How to Live as a Tyrant’s Spoiled Brat Chapter 354

(354)

Sir Albertus, the officers of the Exarchate, and the bishops of the cathedral began to put an end to the chaos in the city.

Originally, Jaylilith and I were supposed to stay behind and take on the role of conductor, but right now we had more pressing matters to attend to.

“Are you here?”

The hall where Jaylilith had stirred was neatly cleaned, and two mechanical engineers stood guard.

“Keep no one from coming in.”

I even sent those two out through the doors on either side of the hall.

Ironhead.

Only three people remained in a hall that could accommodate hundreds of people.

A magic chandelier was shining on the ceiling, but many of the candles were extinguished, casting a soft darkness over the hall.

It was a fitting ending to this evening and the journey of the past ten days.

I introduced the enemy admiral to my emperor.

“Your Majesty, this is Admiral Shuv Ardella Yugatio.”

Shuv Ardella was wearing a reddish-brown coat with large buttons and a black captain's hat trimmed with a green plume.

Her long red hair still had a lustrous sheen, and her blue eyes held the beauty of the South Sea.

But her lips were stiff.

It seemed as if he was completely overwhelmed by the aura of the dragon that he felt towards Jaylilith.

“Greetings to His Majesty the Emperor, the Sun of the Empire.”

Jaylilith nodded slightly.

She took off her black veil that had a perception-lowering spell on it.

“You are the mermaid princess. Nice to meet you. I am your emperor.”

With her intense golden eyes shining brightly, Jaylilith took off her silk gloves with a calm and dignified movement and held out the back of her right hand.

Shuv Ardella blinked for a moment, seemingly taken aback.

My Emperor was now treating her not as a foreign monarch, but as a vassal of the Empire.

Perhaps thinking that embarrassment was hesitation, Jaylilith opened her mouth again.

“I am your emperor. What are you hesitating for?”

The mermaid princess knelt on one knee, her expression filled with bewilderment and a strange excitement, and kissed the back of Jaylilith's hand.

Red hair touched the hem of Jaylilith's black dress.

My Emperor smiled with satisfaction and declared cheerfully.

“I am the emperor of mankind, not the emperor of men.”

The mermaid princess opened her eyes wide, as if she had noticed the subtle difference.

“Bloodline-wise, neither I, my twin, nor my vassals are human. I am the ruler of five races. The difference in species is no reason for me to look down on my vassals who have sworn allegiance to me. My standard for distinguishing between friend and foe is not bloodline, but loyalty.”

The emperor's proclamations continued endlessly.

“If you will cease your acts of cannibalism in the future, I will grant you, the mermaids, all the rights of subjects of the Empire, as vassals who have sworn allegiance to me. The governor I will send from now on will also be sent to assist you, not to watch over you.”

Shuv Ardella woke up from a nightmare with a dreamy expression on her face.

The process of the bewilderment that seemed like it might never happen changed into a strange happiness and then into a desperate hope, which was truly beautiful.

How many times over the millennia had she sworn never to trust a human again?

How much did he want to trust humans while making that oath?

“Now, Mermaid Princess. As ruler of your race, will you swear allegiance to me?”

The Emperor asked with imperial majesty.

The mermaid answered in a beautiful voice that held a trembling as rough as blue.

“In the name of the sea, I swear allegiance, Your Majesty.”

Jaylilith laughed brightly.

Listening to that laughter, I fell into a strange thought.

The princess of the mermaid kingdom is the Princess.

Of course, as a princess of the kingdom, she is lower in ceremonial rank than me, the Emperor of the Empire, but in reality, she acts as the King's representative, so you could consider her to be a vassal of the Empire, an Archduke.

Until now, there has only been one high lord, Archduke Severic, who has his own territory and operates in Solettaras.

Today, we have one more Archduke.

Shuv Ardella glanced at me.

It seemed like he wanted to say, 'I knew this would happen.'

I shrugged my shoulders vaguely.

If this night ends with the Mermaid Princess making a reasonable vassal contract with the Holy Emperor, and agreeing not to engage in cannibalism in the future, and for humans and mermaids to coexist beautifully, it will be a very beautiful story.

I didn't come here to end up like that.

* * *

The Holy Emperor tapped the table with his fingers, and Shuv Ardella sat down in front of him.

Okay.

I spread out the sea between the two, and Jaylilith hummed languidly.

“Okay, princess. Then let us discuss eternity.”

Her fingers slid down from the tip of the port and swept the shore of the Southern Continent.

“Don’t be too nervous. I won’t order you to do something tiring, just because you’ve just sworn allegiance to me. Rather, it’s more comfortable. You’ll be able to do whatever you’ve been nervous about doing until now.”

“If you say that it is something you have been doing with great trepidation… what are you talking about?”

A slight look of anxiety appeared on the Little Mermaid's face.

The blue pupils slightly constricted.

My emperor lifted his lips and smiled faintly, as if trying to relieve my anxiety.

“Eek!”

… … It didn’t seem to be very successful.

Jaylilith clicked her tongue once and continued speaking.

“I command the Mermaid Lord to lead the fish-people to pillage and burn the southeastern coast of the Southern Continent. You may also follow the river and go inland.”

Shuv Ardella looked as if he had been hit in the back of the head again.

I smiled bitterly to myself as I listened to the war story coming out of Jaylilith's mouth.

It felt like I went back to before I regressed.

So, even though I wanted to be by her side, I decided to go on the business trip alone.

“I will give the tropical coast of the southeastern undeveloped region of the empire as a spawning ground for the fish race.”

“Your Majesty. You just now ate cannibals-.”

“Cannibalism of mermaids is not permitted. Who told you to use mermaids? Just give orders to the fish-people.”

The gleaming golden eyes completely pierced through the blue ones.

“It is not for nothing that I have permitted you to land. I am the Emperor of all races. So I will give you a chance to shake off your cruel nature.”

Shuv Ardella let out a sigh.

“We are trying to suppress our nature.”

Jaylilith hummed languidly.

“Then it will explode.”

“!”

“I can never allow revenge against the Empire. Everyone in this land is my tax-paying subject. I cannot cut off the sore finger that has a grudge against you. However, I also know that emotions do not adjust to interests.”

That's why we have to try to coordinate.

“I will not allow revenge, but I will allow you to vent your anger. Let all the resentment that has built up over a thousand years be released on my enemies. Do you understand?”

The Holy Emperor commanded solemnly.

The order was extremely effective against enemy states and was a strategy worthy of being an example for many emperors.

Also, it was originally a stigma that I had to bear.

chuck.

Shuv Ardella saluted.

“As a Red Admiral and a Mermaid Princess, I will do my best.”

* * *

Shuv Ardella returned to the sea.

She sang all the way to the port.

“RaRa, RaRa, Ra. RaRa, RaRa, Ra.”

Chock. Chock. Chock. Chock.

The sound of boots clanking along beautifully to the beat.

It was a very, very comfortable-looking gait.

After a while, the mermaid princess started to feel landsick.

It was a completely unexpected situation.

“Ah. I’m dizzy. This is a big problem.”

“Huh?”

I got seasick after only a few weeks on a boat.

It made sense, she'd come out on land after a thousand years.

He carefully extended his hand.

I guess I couldn't help it since I had already done something.

“Can I help you out?”

widely.

She firmly pushed my hand away.

“My adjutant wants me to hold the hand that was made like that? I’d rather dry up and die here. Even if I have to crawl on the floor…… Ugh!”

“No. I can’t show that to Your Majesty. Just bear with it. I’ll throw it into the sea as fast as I can, so you can go back.”

I picked up Shub Ardella and ran to the end of the breakwater.

“Faster!”

“Now is the best time! Not yet!”

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

“Don’t grab my neck!”

The Emperor smiled brightly as he watched the Grand Duke and Princess yearning.

Fortunately, Shuv Ardella succeeded in protecting the reputation of the enemy admiral, and I succeeded in protecting Jaylilith's eyes and my uniform.

The mermaid princess followed the order and returned to her hometown.

Jaylilith and I sat on the breakwater and looked out at the night sea.

“I’ve been drinking here for ten days. It’s so beautiful during the day, it’s a shame.”

“Your Majesty, you are more beautiful, and I like you even more now.”

“We are twins. You are using my name to gild your face.”

“Oh no. I got caught.”

I laughed in vain, and Jaylilith suddenly barged in.

“Your expression doesn’t look good. I’ll ask why. Answer me.”

I was trying to control my expression, but it looks like I got caught.

Come to think of it, it might have been arrogant of me to think that I could not read the emotions of a blood mage in front of me.

I chose my words slowly.

“It is my job to plot evil schemes and plots, but I feel embarrassed that I have to push that on Your Majesty.”

The Holy Emperor let out a sigh.

“Your Majesty, I have asked you to play a villain, but I have never asked you to be evil.”

"your majesty."

I felt like I'd been hit hard.

She continued speaking brightly.

“Do you not know? Everything you have done has been either approved in advance or paid for later. As the Emperor of the Empire, I have recognized that all these measures are necessary for the smooth running of my rule.”

Truth was not very important in governance.

The massacre that took place on the night of the Imperial Family's Great Escape had long since been rumored to have had its leader changed.

The point is that the mastermind behind the massacre was not Jaylilith, who was paranoid about her own kind.

'You never know when someone like me will appear.'

It was Valencian's arbitrary action, as he was afraid that someone would take away the emperor's trust that he had received.

Of course, it was I who spread this rumor.

As the world is such that if three people speak, even a dragon that didn't exist before will appear, public opinion manipulation using wind catchers always worked well, and as Valencianus' notoriety grew, so did Jaylilith's reputation.

Swish.

Amidst the sound of waves, Jaylilith held my hand tightly.

A firm feeling was conveyed, as if telling me not to think about anything.

“I can face a million troops alone, but I cannot rule a million subjects alone. To put it in extreme terms, what I need from you is a name. Some say that you are a threat to me just by existing, but you are a help to me just by existing.”

“I am in a hurry.”

“Jim did what he had to do. I know that he did it. Please continue to do the same.”

I felt the lump that had been sticking out like a thorn in my chest melt away.

It is said that even the Blue Knights will never forget the expression on the opponent's face after they have bombarded him with magical tools, no matter how much of an enemy they are.

It's only natural that I would be shaken, knowing how my signature can change reality as I go back and forth between the front lines and documents.

Okay, now let's prepare.

I'll have to drink some Jintang when I get back.

“Please also assign Shuv Ardella to my service. If by any chance a duke from the Jahan Alliance or the Western Kingdom comes, I do not want Your Majesty to be caught.”

“You are truly devoted. I am happy to do so. I will gladly do so.”

I put strength into my hands and spit out each syllable firmly.

“Whether it be during the founding of the nation, the period of expansion, the civil war, or the period of stability, there will be no one like Your Majesty. Your Majesty will be the greatest and most beloved emperor of all.”

The Holy Emperor smiled with satisfaction, as if he was pleased to hear that.

And then he looked at me and asked with a slightly innocent expression.

“Then what kind of grand duke do you want to be?”

I answered without hesitation.

“I want to become a duke trusted by Your Majesty.”

Jaylilith raised her red lips in a muffled manner.

“You.”

I will never forget those words, spoken amidst the sound of the waves on a dark, moonless night.

“That has already happened.”