Inside the palace, Theresa was dressing herself up.
The grand occasion when the first Crimson Empress ascended to the throne thousands of years ago had long been buried in the dust of history. No one knew what kind of attire was worthy of the majesty of the ruler of the Realm of Devils. The girls could only dress Theresa up according to the majestic appearances of the kings, chiefs, great mages, elven clan leaders, and other leaders of the various races on the Emerald Continent.
Princess A Xia offered the feather weave that she wore when she was still the princess of the Kingdom of Eagles. Hera the dragon girl offered her dragon scale armor. Natasha, the female captain of mercenaries, offered the bearskin cloak of the Storm Ice Bear from the frozen northland. Vera the elf carefully wrapped magic gems embedded with gold threads around Theresa's ears. Keer the catgirl helped Theresa with the perfect makeup … Blackjack's harem was now all around Theresa and offering their ultimate treasures. They observed the brand-new Theresa with the most loving and appreciative eyes.
"How beautiful!"
"What a perfect appearance!"
"Theresa, oh Theresa, do you know how jealous we are of your unparalleled beauty?"
"You're an out-and-out queen now!"
The girls chattered so loudly that Theresa's head was dizzy.
Her mouth was dry, and she was soaked in cold sweat. She felt that she had turned into a doll that was at the mercy of anybody.
"I — I can't …"
She uttered feeble protests again, but they were covered by the girls' laughter.
Princess A Xia was the only one who could see the nervousness and hesitation in her heart. Using the excuse that everybody wanted Theresa to calm down and take a breath of fresh air to make the final preparations, she pulled her to a corner.
"Theresa, what's wrong with you? Why are you so nervous?" Princess A Xia asked concernedly.
"I can't."
Looking at the glamorous' Crimson Queen Extension 'on her body, Theresa shook her head so hard that the accessories on her head were all clattering. She stammered, "You know my background. I'm only here to investigate the situation and to communicate with the big shots here. God knows how I became the Crimson Queen without knowing anything. I-I can't be it! I can't!"
"Isn't it too late to say that now?"
Princess A Xia lowered her voice and said, "Although it's beyond our ability, we're forced by the situation. How can we back out now that we've come this far? When you officially ascend to the throne as the Crimson Empress, you will be one of the major figures in the Emerald World. You can just communicate with yourself and contact yourself. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone? "
"But, but what if they find out?"
Theresa said pitifully. "If those devils knew that their 'Crimson Queen' was actually a man, they would definitely go crazy!"
"How could you tell?"
Staring at Theresa's chest muscles that could not be covered by the long robe and armor, Princess Summer swallowed and said, "You look even more feminine than a woman, alright?"
"But in my heart, I'm more manly than a man — I'm 100% a man!" Theresa stomped her feet.
"Alright, alright. Yes, yes, yes. It's exactly because you are 100% a man that you have to shoulder the mission that only belongs to you!"
Princess A Xia provoked her. "What kind of man are you if you don't even have the courage to be the empress?"
As expected, Theresa was provoked.
"It does make sense."
She mumbled, "Even Li Jialing is qualified to be the real emperor of the Imperium of Human Beings. It doesn't seem inappropriate for me to be the insignificant Crimson Empress."
"Of course it's appropriate. Absolutely. You are the chosen empress. We will always support you and fight side by side with you in any case!"
Princess A Xia took a breath and said, "Alright. We need to dress ourselves up and help you hold the fort later. You can make some final preparations and think about your speech later. In fact, you don't need to say much. It won't be a problem as long as you demonstrate the awe-inspiring way you blew up the swallower the other day!"
When Theresa looked back, Princess A Xia had already walked away.
Emerald, on the other hand, leaned against the wall and stared at her without blinking. Weird ripples were beaming out of her silver eyes.
Theresa pursed her lips. "Are you here to laugh at me, too?"
Emerald said casually, "No. I'm here to thank you. Why? Am I a shameless person who likes to laugh at you in your eyes?"
"I can't say that he's despicable or shameless, but he's definitely very bad. Before I met you, I always thought that strong artificial intelligences were honest, loyal, and very trustworthy. They definitely wouldn't play any tricks and were existences that could be trusted with everything."
Theresa said, "It was you who made me completely change my view of strong artificial intelligence."
"It's not that I'm bad. It's just that you're stupid. You should thank me for showing you the real face of strong artificial intelligence."
Emerald paused for a moment and continued, "Forget it. I'm not going to argue with you today. I really want to thank you for everything you've done for me and Captain Kelly."
On her face and deep inside her eyes, emotions that were more intense than those of human beings were surfacing. The ripples of emotions seemed to have surpassed the mission that the captains of the past generations had given her.
Theresa was slightly dazed. She said, "You don't seem to be thanking me just for keeping Emerald?"
"… Yes, it's not just my duty and mission."
Emerald was silent for a long time. Her eyes were a little empty. It was as if she also had a shining soul like humans, but this soul had drifted back thousands of years ago. "I want to thank you for not letting Captain Kelly's efforts go to waste. Even at the most critical moment, you let Captain Kelly's power reappear in the world. You don't know, but Captain Kelly is actually my … lover."
"Huh?"
Theresa was dumbfounded. She stammered, "What? What did you say? Captain Kelly is your … lover?"
"What?"
Emerald's heart that had just opened a gap was shrouded by the acrimonious program again. She sneered, "What do you think the so-called 'love' is? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it?
"Snakes, insects, rats, ants, pigs, dogs, cows, and sheep are all carbon-based life forms. They don't deserve to have love. Artificial intelligence, whose computing power and logical analysis ability are a hundred times stronger than yours, also doesn't deserve to have love. But you humans, who are neither good nor bad, talk about love?
"Humph, this kind of baseless human supremacy is ridiculous.
"In fact, love is just the best solution that intelligent life forms subconsciously choose in an instant in order to reproduce and spread civilization. Any life form that has reached a certain level of intelligence, whether it is carbon-based, silicon-based, or pure energy, can have love.
"In terms that you can understand, love is not divided by wealth, age, gender, or race. It transcends everything. Why can't Captain Kelly and I be a pair of lovers who are stronger than gold and will never change until death?"
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