Empress Tantai Zijun came back to her senses and said with a grief-stricken expression, "Several million officers and soldiers, along with the entire fleet's equipment, were reduced to ashes..."
"We lost this battle."
"But the primary reason for our defeat lies with me."
"I should not have trusted Zoln David so easily and caused such a terrible mistake..."
Zheng Xing panicked when he heard that. If that's the case, doesn't that mean I have to take the blame too?!
Previously, when the Empress had suddenly fallen seriously ill, she had entrusted the entire campaign to him.
Now that the Empress claimed the responsibility was hers, didn't that really mean the responsibility lay with Zheng Xing?!
Zheng Xing could not accept that. He hurriedly said, "Zoln David harbored wolfish ambition. He betrayed Your Majesty's great expectations and ours as well. The fault lies with him, not Your Majesty!"
Empress Tantai Zijun's eyes flickered slightly.
She understood why Zheng Xing was trying so hard to absolve her of responsibility. If the primary responsibility rested with her, then it rested with Zheng Xing as well.
No one was stupid. Everyone knew what consequences followed every decision.
But she knew she could not evade this responsibility, nor did she want to.
Because when she had elevated Zoln David before, she had been far too high-profile about it.
She had even held livestreams. Everyone across the Empire had seen them. If she still tried to dodge the issue, play dumb, and pretend nothing had happened, that would be going too far.
She knew that as an emperor, she needed at least that much magnanimity to take responsibility.
More importantly, she also knew that even if she admitted her mistake, there would not be any real consequences.
Unlike Zheng Xing, who was the one who would