Chapter 326

She had forgotten the curse that turned Your Highness Lucia into a baby dragon, so how could she possibly break the curse? No, to be precise, the curse simply disappeared from her mind. Why did she have to encounter a curse that was supposed to be forbidden to exist, a curse that was only supposed to exist in legends? If she had known earlier that the Dragon Transformation Curse was a "curse that was forbidden to exist," she would have preferred that Your Highness Lucia be captured by Your Highness Asina back then.

Your Highness Lucia was at most teased and mocked by Your Highness Asina for a while after being captured by Your Highness Asina. She was cursed to turn into a dragon and then captured by the evil dragon. She didn't even dare to think about what Your Highness Lucia had gone through in the past year.

They were afraid that Your Highness Lucia might truly be defiled by the evil dragon.

It's no secret in the human world that the dragon is in love with the princess.

If Your Highness Lucia were truly defiled by the evil dragon, even if Lucia returned safely to the Your Highness, she would become the subject of gossip among the imperial nobles and ministers, who would never again Lucia as the heir to the Your Highness.

Thinking of the heir apparent, Eva's gaze fell on Asina, who was sitting in the main seat. Even if Your Highness Lucia returned, she probably wouldn't be able to shake Your Highness Asina's status as the heir apparent.

At the end of the year, this Your Highness will officially become the emperor of the Farolyn Empire.

From her observation, this Your Highness didn't seem to care much about the throne. When she learned that she was about to become the emperor of the Farolyn Empire, her reaction was very indifferent.

That night, upon returning to the palace, she remarked that without her Underdog Imperial Sister vying for the throne, being emperor was rather dull. Indeed, from the very beginning, Your Highness Asina had been merely toying with Your Highness Lucia; she had never considered Lucia a rival. Or rather, Lucia Your Highness Your Highness, but upon discovering Lucia's Your Highness of intelligence, she changed her strategy. She still vividly remembered the scene of the soldiers who followed Lucia Your Highness in the face of battle. Eva suddenly shook her head a few times.

Whether Your Highness Lucia can become emperor is no longer important; what matters is whether Your Highness Lucia can return safely.

When she returns, will she be in her dragon baby form or her human form? If she is in Your Highness dragon baby form, Lucia will likely be surrounded by adventurers, warriors, knights, or even imperial nobles and ministers the moment she appears in the capital.

As for her human form, Lucia cannot revert to human Your Highness unless the curse is lifted.

You can go to the Temple of Light! If Your Highness Lucia is still a young dragon when she returns, then take Your Highness Lucia to the Temple of Light. She cannot lift the curse, but the clergy and the Pope of the Temple of Light should be able to lift the Dragon Transformation Curse.

Even if she was arrested by the Temple of Light because of this!

"Actually, whether my Underdog Imperial Sister can turn into a human is not important to me at all. It would be best if she could turn into a human, but if she can't, I don't mind having a dragon princess sister. With my status, I can afford to raise Underdog Imperial Sister who has turned into a dragon."

It can also protect her. The identity of the Emperor of the Farolyn Empire is enough to deter those nobles, warriors, and knights who want to make a move on my Underdog Imperial Sister.

So you don't need to blame yourself at all. After all, I, the Imperial Sister, was the one who started it all. If I hadn't forced her, you wouldn't have used the curse to turn your Underdog Imperial Sister into a baby dragon.

When they felt guilty, they shifted the blame onto me.

Eva is a talented person; besides searching for the dragon, she has also done a lot of things for her during this time.

Asina got up and went to Eva's side, gently patting Eva's shoulder a few times. "I have a feeling that my Underdog Imperial Sister is coming back soon. Even if we don't look for her carefully, she will come back on her own when the time comes."

???

Eva looked at Asina with a puzzled expression. She didn't understand why Her Your Highness Asina would say that. Had she consulted a fortune teller?

The empire's diviners and prophets were utterly useless.

Why does Your Highness have this intuition?

"It's very simple. Because I am about to become the emperor of this empire, my Underdog Imperial Sister will not stand by and watch me become the emperor. On the day I become emperor, or sometime after I become emperor, she will definitely appear."

I have no doubt about this.

Furthermore, with the emergence of Dragon Island Appears, Prehistoric Evil Dragon have appeared one after another. The black dragon that kidnapped my royal sister will eventually have its name spread throughout the human world. Don't forget, that guy once beat up the Saintess of the Temple of Wisdom. Of course, this doesn't mean I'm going to give up on finding my Underdog Imperial Sister. The reason I asked you to keep an eye on whether any Prehistoric Evil Dragon were appearing within the empire's borders was not because I wanted to fight the dragons, but because I wanted to cooperate with Prehistoric Evil Dragon.

If we can cooperate with the Prehistoric Evil Dragon and tell it about the black dragon, it will be beneficial for our search for the black dragon.

Not only that, we can also have contact with the Dragon Island Giant Dragon. If the Dragon Island Giant Dragon Island Giant Dragon to descend upon the Farolyn Empire, I would immediately have someone invite it to the palace as a guest.

I've already given the instructions on both of these things, so you don't need to put so much pressure on yourself.

Eva thought about it and felt that Your Highness Asina's idea was quite good.

Looking at Asina's face, Eva thought about what Asina had done over the past year.

That year, Your Highness Asina took control of more than half of the army in the capital and negotiated with the major bishops of the capital many times.

His Your Highness has been trying to weaken the influence of divine authority on imperial power, and has made good progress in just over a year.

However, this also caused some dissatisfaction among the various temples towards Your Highness Asina.

In recent months, bishops from various temples have been visiting the palace from time to time, and each time they do, they mention Your Highness Lucia.

At first, she thought the temple had discovered that Your Highness Lucia had turned into a baby dragon, but as the bishop came more often, she gradually understood.

The temple bishop did not notice that Your Highness Lucia had turned into a baby dragon.

The bishops mentioned Your Highness Lucia because they wanted Lucia Your Highness Lucia Your Highness.

They want Your Highness Lucia to compete with Your Highness Asina.

I'm late.

If they had approached Your Highness Lucia seven or eight months earlier and secretly Your Highness Lucia, they might have had a chance to use Your Highness Lucia to restrain Your Highness Asina.

It's too late now.

Asina controls a large portion of the empire's army, and the temple is unlikely to engage in a direct conflict with Her Your Highness Asina.

"Your Highness, even so, I still want to go to the Dragon Domain Dragon Domain. The chances of encountering Prehistoric Evil Dragon there are much greater."

"Give up. Don't think of Prehistoric Evil Dragon as too honest. Even if you bring gold and silver treasures to the Dragon Domain, encounter Prehistoric Evil Dragon Prehistoric Evil Dragon, negotiate terms with it, and even give it the gold and silver treasures in advance, you will still be in Prehistoric Evil Dragon."

Even a dragon that has accepted gold and jewels may not necessarily help you find the black dragon. If you refuse to trade with Prehistoric Evil Dragon Prehistoric Evil Dragon, it might rob you of everything.

If a dragon is discovered within our empire, that's a different story. If a dragon that has signed a pact with us dares to break the pact, we can either send troops to subdue it or use the pact to restrain it.

Forget about cross-domain matters; the only problem is that the Farolyn Empire is too weak, and its military power cannot reach the other three domains.

Let alone the other three regions, the military power of our Farolyn Empire can barely reach a few kingdoms surrounding the empire.

If the Farolyn Empire could dominate Morning Star, it might have a chance to extend its military power to the other three regions.

Eva's lips twitched slightly. Your Highness Asina really dares to think that way.

"Your Highness, do you think we could use the temple to issue bounty missions to guilds in the other three domains?"

"This is a good idea, but the strength of the temples within the empire is not exaggerated to that extent. If they want to issue bounty missions to the other three domains, they also need to send the bounty missions to the Holy Mountain and issue them to the other three domains through the clergy of the Holy Mountain."

However, if I were to actually do that, it would be equivalent to owing favors to the various temples within the empire, making it difficult to continue implementing the plans I had formulated.

"The idea is good, but I don't intend to have it implemented. Within the territory of the Farolyn Empire, I will absolutely not allow divine authority to suppress imperial authority!"

Eva fell silent. The conflict between divine and imperial power was involved, and no matter how many thoughts she had, she couldn't speak at this moment.

Once Asina becomes the emperor of the Farolyn Empire, this empire, which is somewhat mild-mannered and even a bit weak in its external relations, will likely become very powerful.

"Understood, Your Highness. I will make more contact with the bishop of the Temple of Wisdom in the coming days."

"Don't waste too much time on this. I'll take care of following up on the Black Dragon's affairs. I'm giving you a new task: I'm going to have you train an army. This army will only be loyal to one person: my Underdog Imperial Sister."

I know you're not very talented in military matters, but don't worry, I'll have Melissa assist you. The army size is tentatively set at 10,000.

When distributing military pay, it will be in the name of my Underdog Imperial Sister. I've even thought of a name for this army for my Underdog Imperial Sister: "Dragon Guard."

"???"

Eva was dumbfounded. What did Your Highness Asina mean by this? She was about to become the empress, so why was she being asked to train an army for Your Highness Lucia? Wasn't she afraid that when Your Highness Lucia returned, she would use this army she had trained to dethrone her?

"No. Your Highness, I don't quite understand why you're doing this. Is it a new 'script' being created for Your Highness Lucia?"

Asina smiled slightly at Eva, returned to her previous seat, picked up the book on the desk, and said casually, "With soldiers around, after she returns, the ministers and nobles in the capital will not dare to look at her with strange eyes."

I can bully my Underdog Imperial Sister all I want, but no one else can. And another thing... if I become emperor and die young, my Underdog Imperial Sister won't be without a loyal personal guard when she ascends the throne.

Eva's eyes showed surprise.

Die young?!

Your Highness Asina was in good health, how could she have died so young? Wait, is this... a temple?

Is Your Highness Asina worried that she might one day die mysteriously at the hands of the temple? This... this... can't be right.

How dare a temple plot against the emperor of an empire?

They dare! The temple within the capital of the Farolyn Empire... perhaps they really dare!

After all, this Your Highness has been too ruthless in suppressing the temples in the capital and even within the empire.

In His Your Highness's plan, knights can be stationed in the major temples within the capital, but the number of knights in each temple cannot exceed one hundred.

No more than thirty knights may be stationed at temples in other regions of the Empire! The safety of the temples shall be maintained by the Imperial Army.

Besides this, the major temples are also prohibited from interfering in the political affairs of various regions of the empire.

If the idea that the Your Highness needs to notify Asina officials in advance to mobilize more than a hundred knights can be realized, then the temples within the Farolyn Empire will only have one function left.

A place of solace for believers.

There's also the exorcism of demons and the subjugation of other beings.

Having pushed the major temples to this point, if some temple clergy within the empire were to have a change of heart and harbor ill intentions towards Asina...

"Was it really necessary to go this far?"

"If we don't advance, we will fall behind. If I don't weaken the influence of the temples on the empire, the temples within the empire will subconsciously suppress or even dominate the imperial power."

In certain areas within the Empire, temple clergy have been able to command Imperial officials, and this has happened more than once; they've even been able to mobilize local armies. Under these circumstances, do you think I can continue to turn a blind eye?

"Then Your Highness can take your time."

"My speed is not fast, and what I did did not infringe on the rights of the major temples. I merely made the major temples guard their bottom line and exercise their own rights within the empire, instead of wantonly devouring the empire's rights."

"If Your Highness's methods were a little gentler, the major temples might gradually accept it."

"If the bishops of the major temples hadn't been so eager to meet with my Underdog Imperial Sister, I might have done so. But in order to maintain the temples' interests, they actually wanted to support my Underdog Imperial Sister to compete with me."

They want to use my Underdog Imperial Sister as a puppet. Not all clergy are worthy of their robes.

I am not afraid of the bishops in the temples within the empire; what I fear are the holy mountains behind the major temples. I am doing this just in case.

If I were to die young and my Underdog Imperial Sister were to become the empire's emperor, you could have her return all the rights I reclaimed from the temples to the various temples.

She lacked the strategy and courage to deal with the major temples, and her martial prowess was not strong enough. If she were strong enough to suppress the major temples of the empire on her own, the Farolyn Empire would be even more prosperous in her hands.

Regardless, we should prepare for all three possibilities.

If I die, she will become emperor and have an army.

While I am alive, she has soldiers and Fief, and no noble or minister dares to underestimate or ignore her.

Hmm, if I'm still alive when she comes back, I'll give her an "Emperor" trial card.

The timeframe is seven days.

Seven days later, I reclaimed my throne. It was a win-win situation no matter how you look at it.

"."

Why did she get the feeling that Your Highness Asina still wanted to toy with Your Highness Lucia?