Since the primary goal of their mission was only to ‘make it seem like the ‘rebels’ were the ones who betrayed their own empress and killed everyone else’, taking the empress away wasn’t entirely out of the question.
After all, even their superiors hadn’t been able to make up their minds on how they should treat the girl’s body after killing her, and decided to leave it up to fate.
Taking her away, however, would completely solve the dilemma of having to mutilate her beyond recognition to show hatred and grudge to leaving her mostly intact. After all, if no one ever found the body, who would be able to point fingers or spot flaws?
”You know what? The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to do things this way. Anyway, the general did say we only need to make sure that the mission is accomplished and our identities aren’t revealed. Everything else can be improvised, right?”
His companion grinned. “No need to justify it, brother. Just admit that you’re tempted to taste the little bitch, aren’t you?”
The man shrugged without embarrassment. “You’re not wrong.”
Not to mention her identity as an ’empress’, which was a temptation in itself, Emilia was also one of the richest, most beautiful young girls in the world.
Under normal circumstances, she would be so far out of their league that they might not even be able to get the chance to look at her gorgeous face in person, let alone get close enough to feel her silky skin.
A forbidden fruit like her… normally it would take them the fortune of a lifetime just to enter her sights. If they could really plow her into the ground, wouldn’t that be the greatest ‘fuck you’ to this unjust world?!
The tallest soldier couldn’t help but chuckle. “Brothers, how much do you wanna bet that she’s still a virgin?”
After a moment of shocked silence, the others quickly shook their head in denial. “You almost got us, man. Although she looks like that, the empress is still quite young and mostly surrounded by girls. Who knows if the dumb bitch is even more oblivious to sex than a fucking elementary schooler? This is a losing bet for sure.”
The tallest man grinned. “Then how about this… whoever kills the one closest to her first gets dibs?”
”Deal!”
”I’m fine with that.”
”A pity, the stupid bitch usually has quite a few ‘accessories’ around her.”
”We can’t be too greedy, man, let’s make do with just her. It’s not like the world lacks good-looking girls, but there are few at her level.”
Others also quickly agreed, though one of them looked somewhat uneasy.
It wasn’t that he thought they were being too cruel. Since the empress was going to die anyway, he didn’t think it mattered much if they took her away first and killed her later after having some fun.
After all, he also believed it would be too much of a pity for a young and beautiful girl like her to die a virgin. If possible, why not give her the night of her life first?
What worried him were the risks involved in the process, instead. Blue Dawn’s young empress might look delicate, but unless all the videos out there were fake, she was far from being a helpless girl they could play around with at will.
Although he hadn’t been very serious when he first watched it, recalling the way the gorgeous girl had so easily and fearlessly weaved in and out of crowds of panicked and aggressive soldiers as they fell around her like puppets with their strings cut… he still felt chills run up his spine.
Gritting his teeth, he finally couldn’t help it anymore. ‘I have to convince them that even if that girl is hot, it’s too risky trying to capture her alive! Even if we shoot and disable her limbs first, there’s no guarantee that nothing will go wrong!’
”Brothers! I-I don’t know if I should say this, but—”
Just as he was about to start ‘convincing’ them, however, the others interrupted him first with a sarcastic grin on their faces.
”What is it, shorty?”
”Do you think it would be more fun if you went first? I guess it would hardly matter given your size, right? Ahahaha…!”
Although he really was the shortest among them, the man was actually still clearly above average in height at five feet nine inches. The statement did manage to strike a nerve, however.
Just because he was shorter than them didn’t mean he couldn’t do everything they could, or better!
His previous reservations and fears were completely blown away as he slammed a fist into his palm. “Then don’t blame me for ruining her before your turn, assholes!”
Naturally, everything he knew, so did his comrades. Since they weren’t scared at all, why should he be either?
Whether it was the skill of the empress herself or those responsible for protecting her, could they possibly contend against the trained and tested veterans like them?
”Relax, man. We all know how flexible and acrobatic the empress is, but while that may be deadly to those incompetent buffoons of Blue Dawn, against us… isn’t that just a nice bonus in bed?”
The rest of them couldn’t help but chuckle in mirth.
There was a famous saying in the commonwealth — one man of Red Dusk could take down ten bastards from any other country. Even if they thought it was slightly exaggerated, they still had some pride as some of the best soldiers around.
Maybe if they pinned that feisty little empress down, she wouldn’t even be able to put up much of a struggle against their sheer strength.
Just as they were excitedly discussing the exact order in which they could ‘have a go’ before it became a free for all, the sound of untrained footsteps getting closer rudely interrupted their conversation.
Naturally, their so-called ‘captain’, the ex-chief of the intelligence division, Tom, had had enough of watching them huddle together and ‘gossip’ while ‘slacking off’. “What the fuck are you useless bunch doing?! Get back to work!”
The soldiers clicked their tongues and scoffed as they got off the ground and started prepping the equipment again, though some made sure to flip the ‘captain’ a middle finger just to make sure he knew they weren’t doing it because of him.
”Y-You—!”
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While the disorderly ‘enemies’ were making their way to the target location, Emilia was peacefully watching the hustle and bustle of the now somewhat rejuvenated Huono town with a faint smile on her face.
Noelle had already left to verify a few final arrangements, but Dixie couldn’t help poking the soft cheek of her princess curiously. “Did you notice something interesting, Emily?”
Emilia hummed. “Earlier, I noticed a man pretend to be uncaring about money as he handed some over to his young daughter, telling her to go buy the toys she liked since they could now afford them. But as soon as she turned around, he gazed at his slightly emptier wallet with such pain and conflict that I almost couldn’t believe it.”
Dixie had always known that her princess had extremely sharp eyesight and sensitive hearing, but she didn’t think her Emily would enjoy this kind of thing.
And as she expected, it really wasn’t what made Emilia smile.
”You know what the girl did with that money? She brought more groceries and gave them to her mother… so they could all have a better meal that day, and her father would be strong and healthy again, instead of being all skin and bones.”
The crimson-haired girl sighed happily. “Then, when the father returned and found out, the whole family got emotional and cried together, saying how they would all be much happier in the future, and never have to sleep with an empty stomach ever again. It was such a touching, adorable moment, ahh! I wish I could show you.”
Dixie gulped as she saw how beautifully the purplish-blue eyes of her princess twinkled, but even if she wanted to refute and say that the ‘most adorable moment’ in the world was definitely what was happening in front of her right now, she didn’t want to interrupt the gorgeous girl’s thoughts.
Unfortunately, Emilia’s good mood was bound to not last long, because Noelle soon came rushing back with bad news.
The crimson-haired girl almost couldn’t believe what she heard, and leaned closer to Noelle while blinking dumbly. “I think I might have been mesmerized by your beauty and misheard, can you repeat it again?”
The gray-haired girl sighed. “I said… according to the observation team, the tunnel that the Red Dusk’s soldiers are digging is way behind schedule, and they may not even make it to the scheduled meeting place on time.”
Emilia was stunned silly for almost a full minute before she regained her senses. ‘I-I really didn’t hear that wrong before?!’
Cynthia couldn’t help but feel a little conflicted. “I used to think you must have it so smooth sailing because of all these dumb opponents, but now I see that the stupidity and incompetence of the enemy can also sometimes be a pain in the ass.”
The crimson-haired girl gave her partner a speechless look. ‘… Can you not make fun of me right now? I’m trying to think here!’
Cynthia felt a little wronged, as she was trying to console her villainess, but shut up all the same. ‘Hmph, see if I try to help you again…’
Of course, Emilia was too busy pacing back and forth under the worried gaze of both Dixie and Noelle.
”We can’t move the meeting place closer suddenly. Not only would it alarm the enemies, but the ones digging may not even know about it and miss us entirely. Delaying the date may also make the enemy suspicious, and also interfere with our preparations. Then—!”
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