For those of you who might have already started forgetting, Mia, was in fact, born and raised as a princess. Therefore, she was quite used at speaking in front of a lot of people. In the previous timeline, she usually went with Ludwig to make speeches in front of people who ridicule and insult her. But still…
Well, I’m a little scared!
Mia was a little nervous that everyone’s gazes were at her. This is quite normal when fully armed young men have calmed down and are all eager to listen to Mia’s words.
I wish they could make at least some noise. It’s so quiet that I can hear a pin drop.
With this, she knew she can’t make any mistakes because they would surely notice. Messing up would be so embarrassing, but she’s a royal. She’s quite proud of herself when it comes to making speeches.
“Everyone, please listen to my words. I’m Mia Lou nya ack!”
She bit her tongue in the most spectacular way. And to think she was just at the start of introducing herself. It was rather painful as it was in the same spot that she bit the last time.
As for the soldiers watching her… they were completely caught off guard. The tension on their faces vanished at once. Few bursted out laughing. The rest gave Mia good-natured smiles
On the other hand, Ludwig was stunned. He was awed by Mia’s performance. It only took his mistress an introduction to grab the hearts of every soldier present.
“No way… even that was intentional?”
He quietly whispered while totally being off the mark of what happened.
Mia, however, was totally aware of her blunder. She was shaking from embarrassment. She shambled back to Anne and buried her face in her shirt.
“… I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“Mmm, Mia-sama, please do your best!”
“… I’ve never been humiliated like this!”
Mia channelled all her embarrassment into anger. It wasn’t like she was angry with anyone. It was all her fault, after all. But her emotional outburst gave her time to recollect herself. So, she attempted her speech again.
She easily regained the whole attention of everyone. She was about to start talking when she noticed something…
Huh? Now I just realized… I don’t know what to say. I have no speech!
Needless to say, Mia had no plans to stop the Remno Army. In the first place, Mia came here only to meet Abel. Now that she has achieved her goal, she never thought what she should do from this point onward.
What should I do …?
Mia smiles with superb ear to ear smile to hide her inner turmoil. It is a strategy to smile and deceive. With that smile, the enthusiasm and expectations of the soldiers increased. The power of the skin gloss that was regained in the bath the day before cannot be underestimated!
However, there are limits to simply smiling as well.
There are some kinds of people who can’t stand silence and so they tend to babble to fill it in. Mia was one of those people. She can’t stand the silence and felt that she has to say something. And so, she spoke out the first thing that came into her head.
“I wish all you gentlemen from Remno would return to the capital without drawing your swords.”
It was blunt. But honest…
“Go back home? And do nothing? You want us to just leave the rebels alone? That’s absolutely ridiculous!”
It was quite obvious that Mia’s words would be met with rejection. Bernardo’s objection came hard and quick. His tone and his glare seem to be saying: What is this little girl even saying?! It made Mia flinch.
Eeek! This guy is scary. He seems to have the same smell as Captain Dion!
Bernardo’s glare finally set Mia’s brain into motion. It may have taken awhile to work but at least it’s working now. Better late than never. With her brain working again, she concluded that there is only one way of getting out of this predicament!
“Ridiculous? Well, the only thing ridiculous I see here are you guys fighting each other.”
It was good. What she was saying in essence was that: “This is a gathering of commoner militia. Honorable knights as yourself should not lower yourself and brawl with them.”
But her words made some soldiers angry. From their perspective, it felt like they were putting their lives on the line to fight and peace and order, only to have their courage belittled. Also, some soldiers were confused. It would have been understandable if she said that their actions are cruel. As slaughtering civilians is definitely one. She could have argued from an ethical perspective and blame the soldiers as immoral.
But she neither said cruel nor immoral. Instead, she chose to throw Bernardo’s words back. She said ridiculous. Why?
Most of the soldiers were confused with her strange choice of words. At this point in time, rumors of Mia being the Wisdom of the Empire has already reached Remno. The soldiers, especially, know that it was because of Mia that their once weak young prince grew up into a dependable lord. Slowly, the crowd began to doubt their mission.
“If the wisdom of that empire is ridiculous, then maybe this battle is really ridiculous.”
Faced with serious doubts, they waited even more enthusiastically for Mia’s next words.
Eh? I can’t believe my compliments are not working on these people!
Mia had never been good at flattery, so most people don’t understand it. But Mia was able to pick up changing emotions in the soldiers’ looks. Some were curious, some were angry. She felt a cold sweat running down her back as she might be in a dangerous position. A voice then rang out from the side.
“That was an interesting choice of words, Mia. I believe this isn’t the first time you have used such perturbing language. I remember you saying the other day that ‘something doesn’t seem right.’ That something is strange.”
It was Sion was now bandaged. He gave her a thoughtful look with his arms folded.
“That’s it!”
Mia jumped on it. She had no idea what “it” was, but she was going to jump on it anyway. Anything that could change the topic.
“Yes, yeah, you’re right. I did say that something doesn’t seem right.”
Mia’s famous speech, which struck the fate of the people, seemed to veer off course. Luckily, it will actually land at the right point.