Everything was going according to her plan; she had successfully piqued the Blood Emperor's interest, Iri thought to herself.
"Little sister, can you tell me the detailed story of what happened?" the Blood Emperor asked Iri, adopting a coaxing tone like one would use with a child.
To be honest, Iri inherently disliked Handsome guy, and coupled with the Blood Emperor's current overly sweet and feigned smile, she felt a sense of disgust both psychologically and physiologically. However, she then thought about how she herself had been doing similar acts of malicious cuteness recently... she and the Blood Emperor were practically two sides of the same coin.
"Yes... I can." Although she disliked it, the act had to continue, so Iri roughly described her previous experience of the Four Strategists Squad invading Nazarick. The part before encountering Ainz was almost entirely truthful.
"Is Ainz Ooal Gown very strong?" the Blood Emperor asked.
"Like a god. We had no chance to fight back and were defeated. Ainz Ooal Gown could kill us as easily as stepping on an ant," Iri said, feigning fear, hugging herself, and trembling non-stop.
"Then how did you escape from him?" The Blood Emperor was starting to doubt the little sister's words. If he was truly a god-like existence, how did they survive? And what about that Princess?
"Ainz Ooal Gown was going to kill us on the spot. As he was about to act, he looked at me twice and sighed, saying that he didn't want to personally dispose of a girl who looked so much like his daughter. So he ordered us to be imprisoned, and also said that where he couldn't see, we would be granted a painless death or something," Iri replied.
"Hmm... little sister? Are you saying... that Ainz Ooal Gown said you looked remarkably like his daughter?" The Blood Emperor carefully scrutinized Iri's appearance. Although part of her face was bandaged, it was still clear that this little sister was indeed quite pretty and cute. And she looked remarkably like his daughter?
"Yes... and that would be the Princess who later rescued us," Iri replied.
"It truly gave us a fright back then, seeing that Princess. To think there could be someone in this world who looked so similar," Hellank interjected from the side.
Although Hellank completely didn't understand what 'trick' Iri had up her sleeve, if she wanted to hide her identity, the 'Princess' identity didn't need to be mentioned at all. But if she didn't mention it, it would be hard to explain how she escaped, which was indeed quite difficult.
"Similar, huh..." The Blood Emperor was silent for a while, seemingly deep in thought, then motioned for Iri to continue.
So, Iri continued to fabricate that after they were imprisoned, that Princess secretly came to the cell to visit, saying she was interested in humans who looked remarkably like her.
Upon seeing Iri, that Princess was also surprised, so Iri seized the opportunity to beg the Princess for her life. Finally, she managed to persuade the kind Princess, who agreed to let Iri and her companions go.
"Uh..." The Blood Emperor fell into thought again. Iri naturally understood that with the Blood Emperor's cautious attitude, which was identical to Ainz's, this level of lie would naturally not convince him.
"Although that kind Princess agreed to let us go, she was also worried that letting us go would have a negative impact on them, so the Princess placed a curse on us," Iri said, feigning extreme sadness.
"A curse? What kind of curse?" The Blood Emperor immediately asked upon hearing this.
"I don't know... The Princess only said it was a curse that allowed her to take our lives whenever she wished," Iri finished, subtly making a small movement, taking off the anti-detection ring on her finger, then feigning to slightly pull down the bandage on her neck. Beneath the bandage was a black mark that Iri had Cicici draw for her.
The Blood Emperor naturally saw the black mark on Iri's neck, then ordered the other members of the Four Strategists to lift their heads, and indeed saw the same mark on their necks.
"Old man, can I trouble you?" The Blood Emperor turned his head to look at Fulda, who had been silent behind him.
Fulda nodded, then looked at Iri, directly revealing a shocked expression, grabbing the armrest of a nearby chair to support himself.
"What's wrong! Old man!!!" The Blood Emperor was very nervous when he saw Fulda's unusual reaction.
"This old man... this old man has never seen this type of curse, never... seen..." Fulda replied tremblingly.
Heh... plan successful. Iri put the anti-detection ring back on and a cunning smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. Everyone's attention was on Fulda, so naturally, no one noticed Iri's smug expression of a successful scheme.
Iri had deliberately allowed Fulda to use his ability to observe her. Iri, of course, knew about Fulda's ability. She had heard Imina mention in a casual chat that Arshe had vomited several times when observing Iri.
Iri had kept this in mind, so that Fulda would know... that Iri's true identity was someone from Nazarick. With Fulda's intelligence, he should be able to figure out that the Princess who Iri had just mentioned as releasing them was actually right in front of him.
"Even the old man hasn't seen it?" The Blood Emperor frowned.
"Never seen it! Never... cough cough..." Fulda affirmed again with two coughs, then his gaze remained fixed on Iri.
"This truly puts you through a lot... So, what happened next?" the Blood Emperor continued to ask.
"Next... after the Princess placed the curse on us, she used a magic spell to directly teleport us into the Empire Capital," Iri replied.
"Teleportation!? From a place like that?" The Blood Emperor's eyes widened in surprise.
"Yes, by the time we came to our senses, we were already in the Empire Capital," Iri replied.
The Blood Emperor, having received Iri's answer, looked serious and remained silent for a long time... The entire reception room was enveloped in a tense atmosphere.
"You... you have worked hard. So... you can go back now. Bajed... please escort our guests back," the Blood Emperor said, waving his hand.
"Understood." Then, one of the Empire's Four Knights behind the Blood Emperor stepped forward, Bajed of Lightning. Iri still had some impression of that name.
Of course... as Bajed replied, he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist and glanced at the Blood Emperor, awaiting instructions. Iri also noticed this subtle movement.
Iri also moved her hand to her small satchel. If the Blood Emperor 'disappointed' her, Iri planned to throw a smoke bomb and then use a teleportation scroll to escape.
She saw the Blood Emperor shake his head. It seemed the Blood Emperor had not 'disappointed' her, so Iri also moved her hand away from her small satchel. Well then... time to collect the debt!
"Um... Your Majesty... there's one more thing, which is... our commission hasn't been paid in full yet," Iri said softly.
"Impudent!" Bajed of Lightning roared.
"Eek... Um... I... I really need this money! My two younger sisters are seriously ill in bed and have been waiting for me for a long time. If I don't have this money to pay the church..." Iri feigned a very scared expression, clutching her head and curling into a ball.
"That's enough, Bajed. I'm sorry, little sister, the remaining commission will be paid to you, so rest assured!" The Blood Emperor forced a smile and said to Iri.
"Ah... thank you so much, Your Majesty... thank you so much!" Iri responded with great 'gratitude'.
As she was being escorted out of the reception room, before the door had fully closed, Iri deliberately looked back and saw the Blood Emperor scratching his head with a frustrated expression... She thought to herself, scratch away! Scratch away! From now on, I can call you the Bald Emperor.
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