20 days after the explosion - Zergeit Capital

"So, it is done?"(Alice)

"Yes, I have him in my villa, with your nice and the general's daughter"(duke)

"Perfect, you have done a great service to your country. Any problems with the next steps?"(Alice)

"No problem. the necromancer you send is already interrogating the guard, my most trusted subordinates are dealing with the fake attack to the carriage and we have everything we need to persuade the general to join our side as you order"(duke)

"Then I trust you will keep the good work till the end, goodbye"(Alice)

"Goodbye my queen"(duke)

Aaaaand, it was done

Alice didn't like how well the prince was doing, so she order the duke to kidnap him as soon as possible, and extract from him who was helping him in the shadows

It was a risky move, but with Jorge on the loose and the great luck the fool was having, it was better to do a direct approach and deal with the problem as soon as possible

And for the looks of things, the gamble paid off. Not only did she get the prince and her niece, she also got blackmail material with the mad dog as a hostage

She did felt a little sorry for Lina since she was a nice kid, but she was a contender to the throne in the end so Alice would prefer to kill her than risk it and end up getting bit in the a-s in the future. She wouldn't remain a little kid for long

As for the duke, Alice was really glad on the work she had done on him. With a little charm, magic and effort, she managed to put him completely under her thumb. It wasn't a completely brainwashing since a mindless zombie would be useless for her ambition, instead she fed his doubts about the state of the world while making him fall completely in love with her to the point he almost saw her as a goddess

She practically made him a fanatical believer of Alice religion(something more people have been falling for every day)

Thanks to his help and her ideas, the griffon empire was practically in her hands

30 days after the explosion - Zergeit Capital

"I DID IT!!!!!"(Alice) was almost jumping in one leg

After reading the reports, she couldn't help herself and scream of happiness

She finally beat them all. All her hard work finally paid off, she proved she was the greatest in a family of monsters and no one would be able to take that

Even though the fool managed to escape from the duke somehow, and she still haven't found Jorge, it was too late, no one could stop her from ruling both kingdoms, and the queen of the continent was almost at her reach

All the forts were in her control. She enslaved half the enemy army almost without casualties and the "ruler" of the griffon empire was under her control, who could stop her now?

It is true that Jorge was a monster, but even he couldn't pull an army under his hat, and if he appeared, she was sure she could at least hold him back

"What happen?"(??)

A tall young boy suddenly entered the room where Alice was currently celebrating, probably worried after hearing her scream

"Oh, sorry about that, I just received some good news and got excited"(Alice)

"Don't worry me like that, what would I do if something happened to you?"(??)

The boy that just entered was the prince of the Zergeit kingdom and heir to the throne. The poor kid was 13 years of age and was madly in love with Alice

It must be said that the age difference was only of one year, so it wasn't a strange arrangement, but unlike Alice, the poor prince Leonard was normal in every way. He had great looks, and his future looked great, but he was average in everything else

Decent etiquette, decent knowledge, decent sword fighting decent inner mana etc

But comparing him with Alice is like comparing a dog with a dragon. No matter how good the dog was, he couldn't beat a dragon in anything, they weren't even in the same league

Still, Alice didn't care. Of course he didn't love him, and looked down on him, but at least he had great looks, was obedient, and would be perfect for her ambitions. She could always have a lover or two on the side later

"Sorry I worried you, I was just so happy I didn't realise I made a commotion. It looks like I can finally return to my country"(Alice)

"You are leaving me!?"(poor kid)

You could see the devastating look he had on his face, fearing the worst

"Nonono, I want to go with you. Didn't I promise I would marry you so we could be together?"(Alice) said with her typical angelic smile

Luckily she can hide her inner thoughts really well, or otherwise she would show a really annoyed look to the poor boy. If she had to say what annoyed her the most about the kid, it would be that he was REALLY clingy

"Oh! Great! when can we marry? tomorrow?"(poor boy) was cheerful again

The change in his behavior almost surprised Alice, she was even starting to suspect he may be bipolar. Still, she couldn't marry him yet, not until the war was over

Just saying they were engaged would increase the troops morale, so marrying would be over-kill. Instead, if they marry after the war, it would help reduce the chance of rebellion from the Griffin empire, especially after making it look it was all duke's fault

That way Alice would look like she did it for the good of the country while uniting the human race into one country

Originally the idea was to put the blame into the prince, sadly he was becoming too capable. It didn't turn out exactly like she liked, wit him escaping, but she still won in the end, so it didn't really matter

"We should announce we are engaged today, and after we win the war, we can get married"(Alice)

"But I want to get married today! not just engaged!"(poor kid) Threw a little tantrum

"Demian! we can't! you are a prince! we can't just throw a party and be done with it! we need to invite guests, prepare the food, hire numerous staffs and guards etc. If we want a proper wedding deserving of our position, we need time to make it. Don't you want a big wedding, to show to the world how much we love each other?"(Alice)

"Yes!"(Demian)

"Then let's announce it today, start the preparations, and finish the war soon so we can get married. I can't invite people from my country if we are at war, right? do you want me to be alone at my wedding night?"(Alice)

"No!"(Demian)

"then let's announce our marriage and go to war!"(Alice)

"Yes!!!"(Demian)

And with that, Alice got the title of fiance, while rallying the troops to war

56 days after the explosion – Day of the battle

A few days after announcing her marry to the kingdom, a messenger from general Rexford arrived, telling her and the Demian that a note from Alice brother arrived at the fort, asking for a battle of strength

Of course she completely agreed to the general's idea to accept the proposal but wasn't as sure as him of the win

She was sure His big brother had help from Jorge, so he may have an ace or two. Alice was sure she wouldn't lose, no matter what happen, but that didn't mean she would let her guard down. The best thing she could do was prepare countermeasure against him and hope he didn't cause many problems

Alice wasn't sure what a gigolo could do, but there were a couple of options. He could try to infiltrate the camp and kill the general or kidnap the prince(or both)

Or maybe he would appear in the middle of the battlefield and tell everyone to stop or something like that. With his high

level of charm, he would probably pull it off

So as countermeasures, she placed a lot of scouts around the base, kept numerous spies around the troops in search of anything suspicious, stay close to both the prince and the general, and prepare to snipe, Jorge, in case he appeared in the middle of the battlefield

There is no way she would lose, especially when she was so close

56 days after the explosion – after the battle

Alice lost

She was completely defeated by Jorge. She was sure he was just using his idiotic big brother as a shield while charming both the elves and dwarfs to give him a hand

Who else but him could convince those stubborn bastards to help him just like that?

She must admit she didn't saw it coming, but the idea was masterful, deserving of the man that beat her

Still, it wasn't like she didn't have a trick or two left. She still had the forts, a lot of hostages, and her abilities

As long as she put all the blame on the duke while agreeing that it was best for all to unite the kingdoms, she may convince them to surrender anyway while looking like she didn't have anything to do with the explosion. Even if it didn't work, the fort and hostages still worked in their favor, so striking a deal shouldn't be too hard

And if an opportunity presented itself, she was sure to grab the prince and use him as a hostage