The villain daughter did all kinds of things

So Emerald didn't stand on ceremony. She first bowed to the sacred tree, just like she had seen at Tengu Jun's place, and then opened her mouth without hesitation and ate the peach directly.

The effect was immediate. After Amelie ate the peach, it transformed into the purest spiritual energy, which was absorbed by Amelie's body, enhancing her attributes in every way.

Based on the original game's numerical calculations, this is almost equivalent to her leveling up 20 levels in one go, which is roughly the result of two months of training at Emerald's current pace.

"Wow, it's actually the sacred fruit of the Divine Tree?"

Just then, Milain also emerged from the ley line station. He and Emery had traveled on different ley lines, so he arrived about half a minute later than Emery. He saw Emery eat the peach and immediately let out an exaggerated shout, his voice filled with jealousy:

"That's a real treasure! I've been working hard in Shangying Kingdom for so many years, and I've only eaten the sacred fruit of the Divine Tree twice, and that was all thanks to Xiaoxue's connections... Why do you, Little Ellie, get to eat the sacred fruit as soon as you arrive in Shangying Kingdom? Does being pretty mean you can do whatever you want?"

"Maybe the Divine Tree just likes cute girls like me~~"

Emerald didn't mention that she had almost been thrown out of the city by the Divine Tree, but instead tilted her head and asked curiously:

"Is this sacred fruit very precious, Uncle?"

The Sacred Fruit actually exists in the original game. Its effect is to increase experience points when consumed. The lower the level, the more experience points are added. The effect becomes less noticeable after level 500. It is probably intended by the game designers for players to use to level up newly joined characters.

Unfortunately, Emerald is the kind of cautious player who usually levels up significantly beyond the recommended level for a new map before unlocking it. So when she got to the Upper Sakura Kingdom storyline, all her characters were basically level 600 or higher. The Holy Fruit had little effect on her, and she didn't know much about it, only that she could farm it infinitely by repeatedly accepting the quests at the Heavenly Shrine.

"Well... it depends on who you're talking to."

Milain thought for a moment before answering:

"For people outside of the Tengu Shrine, the sacred fruit is extremely precious. No matter how much money you have, you can't buy it. You can only obtain it by making a great contribution to the Kingdom of Sakura or the Tengu Shrine."

"But the shrine maidens in the Heavenly Palace Shrine often receive the blessings of the Divine Tree... As the Queen of the Upper Cherry Blossom Kingdom, Xiaoxue has to deal with the country's military and political affairs every day. How could she have time to cultivate like us? Yet she still became a Dao Enlightenment stage expert before she was 40 years old, which can be said to be entirely due to the blessings of the Divine Tree."

"The other shrine maidens are similar. They certainly don't receive as much favor as Xiaoxue, but they can still eat the sacred fruit during the most grand festival in the Kingdom of Shangying every year, the Sacred Tree Festival... That's why the Tengu Shrine is the organization with the most powerful people in the Kingdom of Shangying. You could even say that all the cultivation methods in the Kingdom of Shangying originated from the Tengu Shrine."

"Yes, I know that too. It's from the Heavenly Palace, after all~"

Emery smiled and nodded, recalling a scene from the original game.

The phrase "[The Sakura Technique Emerges from the Heavenly Palace]" is clearly a reference used by the development team in the original game, and they even created a short side story specifically for this reference.

It was probably when Yulia and the main characters were visiting the Tengu Shrine that a magical genius from the Tianyun Kingdom came to challenge the shrine.

The Tengu Shrine sent out several outstanding high priestesses to fight, but none of them could defeat the magical genius from the Tenyun Kingdom, causing the shrine to lose face considerably.

The original game gave players two options: help or not help.

If the player chooses to help, then Yulia will fight a one-on-one duel with the magic genius of Tianyun Kingdom. If she wins, there will be various rewards; if she loses, the game will automatically switch to the storyline where the player does not help.

The so-called "not helping" plot, of course, means that the Tengu Shrine handles the matter itself—after the great priestesses suffer repeated defeats, an old woman who sweeps the shrine's torii gates year-round finally steps in and easily defeats the magic genius of the Tenun Kingdom, thus maintaining the dignity of the Tengu Shrine.

"Speaking of which, Uncle, you must have frequent access to the Tengu Shrine, right? After all, the royal palace of Kamisakura Province is within the shrine's grounds. Uncle, you must often go there when you're having a secret rendezvous with Aunt..."

Since she had thought of it, she asked, and Ameliete chatted with Milaine about it with a smile:

"Is there an old woman at that shrine who sweeps the torii gate all year round? There are rumors that she is actually a super strong person..."

"Grandma? Definitely not! Little Ellie, where did you hear these rumors?"

However, Milley's answer was very quick and certain:

"The shrine maidens of Tengu Shrine are blessed by the divine tree, and their appearance will remain in their most youthful and beautiful state until the end of their lives... Therefore, there can be no old women at Tengu Shrine, and the shrine maidens will remain beautiful girls until they die."

"I see... This shrine is really amazing. The shrine maidens born here are already at the pinnacle of many women's dreams from birth."

Emery exclaimed from the bottom of her heart:

"You know, there are many female mages in our Federation who have no interest in fighting at all. They only train hard to stay young... For example, I am one of them. I have no interest in fighting and killing. I only want eternal beauty, wealth and power."

"Little Ellie, you really are greedy."

Milain laughed heartily:

"Moreover, Ellie, all three things you are pursuing require you to have eternal and powerful strength."

"Yes, that's why I became the Federation's youngest master mage."

Amelie also smiled and shrugged:

"Women will do anything to pursue beauty."

Chatting casually, Amelie and her companions soon passed through a magnificent cluster of buildings and arrived at the first main street surrounding the sacred tree, which was the first ring road of Sakura City.

Beneath the canopy of the sacred tree lies the land of the Tengu Shrine, including the Kamisakura Royal Palace. The first ring road also encircles the Tengu Shrine.

In the Kingdom of Sakura, the only people who can live within the inner ring of Sakura Capital are the shrine maidens of the Tengu Shrine and the people of the royal palace, and the vast majority of them are young and beautiful women.

As a consequence of being favored by the Divine Tree, the Heavenly Palace Clan has no male members. Regardless of whether the women of the Heavenly Palace Clan give birth naturally through secret methods or through natural union with a man, they can only give birth to daughters, and the daughters' appearances completely resemble their mothers, showing almost no trace of their fathers.

Even with the powerful bloodline of the Melson family, they couldn't beat Tiangong in this respect—Milian and Tiangong Xue's daughter has completely black hair, without a single pink hair to be found.

The men who can enter and leave the Tengu Shrine and the Kamisakura Palace are either women like Milain who have won over the Tengu family, or samurai who have guarded the palace for generations.

Those who live in the second ring of Sakura City are all top nobles and wealthy merchants of Upper Sakura Kingdom. For example, the mansions of the three royal families in Sakura City are all in the second ring, as are the other great lords.

The station where Amelie previously took the ley line was also located within the Second Ring Road area, because people who can't even live in the Second Ring Road area are very likely to be unable to afford to take the ley line.

Starting from the Third Ring District, that's where the ordinary residents of Shangying Kingdom live. Of course, the closer a person's house is to the Divine Tree, the wealthier they are. Most of the Shangying people who can live in the Third Ring District are officials and merchants, as well as some powerful cultivators. The number of ordinary people who can actually live in the Third Ring District is still small, and they are basically all people with outstanding abilities.

Beyond the Sixth Ring Road, the buildings are basically slums. The environment there is so different from that within the Third Ring Road that it's hard to believe it's the same country and the same era. The upper class and the lower class here are completely two different worlds.

After Emery and her companions arrived at the first ring road, they walked along the street for only a few minutes before reaching the gate of the Tengu Shrine.

"Your Highness, Miss, please come in."

Several beautiful palace maids were already waiting there. As soon as they saw Amelie and her party, they rushed forward to greet them and began to address Prince Milion as such.

Milain laughed heartily and, with Amelie and the others, followed the maid into the shrine with practiced ease.

Almost as soon as she stepped through the shrine's gate, Emerald could clearly feel that the concentration of spiritual energy inside the shrine was much higher than outside. People who cultivated here would be more efficient, and a little meditation here could be equivalent to someone else's arduous training all night.

According to normal custom, Emery, being a foreign VIP, should be staying at the inn in the Second Ring Road area.

But Amelie and the Queen are about to become relatives, and she is still a young woman. Now that she has been invited by the Queen to live directly in the palace, no one will say anything.

Milion, of course, went straight to his queen wife. He frequented the palace and felt right at home there.

Emerald, along with Marcy and Flora, were accommodated by the palace maids in a small courtyard in the southwest corner of the palace. The courtyard was a classic siheyuan (traditional courtyard house), with a rockery and a pond in the middle, making for a very pleasant environment.

The main house and two side rooms in the courtyard had long been prepared. Pushing open the wooden door, you could see the luxurious decorations inside, which were in no way inferior to those of a top-tier hotel suite. There were even more life-type magic circuits that had obviously been installed recently.

Clearly, this courtyard was built specifically for Amelie after the Shangying Kingdom received news that she would be representing the Melson family at the Queen's wedding, so that Amelie could stay comfortably.

After leading Amelie to the courtyard, the palace maids told them that they could rest or do whatever they wanted there for the next few hours until they attended the welcoming banquet held by the palace in the evening.

Throughout the entire divine community domain, except for the area near the main palace and the core area where the divine tree is located, Amelie can freely wander around. If she encounters any trouble, she can show the jade bracelet given to her by the queen to prove her identity.

After saying this, the two palace maids bowed to Emerald again and prepared to leave.

"Please wait a moment, both of you."

Emerald, however, had a sudden thought. She called out to the two palace maids, then took out two small magical artifacts that could be used for both daily life and self-defense, and placed them in the maids' hands, while also touching their smooth and soft little hands:

"Thank you for your hospitality, Your Majesty, and thank you both for your hard work."

"Thank you, Miss!"

The two palace maids immediately became very happy, and after accepting Emerald's small gift, they immediately expressed their gratitude:

"Please feel free to ask us anything, Miss. As long as it's not a betrayal of Her Majesty the Queen, we're willing to do anything!"

"Okay, I'll contact you if I need anything. You guys go ahead and get busy."

Emery smiled knowingly and then patted the two maids lightly.

"Yes, Miss~~" x2

The two maids, thinking they understood Emerald's meaning, blushed and bowed again before leaving Emerald's courtyard.

"Um……"

Emerald walked around the pond in the courtyard, then took a small piece of cake from Marcy, broke it into pieces, fed it to the ornamental fish in the pond, and only then did she ask:

"I'm planning to wander around the shrine. What about you two, Sisi and Flora?"

"I want to stay here and meditate!"

Flora answered immediately, taking a greedy breath as she did so:

"The magic concentration here is so high! It's even more powerful than our family's meditation space! I feel like it's a waste if I don't use every minute of my time here to meditate."

"Meditation... Hmm, that's fine too. This is indeed a good environment for cultivation."

Emery hesitated for a moment, glancing up in the direction of the divine tree. Sensing a benevolent aura emanating from it, she smiled and nodded to Flora.

"Then Flora, you can stay here and meditate. Remember not to use your magical senses casually, otherwise if the Divine Tree gets angry and hangs you up and whips you with its branches, I won't be able to save you."

"Don't worry, I understand these etiquettes, and I would never misuse my magical perception."

Flora nodded seriously in agreement at first, then rolled her eyes at Emerald:

"Besides, how could someone as well-behaved as me possibly anger the Divine Tree? On the contrary, you should be careful not to get beaten up by the Divine Tree for teasing the Shrine Maiden. We'll all be embarrassed along with her."

"The shrine maidens here are indeed very beautiful, but I am not that frivolous. Even if I really wanted to get close to them, I wouldn't do it as soon as I arrived."

Emerald simply shrugged and looked at Marcy again:

"And you, Sisi? Are you planning to stay or come with me?"

“...If Miss doesn’t need me to stay and take care of her for the time being, I’d like to stay here and tidy up a bit more.”

Marcy hesitated for a moment before pointing to the main house in the courtyard:

“Although this room has been built as close to the Federation’s style as possible and is equipped with a full range of life-type magic circuits, there are still quite a few things that don’t fit the young lady’s daily habits. In order to make the young lady more comfortable, I would like to make some slight modifications.”

"Hmm...that's true. For example, the placement of this bed isn't quite right, and I don't like putting my desk under the window either."

Emerald glanced around the room and nodded.

"Then it's up to you, Sisi."

Flora stayed behind to meditate, Marcy tidied the room herself, and Emerald left the courtyard to wander around the shrine.

She was still very curious about that part of the story in the original game from her previous life, so she went to check out the torii gates around the shrine in search of the legendary old woman who sweeps the floor.

However, after looking around, they found nothing, which confirmed what Milaine had said—all the shrine maidens in this shrine were young and beautiful, not a single one was old, at least not in appearance.

Of course, there were still little shrine maidens. Emerald saw more than a dozen adorable little shrine maidens learning to dance the Kagura dance from an adult shrine maiden near a small grove of trees. The way they danced with the bells jingling was quite cute.

Amelie watched for a while, and during their break after training, she gave the little witches a lot of Federation candy, which made them very happy.

"Hurry up and thank the young lady!"

The adult priestess who taught the young priestesses to dance clearly knew Emerald, and quickly told the young priestesses to thank Emerald, while she herself chatted with Emerald for a few minutes.

As expected, these witches, whether adults or children, all shared the surname Tengu, making them relatives of the Queen by blood.

That adult priestess only looked young and beautiful; in reality, she was old enough for Emery to call her grandmother, and she was a generation older than Tengu Yuki.

Despite her advanced age, the adult priestess still has a youthful mindset and is quite lively when chatting with Emerald about gossip and fashion.

She was clearly very interested in everything about Amamiya Yuki and Milaine, and chatted with Amelie about a lot of gossip between the two of them until the little witches' break ended and they started practicing again.

After bidding them farewell, Amelie continued to wander around other parts of the shrine, where she met several other shrine maidens and chatted with them for a while.

Many of the priestesses here seem to be a little socially awkward, but they also yearn for the outside world, somewhat like the magicians of the Lohid family who only know how to cultivate all day long.

Once Emery's skillful social skills opened up the conversation, these slightly socially awkward priestesses would immediately become talkative, chattering incessantly.

And so, the afternoon passed quickly as Amelie strolled around, and evening arrived, not far from the time she had agreed to meet with the palace maids.

Amelie returned to the courtyard and had Marcy change her into a dress, patiently waiting for the palace staff to come and take her to the banquet.

However, the palace maids, who should have been very punctual, arrived a few minutes late, and their faces clearly showed signs of anxiety.

"I'm so sorry, young lady, there was an accident at the palace, we're late."

When they came to fetch Amelie, two palace maids even knelt down and apologized sincerely.

"It's okay... Get up."

Emerald first helped them stand up before asking curiously:

"What happened?"

"This……"

According to the rules, the two palace maids shouldn't speak so casually, but since they had just received a tip from Emerald, they hesitated for a moment before speaking anyway:

"Before we came to pick you up, Miss, we were supposed to pick up Her Highness the Princess, but we were unable to do so."