Chapter 175: Nothing Can Go Wrong Now... Right?

Mark walked calmly down the long hallways of the palace with his subordinates around him.

But these were no longer empty like when he had walked through them for the first time on his way to Emilia’s chamber. Now there was movement, elves loyal to the queen going back and forth carrying documents, moving furniture, and cleaning up the debris from the fight against Rudolf. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Several of them stopped upon seeing Mark and his group pass, looking at them with expressions that mixed curiosity and a little fear, but none of them dared to say anything directly to them since Emilia’s subordinates had told them they were mercenaries who had helped restore order to the palace.

And while not everyone was completely convinced by the explanation at first, they eventually ended up accepting it.

"Rose," said Mark without stopping his walk. "Did you finish the speech?"

"It’s almost ready," she responded, walking at his side while writing something on a clipboard. "I just need to define a few details."

"Like what?"

"The main one is deciding who will stand alongside the queen during the conference," explained Rose without stopping writing. "She needs someone at her side who projects military authority so the people see she has backing."

"Do you already have some options?"

"I’m torn between the knight elf and the druid," said Rose without looking at him. "The knight has the appearance and presence for the role, but the druid has more seniority and is more known among the population."

Mark frowned slightly.

"Could you remind me what exactly that was for?"

"To prevent the situation from becoming even more unstable," explained Rose in a slightly distracted tone. "If she comes out alone to give the speech, people who don’t sympathize with her won’t take her seriously, and might even question the veracity of the facts. But if she comes out accompanied by someone the people recognize and respect, the message changes."

"That makes sense..."

"The idea is that from the first moment it’s clear she has strong allies and is not alone," continued Rose, stopping writing. "And that those allies occupy key positions in the new government without it looking too blatant."

Mark nodded upon hearing Rose’s detailed explanation.

"In that case..." he said with a thoughtful expression. "I think the best option would be the knight. Visual presence is very important in a public speech."

"Agreed, Master."

The group continued walking in silence for a few seconds until Alice spoke.

"My lord," she said in a cautious tone. "Are you sure it was a good idea to tell the queen about the Demon Lord?"

Mark turned to look at her somewhat surprised by the question.

"She seemed quite affected after hearing the truth," continued Alice with a worried expression. "And a person in an emotionally unstable state about to give a speech in front of many people could be problematic."

Mark fell silent for a moment before responding.

"Sooner or later we would have had to tell her..." he said, letting out a slight sigh. "And after what happened in the council hall, it was best that she understood as soon as possible the gravity of the current situation."

"..."

"Besides, a queen conscious of the danger is much more useful to us than one who remains in ignorance," explained Mark calmly. "Especially because, when the time comes, it will be easier for us to influence her decisions."

Alice looked at him confused.

"Influence her decisions?"

"Yeah, if at some point we need her to do something she doesn’t want to do," explained Mark without changing his pace, "we just have to excuse ourselves with the pretext of the Demon Lord."

"I see..."

"The fear she has right now that the Demon Lord will attack her kingdom again is real," said Mark with a half-smile. "And as long as that fear exists, she’ll do what we tell her as long as we justify it with the threat of the Demon Lord."

Mark paused.

"Fear is a quite effective control tool."

Alice looked at him for a couple of seconds.

"You certainly thought of everything, my lord," she said in a tone that mixed admiration and surprise.

Ely, who was walking on the other side of him, nodded with pride upon hearing Alice’s words.

"I have to confess something to you, Master," said Ely, looking at him as she walked. "When you decided to leave the queen alive instead of killing her and turning her into an undead, I had some doubts."

Mark looked at her out of the corner of his eye with a raised eyebrow.

"Please don’t look at me like that, Master!" Ely quickly said while waving both arms in front of her. "It’s just... the original plan seemed better to me."

"..."

"I simply thought it would be more efficient to eliminate her and use her as a puppet," explained Ely. "It would have been faster and would have given us total control over every aspect of the kingdom."

"And now?" asked Mark.

"Now seeing how things developed," said Ely with a half-smile, "it definitely was the right choice... we saved ourselves a lot of work by leaving her alive to govern herself."

"That’s true," conceded Alice, nodding. "A puppet would have needed constant supervision and detailed instructions for every decision. On the other hand, a living queen who owes us her freedom and needs us to survive is much more practical."

"The Master is definitely the best!" exclaimed Aria from behind with a cheerful tone.

Mark let out a short laugh.

"Don’t give me so much credit," he responded, downplaying it with a wave of his hand. "I just took the opportunity. Things had already sorted themselves out."

And while the sudden change of plans seemed intentional, the truth was different.

’Actually I left her alive because I felt a little sorry for her story,’ Mark thought, remembering Emilia’s expression as she told him her past. ’That and the fact that she’s quite beautiful... but I definitely can’t say that part out loud.’

The group continued walking down the hallways until a familiar presence appeared next to Mark without warning.

Yuki materialized at his side, walking at his pace as if she had been there all along.

"Master, I have news," she said in her usual expressionless tone.

"What’s happening, Yuki?"

"The elves sympathetic to the queen and her subordinates have finished preparing everything for the conference."

"Anything unusual?"

"Nothing," confirmed Yuki, shaking her head. "We just need to wait for the appointed time for the queen to come out to the balcony."

Mark nodded with a satisfied smile.

"Perfect, everything is going smoothly," he said with confidence. "Nothing could ruin things at this point... right?"