"Mm~"
The drowsy Chris nuzzled against Elashia's legs.
She had a nice dream.
In the dream, her mother hadn't abandoned her in childhood, and she was lying comfortably on her mother's legs, sleeping peacefully.
Seeing that Chris was about to wake up, Elashia and Cecilia exchanged smiles.
Cecilia had also prepared to get to know this future colleague well.
However, Chris did something that caught both of them completely off guard!
"Mother... let me sleep a little longer..."
The drowsy Chris nuzzled against Elashia's legs again.
This made Elashia truly not know whether to laugh or cry.
Mistaking a sixteen-year-old girl for mom—wasn't something wrong here?
And Cecilia, seeing this scene, was also somewhat moved.
After all, she and her sister were also orphans.
Looking at Elashia, Cecilia suddenly discovered—Elashia, stripped of her past conspirator filter, really did have a somewhat motherly feeling.
Whether it was that pink hair color, or those emerald eyes, or that gentle expression, or the habit of considering others...
Thinking of this, Cecilia quickly shook her head vigorously.
How could she have such strange thoughts?
If Elashia knew about this, she would probably be disqualified as a knight.
（−＿−；）
Seeing Elashia's embarrassed state, Cecilia quickly coughed forcefully, helping her Sovereign out of the awkward situation.
Cecilia's coughing made the drowsy Chris somewhat more awake.
She opened her eyes with effort and saw the pink-haired girl smiling awkwardly and the blonde female knight with her hand over her mouth pretending to cough.
"Eh!"
Chris immediately bounced up from Elashia's jade legs.
She looked at Elashia and quickly asked:
"This, this place is..."
Elashia answered with a smile:
"This is the carriage heading to Elasia."
Elashia got up and opened the carriage window, and the marching knights around them came into Chris's view.
Upon hearing the name "Elasia," Chris immediately remembered everything that had happened in the past.
Then she thought of something very important.
Did she just... call Elashia... call her...
Chris didn't dare think further.
Seeing Chris's flushed face, both Cecilia and Elashia smiled.
Elashia covered her mouth and chuckled softly:
"It's fine. It's good for you to rely on me more now. You'll be my subordinate from now on, so please come to me when you have problems you can't solve."
Hearing Elashia's words, Chris remembered—Elashia was now her Sovereign, and she was merely a surrendered subject.
Was it really appropriate for her to ride in the same carriage?
Chris immediately wanted to stand up, but the prepared Cecilia immediately held her down.
After discovering that this seemingly delicate female knight actually possessed strength incomparable to her own, Chris gave up the idea of standing.
After holding Chris down, Cecilia tried her best to show her a friendly smile.
"In Elasia, not every subject needs to bow and prostrate before the Empress. You just need to avoid being rude."
Chris was somewhat surprised.
"Oh, really? I've read some knight novels from your country before, and that's how they were written..."
Cecilia shook her head.
She raised both hands and waved them in front of Chris.
"Ministers are ministers, knights are knights—they're different."
"Oh, I see."
After the commotion ended, all three sat on the carriage seats.
Cecilia first introduced herself to Chris:
"Miss Chris, hello. My name is Cecilia. I'm the military director of the Elasia Empire, mainly responsible for army command and training. I will be cooperating with the Imperial Security Bureau you'll be leading in many areas. Please bear with me."
As a veteran member of the Elasia Empire, Cecilia's somewhat overly modest self-introduction made Chris feel embarrassed instead.
"No, I should be the one asking you to bear with me as a newcomer... Wait, what's the Imperial Security Bureau?"
Chris looked confused.
Cecilia smiled and looked at Elashia.
"Please let Her Majesty the Empress explain this to you. I'm not too clear about your work content either."
Elashia also smiled at Chris:
"Actually, to be honest, I'm not too clear either."
She really wasn't clear about the specific work involved.
That would depend on Candice's arrangements.
She was only responsible for putting suitable talent in suitable positions.
Seeing Chris's expression of "are you kidding me," Cecilia laughed.
"Miss Chris, please don't be surprised. This is how our Elasia Empire works."
When she wasn't familiar with Elashia in the past, she really thought Elashia was pretending.
Later, after spending more time together, she discovered—it turned out her sister Sophia's initial assessment was actually correct!
Elashia really did just put people in suitable positions and then didn't manage anything!
After Elashia directly gave her the military authority of the Imperial Guard, which concerned both the empire and Elashia's own life, she really never interfered with military affairs again!
She didn't even communicate with her about it!
So Cecilia had been very afraid during the period when she was appointed as the Imperial Guard Legion Commander.
Did Elashia have some other intention in doing this?
Was she testing her loyalty?
Had Elashia already prepared to kill her in an instant?
Did Elashia want to threaten her using her sister?
Looking back now, it seemed she had overthought everything.
The reason was simple—after communicating with Candice, Erin, and others, she learned that Elashia not only didn't manage military affairs, she didn't manage politics either!
Now, thinking about how she had almost feared Elashia like a demon lord from hell in the past, Cecilia wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in.
However, this was also what she liked most about Elashia.
Her "hands-off" behavior reflected absolute trust in them.
And precisely because Elashia didn't interfere with military affairs at all, Cecilia could train the Imperial Guard into what she had always wanted.
Elashia scratched her head awkwardly.
"I'm not completely ignorant either. Your work content... is probably to ensure security in the Imperial Capital and throughout Elasia."
"Security?"
Chris asked:
"Are security problems in the Elasia Empire very serious?"
Thinking about how much effort Elashia had put into poaching her, Chris felt that Elasia's security problems must be very serious.
Otherwise, there was no way an empire's empress would go to such lengths to travel to someone else's city-state to poach people.
When they reached this point in their conversation, the carriage had already entered the Imperial Capital.
Hearing Chris's question, Elashia nodded, then shook her head.
"I can't answer that question well right now. Look at this city yourself first."
Elashia opened the carriage curtains to their fullest, and Chris looked out the window.
Neither Elashia nor Cecilia spoke, just quietly watching Chris.
Not much time passed before Chris stopped observing.
"This city doesn't have any serious security problems at all."
Chris came to her conclusion without hesitation.
As an experienced consul, Chris could tell whether a city's security was good just by observing the expressions and states of the citizens.
Never mind anything else—when Chris saw many children in this city happily chasing and playing without adult supervision, she could immediately confirm that this city's security was definitely good.
Elashia nodded.
"That's how it is now, but security problems will be troublesome in the future."
Seeing Chris's confused expression, Elashia said:
"Tomorrow I'll take you to the Royal Magic Academy and you'll understand."