“Eight thousand… Miss, are you sure the number is eight thousand?”
To the Emperor's question, I answered brilliantly, “Yes!”
“Yes! I made it with Veronica!”
“Do you know who she is?”
“Veronica Dubus.”
I laughed inwardly when I saw the Emperor say her name.
Yes, of course you know her.
The current Emperor Alexander, who was the Crown Prince at the time, had pardoned Veronica after she nearly blew up an entire province.
The Duke of Valois, wearing a gloomy expression, shouted, “It's hard to believe that it was created by Veronica Dubus!”
“Eight thousand kilometers is too many!”
He said this as he approached the Emperor urgently.
“Think about it, Your Majesty.”
“It took us over a hundred years to upgrade just three kilometers from the original.”
“The human body can't bear it, so we have to compress the space.”
“Isn't it strange that she suddenly compressed a distance of eight thousand kilometers?”
The Emperor remained silent.
“Eight thousand kilometers means that the entire empire is compressed. Is it even possible for everything to be compressed?”
More people nodded, and the Emperor held his forehead as if organizing his thoughts.
The Duke of Valois looked at me.
“I understand your good intentions, but isn't it too much to lie for attention?”
I remained silent.
“She clearly deceived Your Majesty!”
“She looks at you condescendingly!”
“Get on your knees and ask His Majesty for forgiveness!”
When I saw him screaming, I said, “But it's true… It's really eight thousand kilometers.”
“Why do you still insist on something you can't prove?!”
“I can prove it!”
I looked at the Emperor.
“You can ask Veronica to come here and she will tell us!”
“Veronica Dubus herself…” The Emperor said to his lieutenant, “Where is her current location?”
“Doppeld Palace, outside the capital.”
“I confirmed this before the banquet.”
Veronica had been required to wear a location tracker since the accident.
Killing her would be a waste of her skills, which is why they were watching her instead.
The Emperor looked at my father.
Dad frowned and held a communication device in his arms.
During the short transmission, I sent a signal to the President through my communication device.
[Are you ready?]
The communicator flashed twice.
Good.
At the same time, Dad received Veronica's answer on his device.
Suddenly, the ground shook and the center of the banquet hall trembled violently.
Soon, a figure appeared, surrounded by light.
It was time to promote my teleportation device.
After a while, the light faded as the President and Veronica Dubose appeared for the show.
“…!”
“Impossible!”
Screams were heard everywhere.
The Emperor froze.
“That's right… That's right…!”
It was about three hundred to two hundred kilometers from the distant Dubeld Palace.
After verifying Veronica's location, her sudden appearance here left no doubt regarding my teleportation device.
“Is eight thousand kilometers correct?”
Veronica smiled when the Emperor asked.
“It's true.”
“If you look at the tracking logs, you'll see that I moved from Doppeld Palace to the far south of the empire instantly.”
The Emperor looked to his lieutenant for confirmation and nodded.
The banquet hall became noisy.
“So, is this true…?”
Veronica Dubos smiled and looked at the Emperor.
“Yes, that's true, Your Majesty.”
“Is it true that the young lady helped you produce the device?”
“She didn't help me; I helped her… Hey, ma'am!”
Veronica was known for being stubborn and often taking risks.
She always did what she wanted.
The Emperor had offered her the position of court magician, but she had rejected it.
When she called me "ma'am," people's jaws dropped.
Veronica didn't care and covered her red cheeks with both hands.
“I was so impressed by her intelligence and charm that I wanted to pledge my loyalty.”
“My good lady kissed me!”
“Veronica Dubus didn't make it.”
“So the device must be in Doppeld's hands!”
“Oh my God…”
The Emperor looked at me, and I smiled brightly.
When the Emperor reached for my device, I quickly gave it to my father.
“Your Majesty doesn't need it, so I'll give it to you!”
“…No one surprises me more than you.”
I smiled and hugged my father's waist.
Then I said, “Ah!”
I took out the papers.
“Veronica gave me this too!”
“The boss says the item is all mine!”
“Also, there is a vow here!”
Veronica replied, “It's a sign that I belong to my lady!”
“If I opened my mouth without Ma'am's order, I would explode and die!”
“You would have a bigger accident than the explosion in the northeast!”
Veronica looked so cheerful that the president shook his head.
Those who had lived through the event in the northeast, and those who had heard the rumors, turned pale.
The Emperor swallowed and approached my father.
The Valois device had been kicked and fell to the ground, where many footprints were now deeply stamped upon it.
“Duke Doppeld…!”
“I'm sorry.”
“We will organize this matter among my family first.”
My father spoke with an unapologetic face, bowing his head.
“Give me time.”
“When will it be?!”
“I will contact you later.”
After that, our family left the banquet hall.
I looked back at the Valois family and saw their broken equipment on the floor.
The Duke of Valois looked very gloomy.
At the Prince's first birthday party, his plan had failed.
'Oh, I'll have a good night's sleep today,' I thought.
I smiled and rested my face on my father's shoulder.
***
The followers came to our palace in the capital.
They stared at the device with puzzled faces and quickly looked back at me.
“You are amazing, I am so proud…!”
“You're truly a good luck charm for Doppeld!”
People forgot about the device from the Valois family.
All that remained in everyone's memory was the Doppeld device.
My father took the device I gave him.
“Now I want you to explain what happened.”
“When I visited Veronica's house before, I heard about the device.”
“Veronica didn't follow through because she failed the experiment!”
“I thought that we wouldn't need to compress our bodies if we could protect them while teleporting, so I told her so.”
Veronica had said, “Oh, you might be right!”
So she helped me achieve that.
People's mouths opened when I told them that.
“I made it because I remembered my dad wanted it,” I spoke in an innocent, childish voice.
“She already had a rough idea, but I helped her flesh it out.”
Viscount Dubos was astonished and looked at my father.
“What do you want to do with it?”
The imperial family was vying to get it.
It was not just the imperial family; nobles lined up in front of Doppeld Palace.
I gave my father the device.
“I will give it to you, Father!”
My father, who had been looking at the device for a while, patted my head.
“This is yours because you made it.”
“I will protect it for you.”
“It's dangerous for you to keep it.”
I expected my father to say that.
My father is the most wonderful man in the world.
If it were anyone else, they wouldn't have done this.
“I'll keep it for you.”
“Then I want to use it now!”
Henry asked with a smile, “Is there somewhere you want to go?”
“No, I want to buy a gift!”
“A gift?”
I whispered in my father's ear the person I wanted to give my gift to.
Dad, who had been thinking for a while, nodded.
“Good.”
I shouted, “Great!”
I hugged my father.
The corners of his mouth turned up.
I will use the device to its full capacity.
After revealing it to the world, I was thinking about attacking my enemies properly.
***
Eight days later, the tea party was finally held.
I prepared myself and headed to the salon where the party was being held.
I was welcomed by my godmother, who had just arrived.
I smiled broadly at her.
“Can we continue?”
“Yes!”
As soon as I took her hand, a group of noble ladies approached me.
“Ah, Miss!”
The ladies who originally wanted to go to the Duchess of Valois' ball came here instead.