Chapter 38: The Queen’s Mastery in Arguments
As Airael had anticipated, during her preparations for the Elven Royal Air Force, the Elven Lords who caught wind of it hurried to the royal city.
After a bit of time, they regrouped in the royal city.
Before they met with Airael, the Elven Queen, Linis took the opportunity to meet with them first.
Her purpose was simple.
She aimed to understand the opinions of these Elven Lords and to persuade those who were uncooperative appropriately.
Of course, for better effect,
Linis didn’t gather all the Elven Lords for a group discussion; instead, she spoke to them one at a time.
Within the Elven Royal Palace, Airael occasionally communicated with Linis through magic, keeping track of the talks’ progress.
It turned out that Linis was quite capable and influential.
Two indecisive Elven Lords promised to completely follow Airael, the Elven Queen, both of whom were female.
What remained were those male Elven Lords who hadn’t made their stance clear.
They weren’t foolish either; even if they weren’t completely on board with Airael’s reign, they wouldn’t show it outright.
Their simple thought was: “I’ll be fine as a ‘mountain king’; as long as I don’t mess with you, you won’t bother me either.”
If Airael weren’t such an ambitious queen, perhaps she would tolerate their presence, but unfortunately for them, Airael was aggressively forward-thinking.
Determined to revive the Elven Race and make her mark in this world,
Airael believed that to revive the Elven Race, the scattered power of the elves needed to be unified.
A race that isn’t very strong itself cannot afford to split its power into so many pieces—how could they talk about revival?
Thus, they became obstacles.
Airael would eventually need to remove them.
And that day had finally arrived.
Airael was playing with Anna while pondering over the matters of the next day.
Tomorrow she would meet those Elven Lords.
Anna, who was playing with Airael, was noticeably dissatisfied with Airael’s distracted demeanor, her little mouth pouting high.
But for now, Airael being able to play with her was already a win.
Time quickly passed to the next day.
Airael and the Elven Lords faced each other once more.
However, this time the location was in the Great Hall of the Royal Palace.
Airael sat high upon the throne, looking down upon them.
With a regal demeanor and her immense power, she made six male Elven Lords feel breathless.
The expressions of the male Elven Lords shifted instantly.
“What does Your Majesty mean by this? Why do you attack us as soon as we meet?” Tugur voiced his protest.
“And what are you doing? Who do you think you are, daring to question me?” Airael replied sharply.
“Your Majesty, while your status is noble, we are not so easily bullied,” another male Elven Lord spoke up.
His words were echoed by the other lords, except for Mason, who remained silent.
Airael chuckled lightly and said, “Ha! I am the queen of the Elven Race, and you are my vassals. Before you demand respect from me, I think you should first learn how to show respect to your queen!”
The atmosphere in the Great Hall grew tense right from the start.
The Royal Palace Guards stood still like statues.
But they would quickly spring into action upon Airael’s command.
At that moment, Mason turned his gaze towards Linis, who had been silent.
“Grand Priestess, you didn’t summon us to the royal city just to argue with the queen, did you? This isn’t the right place; the Elven Council is where such matters should occur.”
“The Elven Council is where Elven Lords gather to discuss significant matters. This is the Great Hall of the Royal Palace, where the Queen convenes her subjects to address vital issues. The functions are not too different,” Linis replied.
In truth, she felt quite troubled.
She hadn’t expected Airael to start arguing with them right away.
Where were the wisdom and restraint?
Is this the wisdom you wanted to show me, Your Majesty?
Mason twitched his mouth; while the functions were similar, the significance was far from it.
Thinking back to the conversation he had with Linis yesterday, Mason realized this matter couldn’t be settled easily.
After a quick internal debate, he spoke up, “In that case, my apologies for asking the wrong questions. However, this ruckus in the Great Hall is quite inappropriate.”
Linis pondered and found this indeed was improper, so she took on her “presiding officer” role, saying, “Your Majesty and esteemed Lords, please be silent!”
As soon as she spoke, Airael and the male Elven Lords fell silent.
Kairi and another female Elven Lord looked at Airael on the throne with admiration.
The queen was truly strong, managing to hold her ground against so many.
After arguing with those male Elven Lords, Airael felt much better inside.
During the past time, she had truly felt cramped up.
She was the queen, yet they treated her like she was nothing.
Did they really think she held a death-free pass?
If it weren’t for her concern over identity and face, she would have directly blasted those Elven Lords with a few choice words just to demonstrate the vastness of Chinese culture.
Although she was now an elf, that didn’t stop her from venting her feelings in that manner.
Many of the male Elven Lords had ugly expressions.
Mainly because they had come out empty-handed.
Seeing them at a loss made Airael feel even better. She turned to Linis and asked, “Linis, do you have something to say?”
“Your Majesty, this is the Great Hall of the Royal Palace. What you and the Lords just did is truly inappropriate,” Linis responded.
Airael’s face darkened a bit, and she waved her hand, replying, “This queen understands. I was just a bit carried away.”
To emphasize her authority, she began referring to herself as “this queen” instead of just “I.”
Silence fell over the hall.
However, the many male Elven Lords found it hard to gauge; it wasn’t any better than before.
On the throne, Airael watched their reactions with a subtle smile.
Here, this queen had plenty of home-ground advantage.
Suddenly, Mason spoke up, “Your Majesty, we have always stood guard for you in various places. Today, you have gathered us here; may I inquire as to why?”
“This queen has summoned you all for a simple matter—a matter that only requires you to express your allegiance here,” Airael replied.
With those words, the hall fell silent once more.
