Volume 8, Chapter 35 – Explosive Declaration

“Uh…”

It was as if a silent bomb had been dropped into the crowd. Both her own people and the envoys from Moremonti were frozen in place, unsure how to react.

Fia could clearly feel Milu poking her from behind, as if urging her to explain. But Fia couldn’t explain this explosive declaration either. She had never heard Lucitine call her “my queen,” let alone expected Lucitine to announce in front of so many people that the undead and elves had formed an alliance. One had to remember, she had invited her father to the Twilight Palace precisely to arrange a meeting between the two leaders. Her father Yelido was the current elf king. The two monarchs should be the ones discussing details; she was only responsible for acting as a bridge.

The bizarre scene of people with mouths slightly agape lasted a full two seconds before everyone finally came to their senses. The first to speak were still the Moremonti envoys. They exchanged glances with each other, then clasped their fists toward Lucitine.

“We have indeed received your declaration. But how can you prove you are the Queen of Death? The Queen of Death I know is an undead surrounded by death energy, and due to the gods’ covenant, unable to leave the Netherworld. Yet not only have you appeared in the world of the living, you also call a living person your queen, willingly becoming her subordinate. Forgive my frankness, but we find it difficult to believe your identity.”

This was understandable.

Fia sighed inwardly. Just as people were unwilling to believe she possessed strength surpassing Lucitine’s, when someone’s status or power exceeded common understanding, even if it were true, no one would believe it.

In response, Lucitine’s pink eyes gradually shifted to gray. At the same time, the temperature in the reception room plummeted rapidly. Everyone felt a chill course through their bodies. The envoy who had spoken trembled violently from locking eyes with Lucitine. After barely two seconds, the Moremonti envoy collapsed to the floor with a thud. Pallor spread from his chest to his limbs, his hair turning a grizzled white. Incoherent sounds of pain escaped his mouth as he lay on the ground, convulsing.

“What did you do!”

The envoys on either side who hadn’t locked eyes with Lucitine finally reacted. One helped the fallen envoy, while the other glared at Lucitine, placing himself alone in front of his companion. However, Lucitine’s expression remained indifferent, leaving them looking exceptionally passive.

“No one has the right to look directly into the Queen of Death’s eyes except Dofilia.”

“Uh… ugh…”

As if confirming Lucitine’s words, the envoy glaring at her also began to tremble all over. White ice crystals formed on his eyebrows as if frozen, and his lips turned purple from the cold. This wasn’t Lucitine silently using magic; it was merely the erosion of vitality by powerful death energy. The pressure of a Ninth-Tier powerhouse over ordinary people could turn them into undead in an instant.

And this was still Lucitine holding back. If she weren’t worried that too much death energy might affect Fia’s people nearby, the two envoys before her would have been completely turned into undead, rather than just having most of their vitality eroded.

Lucitine withdrew the directionally released death energy. Her gray eyes turned deep red. Immediately after, a violent pressure, as if from the dawn of time, emanated from Lucitine. Before the three envoys could react, their knees uncontrollably hit the floor. The envoy who had first collapsed could only lie face down. The Silvar nobles farther away were also affected; they found with horror that they couldn’t move their bodies. Only by desperately looking away from Lucitine did the pressure on their shoulders suddenly lessen, allowing them to gasp for air.

“Apologize.”

These simple syllables left the Moremonti envoys without even the courage to refute. The strength Lucitine had displayed, her natural high-born temperament, and the death energy they could clearly sense all proved she was the Queen of Death.

The envoy who had shielded his companion was dripping with cold sweat. He was simultaneously envious that the Queen of Death had been won over by the elf princess, and terrified of being turned into an undead. He could no longer care about saving face; the fear of death had enveloped him completely, to the point he could barely speak. He opened his mouth—only then realizing his voice was hoarse to the extreme—and said with immense difficulty.

“I… I’m terribly sorry… Your Majesty Venex… we have eyes but cannot see… we shouldn’t have doubted your identity. We beg you to forgive us, sp… spare our lives…”

“Not to me. To Fia.”

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The envoy swallowed in terror. Just as he was about to continue apologizing, Fia waved her hand, signaling it was unnecessary to continue. Although they had trespassed into the palace first, they were still envoys of a nation. They could be beheaded, but not humiliated. The latter would both damage bilateral relations and make her appear petty. Besides, the envoy lying on the ground had already apologized for trespassing earlier. They could be dealt with as desired after negotiations on resisting Chaos concluded.

Liti, who had been waiting nearby, quickly stepped in to offer an out. She also pretended to be expressionless as she commanded.

“Since Big Sister is willing to let you off, why don’t you leave quickly?”

“Th… thank you, Your Highness the Eldest Princess!”

As if granted amnesty, they bowed to Fia, repeatedly kowtowing. Then, like fleeing, they carried their companion and limped away without hesitation. It was worth mentioning that Fia noticed the envoy with graying hair hadn’t aged; his vitality had simply been eroded. Although Lucitine lacked understanding of the living world, she had a good grasp of basic measure.

“You all may leave too.”

Fia waved her hand at the empire’s prime minister and nobles. Everyone immediately looked relieved. Interestingly, Fia distinctly caught a glimpse of them leaving with eyes shining. Their gazes held both admiration and praise. The prime minister even secretly gave Fia a thumbs-up, mouthing “impressive” with lip language. Fia didn’t need to ask what these old fossils were thinking.

They were surely thinking about what they had said in court before—that plan to “turn the tables and bring the Queen of Death over to become an elf consort”—believing she had succeeded.

In fact, Fia could already hear these old fellows excitedly chattering in the corridor as they walked, exclamations like “Did you see the audacity of the Queen of Death just now?” “Truly worthy of Her Highness” “Irresistible” and “Who needs to practice magic with this kind of pull.”

Thus, the atmosphere in the reception room became subtle. The subtle point was Yelido. Of those present, only Yelido was meeting Lucitine for the first time. His expression was strange. Looking at Lucitine’s back, he seemed to want to say something, but didn’t know where to begin.

Fia put some distance between herself and the closely-attached Lucitine, then turned with Lucitine to face Yelido. Her expression was awkward; she couldn’t bring herself to meet Yelido’s gaze. She just coughed twice behind her fist.

“Ahem. This is Lucitine, the one I wanted to introduce. She’s the Queen of Death who governs the Netherworld and the Wall of Sighs. Because of my magic, she no longer turns people around her into undead unconsciously. She can freely move in the world of the living. She’s here at the Twilight Palace as my invited guest. Lucitine, this is my father, Yelido Alexia Florenst, King of Silvar.”

“Greetings, Lord Florenst.”

Lucitine extended her right hand toward Yelido. Yelido looked at her excessively pale hand, seeming to hesitate for a moment before likewise extending his hand and replying politely.

“I never imagined I would meet the legendary Queen of Death. It is truly my honor.”

Although the meeting seemed quite harmonious, why did the atmosphere feel so strange?

Fia couldn’t help but complain inwardly. Both Lucitine and her father were being excessively polite.

Yelido subtly shifted his gaze to Fia beside him.

“I just heard you refer to my daughter as queen. How is it I’ve never heard of this from Dofi?”

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“Earlier, in my country, I encountered a similar situation. Fia did me a great favor then. Now is the time for me to repay it.”

“Repay…”

As if pondering the meaning of this word, Yelido fell into deep thought, repeatedly mulling over it under his breath.

“Your Majesty is an undead, my daughter is living. Although Your Majesty is condescending, you should still seek Dofi’s consent first. Moreover, Dofi is the crown princess who will become Queen of the Elves. Your Majesty publicly declaring a relationship with Dofi will likely invite many unnecessary misunderstandings upon Dofi.”

Yelido had put it quite tactfully. If Lucitine hadn’t clearly sided with Fia just now, expressing complete goodwill, Yelido would have already tried to put a stop to this. In his understanding, demons were at least living beings. How could a dead person, or rather a corpse, be intimate with his daughter?

This was definitely a misunderstanding.

Fia shouted inwardly. She and Lucitine were innocent.

But in this setting, no matter how she explained, she couldn’t make it clear. Fia could only stiffly change the subject—if only changing the subject were possible.

Lucitine remained serious.

“The undead only care about spiritual union. Even just the title is fine.”

“Hmm…”

Yelido’s expression was unfavorable. A contemplative sound came from his throat. At that moment, countless complex emotions he couldn’t describe flashed through his mind. This complicated psychology ultimately made him look at Fia and advise earnestly.

“Dofi, about the wedding matter earlier, come find me again later.”

Then, Yelido turned his gaze back to Lucitine. He no longer adopted the posture of a father, but switched back to the stern image of a monarch.

“Dofi invited Your Majesty to discuss united front matters. Our two nations have been at war for a long time. Before deciding to jointly resist Chaos, there should be much we need to say. This isn’t the place for formal talks. Shall we move to the legislative hall?”

“No objection. But I don’t think there’s much to say.”

As long as Chaos could be eliminated, even ending the winter war was fine—that was Lucitine’s thought.

Smiling at Fia, Lucitine, wearing a black veil and a black high-slit gown, followed Yelido. Of course, Fia didn’t idle either. She wasn’t oblivious enough to let Lucitine speak alone with her old man; following along to listen was necessary.

Only the three remaining in the Twilight Palace each wore subtle expressions. Especially Claire, who frowned slightly, lowering her head in thought.

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“Tartaros…” ¹ Lia’s descendanttttttt?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!! waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa TVTTVTVTVTVTVTVTVVTVTVTVTVVTVTVTVTVT eh wait… then…. no way omg no wayyy can i met her again??? waaahhhhhhh since yk yk no im not going to spoiler mwahahahah go read Yisi bleh

She hadn’t missed the name Lucitine had announced. Lucitine’s full name was Venex Ravi Tartaros. And in her memories, Tartaros was the name of the Demon Lord in her world. Moreover, in the magic she used, [High-Level Genesis], Tartaros had appeared. She could clearly hear that when Lucitine said “Tartaros,” the language she used was also the demon language of that other world, the language she herself used.

This could no longer be described as coincidence.

It was probably related to her own existence. Thinking this, Claire looked at her palm, clenched and released it, clenched and released it again, and finally let out a long breath.

“Ah~ah~ The air in the world of the living really is sweet.”

As if smelling delicious food, Lucitine walked along the noble district, continuously sniffing and breathing deeply. Her eyes sparkled at everything she saw. If Fia hadn’t forcibly dressed Lucitine in an inconspicuous light purple dress before going out, Lucitine would definitely have been a strange person with a 100% head-turning rate.

Fia beside her couldn’t help but pull Lucitine’s sleeve.

“Even if you find it sweet, you don’t have to say it out loud. It’s embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing? What’s embarrassing about that? Good is good, bad is bad. Humbly acknowledging it is a virtue. Besides, this is the world of the living, nothing to do with the Netherworld. No matter how much I say here, it won’t reach the Netherworld.”

“Even if that’s true…”

The person beside you, me, is also embarrassed along with you.

Fia was beginning to think agreeing to bring Lucitine to the streets was a mistake.

Lucitine’s negotiations with Yelido had ended in less than a quarter of an hour. Not because Yelido was very agreeable, but because no matter what Yelido said, Lucitine agreed without hesitation, to the point where the conversation couldn’t even proceed properly.

Matters like both sides ceasing hostilities, the undead not interfering with elves building confessional halls and defensive fortifications on the border, the undead cooperating with the elves to explain to other World Tree Continent countries that there was no subordinate relationship between them—Lucitine had agreed after just briefly considering them, to the point where Yelido fell into deep self-doubt, wondering if his demands were too lenient.

It should be said that what seemed harsh to Yelido were trivial matters in Lucitine’s eyes.

First, she only cared about the undead inside the Wall of Sighs. As for undead outside the Wall, especially the skeletons on the border that had lost self-awareness, she didn’t care at all. Because by classification, those undead without self-awareness, not even survival instinct, were no different from monsters.

Second, she was the most aware leader of the Chaos threat. Whether building confession halls or defensive fortifications, or cooperating with the elf kingdom to explain there was no subordinate relationship, all were preparations for dealing with Chaos in the future. If the various countries couldn’t form an alliance, the World Tree Continent would only become Chaos’s prey.

Finally, her heart was completely focused on Fia saying last night that she would take her to see Blossom’s streets. So she just wanted to finish quickly. Normally, staying in the kingdom of the dead handling government affairs was tolerable. But now, on vacation, still having to deal with government affairs was simply torture.

Furthermore, Fia hadn’t come out simply to accompany Lucitine. Showing herself in public could dispel the recent rumors. These people were too gossipy. Even after she’d said she was going to negotiate cooperation, they still believed outsiders’ nonsense. But Fia thought these misunderstandings would soon be dispelled, because “the Queen of Death becomes the Eldest Princess’s subordinate”—this even bigger rumor would soon dominate all topics.

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Fia tried to maintain an expressionless face to counter the surprised looks nobles and servants on the street cast her way. In the past, when she brought Anastasia out, these nobles would always doff their hats and stand by the roadside bowing to her. Now, with a curious kitten by her side, they would naturally wonder who this woman with the Eldest Princess was.

“Ahh, so this is a flower. Why does it have no scent when I smell it? Chew chew … no sweetness either. But this is what flowers taste like? Got it.”

“Hey, you can’t eat that. Spit it out. And that’s a flower without scent, so of course it has no scent.” Standing on tiptoes to forcibly pull petals from the corner of Lucitine’s mouth, Fia looked speechless. “More importantly, when you said earlier that you were my subordinate and called me your queen, was that a joke?”

Lucitine, whose hand was held by Fia—holding hands mainly to prevent Lucitine from running around on the street, definitely not in a lovers’ sense—withdrew her attention from the roadside flowers. Finger on her chin, she hesitated before answering.

“Maybe?”

“What do you mean, ‘maybe’?”

“Because I think this is fine too.”

Lucitine had already given her enough shock; by now, Fia had become accustomed to the strange. With an ellipsis hovering over her head ² It comes from Comics / light novel / game UI language, where “…” appears above a character’s head to show awkward silence or uncertainty. , she continued asking.

“…And in reality?”

“In reality, it’s repaying a favor. Before, in the kingdom of the dead, Fia cooperated with me when I wanted you to be my queen, right? Now it’s reciprocity. Fia cooperated with me to avoid losing face in front of my subordinates, so I should also cooperate with Fia and uphold Fia’s image in the eyes of the living.”

“I don’t think these are equivalent. Besides, the ‘queen’ misunderstanding has been cleared up.”

First of all, because she had shown her strength, the undead no longer arrogantly thought she had been forced to become Lucitine’s queen. But the Queen of Death declaring herself her subordinate, and her cooperating with Lucitine by tacitly being queen—these effects were not equivalent. Just looking at the expressions of those envoys and nobles, this explosive news, comparable to a Ninth-Tier forbidden spell, would soon spread throughout the World Tree Continent.

“But even if the misunderstanding is cleared up, it doesn’t change the fact that Fia helped me. Not giving back would violate my principles. By the way, Fia, can you show me the process of childbirth? Until now, I’ve only been able to see people when they die. I don’t know what life looks like when it’s born.”

Once I get the Holy Tree’s Branch, I’ll let you see.

An inappropriate joke crossed Fia’s mind, but verbally she gave a different answer.

“I’m not interested in that kind of thing. And I don’t think anyone would willingly let us watch. But taking a step back, seeing a place where children gather is fine. We can also check on the situation of those children in the Land of Exile. You haven’t had breakfast yet, right? Want to go together?”

“Okay!”

Quite energetically, Lucitine’s pink eyes sparkled as she stared at Fia.