As a queen who has lost her kingdom, I can see the comments section.

"It's alright, just say whatever it is." Amelia didn't mind.

Seeing that Amelia had said so, Ruth had no choice but to say, "Your Majesty, December 27th is the Phantom Festival. I want to hold this festival properly, but I don't know if this is the right thing to do."

Ghost Festival?

Amelia pondered for a moment.

There are quite a few festivals in this world, and different countries even have their own unique ones. As for the Ghost Festival, it's actually a festival celebrated in every country on the continent.

During this festival, people dress up in bizarre and outlandish costumes, resembling all sorts of monsters.

It is said that in the distant past, the mainland once experienced a lot of bloodshed and trouble due to superstition, and all kinds of monsters were often associated with superstition.

So at that time, various countries on the mainland did a lot of things to break superstition, and on December 27th of a certain year, they finally quelled all the chaos caused by superstition in various places. So, to commemorate this day, December 27th was designated as the Ghost Festival. On this day, everyone would dress up like monsters and go around to tell everyone that monsters are not mysterious and that we should not be superstitious.

After briefly considering the Ghost Festival in her mind, Amelia rested her chin on her hand and said, "Ghost Festival, huh? It's a relaxing holiday, sounds good."

Ruth said somewhat nervously, "Normally, a happy festival like the Ghost Festival should be celebrated in a grand manner, but the current situation makes me unsure whether we should go all out in this regard. Perhaps the current situation is too somber and not suitable for holding the Ghost Festival."

Only a few months after the fall of the Kingdom of Steel, a certain territory was already celebrating a festival, which made Ruth wonder if this was inappropriate.

Hearing Ruth say that, Amelia couldn't help but laugh and said, "But Ruth, you want to hold the Phantom Festival properly, right? If you want to do that, you must have your own reasons, right?"

Ruth nodded: "I feel that the atmosphere throughout the territory has been rather dull these past few months, so I wanted to hold a festival that can make everyone happy and lighten the mood."

“A very good idea.” Amelia agreed. “As a lord, it’s perfectly normal to worry about the feelings of the people in your territory. You can go ahead and organize the Stranger Festival with peace of mind.”

"Really?" Ruth asked in surprise.

“Of course, I agree.” Amelia nodded firmly.

As the one in power, it is a must to ensure that those below can live happily, and Amelia has no reason to refuse to hold the Phantom Festival.

However, when the topic of holidays came up, Amelia couldn't help but say, "After the Phantom Festival comes Paradise Day, right?"

Heaven Day is a festival celebrated on January 1st every year. It was established by the Church of Heaven to celebrate the birth of the Church of Heaven.

Ruth nodded and said, "Heaven's Day is indeed the closest holiday to the Day of the Stranger, but unless we are believers in the Church of Heaven, we don't need to celebrate it on this day."

"How many believers are there in the Heavenly Church in the Galaxy Territory?"

"There should be quite a few, especially in the last few months."

"Is that so? In times of war, it's not surprising that people become believers in the Church of Heaven for spiritual comfort."

Amelia thought about the situation regarding the Church of Heaven.

The Church of Heaven can be said to be the strongest force on the continent. Even the three great empires have to bow down to it. Therefore, the Church of Heaven's parishes are spread all over the continent. Generally speaking, there is a church of the Church of Heaven in every town of a certain size, which attracts believers.

"As for the Church of Heaven, can we just ignore them?" Amelia thought for a moment and asked uncertainly.

"That should be the case. The Church of Heaven's mission is to not participate in the competition with any powerful organization and to exist as a neutral party," Ruth replied based on her understanding of the Church of Heaven.

No matter how much war rages in a place, the churches of the Church of Heaven will remain unaffected, since no one wants to provoke this behemoth. Correspondingly, this behemoth will not interfere with external affairs.

[The claim that the Church of Heaven is neutral really amused me.]

The Church of Heaven has been keeping a low profile all these years simply to accumulate strength and secretly instigate conflicts between the three great empires. In a few years, they will make their move more public.

I still remember the scene when the Church of Heaven destroyed the Saiyan Empire. Irene happened to be passing by and witnessed a truly horrific war.

That was probably one of the scenes that cost the most money, right?

Regardless of what the future holds, it's true that the Church of Heaven will not easily interfere in the struggles between external forces at present.

Everyone else's attention is on the Empire; the Chaotic Realm is hardly being noticed.

Amelia looked thoughtfully at the barrage of comments scrolling by.

The Church of Heaven appears to be a huge problem in the future, but that's a matter for the future.

Ruth then said, "Your Majesty, the Ghost Festival is only a few days away. I'll arrange for people to make preparations."

“You do it,” Amelia nodded.

Seeing this, Ruth pressed a button on the dining table, and a bell rang immediately. Then, the well-dressed butler, Sampson, walked in.

Ruth instructed, "Go and have Wilbur and the others go outside and get ready. I have something to tell them."

"Yes, my lord."

Sampson stepped down.

As Sampson left, Ruth said to Amelia, "Your Majesty, I also have a knightly order under my command, composed entirely of apostles, who can be considered my right-hand men."

"A knightly order? What are their ranks?" Amelia was intrigued.

“The Knight Commander is a lower-ranking apostle, Wilbur, whom I just mentioned, while the rest, a total of twenty, are prospective apostles,” Ruth replied.

Becoming an apostle is not an easy thing. Being able to become a prospective apostle is already very good, and one can naturally enjoy a good status in a noble's territory.

"Could they join the Silent Throne and serve His Majesty?" Ruth asked again.

"Let's see. I don't know them well enough yet." Amelia didn't give an immediate answer.

Ruth didn't say anything more after hearing this.

They finished their meal shortly afterward, wiped their mouths with napkins, and left the restaurant together.

Outside the restaurant is a spacious arched corridor with chandeliers overhead, oil paintings hanging on the walls on both sides, and potted plants placed at intervals.

At this moment, twenty-one people dressed in black armor were kneeling on one knee in the corridor.

“Wilbur.” Ruth’s gaze swept over the group, first calling out the Knight Commander’s name, then continuing, “Eli, Vito, Boyce, Aubrey, Isaac…”

After calling out a few names, Ruth said, "The Ghost Festival is almost here, and I want to make it a grand affair. Each of you take some people to different towns and tell the garrison troops stationed there to celebrate it properly. Wilbur, you go to Morington; Eli, you go to Josh; Vito, you go to Gene; Boyce…"

Following Ruth's instructions, the knights obeyed and withdrew from the corridor.

"Is it necessary to have the apostles do this?" Amelia asked.

“Miss Lily.” Looking around at the maids, Ruth said to Amelia, “The other towns haven’t been peaceful lately. The garrisons in many places are overwhelmed with work, so sending the Apostles is unavoidable to avoid any unforeseen circumstances, and…”

Chapter 131 has strange thoughts about Eileen.

"And what?" Amelia looked at Ruth, who was halfway through her sentence.

Ruth approached and whispered in Amelia's ear in a voice only they and Eileen could hear: "And diverting the apostles a bit more might allow the spies within the lord's manor to take action."

“That’s not bad.” Amelia smiled with satisfaction.

It seems Ruth hasn't forgotten that there are informants within the lord's manor.

Just as Amelia said before the meal, there are two main directions to take now.

The first goal is to enhance our own strength, and the second is to weaken the enemy's strength.

Finding and eliminating your own informants ensures that your information won't easily be known by the enemy, which is equivalent to increasing your own strength while weakening the enemy's.

Amelia felt that the first thing to do was to find the informant. Since Ruth understood this, she decided to leave it to Ruth to handle.

Next, Amelia and Irene went to a basement in the lord's manor.

There are many basements in the lord's manor, which Ruth used to research various poisons. Although she has the ability to master plant poisons and biological poisons, she still needs to study hard to develop all kinds of toxins.

Researching poisons is obviously a dangerous matter, so it is necessary to create a basement for isolation.

When Amelia indicated that she needed a basement for Eileen to train her abilities, a basement was made available.

Eileen is a high-ranking apostle and the trump card of the Silent Throne. It is reasonable for her to hide her strength and train only in the basement.

But in fact, it's not just Eileen who needs to be trained, but also Amelia herself.

After turning on the basement lights, Amelia looked at the spacious basement and was very satisfied.

"Eileen, I'll be sparring with you from now on."

"No problem, Your Majesty."

"Here I come!"

Amelia wasted no time. After closing the basement door, she charged straight at Eileen, swinging her longbow "Silver Moon" forward in a silver arc.

Archery Technique!

Eileen, wielding a wooden sword she had prepared beforehand, began to fight Amelia.

==========

At noon, Amelia and Eileen emerged from the basement, both covered in sweat.

The morning was quite enjoyable for them, the only downside being that they sweated too much and were soaking wet, which inevitably made them feel uncomfortable.

Therefore, after leaving the basement, Amelia and Eileen went to the bathroom to take a shower.

Amelia and Eileen always showered together. They were both girls, so showering together was perfectly normal and they never felt anything strange about it—that's how it used to be.

After going through all sorts of things together, Amelia now feels a strange sensation every time she takes a bath with Eileen.

Especially when Eileen's gaze swept over her, she would always subconsciously cover her ample figure and instinctively close her legs, feeling shy.

'Why should I be shy? We're both girls. Eileen is so natural, so I should be too.'

Amelia thought to herself.

Despite thinking this way, Amelia couldn't truly be at peace with herself.

Fortunately, Eileen didn't notice anything wrong.

"Your Majesty, the water is ready."

Eileen tested the water temperature in the bathtub before sitting inside.

Seeing this, Amelia quickly went to sit down next to the bathtub.

The bathtub here is very large; even two people can sit in it and still feel very spacious.

After letting the warm water submerge her fair body, Amelia breathed a slight sigh of relief, as if the water in the bathtub was a layer of clothing that could reduce her shyness.

But before Amelia could relax for long, Eileen swam up to her.

"Eileen...?"

"Your Majesty, let me rub your back."

"Um... then I'll leave it to you."