The following days after the marriage were a complete chaos.

My life was not becoming easier, on the contrary, I was constantly busy. We were receiving entire bags of invitations to the gatherings, tea parties and performances. Of course, we can leave the capital whenever we want, after I heat the boilers which were cold since our arrival. If there is an issue with the steam engine then it will no doubt be its long starting.

The turret was repaired so while the finishing touches were done, the ship could be deployed. I mean, the gear can be unsummoned. It is not too comfortable to sleep with guns everywhere.

“Just when will we return…?” The only person who perfectly understood how I felt was Lilith. Being a newfound princess all of a sudden, made her the second largest topic in the noble society. The first, of course, was our marriage which did not help decreasing the attention.

“Please, bear with it a couple more days. I need some time to heat the boilers.”

“Why not oar back?” (X)

“Do try it. It will be the same as trying to move a fully loaded carriage with a stick.”

“Does it even need to be so complicated…?” (X)

“It does.” And she ran out of the counterarguments.

I went out of the guest bedroom where we were settled in, and wandered around the palace.

When I was passing by a door I heard a conversation inside.

“They are so cool! They defeated the empire so fast!”

“Yes! If only I had a chance to meet with one of them!”

Two maids were gossiping. While eavesdropping is bad, it can’t be helped if it is accidental. I already passed by the door when I heard an even more interesting thing.

“I heard the Admiral personally commanded the defeat of the Castle-ship!”

“To think he will be so ingenious!” From that moment I had a good reason to eavesdrop. After all, I am a bit connected to this case.

From what I understood, the main fleet, that did not even reach the battle, has returned and the sailors claimed themselves to be the ones who did all the job. With the king and government’s silence the situation was not clarified. While there are some people who don’t trust their babble, a lot of people still believed that I was just delivering the message of the victory and the fleet was the victor.

I checked the situation of the guns. All 8 of them were ready for work but the Y turret’s systems were still not powered. Not that it forbids me the use of it.

I wondered if I should fire a few blanks to remind everybody of my existence but then I had a brilliant idea.

“Stop! His Majesty holds an important council meeting. He ordered not to let anyone in.” A knight stopped me at the doors of the throne room.

“Oh my, in this case, how should I announce the presence of mine? Would His Majesty like a salute of mine, or an artillery bombardment?” The knight slowly backed away inside the room. When the door opened again I was gestured to enter.

“What business do you have to interrupt me?! Why can’t you just leave me alone, for Gods’ sake?!” (W)

Boom Boom Boom Boom

“I apologize for the language I shall use. Why the f* did you allow that bastard of an admiral to claim that he did all the job? Or you suddenly thought I am too far away and too deaf so as not to hear the gossip?” I copied Catalina’s smile of demon lord.

“What do you want…?” The king held his head.

“I propose a combined exercise with Your Majesty’s fleet. The exercise where every soul will understand who beaten the c* out of the empire. Just saying~.”

“Just saying, damn it… As if you gave me a choice here! And could you ‘please’ stop firing those cannons every time you want to coerce me?!” (W)

“But they are so effective at it! You immediately stop being stubborn and agree!”

When I returned to the bedroom I was met with inquisitive glare.

“What happened?” They all asked.

“What do you mean~?”

“My Dear, did you fire those guns just for the sake of self-amusement?” (L)

“Oh, that? It was… to grease the wheels of thinking…”

“Delight, the next time you have a vagary like this, tell me. My dad will make His Majesty think much faster. And will not cause everybody’s ears to rupture.” (C)

“But they could not, I fired from such a huge distance~.”

“The next time you do this, at least warn us.” (X)

“How…?”

“When you have such a stupid idea, first come find us and think this through. Easy, right?” (X)

Instead of keeping clearing my fault, I focused on the preparations. I loaded a few old men with 14’’ shells. I needed to move the shells from the other turrets to the Y turret which has no ammo. I still have more than 400 shells but the explosion made my stockpile a bit more limited.

I just need to wait until the king calls for me.