(MC POV)
"And now announcing the arrival of His Holiness, Master Lin."
I'm seriously confused by that title though. What the hell does that even mean?
What's more, I thought they would be bringing me to the main entrance of the throne room and let me enter it from there, so why was I led to the side entrance instead?
Alpha bowed her head while gesturing towards the entrance, "Master Lin, if you would, please."
Well, nothing else I can do except go in now.
I entered the throne room, pausing for a split second when I realised this was actually the entrance the Queen would have taken to enter it.
Everyone else within the room had their heads bowed, even Guiying had stood up from her throne to bow in my direction.
The room felt a little different than what I remember, was Guiying's throne supposed to be that far forward?
Ok, that bad feeling just got amplified by a lot.
"Master Lin, please take a seat here."
I looked up to see Alpha gesturing at a throne located behind and elevated above Queen Guiying's in some sort of an alcove.
Wait a minute. Seriously, what the hell is the meaning of all this? You do know this is pretty much lese-majeste right? How can I occupy a position higher than the Queen?
"Are you sure this is my place?" I whispered.
Alpha nodded solemnly, and judging by the gathered people in the room, it seems like this was part of the plan.
What, did I get instated as the pope of some new religion or something? What the hell? I never signed up for this.
Ugh, seems like everyone would stay in that bowing position until I took my seat. Seriously, whose idea is this? I really want to complain a lot now.
With great reluctance, I sat down on top of the throne, feeling extremely uncomfortable and unsure of what to do next.
"His Holiness bids all to rise," Alpha called out, prompting everyone to raise their heads.
All of them obeyed without question.
"Queen Guiying of Beiyang, you may approach His Holiness," Alpha called out, surprising me.
The Queen did so, stopping in front of me with a solemn face.
"His Holiness bids you to recite your oath."
Wait a minute, what the hell is going on? Why is Alpha being my spokesperson right now and what is this oath thing? Why am I here?
Alpha handed me a thick, leather bound book, opened to a specific section for me to read.
I quickly glanced through its contents to realise this was supposed to be the swearing in of a new monarch. Which was weird considering Guiying was already a Queen, wasn't she?
I raised an eyebrow at the wolf girl and she nodded her head slowly. Seems like they really expect me to read this.
"Is your Majesty willing to take the oath?"
"I am willing," she answered without hesitation.
I took a breath, "Do you solemnly promise and swear to govern the lands granted to you by God according to their respective laws and customs?"
"I solemnly promise to do so."
"Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the laws of the empire granted by God and rule in His name?"
"I will."
"Swear now upon… Hmm… Ahem… Swear now upon my name that what you promised shall be upheld in your years of service."
Guiying immediately got onto a knee and took my hand in hers, bending forward to kiss it on my knuckles.
"This I solemnly swear."
Ok, I really, really don't like where this is going. Did they really instate me as the head of some kind of religious order without me knowing? Or was there already some kind of church already in existence that governed this coronation thing and I got pushed into that role?
Ugh, no time to think now…
Alpha came to me carrying a velvet pillow where a golden crown was resting on top of it. No guesses to what I'm supposed to do here.
I was going to stand up but Alpha gave me a look that told me I shouldn't so I remained seated.
I took the crown carefully and placed it on top of Guiying's head, making sure that it stayed there before lifting my hands up.
"Rise now, Empress Guiying of the Beiyang Empire. May your reign be long and true in God's name," I concluded, a thousand questions going through my head.
Empress Guiying rose up on her feet, giving me another bow before moving back to her throne.
She sat back down on the throne, "Now, with His Holiness blessing, let's begin the ceremony."
Wait, they're seriously thinking this is ok? No one is going to question this at all?
Oh, my disciples are in attendance as well, I didn't notice them since things were happening so fast. They're looking at me with obvious pride on their faces, not sure why though.
Mother and Odriana are right behind them too, both of them wearing similar expressions as my disciples.
No one is really thinking this is weird? Just me? Ok.
"Elaria Lindulf of the Lindulf House, step forward," Guiying called out.
"Your Majesty."
My little sister stepped out from the ranks of the gathered nobles, marching up to the queen and taking a knee.
"For your contributions in the war with Dong, I hereby declare that the new territory shall be governed by the Lindulf House as the new monarchs. Do you, Elaria Lindulf, accept this as a representative of your House?"
"I solemnly accept, your Majesty."
Guiying stood up and the steward presented a smaller crown, the Empress taking it with both her hands.
Instead of putting it on her head like I thought she would, Guiying instead handed it over to Elaria who received it with her hands.
Mother then came forward with a velvet box, opening it up to let Elaria place the crown inside it before snapping it shut. She then moved back to her original position with the box in hand.
"Rise then, the new Queen of the country of Lin. May your reign be long and true," Guiying commanded.
"Thank you, your Majesty," Elaria bowed her head before standing back up, moving back to join my disciples at where they were standing.
Should I be calling her Queen Elaria now? Nah.
"That is all. Let us all continue working hard for the Beiyang Empire."
Probably taking that as her cue, Alpha called out, "His Holiness shall be leaving now."
Guiying stood up again and bowed with the rest of the throne room following her.
"Long live Your Holiness."
Taking that as a sign for me to leave, I got up from my seat and went out from where I had entered.
Really, I'm just there as some kind of ornament, wasn't I? I didn't even have a say in the entirety of the proceedings at all. I should complain about that later.
Wait… Could that be part of Guiying's plan? To make me complain about it and then deem it necessary to give me more political power and instate me as something else?
Right then, I have a lot of questions to ask now and someone better give me some answers.
What in the world just happened there?
