“You’re really an empress?” Lindyss stared at the woman sitting across from her. No, it was inappropriate to call her a woman. She was still just a girl. A simple, stupid girl. The cursed elf shook her head and leaned back against the cave’s wall. “Well, an empire can’t always flourish. They rise and they fall.”

Mary bit her lower lip. “Are you insulting me?”

“No,” Lindyss said. “I’m merely pointing out a fact. If you feel personally attacked by a statement of fact, then perhaps there are some insecurities you’re internalizing.”

“You’re totally attacking her,” Emile said. He was perched on Mary’s head, using her hair as a cushion for his butt. He patted the side of Mary’s head with his wing. “Don’t let yourself be insulted like that. Tell her about the good things you’ve done for your empire to prevent it from falling.”

A wrinkle appeared on Mary’s forehead. “I … raised taxes? My empire’s a happy one now.”

“See, kiddo,” Grimmy said from his position to the side of the two people, “that’s where you went wrong. A happy empire is always on the verge of decline. Think about it.” He waited while staring at Mary, who was staring back at him. “Have you thought about it?”

Mary shook her head. “I don’t understand. Please, teach me.”

Grimmy sighed. “It can’t be helped. I’ll enlighten you this one time.” He cleared his throat and propped his chin up with his claw. “A happy empire is always on the verge of decline. Why is that? Well, simple. People always want more. They’re happy now, sure, but will they still be happy in a day? Two days? Three? Think of how much harder it is to make a really happy person even happier compared to making them sad. You have to go through a massive effort to make someone happy, but to make them sad, all you have to do is sneeze on their home.”

Mary’s head bobbed up and down, her eyes shining.

“No…, that’s not quite right,” Susan muttered. “If a dragon sneezes on a person’s home, that home is destroyed.”

Grimmy swept Susan away with his tail. He chuckled. “Now, continuing that train of thought, the simplest way to make your empire rise instead of fall is to make them miserable. When you’re at the top, you can only go downhill from there. But when you’re at rock bottom, you can only go up! All you have to do is make your empire as miserable as possible, then slowly improve their living conditions to make them feel grateful. See? Giving a loaf of bread to a noble won’t make him happy. But what if that noble is homeless and hasn’t eaten in a week? He’ll be ecstatic for even a single slice.”

A shadowy blob landed on Grimmy’s face. Lindyss glared at the black dragon, her hand outstretched. “Don’t give her such terrible advice. She’s almost as naïve as Vur. She’ll take you seriously.”

Mary blinked twice and turned her head towards the cursed elf as Grimmy wiped away the shadows on his face. “What’s wrong with his advice?” Mary asked with large eyes. “It makes sense to me. Maybe the nobles would feel more grateful about having their homes if I burned them down.”

“And there lies your problem,” Lindyss said. “You don’t see anything wrong with burning down your own citizen’s property? How do you think an empire rises from rock bottom? Through a revolution. They’ll hate you and want to overthrow you.”

Mary stared at Lindyss and turned towards Grimmy. She blinked at him.

Grimmy snorted. “Yeah, sure, they can revolt all they want, but you’re strong, right? If they send an army after your head, just swat it down. If they send two armies, swat both of them down. It’s really not that hard. Once you defeat enough people, they’ll give up. That’s when you can start becoming more lenient.”

Mary nodded twice before turning to face Lindyss. A dark expression appeared on the cursed elf’s face. “Right now, your empire is probably in an okay place, seeing as you’re free to wander as you please and no one’s revolting. If you follow this dragon’s advice, then your empire will definitely collapse on the spot, but he’s not wrong in saying it’ll rise back up. It’ll just be a headed by puppet emperor with him as the true owner.”

Mary’s eyes widened. “He’s … tricking me?” She whipped her head around to face Grimmy. He smiled at her, and Mary bit her lower lip as she turned back towards Lindyss. “Is he really? What he says makes a lot of sense. How can he persuade me to do the wrong thing but have me believe it’s in my best interest?”

“He’s a cursed dragon who has thousands of years of experience on you,” Lindyss said and shook her head. “To him, taking away your empire is as easy as stealing wings off a sheep.”

Mary furrowed her brow. “But sheep don’t have wings.”

“That’s because he took them,” Lindyss said, pointing at Grimmy. “And much like that poor, now-wingless sheep, your empire will be gone before you even realize it’s no longer there.”

Mary pouted at Grimmy. “You’re a bad person.”

Grimmy poked Lindyss’ side. “Why are you slandering me? Don’t tell me you’ve taken a liking to her. It’s clear she’s incapable of ruling an empire. Wouldn’t it be better for everyone to let me have it instead? Besides, I’m technically her ancestor’s creator if I’m not wrong. What’s hers is mine.”

“What?” Mary asked. “My ancestor’s creator?”

“Right,” Grimmy said. “You know all these blood runes and techniques you’re using? I invented them.”

Mary glanced at the armor on her torso. Grimmy still hadn’t returned her gauntlets and sabatons. Her brow wrinkled. “Really?” She raised her head and squinted at Grimmy’s scales. “Then how come you don’t have any runes like these?”

Grimmy raised an eyebrow. “Why would I use something so crude and barbaric?”

Mary’s face blanked. “Then … why did you invent the runes if they’re crude and barbaric?”

Grimmy shrugged. “I thought it’d be interesting. And if you’re the product of thousands of years of fermenting this technique, then I say it’s a success. You’re a bit slow, but you have your merits. And it’s not like being slow is even a bad thing; it means I can manipulate you more easily.”

Mary’s expression dimmed as she bit her lower lip and inched away from Grimmy, scooting along the rocky bench. She looked up at Lindyss with her eyes, her head lowered. “I don’t like him.”

“That’s normal,” Lindyss said with a shrug.

“Hey now, what’s there to not like about me?” Grimmy asked and grinned at Mary. “At most, I’ll only manipulate you, but that other fellow, he’ll take over your body and destroy your soul completely, you know?”

“Huh?” Mary furrowed her brow. “The who will what?”

“…Hmm. Did I ruin a surprise?” Grimmy asked and retreated back into the shadows. “Forget I said anything.”

“How am I supposed to forget something like that!?”

Grimmy shrugged. “Easy. Just pretend like I didn’t say anything.”