Yu Lian looked at Gongsun Qing, who seemed perfectly at ease, then at Feifei, whose expression was hard to read. His gaze swept over Miss Nair before finally settling on the girl crouching with her head in her hands.
He rubbed his temples, once again confirming that this planet's situation was truly complicated.
He had originally thought his first meeting with Her Highness, Queen Philia of Sleen, would take place in a sunless underground dungeon. A beautiful girl, bound from head to toe in steel cables, trembling in a corner of her cell, her face full of panic and fear—she would have been the very picture of pitiful fragility.
But this young empress elector seemed quite lively.
"So, your new friend..."
"She's a prisoner," Gongsun Qing corrected him.
"Yes, a prisoner," Miss Nair solemnly echoed. "At Iron Shackles Summit, we were ready to let her go. She was the one who refused to escape."
The girl who had been crouching with her head in her hands had now stood up. She smoothed her hair, lowered her hands, and revealed a refined, graceful oval face.
She had clearly received exceptionally rigorous etiquette training. Setting aside her instinctive reaction of crouching with her head in her hands, her posture and expression were practically flawless.
Of course, because of her age, her baby fat was much rounder than Nair's or Gongsun Qing's, so no matter how she tried to strike a noble pose, she still looked adorable.
"See? She looks a little like Shali," Feifei said telepathically. She seemed to like the young empress elector quite a bit.
Yu Lian studied her for a moment. There was a slight resemblance in her eyes and the contours of her face, but calling them alike would be a stretch. If he had to compare her