In less than an hour, Red Ponytail and Louise returned to Tolisstin, bringing news of the complete annihilation of the Albion Royalists and that letter.

"Is that so......?"

Henrietta listened to Louise’s report with a face full of sorrow.

"I really didn’t expect Baron Waludo to be a traitor, I didn’t expect there to be a traitor in the Magic Guard Squad......"

Henrietta looked at the letter in her hand as tears streamed down.

"I actually sent the traitor away...... "

"Her Royal Highness...... "

Louise looked at Henrietta, unsure of what to say, and after a brief pause, Henrietta calmed down and softly asked.

"Did he read my letter to the end?"

"Yes."

Upon hearing Louise’s response, Henrietta let out a long sigh and then turned to Louise with a smile.

"Don’t worry, Louise, you completed the task well and successfully brought back the letter. With this, measures have been taken to thwart the plot to hinder the marriage, and now our nation can smoothly form an alliance with Germania. This way, Albion wouldn’t dare easily attack us — the crisis has passed, Louise."

"Indeed, Your Highness...... "

Hearing this, a smile also appeared on Louise’s face, but suddenly a voice interrupted.

"I say...... are you serious?"

"SABER?"

The two turned their heads, only to see Red Ponytail sitting on a nearby chair, watching them listlessly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said. The crisis is past? What a joke, the real problem is coming."

"The real problem is coming?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Henrietta and Louise looked at each other, and the old man behind Henrietta furrowed his brow, looking towards Red Ponytail.

I didn’t realize this Princess was so sharp with minor matters, but muddled with major ones...... oh well, history has seen many women like this, adept at palace intrigue but ineffective at political management. Not everyone can be Empress Wu Zetian.

"Let me put it bluntly then."

Red Ponytail extended a hand, pointing at the table.

"For Albion, Tolisstin is but a small nation, attacking it is effortless, right?"

"...... Although it’s hard to accept, it’s indeed true."

"Yeah, so Tolisstin is just a fish on the chopping board for Albion, ready for them to do with as they please. Naturally, Albion intended to deal with Tolisstin carefully, marinate it and give it a slow cook. They tried to sabotage your marriage plan so that they could feast meticulously later. But now, having failed, slow cooking isn’t an option. What should they do then?"

At this point, Red Ponytail spread her hands.

"It’s simple; if the hassle is out of reach, just knock the fish out cold, scale it, salt it, and roast it — it’s just as good."

"But, we’ve already formed an alliance with Germania! Isn’t the Princess supposed to marry the King there?"

Now Louise shouted aloud, and Red Ponytail nodded.

"Sure, marriage seals the alliance, but the problem is you haven’t wed yet, right? The Princess and that King haven’t walked down the aisle. If I were Albion, having the first plan fail, I’d just attack before the wedding. The alliance isn’t signed, the marriage isn’t held; they could just seize Tolisstin and capture the Princess and Queen once they come over, wouldn’t they?"

Hearing this, Henrietta and others’ faces changed.

"Mazzarieni!"

Henrietta quickly turned to look at the old man behind her.

"What do you think is the likelihood of this happening?"

"This...... Forgive my candor, but the young lady has a point."

The Minister of Military Affairs pondered for a moment, then nodded solemnly.

"Frankly, we hadn’t considered this possibility before. But truthfully, there is such a possibility, as Tolisstin is relatively weaker than Albion...... "

At this point, the old man’s voice turned slightly bitter.

"How could it be this way...... "

Hearing this, Henrietta’s face went pale.

"Please, stay calm, Your Highness. The wedding day is already set. If we monitor Albion’s movements carefully before then, there shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I believe from now we should start preparing for the wedding ceremony as an excuse to declare martial law across the Kingdom and instruct all regions to strictly control their forces, not giving Albion a chance...... "

"Hmph, if they’ve got big enough fists to clobber you, any excuse will do, why bother making it so complicated...... "

"You’re wrong there, SABER."

Upon hearing Red Ponytail’s mocking words, Louise pursed her lips in displeasure.

"Wars should have just cause! Without a valid cause, wouldn’t it be considered invasion? Even Albion’s citizens wouldn’t accept it!"

"Just cause is easy to drum up, isn’t it? Like if I slapped someone, I could claim their face attacked my hand and then beat them up good."

"Their face...... "

"Attacked your hand......?"

At this, Henrietta and Louise showed strange expressions.

"What kind of reasoning is that?"

"It’s twisted logic, but if you refuse to believe it, I’ll just cut you down. See if you’ll buy it then."

"This...... "

At this point, neither had anything to say.

"Hehe."

Speaking of this, Red Ponytail stood up and stretched lazily.

"In my world, we say that a weak country has no diplomacy, you guys just think of solutions."

After saying this, Red Ponytail turned to leave, then seemed to remember something, pulled a ring from her pocket and placed it on the table.

"Oh, by the way, Princess, the Crown Prince asked me to give you this."

"This is..."

Looking at the ring on the table, Henrietta’s eyes slightly widened, then she reached out to pick up the ring and put it on her finger. She gazed at the ring, then bowed her head.

"Thank you..."

"You’re welcome, it was nothing."

Red Ponytail waved her hand and left the room, and for a while, none of the three spoke.

After a long pause, the Minister of Military Affairs sighed deeply.

"A weak country has no diplomacy..."

Thereafter, time continued to move forward.

Henrietta acted quickly, particularly after Red Ponytail’s reminder. Almost on the third day after Red Ponytail and Louise returned to the academy, the marriage between Princess Henrietta of the Kingdom of Tolisstin and King Albrecht III of the Kingdom of Germania was announced, scheduled to take place in a month, along with a military alliance.

And the establishment of the new Albion government was announced a day after the alliance. Albion declared the abolition of the imperial system, turning into a republic, while the Noble Council dispatched envoys to the Kingdoms of Tolisstin and Germania to negotiate the signing of a Non-Aggression Pact, which allowed both countries to breathe a sigh of relief.

Back at the academy, Louise proudly shared this news with Red Ponytail.

"That’s what I said, SABER, you’re too alarmist. Look, Albion saw their plan fail and just gave up. As long as a peace treaty is signed, there’s no problem."

"Hehe." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Red Ponytail merely shrugged at Louise’s words.

Joking, Tolisstin and Germania combined aren’t even rivals to Albion, why would they care about signing an agreement with you? Only powerful countries make treaties effective. Though Tolisstin is small, its status is no better than that of Yugoslavia, about the same as Black Mountain.

To them, the effectiveness of such a peace treaty is no better than toilet paper.

And not even good for wiping, a real loss.

However, after this trip, Louise did change.

For example...

"Uh... uh..."

Here she goes again.

Red Ponytail sighed, turned her head, and saw Louise, lying next to her, curled up and quietly sobbing. Red Ponytail didn’t know what role that Viscount played in Louise’s heart, but after the Viscount died, Louise basically had nightmares every night.

And every time...

"Alright, don’t cry, don’t cry..."

Red Ponytail reached out, gently stroking Louise’s hair. Feeling Red Ponytail’s touch, Louise immediately turned around, hugged Red Ponytail tightly, and buried her head in her arms. Subsequently, she seemed much more relaxed and quickly fell into a peaceful sleep with a smile gracing her lips.

"Didn’t see that coming, she really did like that guy."

If Red Ponytail recalled correctly, Louise had told her before how she used to go to the boat by the lake and cry because magic studies weren’t going well, and every time Waludo would find her, comfort her, and cheer her up. But unexpectedly, the person who was so gentle to her only wanted to use her...

So Waludo, you’re really a failed antagonist.

Thinking of this, Red Ponytail shook her head helplessly, remembering how many animations depicted antagonists raising a little girl, making her devoted and loyal, "XX gave me a home, I will give him everything!"

Yet for you, with your sporadic efforts, it ended up like this, can’t even qualify as a proper antagonist, raised her for so many years and couldn’t win her loyalty, ended up being betrayed instead. Is this like, boyfriend not as good as bestie? You can’t even win against a woman, embarrassing!

Just shows your technique is lacking.

You’re just suited for being a background character.

In certain unspeakable games, you’d have long manipulated Louise this and that, brainwash her to approach the Princess this and that, then approach the Queen this and that... Isn’t that a simple way to seize the entire country?

Look at your disgraceful self!

Of course, Louise didn’t know what she did at night, and Red Ponytail never told her, or with Louise’s self-esteem, if she knew she was secretly crying in bed, she’d directly jump off the building in shame.

Yet days later, Louise approached Red Ponytail with a complex expression and showed her a book.

"What’s this?"

Looking at a blank page in front of her, Red Ponytail was utterly confused.

"Actually, I was just called by the Headmaster and told that Princess Henrietta appointed me as the Shrine Maiden for the wedding chant ceremony..."

"Yeah, so?"

"Traditionally, each Shrine Maiden must recite prayers from this ’Founder’s Prayer Book’ at the wedding."

"Mm... but there’s not a single word on this?"

Red Ponytail picked up the book and flipped through it, hearing this, Louise also dejectedly bowed her head.

"I have no idea what’s going on!"

"Mm... let me see, is this a fake?"

"How could it be? This is the genuine article handed down by the Royal Family!"

"True, if this were fake, it wouldn’t be so carelessly made... Hmm?"

Right then while flipping through this prayer book, Red Ponytail suddenly froze.

Because from this prayer book, Red Ponytail felt the same Power of the Void that reverberated on Louise!

This thing is real?