"What's wrong, Your Majesty…?" Bajed looked at his master in confusion. It was quite new to him to see his master so distracted while giving instructions to his Secretary. He was fine just a moment ago, so why did he become like this after meeting that willful princess?
"You just go and arrange it as I said! As for Fulda, tell him that the Empire cannot be without him for too long, and let him return first. Don't let him know the detailed arrangements that follow; just let him know that I have agreed!" Jierunifu ignored Bajed and continued to instruct his Secretary.
"Yes, Your Majesty." The Secretary nodded inexplicably, then turned and left, beginning to gather the soldiers to prepare for departure. This made Bajed even more curious.
"Your Majesty?"
"Hmm… Is that Bajed?" Only after giving out the instructions did Jierunifu notice Bajed behind him.
"What's going on? Are we departing?" Bajed felt a bit strange seeing the Secretary urging the others to get ready to leave. He knew about His Majesty's previous tactic of delaying time, so why the sudden rush to depart?
"No, they are departing. We will continue to stay here with Princess Elizabeth." Jierunifu replied.
"Uh… Is that so? It seems something happened just now." Bajed noticed that His Majesty the Emperor was indeed a bit off.
Normally, His Majesty the Emperor always referred to that princess as the willful princess, the willful princess. How did he suddenly start calling her by her direct name?
"Yes, Princess Elizabeth wants to arrive at the Empire during the day and wishes to be welcomed by the populace." Jierunifu said lightly.
This made Bajed's eyes widen. Does this mean His Majesty the Emperor's scheme was completely seen through by that willful princess?! As expected, that willful princess was feigning ignorance!
"Then you agreed to her?!" Bajed had heard His Majesty the Emperor say before that if the Church and the populace saw the willful princess's two undead demonic beasts, the consequences would be unimaginable. And now she even wants the populace to welcome her?
"Yes, I agreed to her, but don't worry, I have already made arrangements, there shouldn't be any problems." Jierunifu replied.
"As expected of Your Majesty. I thought Your Majesty was truly captivated by the willful princess's beauty, lost your reason, and agreed without considering the consequences." Bajed breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving the response.
"Do you also think Princess Elizabeth's appearance can make a man lose his reason?" Jierunifu suddenly became agitated, speaking words of unclear meaning, and grabbed Bajed's shoulders, asking seriously.
"Uh… this… for a normal man, perhaps?" Bajed looked at His Majesty the Emperor with an inexplicable expression, and could only answer truthfully. To be fair, the willful princess's beauty was indeed a Falling Beauty of a Nation, but she was too willful, which affected her temperament.
"Oh… so that's it. Hearing you say that too, I feel relieved. Hmm… normal men would all be like this." Jierunifu nodded with great satisfaction, then released Bajed and left, muttering to himself.
"Uh…" Bajed was left behind by Jierunifu, standing alone in the wind, utterly confused. What on earth was wrong with His Majesty the Emperor?
Indeed, as the Blood Emperor said, they rested in place that day, and Iri also saw that the Blood Emperor sent some of his subordinates to rush back first.
This also included Fulda. It seemed, as the Blood Emperor had said earlier, he was sending some people back to prepare.
How strange! When did the Blood Emperor become so honest? Has he already given up resisting?
It can't be that easy, can it? It's not even time for Ainz's father's visit yet! It would be boring if the Blood Emperor just surrendered like this!
But there's no helping it. With Iri's intelligence, she simply couldn't figure out what the Blood Emperor's abnormal behavior meant.
Afterward, as the Blood Emperor said, they only traveled for a little over half a day. Around noon, they saw the city walls of the Bahaus Empire Capital.
Iri was quite familiar with it, after all, it wasn't her first time here. However, what surprised Iri was that a rather large army was waiting not far from the city gate. This made Iri feel very strange. Did the Blood Emperor's prior arrangements mean this?
As Iri approached the army with curiosity, she finally understood. This wasn't really an army; strictly speaking, it was a ceremonial procession. Although many people were indeed fully armed,
most of them were wearing various strange festive costumes and holding various musical instruments, just like a carnival parade in a park from her world. It was then that Iri understood the Blood Emperor's little trick. So, you're playing this game!
There's a saying in her world: "Small reclusion in the mountains, great reclusion in the city." If this idiom were used to explain it, it would be completely nonsensical in relation to the Blood Emperor's move.
But if understood literally, it makes sense! So, the celebration was for this! Making his own procession look like a parade, with most of the people in the procession wearing bizarre costumes, even if a Soul Eater walked among such a procession, those ignorant commoners wouldn't find it too strange, right!
Looking at some of the cavalry in the procession riding black horses, and the horses also painted with yellow and green dyes, wasn't it obvious!
This move is truly amazing! As expected of the Blood Emperor, a man whose imagination is no less than Xiao Di's!
What to do? If I just go in like this, not only will I be gawked at by the Empire's populace as a rare and exotic beast, but my accidental success will be completely nullified!
Alright! It has come to this, you win… Blood Emperor.
Before approaching this parade, Iri desperately racked her brain for a countermeasure, but it was all useless. In this situation, there was truly no way to salvage it.
Although she could have the Soul Eater fully unleash its fear domain to make its presence known, the consequence of doing so would be scaring away all the onlookers, which wouldn't be good either… So, now she could only accept defeat.
And so, Iri could only force herself to put on a smile, accepting the Blood Emperor's invitation, and sat with him in the center of this parade, in an open-top carriage used for viewing ceremonies.
This carriage was also decorated with various flowers and such. Before getting into the carriage, the Blood Emperor even used this as an excuse to "ridicule" Iri fiercely.
He said things like how these flowers couldn't compare to Iri's radiant beauty, which made Iri extremely awkward, but she had to pretend to be overjoyed. For Iri, this was sheer torment.
But there was no choice… She hadn't noticed the Blood Emperor's trick beforehand, so she could only accept defeat… This parade, which felt like a shaming play to Iri, could also be considered a punishment for her slowness, so she just had to bite the bullet and go through with it.
Finally, Iri could only force a smile and got onto the flower carriage prepared by the Blood Emperor, and the parade grandly entered the city.
By the way, Iri's Soul Eater was arranged at the back of the parade, in an inconspicuous position, but now it didn't matter where it was placed.
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