Chapter 396: Seeing Off The Former Queen
The former queen had originally intended to remain in the Rockwell Kingdom for at most 10 days, long enough to deliver her cargo, gather some information, and let her subordinates have a quick rest. However, it was only a full month after her arrival that Ariana found herself back at Misty City’s southern port, preparing to depart.
It had been a refreshing vacation, with Ariana witnessing a great many things that made her hopeful for her homeland’s future despite its current state of crisis. The kingdom may have suffered severe damage and lost a great many of its citizens, but new industries were rapidly developing and massive investments were being made all over the nation with the aim to improve the lives of its people.
If the people of the Rockwell Kingdom were stronger and more prosperous, the kingdom would also be stronger and more prosperous. That wasn’t just a philosophy Royal Ancestor Ariana believed in, it was her lived experience.
The younger generation was also filled with outstanding talents, like Lucas and Danika, but if the former queen had to pick out one favourite amongst all the children, Eris would definitely claim that honour.
Ariana had been a princess, a queen, a master, an elder, and a senior for most of her life, so the ones she could truly relax around and be herself with were extremely few in number, but the little red-head could now be counted amongst them.
Like most other people, especially those from the younger generations, when Eris first met Ariana and learned who she was, she behaved very formally and respectfully, but at some point, the little girl had become perfectly comfortable around the former queen.
There was no scheme, nor any kind of agenda behind Eris’ actions, no hidden motivations or cloaked ambitions behind her trying to get closer, the young girl simply thought it was fun to be with Ariana and acted as such.
Across her long life, Ariana naturally had some ’experience’ with romance and more intimate matters, but she had never gotten married or had kids of her own.
She did have plenty of nephews and nieces, however, whom she had taken care of when they were younger. They were all grown up now, and many of them had sadly passed away before her, and the generations that followed tended to refer to her as ’Ancestor’ is a somewhat distant way.
Now, however, she felt like she had a true granddaughter again, though Eris insisted on calling her ’aunty’ instead because, according to the girl, ’grandma’ was a title only old women had, and her ’Aunty Ariana’ wasn’t old.
As a result, Ariana may have spoiled Eris a bit more than the other kids.
This closeness also strengthened her motivation to help restore Eris’ arm, discussing the issue at length with Celestina, Natasha, Sasha, and Lucas to come coming up with a plan to accomplish just that.
It would probably take a few years still to execute, starting from when Ariana returned to the company’s headquarters, and it would involve the Balfour Family paying quite a hefty price, but if everything worked out, they stood to gain far more than they lost in the long-run.
"Let me knew when you decide to move to the Sovereignty to pursue your cultivation," Ariana smiled as she patted her grandnephew lovingly.
"I will do just that, Ancestor," Hayden Rockwell nodded firmly, doing his best, and failing miserably, to maintain a dignified appearance as Ariana rubbed his head like he was still the same child she had changed diapers for 218 years ago.
Finally releasing the former king, Ariana turned to the current Second Queen, "Take good care of the kingdom and little Nathanial."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Natasha bowed politely.
Next came Celestina, the one who Ariana was closest to amongst this crowd.
To her former subordinate and student, the former queen gave a hug, not caring at all for royal protocol.
Celestina returned the embrace unhesitantly as she too cared little what others thought of her and her actions.
After sharing that hug, Celestina pulled back and said cheerily, "Safe travels, Lady Ariana."
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, the red-head Marquess quickly added, "I do hope you can make good use of the Maple Sugar samples we provided to you as well."
"I most certainly will, Little Tina," Ariana laughed happily, truly feeling quite pleased with the new luxury good which had appeared in her homeland.
"The Darr Kingdom has been exporting more and more sugar these past few years, mostly in exchange for metals, food, and medicine, but no matter how much the Company buys up, it’s never enough to satisfy the Sovereignty’s demand. The sugar trade is definitely something you should be paying attention to," the former queen casually mused.
"Oh? That certainly is interesting news," Celestina raised her brow slightly at this piece of information before grinning conspiratorially, "Knowing that, we’ll really have to re-double our own efforts."
"En, as long as you understand," Ariana nodded in approval before moving on to speak with the rest of the high-level envoys.
It took another half-hour before the former queen finished her farewells and, having given the kingdom one final parting gift, she climbed the gangway to her ship.
If she was being honest, Ariana felt a bit of reluctance in her heart. She had always been adventurous and enjoyed wandering the world, but she had helped establish the Rockwell Kingdom from what was once scattered villages and wild frontier, so a bit of nostalgia for it was only natural.
Taking a deep breath, Ariana turned back and swept her eyes over the massive crowd which had gathered just beyond the docks and smiled faintly. She had requested a simple send-off, but, obviously, no one had listened.
Despite it being freezing cold, with fresh snow still lingering on the ground from a recent storm, more than 20,000 people had shown up at the crack of dawn just to pay their respects.
Most of the crowd weren’t nobles, aristocrats, or people of significant means; they were just ordinary citizens who spontaneously came out after hearing about the former queen’s impending departure.
This wasn’t because Ariana was particularly loved by the people; in fact, none of the mortals present were even alive when she had ruled the kingdom, so one might wonder why they were so determined to show up today.
The answer to that was actually quite simple; in this time of need, Royal Ancestor Ariana had come from afar to offer her help to the people of the kingdom. She didn’t offer them flowery well-wishes or empty platitudes from a distance, she sailed right up to their doorsteps in giant ships filled with food and warm clothing.