Chương 180: Chapter 179: Eleanor Refuses to Become the Eternal Queen

The Royal Council chamber glowed pale blue around the World Tower's projection. [SOVEREIGN STABILIZER] Recommended candidate: ELEANOR SOPHIA DE SOLARIS. Proposed synchronization: Direct soul integration with the ancient throne. Claimed benefit: Permanent legitimacy. Elimination of succession disputes within the governing network. Eleanor sat at the head of the round table, her hands folded on the ebony surface.

"No." Lucian looked up from his notes.

"If we found a more distant member of the royal bloodline—""Why does it have to be a person?" His pencil stopped.

"The architecture assumes a single sovereign will is required to coordinate the barriers. Otherwise, rival factions can issue conflicting commands."

"An assumption made by people who didn't trust their insti-tutions." Eleanor pushed the Solaris legal code toward him.

"We have a Defense Ministry, a Council of Marshals, indepen-dent courts, succession law, and local governments in thirty provinces." She tapped the book.

"My soul does not need to become a bolt in a chair to keep the government functioning." The ancient controller produced a red warning. [MULTIPLE GOVERNANCE NODES MAY DISAGREE.]"That's called politics," Eleanor said. Lucian sipped his cold tea.

"Sometimes I consider arguing a software defect."

"What did we discuss at the Tower yesterday, Vance?"

"I'm proposing the most technically stable option."

"And I'm declining." He looked at her for a moment, then set down the pencil.

"Fine." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Unified System v3. 0 quietly updated its notes. [ELEANOR SOPHIA DE SOLARIS] Relevant capabilities: Excellent. Consent to become immortal furniture: Explicitly refused. Compatibility is not consent. Eleanor drew a fresh sheet of parchment toward her and began writing an Emergency Sovereign Mandate. Thirty days. Independent approval from the Royal Council and the judiciary. An automatic sunset clause.

Barrier coordination shared through the seals of twelve participating provincial gover-nors. She fed the draft into the ancient reader. [ERROR: NO SINGLE SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY DETECTED.] Eleanor beckoned to Sylvia. The governors' seals had arrived in twelve wooden boxes. Eleanor checked the attached authorizations, stamped the countersigned mandate, and returned the complete document to the reader. Sylvia linked it to the existing succession statutes and provincial authority records.

For a full minute, the screen flickered through its verification sequence. Then the red text changed. [DISTRIBUTED INSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY VERIFIED] Legitimacy established through linked legal authorities. TEMPORARY ACCEPTANCE GRANTED. The machine could recognize authority. It had simply expected all of it to belong to one person. * That afternoon, the newspapers announced Eleanor's constitu-tional work to the public. FIRST PRINCESS REJECTS DIVINE IMMORTALITY FOR HER LOVE OF YOUNG VANCE! She lowered the paper.

"I just decentralized royal authority. They turned it into a cheap romance."

"Romance sells better than constitutional reform." Lucian finished peeling an apple and offered her a slice.

"You really don't regret turning down Eternal Queen?"

"No." She took a bite.

"I want to rule because I choose the work. Because I think I can do it well. That doesn't mean a machine gets to tell me I was born to be one of its parts." He looked at her, then went back to the apple. Sylvia entered with a provincial submission.

"The eastern mountain authorities object to your centralized regu-lation plan. They want an independent local station." Lucian skimmed the proposal.

"Their projected transmission delay is eight percent worse." Before he could push it aside, Eleanor took it and slipped it into her research folder.

"Then we'll examine whether the delay is worth the local control." Lucian watched the proposal disappear. The System brought up the revised sovereign-function simula-tion. [SOVEREIGN FUNCTION] Dependence on a single person: PARTIALLY BYPASSED. Modeled coordination efficiency loss: 12. 4%. Operational continuity: Within temporary acceptance limits. Twelve point four percent.

"I hate freedom," Lucian said. Eleanor smiled at him.

"You're learning, Chairman Vance."