41. Wanting to be Zhao Yun, but becoming Luo Ping’an

For all the white-haired elven citizens of the Rodland Kingdom, Her Highness Princess Adrelle is a remarkably outstanding and prestigious princess. At least in her tireless efforts to win the hearts of the people, Princess Adrelle has always worked very hard and excellently; she is indeed a very excellent second princess.

That’s right, “excellent.” No one can deny the abilities of the second princess, but… if we must touch upon the topic of “comparison,” the answer drawn by all the royal family members is uniformly the same. The three princesses of the Rodland Kingdom seem to have received the blessings of the great goddess of order, each one surpassing the last. If the second princess is “excellent,” then…

Everyone’s description of the eldest princess, Urasilu, is: perfect.

This is the title of “perfection,” so to achieve the kind of perfection that everyone describes, the princess herself must also exert “perfect” levels of effort. Any troubles within or outside the kingdom, even her sister’s worries, or the various situations brought about by that ‘Saintess’…

Once action is required, it must be resolved perfectly; there can be no wavering, not even a little.

In the next moment, the eldest princess retracted her wandering thoughts. At this moment, Urasilu was sitting upright in her room, but this was certainly not a time for laziness or rest; rather, she was waiting for the arrival of an “opportunity.”

Because… the trouble of “how to ‘resolve’ the elven Saintess Izalis” exceeded initial estimates, even accompanied by some unexpected occurrences, which forced Urasilu to reassess how to handle this matter.

“Sir Silver Knight, please come in.”

As she thought this, Urasilu called the Silver Knight in. With the entrance of this indeed tall and handsome young elven man, a calm gaze was cast, and not even a second passed before he hurriedly lowered his head.

The delay in dismantling the power of the elven Saintess Izalis was largely due to the fact that when she employed the means of a “betrothal,” the Silver Knight suddenly fled.

This was simply a betrayal of her trust, a devaluation of his status. However, when Urasilu later inquired about it, the Silver Knight’s response was even stranger: he said he was only thinking about leaving at that moment, nothing else crossed his mind.

If that truly was his defense, it was rather clumsy. Urasilu was too lazy to pursue it further because… there were now more important matters that required the Silver Knight’s attention.

This matter is called: Let the Silver Knight be a bit more “quiet.”

As her gaze swept over, Urasilu frowned slightly.

“Silver Knight, do you still look angry?”

“No… not at all!”

Urasilu didn’t even listen and continued, “Anger will cloud your judgment, which is meaningless right now. Silver Knight, haven’t you already had your chance? That is the prepared ‘duel’; now is not the time for you to be enraged.”

“I certainly know that!”

The man before her indeed revealed the anger he had been harboring, “So I am waiting! How can I let that unknown fellow ride on my face in front of Izalis for so long!”

The Long Princess’s gaze shifted away from her knight.

Since the idea of forced marriage had failed, she would use the ‘duel’—a means where the opponent could find no allies—to regain the initiative. This was part of her plan. However, since it was called a “duel,” it could only be carried out by the parties involved, namely this Silver Knight.

Previously, the Long Princess might have considered this and that, but now, after experiencing a failure due to the Silver Knight’s own unexpected actions…

Continuing to place all successes and failures on him was clearly no longer appropriate. In a perfect plan, the Silver Knight was not the key at this moment.

So, a slight adjustment was in order.

In the next moment, the Long Princess raised her head.

“Silver Knight, since you are fully prepared, I do not intend to keep you waiting any longer. I will decide the time and place for the duel today, but… only the parties involved and some guards acting as judges may attend. All unrelated individuals are to be restricted, and the Saintess must not appear in such a place filled with blades and swords.”

“What…”

The Silver Knight immediately looked displeased!

“What significance does the duel have if the Saintess is not present!?”

“If she is present, what significance does it have?”

Before the Silver Knight could finish his words, the Long Princess’s gaze had already conveyed her cold words, “Silver Knight, were you there that day to perform, or to win the duel?”

“!”

“Whether the Saintess is present or not, it doesn’t matter, right? As long as you win, our demands will still take precedence.”

The earlier excitement gradually transformed into tension, and in the next moment, the Silver Knight was so flustered that he nearly knelt down.

However, before that could happen, the Crown Princess’s gaze had already shifted elsewhere.

“Please prepare thoroughly; during the upcoming time, there’s no need to continue worrying beside me. Silver Knight, you may leave.”

After sending off the anxious yet pleasantly surprised Silver Knight, the Crown Princess settled back into her chair.

In the quiet room, a figure appeared in the next moment.

“Sis, I hate that man.”

“The Silver Knight is precisely ‘prepared’ for the Elven Saintess; you won’t have to marry him.”

“That’s not the kind of hate I’m talking about… and if he dares to have such thoughts, I’ll make sure he becomes a eunuch at the first opportunity!”

The second princess, Edrial, responded to her sister’s words with a seriousness that left no room for jest.

“I was just thinking: those foreign races around Izalis are all genuine fairy emissaries. While we could temporarily prepare a fairy for the Silver Knight, what if…”

“No need to prepare…”

“Huh?”

“No need to prepare.” The Crown Princess repeated, “The fairies of the kingdom are an important and powerful force; they will not be entrusted to the Silver Knight. Because what the Silver Knight needs to do is merely to ‘duel’ with the other party.”

“As for winning or losing, success or failure…”

In the next moment, her gaze, calm to the point of being devoid of emotion, turned toward her sister, conveying an additional meaning in her words, “None of it matters, nor is it relevant. What we need to do is seize the initiative and the advantage, rather than get tangled up in the unknown outcomes of success or failure, sister. Besides… do you think there’s anyone among the fairies in the kingdom who would willingly acknowledge the Silver Knight as their master?”

“……”

Silence fell, and after a long while, the Crown Princess slowly spoke.

“I thought you would find this joke amusing.”

“How could I?!”

Princess Aiderel complained, “I’m getting goosebumps, sis!”

——

Yesterday’s lottery draw: The stars are all shining (1 point)