Chapter 59
The bracelet locked onto its owner's face and projected the information onto a light screen in the air, with the distance, angle, and brightness all being just right. Others, whether from the side, front, or back, or even lying on Serinda's shoulder, would never be able to see any punctuation marks on the light screen, thus greatly ensuring the privacy of the information.
Others only saw a faint blue light in front of her, and even that little bit of blue was not very obvious under normal lighting. This agreement, which was expected to be reached smoothly, has been delayed for many years. Now, when it comes to the last signature, there is another change. Although everyone knows that this may be irrelevant private information, it still casts a shadow in their hearts. On both sides of the long table, several people exchanged glances, some frowned slightly, and some shook their heads gently. Although these were very subtle movements, compared with the quietness and solemnity just now, the various small movements now are particularly obvious.
The left prime minister, Sean, laughed as if he saw nothing; the right prime minister kept his eyelids half closed, as if he had fallen asleep.
Serinda's eyes were focused on the screen in front of her, and she was oblivious to the arguments in the audience. After a few seconds, she put away the screen, as if it was just an insignificant piece of information. She smiled faintly and said softly, "I'm sorry to have wasted your time."
At that time, several people breathed a sigh of relief.
Serinda picked up the pen again, paused, and then put it down again. The pen fell on the table with a "click" sound, which made many people's heartbeats suddenly pause.
"Sorry, I suddenly feel a little unwell." Serinda stood up and said, "Let's discuss this contract another day." After saying that, she turned around and left without waiting for others to react. The people standing behind the queen also quickly followed.
"But... Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Please wait a moment..."
Everyone stood up quickly, and several alliance representatives shouted in unison - no matter how unwell he was, could he miss a signature?
However, Serinda seemed to have not heard anything at all and walked out without stopping. After all, she was the emperor of a country, and no matter how unwilling the representatives were, they did not dare to reach out to pull her. They could only watch the skirt with intricate and beautiful patterns disappear at the door.
"Oh my, what should we do? How could this happen?" The leading representative stamped his feet anxiously. He saw Tianchuan slowly standing up and walking past him, so he hurried over and said, "Right Prime Minister, Right Prime Minister, please say something for me! Haven't we reached an agreement on all the opinions? Your Majesty, is this... is this going to go back on your word?"
The representative was not blind, he could naturally see that no matter whether she was the former princess or the current queen, there was always a hint of doubt in Serinda's eyes.
"Please be careful with your words, Representative!" A general from Landia who passed by them said coldly, "His Majesty has never said the word regret, please do not make any assumptions!"
The representative was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, General Leopold, I made a mistake. I don't know... when Your Majesty will have time? The chairman of the alliance has been looking forward to the conclusion of this contract for a long time. We have already sent a message saying that it can be signed today..."
However, General Leopold ignored him and turned away. Right Prime Minister Tagawa walked slowly, and was stared at by the representative. He did not even raise his eyes and said vaguely: "Of course, your Majesty's health is the most important. As for the contract, we will talk about it again after your Majesty recovers... When will you recover? I don't know much about medicine..."
The right prime minister's words diverted the focus, and when the representative tried hard to bring the topic back, the right prime minister had already stepped over the threshold and turned into a corridor. The representative wanted to follow him, but was stopped by two soldiers. Under their indifferent gaze, he had to retreat.
When he returned to the hall, he found that most of the Landia officials had already left. The few remaining were surrounded by the Alliance delegation, but no one said a word. Even the few people who had been pushing this matter and had a tacit understanding with them did not say a word.
The person in charge is confused, but the bystander is clear. After standing by the door and watching for a while, the representative suddenly understood that just like they were confused and flustered by Queen Serinda's sudden change of face, the people of Landia were actually confused. However, before they understood why the queen suddenly changed her mind and reached a unified opinion internally, these people in the empire would not say anything extra. It was not necessarily because they were so loyal to the new queen, but because if they said anything that would undermine the queen's majesty in front of outsiders, it would be tantamount to insulting themselves.
No matter how fierce the internal struggles are, the Landians always have a consistent attitude towards the outside world. This is their way of survival that has continued to this day and is a principle that has been written into their blood and bones.
Serinda walked faster and faster, and the maids behind her even had to lift their skirts and trot to keep up with her. She pursed her lips, and her expression could not be seen much under the cover of makeup, but her eyes were like a pool of deep and cold spring water, and her aura was so overwhelming that people could not breathe. People who met along the way bowed deeply from a distance, and did not dare to raise their heads until she was far away, and they all broke out in cold sweat.
Lance was directing people to set up the banquet venue for tonight. According to the plan, they would hold a special dinner for the representatives of the Interstellar Alliance after the contract was signed. He was watching a group of maids placing the flowers still covered with dew on the table when he saw Serinda coming in like a storm.
Lance was stunned, and glanced at the maid behind Serinda. She shook her head slightly. He understood, and quickly walked over to her and said, "Your Majesty..."
Without waiting for him to finish his words, Serinda simply nodded and passed by him like the wind.
Lance was stunned, turned around and stared at Serinda's back, his mouth tight.
Serinda walked back to her bedroom, paused for a moment, and then turned around and sat in front of the dressing mirror. After two maids asked for her opinion in a low voice, they gently took off the ornaments on her head and body, untied her gorgeous but cumbersome long dress, and changed her into a light and comfortable pajamas.
While they were cleaning up, Serinda kept looking at herself in the mirror. As she looked, her face gradually regained its calmness and grace. When the maid asked her if she wanted to call a doctor, she waved her hand and said softly, "No need. I just need to lie down for a while."
The leading maid looked at Serinda's face, lowered her head, led the others to make the beds, and then quietly retreated.
Serinda sat in front of the mirror for a while, then lay down on the bed like she usually did for a nap, covered herself with the quilt, and closed her eyes. After she lay down, the room gradually darkened, and after more than ten seconds it was so dark that only the outlines of objects could be vaguely seen. This was the brightness that Serinda felt most comfortable when sleeping.
However, at this moment, she was lying on the soft big bed with her eyes closed, her body stretched like a bow, her fists clenched tightly in front of her chest, and at first glance, she looked like she was enduring great pain.
After becoming the empress, Serinda felt like a "child of destiny" and was full of ambition to lead this huge empire to a stronger and better future. However, that message was like a bucket of cold water poured on her head, freezing her to the bone. She was able to walk out of the meeting room without showing any abnormality had not lost her composure until now, as if she had used up all her patience in her life.
She had never felt so alone and cold as she did now.
Even though she now had the title of "Queen", this was not her country - Serinda now realized this very clearly.
The content of the short message was very simple: [At 19:22:05 last night, Apollo raided the fourth base in Rig Hill.]
There was no header or signature on the message, but Serinda knew who it was from.
She seemed to be able to see the expressionless face of that person from those simple words without any emotion. He looked at her and seemed to be asking her: "Don't you know what happened?"
There was no need for any further reproach; just the disappointed look in his eyes was enough to make her feel ashamed.
Then, a white, fog-like chill penetrated into every pore of the body from all directions, making all cells tremble.
She did not question the authenticity of the information. The only person in this world she would never doubt was Rong Yuan.
However, if anyone else had said this to her, she would have laughed and thought it was a joke.
Because the only secret key that can activate Apollo has always been carried by her.
Although Apollo is a weapon to protect the empire, and its muzzle is always pointed at outer space, it may not be impossible to attack ground buildings. In order to prevent Apollo from being manipulated by others or encountering similar crises in the future, the empire has three measures:
First, there are thirteen space stations and two artificial satellites in the high-altitude orbit around the Imperial Star. Their main function is to monitor and defend against space threats. Apollo in the space orbit is also within their monitoring range. If Apollo is abnormally activated, the three nearby space stations will destroy it while it is accumulating energy;
Second, all the towns and cities in the empire have a layer of invisible defense shield around them, which is usually only at a low level. Once an accident occurs, the defense level will be raised to the highest level within three seconds, which can completely defend against four to five ordinary attacks from Apollo.
Third, the secret key to activate Apollo can only be carried by the emperor of the empire. She has a special secret box, which contains seven or eight similar weapons with great power. Among them, the weakest attack power is Apollo, and the strong attack power can destroy a planet in an instant. Every time the secret key is used, it means a lot of irreversible sacrifices. Even if Serinda is the empress of the empire, it takes a very complicated procedure to activate Apollo.
But now, almost a whole day had passed since Apollo was activated, and she hadn't heard a word before or after. There were so many people around her - the left and right prime ministers, the imperial generals, the administrators, the director of the Inspectorate, the housekeepers, the maids, the guards... No one told her that Apollo's beam of light had fallen from the sky!
Although these people may have been deceived just like her, there must be insiders and masterminds among them, and their relationship with the royal family must not be alienated. In other words... they must be people around her.
As Serinda walked back, she felt that everyone she met on the road was wearing a false mask, and underneath the mask was an ugly, sneering, ghostly face.
She didn't know who she could trust.
In particular, launching Apollo would inevitably require going through an unavoidable hurdle—the intelligent brain, Orchid, which everyone in the empire trusts so much and regards as natural as breathing.
Rong Yuan, who was thousands of miles away, had no idea about Serinda's current situation. In fact, he no longer had the energy to think about anyone.
The hemostatic bag was thrown aside. Because the pressure was no longer applied, the blood from the wound had dyed a large area of his clothes on his chest red. However, Rong Yuan didn't care about that at all. His attention was all on the white cocoon in his hand.
The white cocoon rose and fell like breathing, and the color gradually became more transparent. The outline of the small figure inside was becoming clearer and clearer...
