Two days later, on the Lifaus Highway outside the capital of the Kingdom of Lugnica, Emilia sat aboard a dragon carriage speeding down the road, silently lowering her head and furrowing her brow as she pondered her troubles.
The royal selection meeting had ended the day before. After a certain troublesome little girl had put everyone through the wringer, the whole thing had naturally come to nothing.
The elders of the Kingdom's Sage Council and the Royal Guard hadn't dared to rashly propose punishing Annie or her, Emilia. But she could tell that after Annie had thoroughly humiliated and toyed with the Sage Council and the Royal Guard, those people had taken their resentment out on her, too. They looked at her with even more hostility now.
She hadn't been well liked to begin with—not as a silver-haired half-elf witch—and now, after all that commotion, people liked her even less.
That alone gave her ample reason to believe that, in this royal selection, her chances of being chosen might be even lower than those of the golden-haired, red-eyed girl found in the Lower City: Felt, who had vowed to destroy every unjust institution in the Kingdom and all those who benefited from the status quo.
It made sense. At least Felt had the support of some young knights who wanted to reform the Kingdom, such as the radical young reformers led by Reinhard van Astrea.
As for Emilia, aside from Roswaal L. Mathers, the Margrave, and that lawless little rascal Annie, she doubted anyone else would support her. Her situation really was bad.
The only good news was that after Annie's outburst, the elders of the Sage Council had stopped bringing up the start of the royal selection. Perhaps the official selection wouldn't begin for quite some time, giving