, has he gone senile and already forgotten how he remained silent when that bastard declared emergency to effectively become our ‘ruler’? Hah.”
”If you ask me, he’s probably just worried that he’ll lose his position. Typical stooge.”
It had to be said that trying to arouse the people’s sympathy for the past government to discredit this ‘tyrant’ had been their worst move yet.
Jailing and killing anyone who dared to speak up, hoarding and hiking the prices of essentials to the point where they became completely out of reach, and even pushing many to the point of economic despair without a single shred of compassion… No matter how bad they said Emilia was, how could she be any worse?
Even if their president were to be replaced by a robot vacuum, they would happily agree as long as they got rid of that bastard. Moreover, this ‘tyrant’ was still a beautiful girl with a breathtaking smile, and one who had stood up for them when she had no need to.
In fact, with the memory of the previous government’s tyranny still fresh in their minds, even if Emilia really had been whipping people left and right… maybe they would still think of her as an angel.
Needless to say, the soldiers who were ordered to ‘spread the good word’ returned feeling like their faces had been slapped black and blue. Not only was their worldview refreshed, but for those who had been open-minded enough to listen, their determination to stick with General Green to the end was also wavering.
As for their mission… forget about ruining the new empress, they might even have shattered whatever goodwill the people might have had for General Green before.
When he finally got the news, the war hero’s face turned grim.
If he still didn’t realize that he had vastly underestimated his opponent… he would be a complete fool.
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While General Green had been, quite futilely, doing his best to muster up some sort of resistance to her rule, Emilia had already started consolidating her strength.
As Noelle filtered all the candidates and Crystal helped pick out the ones who were ‘most suitable’ for the vacant spots in her empire, Emilia happily gobbled on fresh, juicy grapes while resting on Dixie’s lap.
Well, she considered giving the dark-haired girl a job at first, but quickly realized that there was no point in trying to intimidate anyone when she was so cute. Naturally, Dixie herself had no complaints with her ‘job’ at all.
As for Emilia, while she looked quite leisurely, she still had to interview the ‘final candidates’ picked by her adorable little heroine in her throne room, which was just the hall of her villa.
Naturally, the throne itself was also just a luxurious chaise lounger that was just perfect for her to cuddle with her girlfriends.
After the man interviewing for one of the major official positions was done with his answer, Emilia nodded. “Okay, good. You’ll hear from Alexandria by tomorrow about your final position.”
Just as he was about to jump up in excitement, a glare from Dixie immediately made him pretend to shrink his neck as he bowed. “T-Thank you, empress! I-I’ll definitely work hard and make you proud!”
Although the crimson-haired beauty only waved him away with an amused smile, the man still left feeling as if he had been injected with enough stimulants to send a horse into shock. ‘As expected of the princess, every time I look at her, she gets more and more charming! Ahhh, I can’t believe I really witnessed her being affectionate to one of the apostles from so close!’
Had Alexandria not looked so cold and unapproachable, he might even have hugged her on the way out.
Once he was gone, the ‘secretary’ came forward and leaned closer to the crimson-haired girl, completely ignoring Dixie’s watchful eyes. “Princess… that idiot Grimlock Green says he wants to talk to you.”
Emilia hummed. “Took him long enough.”
She couldn’t help but note that the woman’s tablet was once again slightly different from the one she’d had yesterday.
The crimson-haired girl wondered if she had the habit of changing it so frequently, but soon shook off that thought.
Alexandria wasn’t the type to let things go to waste without reason, and there was no need to worry about it too much.
Not to mention that she had probably already given away her old gadgets to people who could continue making use of them, even if she hadn’t, Emilia felt that she shouldn’t be too stingy to people who helped her so much.
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General Green didn’t know what he had been expecting from his first ‘face-to-face’ conversation with the ’empress’, but seeing the young, crimson-haired beauty leaning into another girl’s embrace so leisurely still gave him a pause.
Since he never really cared about it too much, General Green hadn’t bothered to look up any photos or videos of the little girl.
Although she didn’t fit his aesthetics, he still had to admit that she was every bit as gorgeous as that idiotic second lieutenant of his claimed.
Of course, the prettier she looked, the less he found her rumored wit and ingenuity to be credible. Most likely, this silly and sweet child simply enjoyed being taken care of by others who pampered her carelessly.
But even if he could pass her posture and attitude off as ignorance, the fact that she was being fed grapes while talking to him definitely had to be a deliberate insult, right?!
Unfortunately, he was already in a passive position, and could only pretend to be blind as he tried to ‘negotiate’ a deal with the little girl, or whoever it was making the decisions from behind her.
Emilia hummed and nodded from time to time while listening to the general’s carefully drafted speech.
Once he was done, the crimson-haired girl smiled as she turned to look at Dixie. “The grapes were so sweet, thank you.”
Seeing her press a kiss against the other girl, General Green almost had a myocardial infarction.
Fortunately, Emilia interrupted him before the general could really start frothing at the mouth.
”Um, uncle, if I heard you right… you want me to let go of that man who started all this chaos in the first place, give up almost half of my empire, and also promise not to interfere with what you do with my people… because I’m a good girl?”
General Green felt his mind turn blank. ‘Wait a minute… how can she make me sound so unreasonable like that? I just told her we each keep the area that we have, and she just needs to release the president so we can reach a truce!’
He was so confused that he didn’t even notice how the girl called him ‘uncle’.
Emilia smiled, and the general wasn’t sure if it was his illusion, but for a moment, he felt like her aura completely changed from the silly and sweet little girl to a regal queen that he instinctively didn’t dare to offend.
”Well, although I won’t deny that I’m a good girl, you can’t ask me to abandon my people. Anyone who accepts themselves as a part of my empire can be considered my child, and if I don’t protect them… who will?”
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