“Oh, what’s that?”

  Lin says “She is a devout follower of Holos.”

  “So she’s an idiot? Great!”

  Lin says “I wouldn’t say she is stupid, just naive.”

  “How does an imperial princess grow up naive?!”

  Lin says “From what she has told me about her life, she was extremely sheltered. She basically knew next to nothing about the empire before this recent chaos.”

  “Then even sheltered her from court politics? That couldn’t have been easy. It also doesn’t really make sense.”

  Lin says “I don’t know for sure, but I think she was raised just to be the wife of the next emperor. She was educated by nuns from the church of Holos, hence why she is so faithful. It is not going to be easy to break her of that habit.”

  “She is sounding less and less like wife material.”

  Lin says “I happen to agree, but as of yet we haven’t found any other candidates.”

  “Until we do, I take it you plan to keep her around?”

  Lin says “Yes, I do. If nothing else, it will keep her from being used against us. One of the dukes managing to unite the rest of the empire would make things more difficult.”

  “That’s true. Alright, do what you think is best. Wait, if she is that naive, what was with her becoming the people’s champion?”

  Lin says “Apparently, she was just following the orders of a priest. However, it kind of backfired on him because she totally bought into the whole doing everything for the people part. Enough that when it was proven that the church was working with the demons, she turned against them.”

  “Good for her! Wait, that didn’t destroy her faith?”

  Lin says “No, it didn’t. I think it may have put some cracks in it, but it didn’t destroy it. So, what do you think we should do with her?”

  “Well, since she seems to care about her people, why don’t we give her some guards and task her with helping the refugees? She could help them settle in and at the same time see how well we are treating them and our people. It should be a strong contrast to how the empire treated them.”

  Lin says “That’s a great idea! It will not only keep her busy, but it will be something useful and it might even help her.”

  “It’s possible. We will have to wait and see how it goes. If nothing else, I hope it helps the refugees settle in. There is going to be enough tension already with all the different races interacting, we don’t need more.”

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  Lin says “I don’t think it is going to be as bad as you think it is. So far we haven’t had any issues at all.”

  “That is surprising, but it is good news and I hope it lasts. However, I prefer to plan for the worst. If it doesn’t happen then I will be pleasantly surprised.”

  Lin says “Fine, be that way. I will just keep being hopeful and leave the doom and gloom to you. Now, the one you want to watch out for at the dinner tonight is the ambassador from the Free Union.”

  “What? Why?”

  Lin says “While you were asleep, Illium declared it was submitting to you. Ending hundreds of years of neutrality. On top of that, after tomorrow, Mercy’s kingdom will belong to you as well. With that, you will already control half of the peninsula, give or take. Not only that, but you will control everything that borders the Free Union. Of course they are going to be nervous.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense, but I doubt it will be a problem. Thanks to Pol, I have a pretty good reputation in the Free Union. Good enough, I hope, that they will join us willingly.”

  Lin says “That would definitely be preferable, but isn’t that a bit optimistic for you? What happened to the doom and gloom??”

  “Enough of that. Besides, just because a country does the smart thing doesn’t mean that the people in it won’t cause problems. In fact, I expect the merchants in the Free Union to cause lots of problems. They will scramble to protect what they have and at the same time do everything they can to get more gold.”

  Lin says “That’s more like what I was expecting you to say, but in this case you are probably right. Merchants are the same no matter where you go.”

  “So, what’s the rest of the plan?”

  Lin says “Tomorrow afternoon we will hold the wedding and a coronation immediately afterwards. You did make or find crowns for us, right?”

  “Yes I did. They even shapeshift so you can turn them into earrings when you don’t need to be formal. They also grant you access to the system.”

  Lin says “Good! I was wondering about that. Normally we would have been the first ones to get access.”

  “Yeah, but I wanted you getting your crowns to be special.”

  Lin says “You couldn’t have made something to give us temporary access?”

  “To be honest, I didn’t think of it.”

  Lin says “That figures. Too busy thinking about the big things to remember the little things. You need to work on that.”

  “You’re right, I do. I will try.”

  Lin says “That is all that I ask. I know there will be times that you are too busy for the little things. I and the others will cut you as much slack as we can.”

  “I appreciate that, but you and the others are not part of the little things, you are the most important to me. I am not about to forget you.”

  Lin says “Good! I am glad to hear that!”

  Bella says “That was a good answer. I may have underestimated you a little, Ash.”

  Lin says “I told you that he wasn’t always completely dense, just some of the time.”

  Bella says “True, you did. Still, I think you could do better!”

  “Hey! I am still here! Do you want me to eat you?”

  Bella says “Not in that form, no.”

  Lin laughs and says “Enough teasing him, he just woke up after all.”

  Bella says “Exactly, this is about the only time I have a chance of winning.”

  “Be careful, tease me too much and you might get exactly what you ask for!”

  Lin says “Alright, that’s enough you two! Save it for when we don’t have important things to do!”

  Bella and I, in perfect sync, both stick our tongues out at Lin, but her only response is a glare. Despite our chuckling, Lin goes back to briefing me on what to expect at the dinner. I am not really worried about it, but I do still pay attention to everything she tells me.

  Amn and Atesh are experienced politicians and I am sure they will help me if I get myself into trouble. I also know what the ambassador is worried about, the only wild card is the imperial princess. From Lin’s description, I doubt she will cause any trouble, but I will be ready just in case.