Emelia revealed a smile and helped Duke Kar up. “Lord.. How should I address you?” Duke Kar kept his head down while cleaning himself with his sleeves.

“In private you may refer to me as Yue or simply Empress. In public you must not, I repeat, must not refer to me with those names. I am known as Emelia here and I plan on continuing like that until my Empire comes.” Emelia warned him, her wings and halo becoming faint before fading once again.

She sighed as she fell into the chair. “Oh right, that little vow you made, it has been accepted by the Larystaro Imperium’s Military Court. In my name of Yue Rosefell I grant thee the title ‘Larystaro Imperium’s Vanguard’, or in short, ‘The Vanguard’.

She waved her hand and Duke Kar stood up. “I want a drink, come, bring out anything good you have for us to enjoy.” She peered at the cabinet beside the desk. He followed her gaze and felt helpless. “Come on, share a little.” Emelia chirped happily as she saw him walk towards the cabinet and take out a bottle with green liquid.

“E.. Empress.. This is Tiger Nectar, made from many toxic flowers combined to make this alcohol, it’s extremely strong.” Duke Kar warned her as he took out 2 glasses.

“It’s fine, by the way, you’re one of my people now, call me Yue. The only time you have to refer to me as the Empress is in public or when it is an official matter. I don’t treat my people badly.” Emelia stared at the bottle in his hands.

“Yes.. Yue.” He opened the bottle and began pouring. As he looked at the liquid flowing he felt his emotions fluctuating before settling down.

Hopefully she knows what she’s doing. She’s powerful enough to restrain me despite her only being at the top of Foundation Building stage. I can only see what she does in the future..

As they drank, the sun began to rise. They had drank the whole night, only exchanging a couple of words. 

Duke Kar was snoring in his chair, face flat on the desk with a half empty glass in his hand. Emelia took the glass from his hand and drank it, licking her lips as she savoured it.

“Sleep well General Kar, enjoy this peace while you have it.” She took the blanket which had been spread over her couch and placed it on him. Taking care not to disturb his sleep. While she did this, she invaded his body to see if she could improve the constitution of this subordinates body.

As she tweaked some things she discovered that his meridian system was like a starved man. This location had enough Qi to cultivate yet it was not enough for him.

This was akin to a rich noble who was obese and ate every day suddenly turning into a poor beggar who could barely find any food to eat.

Since she noticed this she tried to open up some more areas for Qi to enter his meridians but quickly stopped. She couldn’t do it with only her power at this stage. 

It seems that I need to find a Pill forger, or whatever these inferiors have. My people cannot be this weak and he definitely won’t move his entire life just to search for an area of high Qi to live in. Perhaps he was banished from somewhere.. Interesting..

Since you have become one of my people, you and your family shall be protected by Larystaro. She placed 2 fingers on his forehead and spoke in the Laryian. A purple image of 2 wings appeared on his forehead, exactly where Emelia had placed her fingers.

In the whole manor, all the descendants of Duke Kar instantly had that same mark, only no one noticed because they had passed out from drinking.

Emelia chuckled to herself, she found this funny. In one moment she was threatening to destroy everything he knew, and in the next she was giving him protection. 

She went to the room she was given by the family and began to meditate, waiting for everyone to awake to see what to do next.