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Mia bowed her head and went on.

“I’m aware that the Clair de Lune often only allows the Four Dukes’ children and myself to enter, but on this particular occasion, I’d want to request permission for the participation of two more people.”

She turned around and motioned for someone to enter from behind. A girl with aqua hair that flowed like crystal-clear spring water appeared at the door.

“Oh?” Ruby replied with wide eyes, “That’s…Miss Rafina?”

But she was not as surprised as the other three people seated at the table.

Rafina greeted everyone with a little chuckle.

“Wow, meeting with you all outside of Saint-Noel is a very novel experience.”

She gave the four regulars a courteous grin. Mia, who was standing to one side and watching her, couldn’t help but tremble a little because she was aware of the extent of the horror that smile could instill in its victims.

Who in their right mind would ever defy Miss Rafina? Granted, I doubt she ever genuinely required permission to attend, but whatever.

Only one person, who ironically referred to himself as the Empire’s Finest, came to Mia’s mind as having the guts and being sufficiently insane to attempt such a thing.

Mia was pleased to learn that Rafina’s inclusion encountered zero pushback, even though it was to be expected. After all, the main reason for this gathering was to put on a show for Rafina; otherwise, the objective would be lost.

“As for the other individual, it would be my trusted advisor Ludwig Hewitt. I would also like to invite him to this tea party.”

She closed her eyes for a short while. It was one thing to request Rafina’s approval. For Ludwig, it was very different to do the same thing. His attendance at such a gathering as a commoner was, quite obviously, unacceptable. Even still, she needed him there; without his counsel, she wouldn’t be able to escape any of the messes she managed to get herself into.

Her eyes jerked open once again. They became more determined as she continued to defend Ludwig’s presence.

“I see Ludwig as an extension of myself. He is the source of my wisdom as well as my arm and mind. Most significantly, he understands my dreams and visions. Because he is my soul in a different body, treat him as you would treat me.”

She gave Ludwig a quick look. Before making a deep bow to the nobles in the room, he gave his glasses a gentle nudge.

“I’m Ludwig Hewitt, as Her Highness said when she introduced me, and while the trust she has shown in me is unjustified, I will do all in my power to earn it.”

My, is Ludwig fired up today, or is that just me? I suppose that’s good for him, but I wonder why…

Then Mia looked around the room, taking in everyone’s faces. None appeared to want to object.

I guess I was expecting one or two complaints, but everyone seems remarkably accommodating today. Oh my, I should have brought Sion and Abel as well! I wish I had known…

She grimaced internally at the lost chance.

“All right, then, let’s begin this tea party. Esmeralda, would you kindly do the honors? Mia said as she took a seat and awaited the arrival of cake and sweets.

They did. In actuality, a lot of them did. Just the cakes came in three different flavors! One of them was a baked apple tart-like pastry. Another appeared in the form of a mountain, its summit generously slathered with cream made from sweetmoon melon. The next item was a pancake with a nectar ring on top.

My… Sweets before serious discussion, huh? Esmeralda seemed to be aware of the situation… Extremely impressive.

Mia increased her excitement score by 90 and her confidence in Esmeralda by 100!

“Okay, well then.” After devouring the entire cake in front of her, Mia started. “Should we start on our business?”

“Hold on, Mia-sama.” As if Mia were her little sister, Esmeralda approached and used a handkerchief to wipe the corner of her lips. “You’re all set. You are now prepared for business.”

She may have been a little lonely not being able to spend time with Mia at the Holy Eve Festival, so she was compensating by acting like a big sister. After several grumbling protests to this humiliating treatment, Mia finally responded, “Okay, there. But now is the time to get down to business. Hm… But where do I start?”

Ludwig, who caught her sight, nodded in agreement. “Your Highness, if I may… Please let me start the conversation. It would be preferable, in my opinion, to recount the events in chronological sequence, so let’s start with the attempted revolution in the Kingdom of Remno.”

He started to narrate the story. He mentioned the presence of mysterious players who were involved in the Remno event. He discussed the Wind Crows, its White Crow group, and the Serpent infiltration of Sunkland’s intelligence agency.

“Chaos Serpents, eh? And you’re suggesting that these folks were involved in all of this?” Ruby asked, sounding perplexed.

Esmeralda expressed the same alarm, “What a shocking revelation… I had no idea that the Remno riots had so much going on beneath the surface.”

“The intelligence network Sunkland had built up throughout the empire was completely destroyed as a result, which is, I suppose, a silver lining. Wind Crows and White Crows equally were sent back home,” Mia said, taking a drink of tea before continuing. “Next, I believe we should discuss what transpired over the summer vacation.”

Esmeralda tightened up a little but nodded as she turned to face her.

“Well then. In actuality, Mia-sama and I took a cruise over the summer. Oh, and Prince Sion and Prince Abel were with us as well,” Esmeralda said, her tone shifting to one of pride in the last phrase. “And while on the cruise, we made landfall on an uninhabited island and found something that completely astounded us.”

“Something that completely floored you?” Ruby asked with a suspicious expression.

“We discovered an inscription left by Tearmoon’s first emperor,” Mia nodded dramatically. “It discussed the rise of the empire and its ties to the Chaos Serpents.”

She then went on to describe the precise motivation for the founding of the Tearmoon Empire, his goal to curse this region, and how this had resulted in the widespread anti-agriculturalist views that plagued the empire. She appeared to have practiced her speech numerous times as she talked with confidence and ease. Which she naturally had. She had Ludwig write a script for her, which she then began to memorize. She had specifically written down her speech on pancakes with honey, and she would eat it once she successfully committed one pancake’s worth of sentences to memory. This memorization technique seemed absurd, but despite that, it had somehow been extremely effective. In fact, it had been so successful that she chose to call it the “pancake technique” for memorizing. Anyway, leaving this tangent behind…

“The very first emperor…” Ruby mused.

“That…does explain a lot,” Sapphias stated. “Upon reflection, there does appear to be a pervasive bias towards agriculture throughout our ranks. The central nobles, including those who support the Bluemoon cause, are aware of it. It makes me feel bad to admit that I used to consider farmers to be the offspring of serfs.”

The admission made him frown.

“Then there’s the House of Yellowmoon, who were given a covert mission by the first emperor.” said Mia. “Okay, Rina?”

She looked at Citrina, who tensed up a little before agreeing.

“Yes. The first emperor gave a particular order to us Yellowmoons.”

Citrina began relating the tale of the secret that the House of Yellowmoon and its successive Dukes had kept. The depth of its grief and the enormity of its scope left everyone in the room stunned.

Mia motioned for another cup of tea as the audience was still in shock over this historical revelation, and she immediately started adding sugar to the milky bliss.

A whisper stopped the move, which was natural and almost mindless.

“Your Highness, I beg your indulgence, but Miss Anne has asked me to restrict your sugar intake.”

Her ear picked up Ludwig’s reprimanding voice, which caused her to groan in agony. She set the sugar dispenser straight with some hesitation.

Citrina eventually completed her narrative. She exhaled and then shut her eyes. She had a tranquility about her—almost an inner calm—that reminded one of a condemned person who had completed confessing to her crimes and was now only awaiting the executioner’s sword.

Everyone in the conference was uncomfortable staring at the girl who was a member of the Chaos Serpents. A girl who knew everything there was to know about poisons, and had plotted to kill Mia. Nobody knew what to make of her at first.

“Let me be clear, I do not think Rina is personally guilty, to clear up any possible misunderstandings. She carried out her actions as directed by the first emperor. I do, however, realize that releasing the entire House of Yellowmoon from any liability would be unpopular with many people, therefore some sort of atonement is required. I’ve delegated the specifics of that atonement to the present Lord Yellowmoon, but whatever the results, Rina shouldn’t be harmed in any way. I must stress once more that this is a closed case. I firmly advise everyone to desist from bringing it up again since it has been buried.”

Or, to put it another way: I realize the first emperor made a royal mess of things, but can we just get on with it?

All of the Four Dukes’ families were blood relations of the emperor, thus any insinuation that Mia bore blame for the first emperor’s transgressions would bring the other young scions in the room into disrepute. Most likely, their interests coincided with hers.

Rafina was the only uncontrollable factor that alarmed her, yet a stealthy glimpse revealed no discernible signs of rage in her face. Instead, she had a soft smile on her face as she watched Mia! Even still, Mia trembled in terror because her cowardice would not be subdued by a simple grin. She collected herself and turned to Ruby.

“Instead of dwelling on the past, I feel that we must band together to face what the future holds for us.”

“What exactly lies in store for us in the future?” Sapphias questioned.

“Something for which I’ve already ordered Ruby to begin preparing, in fact. But now I’ll impart this information to everyone. The entire continent will soon experience a severe famine that will persist for years.”

Sapphias stumbled after being startled by her assertive tone, “W-wait, but… Are you claiming to be able to predict the future?”

“No, not all of it, but there’s no denying that we’re getting low yields everywhere.”

Mia used her eyes to signal Ludwig.

With a nod, he acknowledged, “That is accurate. We already expect crops to significantly fall the following year. This year’s crop growth has been hindered by the cold weather.”

“That’s not possible,” The fear in Citrina’s voice made it tremble. She knew the tactics and objectives of the Chaos Serpents like the back of her hand, and she knew all too well what would happen if a famine befell the empire. “Your Highness, are you sure? If it occurs…”

“Rina, don’t worry. Although it will happen, we are ready for it. Right, Ludwig?”

Mia gave Ludwig another visual hint.

“Yes,” he replied, this time nodding more firmly. “Under Her Highness’s direction, we made every effort to assemble food supplies. In the event of a famine, we ought to prepare sufficient supplies to withstand the effects. The Forkroads buying wheat from abroad, Ganudos Port Country, and Perujin Agricultural Country… Our people won’t go hungry as long as these food acquisition methods are maintained.”

“And to make sure those acquisition channels are protected,” Mia added, “I’ve ordered Ruby to create an operations plan for the Princess Guard. Food shortage rumors will cause uneasiness, which could lead to riots. Transport carts might be attacked by irate mobs. Additionally, the Chaos Serpents will undoubtedly exploit the circumstance to wreck even more havoc and destruction.”

Mia kept on cueing, this time turning her attention to Ruby.

Ruby nodded, “I’ve worked with the Princess Guard to fence off this possibility. We Redmoons are also willing to use a portion of our private army to increase our operational capacity if necessary.”

Sapphias stood up as a result.

“Brilliant! In that case, you must inform us of your strategy afterwards. We Bluemoons definitely have something to contribute.”

“Then I’ll send someone with the information.” Ruby said.

Esmeralda joined the effort next to her while crossing her arms.

“We must also prevent Ganudos from developing any amusing ideas. Perhaps a stern reminder would be helpful. Could the Yellowmoons send a messenger their way, Miss Citrina? I presume your residence has long-standing links with them, right?”

The proposal received an okay from Citrina.

No one appeared to question the accuracy of Mia’s forecast as the conversation continued. She must be right if she said there would be a famine. The discussion was conducted under the premise that her assertion was accurate.

Mia watched from the sidelines for a while before once more pleading for attention with a clap of her palms.

“Then, I believe it’s time for us to move on to the day’s most crucial subject.”