It takes about half a day from town to the capital.

It’s a long ride.

And within that long ride, I had to cope the fact that this place is tiny, people can see me and the fact that I’m playing against a retard that doesn’t even has the intention of telling me what’s up with my situation.

So! Because the old man was quite weak at chess, it gave me the necessary liberty to think quite deeply about my situation....coming up with a few scenarios.

The first scenario is that this man has already given my mum an estate in the capital, correct?

And that estate is so worthy that a noble is willing to not buy it, but rather rent it.

Doesn’t that mean that it’s a proper, high nobility type of mansion?

Then isn’t that proof enough that the new crowned emperor wanted my mum to move in to the capital?

Here’s what I think.......he might have called me in to ‘marry’ me in order to force mum to move in to the capital.

Iya, perhaps he might kill me in order to get rid of the ‘obstacle’ in his way to my mum’s moving away....

.........Or perhaps he’ll kill me because I am simply her child, and thus take her top priority?

My thoughts are ugly, I’ll give you that.

But ugly thoughts are necessary for survival.

Oh, there’s another scenario that came to mind....

It’s about the part where ‘I need to look like a girl’.

I am a man and yet, they want me to look like a girl.

Why?

Isn’t it because the emperor is a woman who looks like a man?

That way, we can both keep our secrets?

Because, yet again, we are both cross-dressing?

If I remember correctly, the new emperor is an only child.

The previous emperor did not have any siblings and only had a single child. In which case, he already passed away.

In order to not create a rift between the nobles, in order to not create a turf war between the districts.....did they not need an emperor to grab a hold of their breaks?

Now here is where my part comes into place.

The nobles, presumably those who took the previous crown prince and the current emperor’s father life....did they not know that the current emperor is a woman?

If that is the case, then they’ll put a condition on him to keep the throne.

That is, to ‘marry’ a woman.

If that is the case, then they’ll need a woman to keep the emperor’s secret....right?

They can’t take a shot and miss, they cannot take any chances--The nobles from the emperor’s faction.

There is where my part comes into place.....

A man who looks exactly like a woman.

I won’t spill the emperor’s secret, and the emperor won’t spill mine.

But here comes the problem......I’m not a cross-dresser!

Ehh, I mean I am kinda wearing the dress right now.....B-but I meant originally!!!

Honestly speaking, the latter scenario is preferable...

It means I’ll be gaining the status of a high noble--even if it’s only in name, it’ll still mean I’ll be living in a luxury~

Hehehehe~ All the crystal gear games I could get my hands on!

Bring it on, emperor!

I won’t get in bed with your gay ass in it, understand?!

I’ll be living in my own room, playing on my own crystal gears while eating delicious food that I never even dreamed of having!!

“Why are you grinning so much, Miss?”

“N-none of your business! A-anyhow, when are you going to stop with the miss? I’m a man!”

“I can’t do that~ It’ll compromise the plan after all~”

“And when are you planning on telling me about that plan?!”

“After you let me beat you in chess!”

“We’ve already played over fourteen games!”

“I don’t care~ I won’t tell anything to a horrible person~”

God dammit!

Arrggghhh!!!

Knock knock

“Master, we’ve almost reached the capital.”

The coach driver suddenly said, and the old man smiled from ear to ear.

“Fuhaha~! We’re finally here! Hey miss, you’ve never been to the capital, right?”

“Y-yes...”

He quickly removed the curtain covering the window from his side, and signaled me to come forward.

Umm....he won’t try to sexual harass me, right.....?

W-well, whatever!

I quickly approached the window, in which case I ended up sitting near the old man.

“Wooaaah~!”

Oh my god, those gigantic walls!

Those walls are at least a few hundred meters in height!

The crystal white walls enclosed the capital in what seems to be a circle shape, in which case....the crystal walls don’t seem fragile at all.

Because even from here, you can spot a few moving figures on top of the said walls.

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“Magnificent, no? Well, it’ll take about an hour until we reach the gate~ so please enjoy the view to my city as much as possible!”

“Hrm~ Why are you puffing your chest with pride? isn’t this the emperor’s capital?”

Guah!

The old man took a critical hit!!

The old man then dropped his shoulders and continued “W-what you’re saying is true...but see, the empire is the whole continent, and the continent is simply way too vast for a single man to govern! S-so, us, the Archdukes, are all responsible for a single district....in which case, I am responsible for the capital and all the towns within its vicinity...including your town, Amaki~!”

“Is that so.”

Not that I care.

As we slowly got closer, I began to recognize that on top of the walls, several archers and cloaked men were walking, perhaps patrolling.

You could also spot a cannon every now and then, but those weapons are heavy and pretty much useless compared to the firepower of magicians.

And in every curve of the town, you could spot an observatory tower made of the same material as the walls.

Perhaps those are used to signal the enemy’s approach?

Right now, I could only spot two.

One on the left and another on the right.

Perhaps there are two others opposite to them.

Hrm~ That defense looks good but I can spot a few weaknesses in the walls.....

The whole thing feels quite sturdy despite it looks, but the men on top of the walls look quite careless.

If you time the thing right, you could easily take out the whole city just by breaking down the walls.

The men really look like they’re working on appearances only, not a single archer drew his bow in readiness of any unexpected situation.

The robed men did not seem to have their staffs either, something absolutely necessary for long ranged spells.

They’re pretty much as useless as those cannons, a simple burden to the real veterans of war.

Ahh~ I want to return to my own room....

I refuse to marry a man!

I also refuse to stay with this dumb ass old man!

But I can’t seem to find any kind of baggage of mine inside the carriage--is it perhaps outside with the coach?

It’s my first time riding a carriage after all...so don’t blame me for not knowing anything.

I want to change clothes immediately!

Like hell I’m alright with wearing a frilly dress.

“Muuu~ Miss, why are you suddenly so aggressive? And you were so cute back in the house~ With everything you say had included the ‘Eh!’ within it~”

“Ahh! We’re here.....”

My legs began to quiver in fright.

“.........? Is something the matter, Miss?”

“N-no, nothing at all.”

As I payed attention back to the window, I noticed that we have reached a crowded gate.

The carriages that carried fruits, vegetables, table ware and many other merchandises began to make way for our own carriage, and we passed through without even an inspection.

“Hehe! Look, this is the authority of an Archduke! Don’t go thinking that you’re better than me simply because you beat me in chess a few times!”

Ahh, I can’t even pay much attention to you, old man....

As I began glancing at the strangers outside, they also glanced back toward us.

Without a doubt, their stares were directed at me.

Without a doubt, their stares were filled with fear and hate.

“.............!”

The shaking of my legs began to move toward my hands, and soon toward my whole body.

Shit, I ended up remembering something I shouldn’t!

Oh shit, it won’t happen again it won’t happen again!

That was fourteen years ago, life changed.

Look, isn’t this Archduke proof enough?!

It’s exactly as mum said, the world has changed!!

Shit shit shit shit, I can’t stop the shaking of my legs.

If I weren’t inside this carriage, I would’ve already fell down on my face...

Dammit, it’s fine!

No one thinks anything, nothing would happen!!

No one knows me here, and no one have heard of me!

It’s going to be alright, I’ll probably be locked in the castle after all!!

Oh no, oh no!

The shaking began to take over my body, shit shit shit shit shit!!!

“Oi, Miss?!”

I can see the Archduke’s frantic expression as he looks at me.....

It’s happening again, no?

Although I was able to somehow suppress it with mother around, and the fact that the Archduke turned out to be a kind old man....managed to make me suppress it for this long.......

But then again, this is to be expected.

I am still not good with strangers or crowded places.

“Miss--!?”

And with that, I passed out.