At this point, the Ender Queen let out a long sigh, shrugged helplessly, and said with a smile, "To be honest, when he said those things back then… I really didn't understand most of it…"
"I could only grasp some of the literal meaning, like how he and the real HIM never treated me as a subordinate…"
"What he said about not treating me as a subordinate… at the time… I felt like he was just comforting me…"
As she said this, a trace of guilt suddenly appeared on the Ender Queen's face. She let out a soft breath to steady herself before explaining, "After all, just from the title 'My King,' it's not hard to see that everyone instinctively sees him as a ruler…"
"And we also instinctively impose our own thoughts onto My King, subconsciously believing that he sees us as his subordinates."
After saying this, the Ender Queen looked at the crowd, her gaze sharp as she asked in return, "Isn't that right?"
Earlier, everyone had answered the Dread Lord's question honestly, so naturally they responded truthfully to the Ender Queen's question as well.
"That's true… After all, when everyone first followed My King… didn't we all have to go through a bowing ritual?"
"Basically, bowing already established a superior-subordinate relationship…" the Wither King said.
As soon as the Wither King finished speaking, the Dread Lord immediately chimed in, "Yeah, isn't bowing just a custom?… Doesn't that coal lump do it all the time too?"
Seeing the Dread Lord shift the blame onto him, Null immediately got annoyed and retorted, "Whether I bow or not is my business."
"That's my respect for My King. Who told you all to copy me like a bunch of imitators? And when did My King ever force you to kneel?"
Hearing Null's words, the Dread Lord didn't back down at all and shot back, "Hey! You've got some nerve turning this around on us. We bow out of respect for My King too! What do you mean imitators??"
Seeing the atmosphere grow tense, 007 quickly took control of the body, stepped in front of everyone, and stopped them. "Alright, alright… this is on me…"
"The bowing rule… I was the one who started it… But Null is right, My King never forced me to do it…"
Just as 007 was about to continue admitting fault, the Ender Queen interrupted him.
"007, stop blaming yourself. The ones at fault aren't you, it's us."
"What Null said just now is right. We were just copying others. When we first followed My King, we weren't even willing to bow from the bottom of our hearts."
"So to us back then, bowing created that sense of hierarchy."
"That's exactly why I thought that when My King said he didn't treat me as a subordinate, he was just comforting me!"
After going in a big circle, the Ender Queen finally brought the topic back. Having finally returned to it, she didn't give anyone present a chance to interrupt and continued speaking.
"So when I heard those words back then, I didn't feel much. The parts I could understand already felt like comfort to me, and the parts I couldn't understand, I didn't want to think too deeply about."
"I only truly understood the meaning of those words during that meeting on the shoal before I parted with My King…"
At this point, the Ender Queen looked at everyone and smiled. "I'm sure, just like me, you'll never forget what My King said at that meeting for the rest of your lives, right?"
As soon as the Ender Queen finished speaking, knowing smiles appeared on everyone's faces. At this moment, there was no need for any rehearsal. They all spoke in unison.
"First, protect yourselves."
"Second, protect this world."
"Remember, the priority of the first will always be higher than the second."
Just as the Ender Queen said, those were words that shook their very souls, words they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
Hearing everyone's unified answer, a smile appeared on the Ender Queen's face again. "When I heard those three sentences back then, I felt like my heart stopped!"
"So the things My King said to me before really weren't just to comfort me. He truly saw us as family."
At this point, the Ender Queen looked at the Dread Lord and the Wither King and asked, "As leaders yourselves, before launching an important battle, would you say something like that to your subordinates?"
After asking, before the Dread Lord and the Wither King could answer, the Ender Queen spoke first, "As a leader, I would never say such things…"
As she said this, the Ender Queen looked at the Dragon Seer and the Last Dancer, continuing, "Even to the two of them, who have always been by my side like family, I couldn't say something like that."
Seeing how candid the Ender Queen was, the Dread Lord couldn't help but shake his head and sigh. "Although no leader wants to see their subordinates die in battle, no leader wants to return in total defeat either."
"So capable leaders always give a passionate speech before battle, stirring up the soldiers' morale, trying to make them forget life and death and fight with everything they have."
"If a leader pities the lives of their soldiers too much, that leader is bound to suffer a crushing defeat."
As soon as the Dread Lord finished speaking, the Wither King nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's just how war is. As a leader, you can't afford to be soft-hearted…"
"Even if it's a blood-related family member going to the battlefield, you'd only dare to secretly tell them in private to protect themselves first… because if something like that gets out, you'd be accused and looked down upon…"
At this point, the Wither King took a deep breath, as if trying to calm the turmoil in his heart, and then spoke from the bottom of his heart, "So… when My King said those three sentences, my mind went completely blank, and then my whole body broke out in goosebumps…"
"As a leader, as a leader who is worshiped and respected by so many people, when facing the battle ahead, he didn't say a single false or empty word."
"He is an outstanding leader. Of course he knows what should be said and done before a battle to boost morale, but he didn't do any of that."
"And what he did instead was trample that so-called 'greater good' underfoot and, for once, be a selfish person."
At this point, the Wither King shook his head in shame. "As a leader as well, this is something I could never do in my entire life…"
Hearing this, the Ender Queen nodded with deep emotion. "Isn't that the case for me as well?"
"So at that moment, I finally understood what My King meant when he said that both he and the real HIM were following their own paths."
"Even though My King walks on the path laid out for him by the real HIM, everything he does follows his own heart."
"Every single thing he does is what he truly wants to do deep down. He isn't bound by any external factors."
"He walks on this already paved road, yet he has carved out a path that belongs to himself."