Chapter 200 – Pushing Forward

*** Azula De Vil***

It's time to see what my wife says. She promised me an easy life after I ground the last war to a standstill. Her enemy is too scared to push forward.

I hardly think this is an easy life, trying to babysit her stupid daughter. I didn't think I would need to micromanage a grown-ass adult in everything, but I should've. I should've put in her a damn cage and dropped her off on some remote island and done everything myself.

Instead, I'm waking up from a few day's sleep from teleporting across the world to run from a champion. Maybe I should find a cave to hide in for a while.

"My Lady," my maid says. "Are you ready to see your wife?"

"I guess I can see my wife. It will be interesting to see how she spins the failure," I say. I should get dressed, but this situation is her daughter's fault, so I can be a bit lazy. It's just my wife, right?

I slink out of the bed and put on my slippers. I grow my breasts closer to their real size. A size bigger than my Queen. Something I should've shown her earlier. Maybe it would've gotten her to think a bit.

The slippers keep my steps from echoing through the empty stone halls. It's not completely empty. Ice statues are the main attraction. The cold pulls my nipples against my nightgown. A great show when a woman is coming to my bed, but not very nice for normal walking.

I should be used to the cold, and I guess I am better in it than most. But this shouldn't make me react, yet here I am, my tits showing exactly where they are pointing.

"Where is my wife?" I ask. I should've asked that before coming out in my nightgown.

"In the throne room," my maid says.

"Anyone else with her?"

"No, she said it was sensitive. Other wives perhaps, my Lady."

"That's fine then," I say. One thing going my way. Should I try to take control of the crown? Just a bit of treason won't hurt anyone. Honestly, it may save us all.

Love is letting me consider it, so it may keep us all alive, or she knows I won't do it. Or maybe even she has abandoned me. I guess I wasn't abandoned but cast out instead.

"Do you wish me to announce you?" the guard asks.

"No need," I say, walking past them and into the sad throne room. Many of the decorations that used to occupy the room now adorn the throne room of the Elagwyn Queendom.

Everyone knew my stalemate was temporary and would end with us collapsing. The cost to keep the territory was both gold and women. Will some of the Queen's old wives meet us at the negotiation table? Asking for even more of their former wives and wealth and land. How much will they get?

Maybe Elora pulls off something and takes over the peace talks, or perhaps they just finish the job. It would be interesting to see how that plays out—if I'm alive for it, of course.

"Hello, Elenaril, dear," I say. "I hope you are willing to put this mistake behind us. I think it is a clear sign that we need to bow down for a while and hope for a daughter who brings a resurgence to our Queendom."

"Yes," Elenaril says. "Yes, we need a good, strong daughter, and that is inside Esiyae's womb. Why is she not here?"

"She's stupid? Can't listen? Weak? A bit of all three. Or really, all of the options completely. You should have put her in a slave collar and given me complete control if you wanted her back here. Anything else would end just like this." A private meeting with my wife. Yet, she feels the need to have the crown on and sit upon her stupid throne of ice.

Who does she think she is?

"I thought you could make it work."

"You thought I could turn that failure into something of value?" I say. I try to stay serious, but the chuckles come out anyway. "You made a weak monster out of her. She isn't capable of making the right decision and doesn't have the power to defend her terrible choices. I may have the most mana in the nation, but my affinity limits how much I can do. Put me up against a champion and pissed-off Goddesses, and what do you expect? I can't make miracles happen. That is in the realm of Goddesses we should pray to more."

"It wasn't a miracle that I wanted. I just wanted a kid. A single kid."

"Well, you lost a kid."

"What do you mean? I can just pay to have Esiyae come back."

"She raped the Princess and the slave. My bet is that the slave put a few too many grandchildren into your kid at once. They'll keep her till she bursts. Yumanea isn't going to keep her alive, and she isn't going to give you the kids you want. Not when she knows you can't fight her. I would say we are still weaker than you were when the last war started, and I can assure you they are stronger than they have ever been." I've never looked closely at the artwork around this room. I always wished to be out hunting or in my room. This decrepit place never held much wonder for me. But it may be worth seeing what is here.

It seems my wife is an idiot and has passed this on to her daughter. Or she's just desperate to feel strong like her Mother was in her prime.

"Finally interested in our history?" my wife asks.

"Not really. If that is what this is. Looks more like tall tales to give you a false sense of importance," I say. "I doubt your ancestors killed any of the beasts shown in these plates and tapestries." I know they didn't. But who cares. I just need to be careful, and I can throw Elenaril to Yumanea's feet after this war.

Why shouldn't I be Queen? I wouldn't pick fights I'm going to lose like this bunch. Maybe I can turn this Queendom into something of value.

"I'll prove you wrong, Azula De Vil," my silly wife says. "We can take them. Just enough to get a kid. A dragon with ice in her veins. Just what we need."

"I think that is a terrible idea. It may be better to slit our own throats," I say. "What do the Goddesses say? You have talked to at least one of them, right?"

"Yes, and the word is that kids are a premium for royals."

"Oh?" I say. "Oh, are they now? I wonder who caused that. What could possibly get Fertility the absent to act? To care about this silly world, the world she cursed. It couldn't be your daughter torturing and raping her Champion. No, it must be something else. Maybe she stubbed her toe, or her tongue slipped, and she really meant to bless us with children."

"Her rituals aren't cheap," Elenaril says. "We need something for this extra cost."

"So, let us throw away the lives of even more women for one kid. A kid that will make her Champion hate us even more. That will help our situation. If we get Fertility mad enough at us, we can get her to undo everything she's done in response to us angering her. What a brilliant plan," I say. "You should be on your knees begging Yumanea to help your daughter survive, giving them all the kids, and praying that having sex with that dragon did something to her mana, enough to improve her future children. Try to come up with a reason for you and your children to be in the same room as Alzi and hope they can spread their legs in a way that gets the dragon to fuck them full of children again."

"That won't happen. The only time we'll have a taste of that dragon is if we take her for a bit. She's a slave. If we free her, then that will even out the damage to the Goddess of Fertility. Maybe it will appease her enough that we don't have to do the expensive rituals for a single royal child."

"We won't have to do any rituals because there won't be a royal family anymore."

"This will be a defensive war. One that we can plan around."

"It will be our destruction."

"We could've won the last war. They won't see it coming."

I can't help it. I let out a hearty laugh. My nipples brush seductively against my nightgown as my chest jiggles. I was so close, just one mistake in my body.

Giving Elenaril up should let me be Queen. It'll be a pitiful nation, but I'll have the title.

"Fine, we can try it your way. But when it fails..."

"I'll do what is needed to keep our Queendom alive," Elenaril says.

"Very well," I say. "Fine. Go throw this nation away."

*** Queen Soleil of the Phoenix realm ***

"Can you repeat that for me," I say. "I think I misheard you."

"I can't get pregnant, mother," Flambeau says. "The Goddess of Fertility doesn't care about everything I've done. I've been praying to her every night. Every seventh day, I've been going to her temple with offerings, and yet I'm denied a child if I don't do the ritual."

"Ritual? A Goddess besides our own is asking us to do a ritual?" I repeat. "Someone is carrying out some bold actions to have that happen." Not how I wish to be woken up. A new decree coming from a Goddess that should be happy with us right now.

"The cause wasn't passed on. Just that the Goddess is angry."

"Then we know the cause. I'll look into it. For now, just do the ritual. You weren't rude to the priestess, right?" I ask. Princesses love to feel all important when they are ants. Only Queens have the option to talk back, and even then, they must be respectful.

"No, I accepted her message. I'm not stupid. They did mention a champion that could get us pregnant without a ritual."

"Did they? Well, those lower-realm idiots do owe us for the trouble. Check the vault for the supplies and I'll work on getting that Champion to spend a few weeks up here. You'll be first on the list to try and seduce him."

"Thank you, Mother."

What is that idiot doing? Was I not clear?