That Is Swearing Allegiance to My Dearest

The Grand Tutor's gaze flickered. Although she knew there were some things she absolutely shouldn't pry into, she had to maintain her composure and dignity before the future Empress.

But...

The Grand Tutor couldn't help herself. Her voice was soft, and she asked weakly, "That... with Rhine Hain... is it that enjoyable for you? I... am quite curious..."

...Huh?

Alice was stunned.

This Grand Tutor, with her amorous eyes and shy expression.

It...

Completely shocked her!

Thank you to Boss Autumn Fairy Tale for the reward, you're too generous!

2. Losing Ambition, Becoming a Demigod Slacker

Imperial Capital of Hain.

Two days had passed since the subjugation of Obadiah.

Hela lay listlessly in the underground vault of her manor, amidst piles of treasure and divine equipment, like a beached fish.

Two days...

Those three puppets and Prince Rhine still hadn't returned to the Imperial Capital.

It was obvious.

A reward kiss couldn't last for two days and two nights.

As for what those four were doing at the seaside villa... Hela couldn't be bothered to think about it.

In the battle to subjugate Obadiah, Hela had obtained tons of treasure, as well as the entire corpse of an ancient dragon.

As a high-level ancient dragon qualified to challenge the Ancient Dragon Princess, Obadiah's collection, in terms of both quantity and quality, was extremely astonishing even among its own kind.

Let alone within a mortal nation...

Hela had probably become the wealthiest person in all of Hain.

Hundreds of golden equipment pieces, and a large number of ancient relics whose quality couldn't be measured by Silver White Crystals.

Hela had three demigod puppets, so she also needed to equip them separately. Thus, Hela's greatest dream was to continuously collect powerful equipment to arm herself and her puppets.

However, now, Hela had directly acquired the entire ancient dragon's treasure hoard... all sorts of golden equipment, of terrifying quality.

She even obtained a fresh ancient dragon corpse, which she could directly use to forge the equipment she needed!

Without a doubt, After this battle, Hela had directly achieved her lifelong dream.

However, after her dream was realized and her ultimate goal was achieved... what greeted her was...

Endless emptiness.

Hela had become a slacker.

When her endless desires were, one day, truly and completely satisfied.

She no longer knew... what she should live for.

And honestly...

Hela felt she didn't deserve any of this treasure.

After all, in the entire ancient dragon subjugation battle, she was the one who performed the worst!

Initially, Hela thought that His Highness Rhine had invited her to subjugate the ancient dragon to appease and win her over.

Hela knew this was only natural.

After all, as part of the Imperial Guard, Hela was the most powerful and noble existence in the mortal world.

Even if the Crystal Throne of Hain could be occupied by different people every day, the status of the Imperial Guard could never be shaken.

But later, Hela realized she was wrong.

Rhine sought Hela simply to find a reliable fighter to help him kill Obadiah, just to get a piece of equipment for his beloved Constance.

And now, Hela realized she was still wrong.

Because even the reliable fighter His Highness wanted wasn't her!

It was her puppets!

Unknowingly receiving some blessing from the Evil Dragon, His Highness Rhine's puppet control skills were even more formidable than Hela's!

He could even elevate Histia Hela into the true Histia!

If Grand Tutor hadn't interfered, Your Highness and Histia would have likely taken down Obadiah together!

But Hela?

Sorry, but her presence or absence made little difference in the entire fight.

Thinking back...

Hela's earlier words, saying Rhine was useless and shouldn't participate... how laughable they were!

In the end...

The clown was Hela herself.

Yet, even so, Hela took the largest share of the treasure.

Hela's feelings were complicated at this moment.

No wonder Your Highness Rhine's attitude towards Hela had been so cold and distant throughout the entire operation.

It turned out that in his heart, Hela's existence was utterly insignificant.

She was just an accessory to the dolls, a mere Tool used by Rhine when interacting with them.

Thinking of this, Hela felt no anger or shame, only... a profound sense of loss.

Rhine wanted to give Constance a gift, Constance wanted to protect Rhine, the dolls wanted to receive rewards from Rhine...

It seemed that among everyone, only she was interested in these vulgar treasures.

"Sigh..."

Hela was lost.

Why was this happening?

Why, despite obtaining divine gear that would last a lifetime, couldn't she feel happy at all?

Hela said with a sense of loss, "Didn't that guy... say he'd give me a kiss too...?"

But just then.

A spatial rift suddenly opened in the manor.

The dolls were back!

Hela quickly stood up and walked upstairs.

There, she saw the dolls returning from their seaside vacation.

The dolls were wearing sexy swimsuits, their faces beaming with happiness, chatting and laughing, full of life. They took out various high-class ingredients from home, preparing to pack them.

"Ah, Hela."

The dolls cheerfully waved at Hela, "We're just grabbing some food, don't mind us, we'll be leaving soon."

Faced with this scene, Hela didn't know what to say and finally managed to utter with a hint of resentment, "...Did you have fun?"

The dolls smiled, their faces full of happiness.

"To get more rewards from Your Highness, we'll be good girls who are useful to Your Highness in the future--we're off now~ Bye-bye."

And so, a spatial rift opened, and the dolls departed.

Leaving Hela standing alone and dejected.

There was a sense of...

loss, of being forgotten and abandoned.

.

Thanks to Xiyang for the blades, boss is generous!!

3. Backroom Deals Among the Imperial Guard

"Your Highness Edgeworth, shall we depart now?"

"...Alright, let's go."

In the Prince's mansion, Imperial Guard Lilia Hain tore open a spatial portal for the Prince.

The Prince's expression was extremely grave, and with a nervous heart, he stepped into the torn space.

He was now going to attend a negotiation.

A negotiation that would change his destiny.

Let's go, Let's go have a good talk with those dwarves.

Everything before him dissolved into nothingness and chaos. Under Lilia's guidance, the Prince passed through the bizarre spatial rift and arrived in a sealed stone chamber.

"Welcome to the Golden Land."

The Golden Land representative, who was receiving His Highness the Prince, had been waiting here for a long time.

However, after the Prince teleported in, he was instantly dumbfounded.

The Prince stared at everything before him in shock and surprise.

"Surprised?"

The Golden Land representative rubbed his hands together and said with a smile:

"Your Highness the Prince, this is your first visit to the Golden Land headquarters, isn't it? The Golden Land is the name of a sacred place in dwarven legends. While it is indeed located here, the outside world's legend that all our houses and buildings are made of gold—that's just a rumor."

"No... I'm not surprised by your houses..."

The Prince's mouth twitched, and he pointed at the representative, saying angrily, "I'm surprised by you!"

The Prince saw that the Golden Land representative entertaining him, this distinguished guest, was not some high-ranking dwarven official or royalty, but! A! Goblin!

"Ah, you're referring to that. Indeed, the image the Golden Land projects to the outside world is that of a financial organization composed of golden dwarves."

The Goblin explained with a smile, calm and composed: "Of course, that is indeed the case in reality. It's just that our dear dwarf shareholders also recruit some intelligent goblins to help them run their businesses."

The Goblin's smile was full of amiability:

"Although you may not believe it, I am considered a staff member with some standing in the Golden Land. And I have been unanimously recognized by the shareholders as the best assistant for you in this crisis—Your Highness the Prince, does this explanation satisfy you?"

"..."

To be honest, the Prince was not satisfied.

The actual power holders of the Golden Land were a group of goblins... He remembered reading about this in some secret document from Hain.

But that was irrelevant,