Spoons clinking on porcelain plates faintly echoed in the dining room as I was having my lunch. With me of course, was my family. Yehey! The family has been complete after a long while now that the Elder brother had returned. How excited am I really though? Maybe a bit……..

Of course I am exaggerating — maybe. I think I am. Not like I personally talked with my brother for a long time. But I love his gift, so he kinda grew on me. Maybe that’s the source of my little excitement in our unity. Father, Mother, Brothers, and me, their beautiful daughter, precious and delicate, someone to be protected, eating their meal together, this assembly alone was a cause for excitement.

Now, how was my dish? Well, back to average. Ugh, where’s the yummy food that was catching up to my modern times? Answer, they’re gone, they’ll return no more. Being Allie the traitor that she was, she’s in prison at the moment.

She was the source of delicious and developing cuisines, so what a shame. I imagine she might still be being tortured. How did I know? Oh come on, of course I know. Vernon was pretty constrained in telling any details about their “interrogation” — how adorable, trying to hide the dark fate which befell Allie.

More than that, like come on, she threatened royalty, and we’re like in a medieval era. Torture once in a while should be pretty common. That being said, I did notice that Wisteria almost had that so-called “human rights” implemented here, no slavery and all, and proper treatment to the normal citizens of a demesne of a noble.

But I guess, good they may appear on the surface, this kingdom can get pretty dark underneath. Can’t blame them though, sometimes such measures were just necessary. Even in my old world.

The government appeared to be so keen on carrying out “human rights”, but what do you know, torturing people was more common than you thought. Especially when it comes to gathering information about terrorists. They’re pretty ruthless — even if you tell them you’re innocent, even though you truly are, they’ll hurt you badly, even if they only suspect you.

Well, not that I care, as long as it’s not happening to me. Anyone comes hurting me, I’ll hurt them back, I’ll hurt them so bad. If a man tries to torture me or has already tortured me? I’ll tie him up tightly and slowly cut off his penis and make him chew it. I’ll also burn his balls while I’m at it.

If it’s a woman, I’ll stab a knife into her vagina and twist it around. Maybe also make a slit through her breast.

Ew, okay...

Looks like we got to a pretty dark turn, my apologies. This was supposed to be a delightful meal. I’m no sadist, by the way. I’m not! I just get enraged and I wouldn’t be satisfied without getting vengeance in some way. Of course that may in turn result in me getting payback tenfold or some shit like that.

Now what’s me only giving examples of damaging their sexual organs? Well, people hate it when something terrible happens to their “precious organs.” I mean, who wouldn't, right? That’s nasty. Isn’t that nasty for you too? Yeah, I know I just made you uncomfortable...

But of course it’s not nasty enough for me to not commit it.

Okay, maybe it’s nasty, but I wouldn’t be disgusted if they deserved it.

Alright! That’s enough of that! I don’t know why we got to that topic. Just focus on the food.

Yum yum yum — not yum yum. Ugh, the food was underwhelming, but at least not that bad since the first. Maybe they learned a thing or two from Allie. Speaking of which, it has been a while since I have visited that place, so I don’t particularly know what’s up with the staff now.

Should I visit? I still don’t know yet. I’m sure they were utterly shocked to hear that Allie just tried to kill me. Oh well… they’re currently at a lower priority, so I’ll get back in there when I feel like it.

In any case, time to take a break from thinking a lot. Keeping working without resting is bad for your health, so I’ll take any carefree moment I could get — even though I should have the luxury of relaxing most of the day now I’m free from the bounds of the organization and no one can tell me what I should do.

Fuck you world!

I took a spoonful of the food. You know what, I think I should support the kitchen by cooking food. I mean, I eat their food every day so the least I could do so I, myself, get more satisfaction is to help them. Me being “unreliable in the kitchen” type of stuff my old friends say was nonsense — no way I’m p-plain in the culinary department.

Besides, they play me around often, so they must be carrying out that teasing to heart…….

My food tastes good!

Ugh, am I in denial and my brain just automatically thinks the food I eat is delicious because I made it? Certainly not! I think… Alright, I’m really not a choosy eater, it’s just that, this time is different.

Being royalty gotta have a standard to my way of living and this above all applies to food.

“So, son, anything new with our talks with Myra? You didn’t look troubled so it must have gone well.”

My father asked Eleden.

Guess we’ll be talking politics while eating. Am I interested though? Eh, why not? I’m here anyway, not like I can just escape amidst lunch.

“They have agreed for a joint military exercise, of course the schedule needs to be discussed with you, Father, and their other officials. With this, we can conclude our cooperative alliance has turned more solid.”

“As a country of knights, we should be thankful they are kinder than our other particular neighbor.”

“Yes, now that you mention it, I should mention now that Myra had increased the number of soldiers guarding their border between them and Tornridge.”

Ah, that empire. It was the empire that, to remind you, basically described within our nation as a barbaric country. Lies East of Wisteria, the empire ruled a vast amount of land. To put it in perspective, hmm, let’s see, their territory was maybe roughly half the size of Australia?

Quite big, huh? Scary. And my precious kingdom was around less than half of that. Well, Tornridge just loved conquering small countries in the past, turning the places they conquered from countries to mere provinces or states.

Of course, they couldn’t easily conquer powerful countries such as Wisteria. Perhaps that’s why they have gotten quiet for centuries — yup, their last conquering was centuries ago. However, hostilities were still there. This actually made me wonder if their relationships were just bad with other countries and if they still had a passion for conquering.

Well, they have been pretty quiet, so maybe a little. But Myra moving to strengthen their borders could mean there had been ominous movements amidst Tornridge.

“That is to be expected. Only recently, our spies discovered more military activities than the previous years within the empire. More military exercises, and flow of weapons.”

“Knowing that you must have already sent more men to guard the borders.”

“Yes, and we have been more strict in allowing entry of merchants from the empire. If they try to invade though, I’m sure we can certainly wipe them out.”

If I recall correctly, the area between Wisteria and Tornridge, and within our territory, was a mountainous region. Our army might have utilized that terrain and did necessary preparation in case the empire tried to send their army for an invasion.

Ugh, what a pain. Don’t countries ever get tired or contented? It seems like a pain in the ass to me, increasing the territory even though you already have a wide one.

“If that doesn’t work, we still have plenty of gifts.”

“Father, you have yet to tell us about this gift.”

Estevan finally joined the conversation, appearing to be curious about the gifts Father was talking about. Yeah, I was also curious, but I’ll remain all innocent and clueless about anything and have a leisurely mealtime.

“Ah, Estelia, you have sauce on the side of your lips. Let me.”

My mother said to me and picked up a table napkin, gently rubbing the smear off my face.

“T-Thank you…”

Time with my mother was more enjoyable than listening intently to this troubling stuff.

“Be more delicate, okay? You need to be more mindful about how you eat when you socialize.”

“I understand…”

Strange, why was mother thinking about me socializing? Was she thinking about doing something?

Then the boys continued their serious talk.

“Only the crowned monarchs may know about them.”

“That’s a shame,” Estevan commented.

“Furthermore, father, I also had them sign an agreement to help each party when an invading force entered our domains, as you wanted.”

“Good, they have been a bit reluctant to offer their military support last time. Their army must have grown a lot since then.”

“Soon, Myra will be officially joining our alliance. With this, if Tornridge tries to invade any country we are allied with, it will have to face the might of two or three large nations.”

Only large nations? I mean, there were smaller countries around. If they’re a part of the allied forces, then they might get the support of the three superpowers. But if one of the superpowers gets attacked, it is unlikely the smaller countries will help since their military wouldn’t be all that impressive and would rather use their own to protect themselves first, so only the rest of the superpowers would help the other — but I suppose they will be aiding the small countries in need. But in the end, it’s up to the nation’s leader.

Now, how come Tornridge isn’t shaking in their boots? Well, they were pretty much a massive nation, so with their numbers, they should be able to handle the forces of both Myra and Wisteria at the same time.

“Now, if only the Eventon Republic would join our alliance.”

“They are still firm with their neutral stance?” Eleden asked.

“Yes. It would appear they put their businesses and trading above all else. Their naval forces would be a big help in case things escalate.”

Hm, so the major participants of this alliance were Wisteria, Myra, and Valaies. With those guys together, I’ll be safe, right? Damn Eventon better don’t backstab us. Imagine our forces were focused on the east, then suddenly the south just started attacking our asses.

Ugh! Is this gonna be another headache?! I don’t want another one. I still have bastards trying to fuck with me.