Chapter 73. Duke Charlotte Vicela, by...
Emperor Nergard watched as Ai Ying completely ignored him and bypassed him to deal directly with the Crown Princess of the Empire, a dark glint flashing in his eyes.
But he quickly composed himself and looked at Ai Ying with affection.
It seems that no matter what she does, he will fully support her.
This includes her handling of the Imperial Crown Princess.
The imperial nobles and military commanders surrounding the palace finally realized what was happening:
It turns out that the Insect Queen is not only human, but also a descendant of the Landis family.
She is the heir to the throne with the same status as Crown Princess Claudia!
No wonder the Crown Princess would target the Insect Queen without considering the consequences, spreading the message that the Insect Queen was human.
The existence of the insect queen poses a great threat to the Crown Princess.
Everyone's minds were in complete chaos. They were unable to comprehend what the Queen of Insects' identity represented or what impact it would have on the Empire. They could only stare blankly at the Queen of Insects not far away.
Under everyone's gaze, Ai Ying quietly looked at Claudia, whose face was contorted and who desperately wanted to live.
The original owner once wanted to live a good life, even if it meant living on a wasteland planet.
And she didn't want to die when she was on Carlo.
If Claudia really didn't do anything to the original owner of the abandoned planet, then she might actually have a chance to survive.
But what if she didn't give the original owner a chance to live...?
Ai Ying felt no emotion whatsoever:
Claudia's life was actually always in her own hands.
Ai Ying's mental energy surged into the brain of the person in front of her without hesitation, allowing her to experience the original owner's last period of life on the abandoned planet in the illusion.
However, her mental strength far surpassed Claudia's. Even though she only used less than one percent of her mental strength, it was still too much for Claudia's brain to handle.
Finally, the spiritual energy overflowing from Claudia was projected into the air.
All of humanity can see her experiences in the illusion.
Beside an abandoned garbage dump.
Claudia slowly opened her eyes, and after looking around at the scene, her first reaction was not panic, but ecstasy:
Ai Ying actually retained her memories!
Her mind contained all the memories of the past twenty years; her top-notch education, her practice and control of mental power—none of it had disappeared.
How could someone like her possibly die on a desolate planet?
Claudia clenched her fists:
Just now, Ai Ying said in front of all the humans and Zerg, "As long as Claudia can survive on the wasteland, we will let her go."
Now that she is the queen of the Zerg, she certainly cannot go back on her word.
Now, she can finally live!
Even if she was imprisoned in a palace, even if she was exiled to a lower planet, all she wanted was to live!
Claudia quickly came to her senses.
Only then did she smell the nauseating stench permeating the surroundings.
Waste planets have always been the places where the Empire's garbage is stored.
This garbage contains various toxic industrial wastes, some foul-smelling fermenting substances of unknown origin, and nutrient solutions that were discarded because they were substandard and harmful to health...
These things piled up together, slowly devouring all life on the planet.
Humans stranded on a desolate planet, even if they manage to escape attacks from those around them and planetary upheavals, can only live for a maximum of thirty or forty years under such conditions.
Claudia lived a life of luxury from birth.
She smelled the surrounding odors and barely managed to suppress the nausea that made her want to vomit.
She looked up, wanting to observe her surroundings.
Then she saw a human, thin as a skeleton and covered in filth, crawling around in a stinking pile of garbage, searching for something with his hands.
Watching him pull out a bottle of nutrient solution from a pile of sticky, fermented matter that looked like vomit and eagerly gulp it down, she couldn't hold back any longer and gagged.
However, after twenty years of royal education, Claudia forced herself to look away and immediately feel the state of her body.
Her current mental strength level is only D-, and her body is very weak due to prolonged malnutrition and hunger.
Claudia glanced in the direction of the garbage heap, then turned around expressionlessly and walked away into the distance.
She needed to find food as soon as possible. (Outside the illusion.)
Ai Ying looked at the scene in mid-air, lowered her eyes gently, and there was no sense of vengeful pleasure in them.
She just felt sorry for the original owner who was desperately trying to survive on the abandoned planet.
In such a terrible environment, the original owner barely managed to survive until adulthood, only to die in a planetary riot that should never have happened.
Not far away, the imperial nobles looked disgusted at the environment surrounding the crown princess.
They've always had the best of everything since they were little, and they've never seen anything so disgusting.
Many nobles thought to themselves with disdain:
Even if they starve to death, they would never do what that human did and scavenge for food in the garbage dump.
As the imperial generals stared at the scene in the illusion, many of them were stunned.
They rarely experienced such harsh conditions, even on the battlefield.
They unconsciously looked at Ai Ying:
Did the Insect Mother live in such a scene for more than ten years?
As for the Zerg.
All the insects had no idea whether Claudia lived or died.
However, upon realizing that Claudia's experience was the same as that of the former king, the lower insects' vertical pupils suddenly contracted, and their antennae straightened into a straight line.
When they learned that the king possessed human genes, they showed no reaction whatsoever; their insect bodies didn't even flinch.
But when they learned about the king's past, their insect bodies trembled, and the surrounding atmosphere became increasingly dangerous.
The lord insects clenched their fists tightly, barely suppressing their urge to destroy all the humans around them.
They must obey the king.
The king did not order them to kill anyone, so they absolutely could not do so.
Fiedlock felt the agonizing pain of the worm core twisting, his dark purple pupils filled with self-loathing:
Why didn't he find the king sooner?
Why didn't he go into human territory to search for the king's whereabouts?
If he had found the king sooner, would the king have avoided all that...?
By this time, two days had passed in the illusion, and Claudia finally realized that on the abandoned planet, the only food humans could eat was the disgusting and toxic nutrient solution found in the garbage dump.
She had no other choice.
Driven by prolonged hunger, she could no longer care about anything else and, with her eyes closed, trembling, searched through the garbage heap.
She finally found the nutrient solution in the garbage dump, and as she was about to drink it despite feeling nauseous, two humans suddenly tried to snatch it from her.
Claudia refused to let go, and the next second she was viciously pushed down onto the garbage heap by these two humans who she would normally despise.
When she woke up again, she was back to the time when she first woke up.
Feeling the pain of not being able to breathe, she realized that she had just died once.
She didn't know why Ai Ying gave her a second chance, but all she could do now was desperately try to survive on the abandoned planet.
Starting over, Claudia didn't hesitate this time and quickly found the nutrient solution in the garbage and drank it.
This time, she managed to hold on until the third day, but ultimately died in the planet's riot.
Upon waking, Claudia suddenly remembered that the riots on the planet were orchestrated by Marquis Ian on her orders.
Going forward, the riots on the abandoned planet will only become more frequent.
After that, the waste planet will be completely destroyed under her orders.
At that point, her only fate will be death.
Claudia clenched her fists, her eyes filled with regret. It was unclear whether she regretted that she shouldn't have been so ruthless towards Ai Ying, or that she should have been even more ruthless and killed Ai Ying outright, leaving her no chance of survival.
But it's too late to regret it now.
She died once more amidst frequent planetary turmoil, but finally managed to survive to the end.
Then, she died in the planetary explosion she had orchestrated.
When Claudia woke up for the fourth time, her gaze had turned crazed.
She knew that she had banned all species from traveling to the abandoned planet's starships in the name of a planetary uprising.
Except for... the Zerg.
Claudia bit her lower lip hard:
Ai Ying was able to survive the Zerg's pincers and even become the Zerg Queen. As a fellow Lantis bloodline, she can definitely do it too!
With a heavy heart, she boarded the starship bound for Carlo.
On the planet Carlo.
Like all humans, she toiled daily, chiseling stone under the cold, vertical gaze of the Zerg.
She believed that as long as she lived, she would definitely experience what Ai Ying had experienced, and she would definitely find a way to control the Zerg.
But no.
She didn't encounter any extraordinary adventures.
Without the Queen's reassurance, the Zerg could easily descend into madness.
In the end, Claudia died under the pincers of the rioting Zerg.
The next time, she stubbornly continued her journey to the Zerg.
This time, after landing on Carlo Star, she tried to control the Zerg with her mental power, just like Ai Ying did.
She and Ai Ying are siblings from the same mother; what Ai Ying can do, she can most likely do as well.
This time, the ending was still death.
No matter how many times she tried on Carlo, it was still to no avail.
Her spiritual power was also on the verge of exhaustion with each rebirth.
When Claudia awoke again on the abandoned planet, she collapsed to the ground in despair.
She finally realized that she had blocked every possible path to survival for herself.
If you stay on the abandoned planet, you will eventually perish along with it.
If you board the only starship and go to the Zerg, you will die under their pincers.
Her ultimate fate could only be death.
Many nobles felt a pang of sympathy after witnessing Claudia's tragic end, trapped and dying on the desolate planet, and resolved never to offend the Queen of Insects again.
Even if the Queen of Insects wanted to do something to the human empire, they absolutely could not resist.
If they resist, they will be the next ones to die such a terrible death.
The military commanders on the other side reacted differently from the nobles. Several generals even looked at the queen with a hint of subtle admiration:
This is how a mother insect grows in adversity...
Having survived and grown up under such harsh conditions on a desolate planet, and even after becoming the Queen of Insects, she did not harbor resentment towards the world because of her past.
After she took control of the Zerg, she brought peace to all Zerg, preventing them from running rampant as before, and making the entire interstellar space much more peaceful than before.
Several generals, recalling the causes of death of countless generals over the years, couldn't help but think:
If empires had kings like this...
The generals lowered their heads, not daring to think too deeply.
Emperor Nergard, protected at the very center by the nobles and generals, quietly watched his daughter Claudia experience everything in the illusion.
Even her death did not stir the slightest emotion in him.
When Ai Ying turned to look at him, he frowned slightly, his golden pupils looking at her with helplessness and guilt.
Before she could impatiently look away, he spoke in a trembling voice:
"It was my fault."
"I am not a good father."
Nergard knew that Ai Ying's current status was far too powerful and noble, so he only looked guilty and said vaguely:
"I failed to discipline my daughter properly, and I failed to take good care of... my daughter."
It seemed as if he had a million words he wanted to say, but in the end, they all turned into a sigh.
Nergard trembled slightly with excitement at the mere thought of Ai Ying's current status as the Insect Queen.
A daughter who can control the Zerg would bring immense benefits to him and the Empire.
But he also knew that nothing should be rushed.
With so many Zerg here today, he needs to be extremely careful with every word he says.
Ultimately, Ai Ying carries the blood of the Landis family.
As long as they can keep in touch in the future, he is confident that he can achieve his goal.
Thinking of this, Nergard spoke softly to Ai Ying:
"I wonder what the Insect King likes?"
As if to make amends for something, he continued:
"I have some treasures in my treasury. I wonder if the Insect King would do me the honor of taking a look? Take whatever you like."
Ai Ying felt a little disgusted when she saw that Nergard showed no grief for Claudia's death, but instead immediately put on a loving fatherly expression full of remorse for her.
She didn't believe that Claudia, as the ruler of the empire, could hide her actions from him.
She didn't believe in Nergard and truly didn't know that the original owner was still alive or what kind of life the original owner was living.
He pretended not to know, simply because the original owner of the body had no value.
How could someone who is so heartless to the daughter he raised for twenty years have any feelings for a daughter he has never seen since she was a child?
Ai Ying expressionlessly shifted her gaze away from Nergard:
She remembered that Isaiah had reported to her on the movements of the human empire some time ago.
Humans seem quite dissatisfied with the current peaceful situation of the Zerg.
She also saw the high-tech weapons that humans had designed specifically to deal with the Zerg when she was in military school.
She loves peace, but that doesn't mean that humanity thinks the same way.
If the two sides were to engage in battle, the casualties would be devastating.
Ai Ying's eyes showed a hint of irritation:
The original owner's identity is also a considerable problem.
Even if she keeps her distance from the human empire, there's no guarantee that the human emperor won't occasionally use that 'Lantis bloodline' to annoy her.
Just as Ai Ying frowned slightly, thinking about how to resolve the troubles brought by the Human Empire and the Human Emperor, a faint sound of a starship landing suddenly came from afar.
In the tense situation, no one paid attention to that subtle sound.
After Charlotte disembarked from the starship, she didn't even glance at the dark mass of insectoids around her, nor at the emperors and nobles of the empire.
She immediately looked at Ai Ying, and only when she saw that Ai Ying was safe and sound did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Charlotte didn't even have the strength to smile; her hands were on her knees, and her chest was heaving violently.
That's great, Ai Ying is alright!
After Charlotte learned that the news that "Ai Ying is a fake Insect Queen" was spreading across the interstellar space, she immediately ordered people to control the information.
But it was no use; the person who spread the message was far more powerful than her.
In less than half an hour, the message was spreading to the species around the Zerg.
In such a short time, she only had time to back up the evidence that the emperor had killed all the generals and set the sending time.
Then she quickly prepared her weapon starship and headed towards the Zerg territory without hesitation.
If she dies, this evidence will be regularly sent to all the generals of the empire.
Charlotte hated the mastermind behind the spread of the message, but she knew that Ai Ying's safety was more important than finding out who had spread the message.
She knew she was no match for the Zerg Overlords.
But at that time, on Carlo Star, Ai Ying also knew that she was no match for that advanced insectoid race.
For her sake, Ai Ying did not back down.
Now, she absolutely cannot just watch Ai Ying get into trouble.
When she arrived near the Zerg territory with a full starship of weapons, she suddenly received news that the Zerg Queen had appeared in the human empire with a large number of Zerg.
After confirming the news with the detection equipment, she rushed back without stopping.
For six consecutive hours, Charlotte didn't even have time to glance at the messages on her personal terminal.
Only after confirming Ai Ying's safety did she finally feel completely at ease.
Just as she was about to look up and get a good look at Ai Ying, the personal terminal in her hand vibrated slightly.
Charlotte snapped back to reality:
Oh no, she forgot to cancel the timer!
Evidence that the emperors caused the deaths of countless imperial generals has been sent to the personal computers of every general.
She looked at the personal terminal, and before she could do anything, she saw the message her subordinate had sent her.
The message recorded what had happened in just two short hours.
Charlotte skimmed the text, only reading what interested her:
It was the Crown Princess who spread the rumor that the Insect Queen was human—
Ai Ying...has the bloodline of the Landis family?!
Ai Ying is the Crown Princess's full sister.
She straightened up blankly and looked ahead.
Chaos had broken out at the palace gates.
The Zerg did not destroy the StarNet signal, so every general received the messages that Charlotte sent regularly.
Looking at the contents, the generals who already knew the inside story were able to control their expressions, but the other generals' faces turned ashen instantly.
Every general who died was a comrade-in-arms who fought alongside them on the interstellar battlefield.
They bled together, and were seriously injured and on the verge of death together.
They had painstakingly exchanged their blood for peace in the empire, only to die at the hands of the very emperor they served.
Just because of those machines—
However, even without the core gem forging machine, the Empire can still crush all species except the Zerg!
Even without the core gem, the empire's economy will still be fine!
The Imperial Supreme Commander, who was at the head of the group, raised his head from the quantum computer and looked at Emperor Nergard, who stood high above him not far away, with trembling eyes.
This time, there was no longer any respect or loyalty in his eyes.
He suppressed his chill and asked, word by word:
"Did His Majesty really kill twenty-seven imperial generals for the sake of the machine that forged the core gem?"
When Nergard heard his voice, his heart skipped a beat:
How could he know about the core gem!
He quickly composed himself, his gaze turning icy as he questioned:
"Who gave you the audacity to slander me, the Emperor!"
At this moment, the general, whose rank was second only to the highest-ranking general, also stepped forward.
His voice trembled:
"Then please explain the true cause of General Versella's death, Your Majesty."
"Please explain, Your Majesty, why the machine for forging the core gem suddenly became usable after General Vera's death."
"Please explain, Your Majesty, why the time of death of each general perfectly coincides with the repair time of the machine for forging the core gems."
All the generals knelt on one knee, their eyes fixed on the emperor, awaiting his answer.
Nergard was in a state of utter confusion.
He did not have strong control over the army; he only appointed a few dozen generals to command the army.
Only a few people are able to appear here, and they are not capable of changing the status quo at all.
He didn't know who had leaked the information, but he absolutely couldn't admit it.
Nergard calmed down and went straight for the weaknesses of all the generals:
"You expect me to explain this baseless accusation to you in this situation, in front of the Zerg?!"
"Do you want other species to know that the Empire is embroiled in internal strife?!"
"Do you think the empire has been at peace for too long and want to destabilize it?!"
His gaze was calm, but his heart held a chilling killing intent.
To ensure his safety, no one outside the palace is allowed to carry offensive weapons.
Once the Zerg have left, it will be the best time to kill them.
With Ai Ying's identity here, the Empire will not clash with the Zerg in the short term, and will have time to continue to slowly cultivate more obedient generals.
The vast majority of the generals here have experienced countless battlefields, both large and small.
Each of them put the safety of the empire before their own.
Upon hearing the emperor's words, even though each general already guessed the truth, they could only bow their heads and dare not ask any more questions.
Now besieged by the Zerg army—
Empire is of paramount importance.
Seeing that all the generals had fallen silent, Nergard secretly breathed a sigh of relief:
The military... should have been replaced long ago.
Not far away, Charlotte also overheard the conversation between the emperor and the generals.
She clenched her fists tightly:
It's disheartening to have an emperor like this in an empire.
if--
At this moment, Charlotte suddenly remembered the thoughts she had when she left Carlo.
She wanted power and wanted to protect the people she wanted to protect.
What if... what if the person she wanted to protect could possess supreme status and power?
If Ai Ying had the protection of the Emperor, wouldn't she have a better chance of surviving when faced with rumors and suspicion from the Zerg?
Moreover, she knew how kind Ai Ying was.
She also knew how much the Zerg had changed compared to before.
If Ai Ying were to become the emperor of the empire, humanity would only live a better life.
Charlotte recalled the message she had just seen on the personal terminal, and her gaze gradually hardened:
And Ai Ying's identity.
As a descendant of the Landis family, it was only natural for her to inherit the throne.
Now that Nergard has lost the support of the army, it is an opportunity to seize power.
Charlotte took a deep breath and walked step by step to Ai Ying.
Because of the king's past favor towards Charlotte, Isaiah controlled the insectoids behind him, preventing them from harming her.
Charlotte smiled gently at Ai Ying, noticing the sudden look of surprise in her eyes when she saw her.
Then she knelt on one knee, her voice firm and loyal:
"Duke Charlotte Vicela greets Your Majesty."
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Author's Note: Charlotte: Bestie, I'll make you emperor!
Do you have any requests for side stories, my darlings? If the author has any ideas, I'll add them to the side story plan!
I'm giving out red envelopes to all the darlings again today!
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