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“No? Why not?” Lilith huffed at the girl who rejected her proposal. “Is the crown princess title really that hard to say goodbye to?”
“Of course not. I don’t really care about being the crown princess, but…”
Lesiah patted Lilith’s head like she was soothing an upset kitten, then smiled bitterly. “But this empire can’t function without me right now.”
“I don’t get it. This is a huge empire. One absentee shouldn’t stop it from running!”
“That absentee can be anyone but me.”

Lesiah looked up, as if she could see the azure sky beyond the roof. In actuality, all she could see was the pink gauze draping over her bed.

When she was a child, she thought she could fly like a proud falcon but in the end, she found herself still shackled by a heavy burden known as the “crown princess”.

“Lilith, you’ve seen the attitude that Lord Gregory has toward me. That is no way for a minister to behave toward the leader of an empire. In their opinion, I am just someone who happened to inherit this power and will eventually give it up to someone else.”

“And that someone else will most likely be my future child. This is why they will do everything to make me a baby-making tool that can provide them a son as soon as possible. And naturally, it would be best for them if they can be the one picking my spouse. To put it simply, a crown princess is not a real emperor. And this leaves a lot of space for those sly foxes to manipulate things.”

“Why not just make you an empress? It’s not good to leave things so complicated.”

Lesiah sighed. “It would have been nice if things were this easy. The Macedonian Empire has never been ruled by an empress since its founding. Hence, it would not be right for me to claim myself as an empress. Not only that, doing so will give those sly foxes an opening to exploit.”

A trace of fatigue could be seen in Lesiah’s eyes. “To put it bluntly, it’s always about the power. These people will do anything to get a bigger piece of the empire.”

“Then let me kill all of them. They’re nothing but insatiable scum anyway.” Killing intent radiated off Lilith. Getting rid of scum had never been a problem for her.

“No way.”

Lesiah quickly grabbed Lilith’s hand, fearing that she would really go on a killing spree at the drop of a hat. “Although they are scum, I have to admit that the empire can’t function without them for the time being.”

At the end of her sentence, the light in Lesiah’s eyes dimmed.

The empire was like a machine. The ministers who held great power were parts that kept this machine running. However, the machine was too reliant on them. Frankly speaking, the root cause of all this was because she was too useless as the core.

If Lesiah were as remarkable as her father, then those little clowns would not dare to hop around even if she was not an empress.

Lilith pouted. “This won’t do and that won’t do. What is your plan then?”

“That’s why I said I’m not going anywhere. I have to stay here since I’m still holding the military power, which is the core power of the royals. My departure means this military power may fall into their hands. If that happens, the royal family would be reduced to their puppets.”

“Ah, how troublesome. Since that’s the case, we can only do things my way.”

“Your way?” A bad feeling suddenly crept into Lesiah’s heart. Her intuition told her that the idea Lilith had was nothing good.

“Yep.” Lilith placed her hands on waist and smiled confidently. “It’s my turn to shine now!”

………

Truth be told, the problem that Lesiah was facing had been a common issue between the monarch and their subjects since ancient times.

In order to gain greater power and wealth, the subjects would want to assume part of the monarch’s power. In order to maintain their reign, the monarch would have to suppress any subject who held too much power.

This created a delicate balance. It had been established since ancient times that if this balance was broken, bad things like tyrannical reign or shift of governing power from monarch to ministers was bound to happen.

Therefore, the best way to solve this matter was to get Lesiah successfully out of here without affecting the perfect balance.

“And that’s my solution to this problem.” Lilith crossed her arms in front of her chest and concluded her explanation with confidence.

Ah, as expected of me to come up with such a perfect solution. Even Lesiah will be impressed by my wisdom and intelligence.

“But this doesn’t solve anything.”
“Huh? Really?” The smug smile on Lilith’s face froze.
“Everyone knows what you’ve just said. The most important part is how I am going to get away. Your long-winded explanation explained nothing at the end of the day. And if I knew how to get out of here, I would have done so long ago.”
“I-Is that so? Hehe… I’ve actually thought of a way to do that.”
“No. You can’t fool me no matter how much you stick your chest out. You were clearly guilty just now”
“Don’t sweat the small details!”

Lilith clenched her fist and continued seriously, “Since it’s so difficult for you to get away, why don’t we just look for your replacement?”

“My replacement? Does someone like that even exist?” Lesiah asked doubtfully. “You can’t just pick a random person. After all, one of the most important reasons that keep me here is my people.”

“I assure you, she is an extremely reliable candidate.”

Lilith shifted her eyes to Leniah, who was innocently playing with her doll…

“……”
“Wait a minute, Lilith. You’re not talking about Leniah, are you?”
“What’s the problem? She’s a princess too.”
“It’s a huge problem! She’s only seven! She knows nothing! How can she possibly take on such an important duty of running an empire?”
“Haha, don’t worry! It was just a joke! I’m not crazy enough to leave an empire to such a small child!”
“Good…”

Lesiah breathed a sigh of relief. Even if Lilith liked to mess around, there was still a limit to that. Otherwise, things would get out of hand.

“I only wish for someone as lovely as Leniah to become the empress of this empire.”
“Ah, becoming the empress. That sounds all right and nothing too… Wait.”

Lesiah suddenly realized the meaning of those words. The corner of her mouth twitched. “What do you mean by empress?” she asked slowly.

Lilith smiled. “I’m talking about having Leniah take the throne. Which part of that do you not understand?”

“……”

“Rest assured. I’ll take the responsibility of forming the best think tank for her or something to assist her. All Leniah has to do is just sit on the throne and show off her adorable smile.”

“……”

“How’s that? This will deter those sly old foxes from trying anything funny, and also allow you to get away. Wahaha, I’m such a genius.”

“Genius, my a̲s̲s̲!”

Lesiah pounced on Lilith, pinching and pulling her cheeks mercilessly as she hissed, “Did a donkey kick you in the head or a door hit you on the head? Did you not hear what I just said? I don’t even have the right to ascend the throne, let alone Leniah who is only second in the line of succession!”

Even under Lesiah’s merciless assault, Lilith kept smiling and slurred, “T-Then… We’ll make it so that it won’t be a problem.”

“Easier said than done. This is quite an impossible feat.”

“Actually, there were countless similar stories in the history of distant nations. A hero with an ordinary background had a great ambition of becoming an emperor. Just like Lesiah, someone who had an ordinary background meant they did not have the right to ascend the throne. If they weren’t careful, they could be branded as traitors or bandits. So the hero came up with a solution.”

Lesiah’s curiosity was piqued. “A solution?” she asked.

“That’s right. A method which would later be overly used by ambitious people who came from ordinary families…”

Lilith deliberately paused, then pointed to the sky and she slowly said, “And that is… to prove that this is the will of heaven.”