The Villainess with a Heroine Harem

No one knew if it was the act of a woman twice her age 'confessing' to her that made the empress mad, or the fact that the woman hadn't even got her name right, but one thing for sure was that she definitely wasn't pleased.     

The male diplomat tried his best to do some 'damage control' and pacify the girl so they could move on to discussing 'cooperation' that could 'benefit both the Blue Dawn and the Red Dusk', but the 'childish' empress seemed completely unwilling to listen.     

Of course, while the female diplomat also tried her best to 'fix her mistakes', the woman's occasional dreamy sighs couldn't have possibly helped the situation.     

Once they were back from another day's failed negotiations, the male diplomat couldn't help but blow up. "What the hell were you thinking, Linda?! Have you really gone crazy?!"     

To her credit, Linda actually looked a little embarrassed. "I-I can't help it. She just… looked so much like Eva the first day that no matter how I tried… I simply couldn't get that image out of my mind."     

The man could only stare at her dumbfounded. "That's what it was? Are you seriously telling me you got so muddled in the head that you wanted to bring that girl back as a toy for your daughter?!"     

Linda didn't have the guts to refute him by saying that if it happened, it wouldn't really be for her daughter, but for herself. After all, it was true that she was older than Emilia's mother and even had a child who was about to come of age.     

She was well aware how perverted, detestable, and abnormal her reactions were. But only she knew just how obsessed she had been with marrying Idol Eva in her childhood! Whenever she saw that girl she just… completely lost control!     

"I can't believe it!" The male diplomat felt like he was about to go crazy. "We had the perfect opportunity to take so much advantage of the situation before we arrived, but yet here we are, struggling to get the new empress to even listen?!"     

As it was now, forget about taking advantage of Blue Dawn, they might even end up having to make some concessions to 'make up for their mistakes' instead!     

Even if he would definitely be able to put the full blame on his colleague's head for trying to take advantage of the empress and ruining everything, it still put him in a bad mood to see such a good opportunity ruined.     

Had Linda not jumped the gun, and they had been able to lead the negotiations... with how stupid and arrogant the little girl was, what they would be able to walk away with may not necessarily be limited to monetary gains!     

After all, this 'empress' probably didn't even understand the importance of strategic locations in her territory, let alone be wary of foreign aid. With her family history, maybe getting 'helped' left and right wouldn't be suspicious at all, but normal instead. How could she possibly see through the real intentions of their 'help'?     

Just thinking about such a great 'missed opportunity' made him mad!     

Unfortunately, there was no way to undo what had already been done, and he could only do his best to repair this 'damage' and move forward.     

Pointing at his colleague's face, the male diplomat sneered. "Remember, from now on, you let me do most of the talking. And keep your eyes to yourself!"     

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Had the diplomat from Red Dusk known that Emilia had been just looking for excuses to make trouble and stretch out their negotiations so that her enemy's plan had a higher chance of 'succeeding', he might just end up smashing his head against a wall to commit suicide.     

After all, it was bad enough that the Commonwealth had used them as sacrificial pawns in such a sneaky move, but how humiliating was it for the enemy to actually have to pretend like this just so they don't fail on step one?!     

If such a thing were to be known, wouldn't they become the laughing stock of the world for years to come?     

Fortunately, ignorance was bliss, and even as the 'ambush troops' drew ever closer to their designated location every night, the diplomat continued trying his best to repair the 'damage' caused by his colleague.     

After getting back from another day of 'failed negotiations', Emilia couldn't help but burst into giggles. "The poor guy doesn't even know that even if I say okay to letting them build a highway straight to the capital, his government would end up ruining his plans anyway. How pitiful."     

Dixie quickly shook her head in denial. "He's not pitiful at all. The way he looks at you, princess, has been getting more and more wrong, and not in a good way."     

Although it was true that her princess was the one trying her best to make trouble, the initial fault was still on the Red Dusk's side. Plus, even if Emilia was at fault… well, it didn't really matter to Dixie all that much.     

Fortunately, her princess wasn't too disturbed by the man's dark gaze, or the dark-haired girl might really not be able to resist the urge to pluck out the diplomat's eyes and crush them into paste.     

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The fourth day of the 'negotiations' turned out to be extremely weird.     

While there was still no sign of the 'ambush' they had been waiting for, Emilia was ambushed by the female diplomat from Red Dusk in a completely different way.     

"She called her daughter over?"     

Noelle nodded. "I'm not sure what exactly she's planning, but it shouldn't affect our plans too much?"     

Emilia hummed thoughtfully. "Let's ignore her for now and continue as before. Hopefully she'll stay away and not get involved with the process."     

Unfortunately, Emilia completely failed to comprehend the thought process of the mother-daughter duo, and found herself facing a very unexpected situation later next day.     

A girl with short black hair styled into curls bowed deeply in front of her while presenting a glittering children's toy wand to her like a treasure. "Empress Emilia! Please accept my token of love and appreciation!"     

The female diplomat next to her puffed out her chest with pride. "Empress Ev—cough—E-Emilia, um, my daughter Lindsay is a big fan, and she worked very hard to make this gift by hand. I was supposed to give it to you earlier, but…"     

Needless to say, if she presented a gift to the empress after the embarrassment of that day, maybe even diplomatic immunity wouldn't be able to save her from a beating.     

Emilia hesitated and considered haughtily rejecting them, but the hopeful eyes of the younger girl were a bit too bright, and she didn't want to be the one to cause them to lose their light.     

Anyway, since it wouldn't affect their goals, what did it matter if she accepted a gift or two?     

Unfortunately, as soon as she picked up the glittering wand, a pair of excited squeals almost caused her to jump in fright.     

"So cute!"     

"IDOL!"     

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While the ambush team had no way to communicate with the outside world, they weren't completely clueless about their delay. After all, their watches didn't stop working when they went underground.     

That being said,  the people who had planned the mission had clearly overestimated the efficiency of their tools, which were more focused on being low noise than anything else.     

Naturally, this difference could be more or less made up by increasing the number of hours they spent digging each day, but since the team hadn't been aware at first, they only ended up working 'overtime' when it was too late.     

Now they were so far behind schedule that even continuous digging led to them getting to the designated spot almost a week late!     

Perhaps the people at the top were already panicking, or maybe they just assumed that their team was looking for the perfect opportunity. Either way, they had no way to find out, and no other choice but to go forward and hope that they weren't too late already.     

Fortunately, they didn't really need to dig all the way to the location, as their contact in the empire had already informed them of a secret tunnel dug up by the rebels earlier, and they only needed to follow a specific path to join with it.     

Of course, the people under the empress would definitely be aware of the existence of such a tunnel, but their spy should be able to take care of things on the other end. After all, even if it wasn't left unattended, taking out a few people was well within her capability.     

"Fuck! This is the seventh day, isn't it? How far are we from that tunnel now?"     

"Don't tell me we're digging in the wrong direction or something now?"     

Different from their initial spirited and arrogant selves, the current ambush team looked both haggard and exhausted.     

As their 'captain', Tom was naturally happy to see them be more obedient, though the way it happened wasn't ideal. "No worries, I've already confirmed the coordinates. Just keep digging in this direction and we'll be there within a few more hours."     

Almost immediately, the soldiers jumped up looking completely reinvigorated. "A few more hours?!"     

"Shit, we're almost there!"     

"Let's go, boys, let's go destroy that empress!"     

Tom shook his head in disapproval. "Don't get too excited. We still need to make sure that the tunnel is secured and ready for us, and then wait for the right timing tomorrow… and that is if the negotiations aren't already over."     

The soldiers looked at each other in dismay. "And what if we're too late?"     

Their 'captain' grinned. "Why, we'll just have to change our plans and strike the enemy at home, then."     

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