Reborn As A Villainous Cannon Fodder

Several old ministers whispered among themselves, mocking Nina’s youthful rebellion. But as the apprentice Empress, Nina understood everything.

She knew she had no real power. She knew her words couldn’t convince these old ministers. She also knew her master had ordered her back to the palace for her own good…

Since childhood, Nina had been the most obedient and well-behaved among all the princesses under the Emperor’s command.

In the past, Nina would have dutifully obeyed her master’s words.

But today…

She was genuinely rattled.

She was the future Empress of the Great Dragon Dynasty, yet she’d been rescued by some kid in a moment of crisis?!

This was absurd!

If she’d known Yino would act so recklessly, Nina should never have been so secretive about her own strength. She’d been too cautious, too worried about her master’s warnings. She was terrified of drawing too much attention to herself, so even when fighting the witch, Nina had only told Yino she couldn’t act directly – she could only provide support from the shadows…

But thinking about it now, Nina really should have been straight with Yino about how powerful she was!

Otherwise, when the demonic abyss tide hit, Yino would have just hidden behind her and clung to her coattails.

Nina’s cultivation was countless times higher than Yino’s, yet he was the one who stepped up to buy her time and hold back the abyss.

He was going to be the death of her!

If Nina just went back today, the guilt would keep her awake for days!

She hated this feeling of uncertainty.

She wouldn’t spend her whole life regretting Yino’s death, but if he really died, Nina would at least regret it for a long time.

“Sigh, Princess…”

“You were born and raised in the comfort of the Dragon Palace, never setting foot in the Western Pass. Naturally, you don’t understand the terror of the demonic abyss. These old ministers can understand that.”

“But having no common sense is one thing – now with the National Teacher’s sacred decree above and well-known facts about the abyss below, why must Your Highness insist on waiting here for a dead man buried beneath the abyss?”

The old ministers were getting impatient, and even their speech was becoming more disrespectful toward their superior.

These ancient fossils were all power brokers behind the scenes in Western Province City. They wouldn’t normally show their faces unless something major happened.

As for the so-called demonic abyss tide, under the tacit understanding between righteous and evil factions, it was basically just righteous cultivators facing off against evil sect witches.

Just the usual squabbles between young people – why should these old fossils make a big deal out of it?

So while the abyss tide looked fierce on the surface, these old ministers actually lived quite comfortably.

But now things were different.

Nina had directly revealed her identity in Western Province City, and as an Empress, she’d personally intervened in mortal battlefield conflicts.

When Nina took action, it wasn’t just ordinary squabbling anymore. If news got back to the abyss, it might even disturb several thousand-year-old demons from their slumber.

No choice.

The old ministers worried Nina would blow things out of proportion, so they had to come out and watch her, terrified she might actually kill her way into the abyss looking for someone.

“My dear princess…”

“This Yino you speak of is just a minor cultivator from the Wuji Sect. How could flesh and blood survive beneath the abyss, especially a mere mortal whose cultivation has been completely destroyed?”

“Even if you insist on seeing the corpse, when bones are reduced to ash and something simply doesn’t exist in this world, where exactly do you expect us old fossils to find it for you?”

The old ministers continued complaining, displaying their classic attitude of finding everything troublesome and not wanting to deal with anything.

Over the years, Nina had seen too much of their true colors.

When she’d wanted to audit the books, the minister in charge of accounts had been evasive throughout, and those old ledgers were all deliberately incomplete. Everyone from top to bottom clearly didn’t want to cooperate with Nina’s efforts to sort out these messes.

When Nina had wanted to investigate the Lin family’s corruption, those old ministers had all looked annoyed, barely stopping short of writing “we don’t want to offend people” on their faces…

Her master had said there was an old saying: “Better to do one less thing than one more.” This was also the Great Dragon Dynasty’s inertia built up over thousands of years.

Everyone was just trying to make a living. As long as life could go on, they’d turn a blind eye to petty theft. Who really wanted to turn their peaceful lives upside down?

So all these years, Nina as Empress had struggled to push her will downward.

Now in Western Province City, she’d probably hit the same wall.

“Fine. You won’t go look for him? Then I’m not leaving either! I’ll stay here for the next three months auditing the books!”

Nina understood these old ministers’ nature perfectly, so she crossed her arms and started playing hardball too.

She was the Empress now, after all.

Even if she had no real power, just by staying in Western Province City, she’d eventually draw the attention of the National Teacher and court ministers.

Worst case, she’d hurt the enemy while damaging herself!

Nina staying in Western Province City, going undercover daily to collect evidence of high officials taking bribes, then writing letters to tell her master about the Western Province elders’ corruption and bribery – the price would be getting dragged back by her master for a beating, but afterward, as National Teacher would definitely take this seriously and investigate Western Province City’s rotten accounts from top to bottom.

As long as the National Teacher wanted to investigate, she’d definitely find something.

The difference was that normally the National Teacher had no opening, but with Nina causing this commotion, She would have an excuse to settle accounts.

“…”