The map, sensing her gaze, automatically displayed the current information about the Plumera Kingdom:
[Plumera Kingdom]
[National Rank: Third Class]
[Gender of Rulers: Mostly male dominant]
[Political System: Ancient enfeoffment system (similar)]
[Military Strength: Very weak]
[Economic Strength: Very weak]
[Territory Area: About 155,000 square kilometers]
[Territory Location: Located in the southwest corner of the continent]
[National Status: Divided by conflict, outbreaks of violence, plague and natural disasters spreading, people are full of resentment… (on the verge of collapse)]
[Important Leaders and Personnel: Benedict, Elara, Regent Martin, Lord Gregory, Francis, Zhu… (Click to view individual profiles)]
[Important Powers: The Regent, people like Lord Gregory, the Qi brothers, Miracle Doctor Valley (hidden), local rebel forces, etc… (Click to view faction profiles)]
[Dependent States: None]
[Suzerain State: None]
[More Information: To be discovered…]
Elara glanced away when she saw the note in the national status that hinted at collapse. Her face was blank as she continued to scan the overall power distribution on the world map.
Aside from extremely cold deserts and frozen lands that were unfit for human survival in this era, the flattest and most fertile central region of the continent was divided into three equal parts by three powerful first-class nations.
Elara's eyes moved to the uppermost nation among the three major powers. System 92 once again automatically displayed the basic introduction:
[Petunia State]
[National Rank: First Class]
[Gender of Rulers: Mostly male dominant]
[Political System: Ancient enfeoffment system (similar)]
[Military Strength: Very strong]
[Economic Strength: Strong]
[Territory Area: About 5.7 million square kilometers]
[Territory Location: Entirely in the north of the continent, occupying one-third of the central plain and a large forested northern region]
[National Status: Internal strife and hidden divisions]
[Important Leaders and Personnel: Unknown]
[Important Noble Families: Unknown]
[Dependent States: Unknown]
[More Information: Unknown]
After reading the small profile of her own tiny Plumera Kingdom, Elara then saw the overwhelming information about Petunia State.
At first, she felt like her eyes were being cleaned. Then her gaze locked onto the massive figure of 5.7 million square kilometers. Elara couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.
Damn.
She wasn't swearing at the fact that this country was nearly forty times bigger than her poor little kingdom.
She was shocked by how incredibly large the territory was, far beyond what she imagined.
This world was still in a very primitive stage of development, yet the size of this land left Elara completely speechless.
In her past life, being a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, during the Spring and Autumn period, each kingdom could only occupy an area equal to one or two modern provinces. Later, when the First Emperor unified the country, the total land area was only about 3.4 million square kilometers.
But this Petunia State... it had nearly twice the land size of the Qin dynasty!
And this was still during a time when the emperor didn't hold centralized power, and instead actively gave away authority and territory through the ancient enfeoffment system.
Under this system, how could the emperor who sat in the center possibly keep all those large regional rulers under control?
Elara looked again at Petunia State's national status and found the logical explanation.
It said [Internal strife and hidden divisions], which made perfect sense.
In her mind, Elara recalled the end of the Great Zhou dynasty from the history books in her previous life. She began to suspect that the seemingly powerful Petunia State might walk the same path as Great Zhou.
No, maybe not just Petunia State. After all, there were two other first-class nations that also followed the enfeoffment system.
Elara's attention immediately shifted to the other two major powers.
[Celosia State]
[National Rank: First Class]
[Gender of Rulers: Mostly male dominant]
[Political System: Ancient enfeoffment system (similar)]
[Military Strength: Very strong]
[Economic Strength: Very strong]
[Territory Area: About 6.3 million square kilometers]
[Territory Location: Entirely in the west of the continent, occupying one-third of the central plain, and also a large area of plateau, rainforest, mountains, and forests in the western region]
[National Status: Glorious and thriving]
[Important Leaders and Personnel: Unknown]
[Important Noble Families: Unknown]
[Dependent States: Unknown]
[More Information: Unknown]
Elara raised her eyebrows again. But compared to the shock she felt earlier, now she was just slightly surprised after being shocked.
The Celosia State, which also used the ancient feudal system, seemed even stronger than the Petunia State.
Its territory was bigger, and both its military and economy were described as extremely strong.
Elara remembered that when System 92 introduced "Thousand Faces" earlier, this country had already been a top-tier nation two hundred years ago. It had used such a flawed old system for so long and still managed to maintain a powerful nation like Celosia in its golden age.
Elara was amazed.
Of course, it's not impossible for a country with a feudal system to be in its golden age. Even the early and middle years of the Great Zhou Dynasty were quite strong. But keeping a massive nation rich and stable for hundreds of years with such a flawed system was not something ordinary rulers could do.
Elara could only assume that the current ruler of Celosia, along with its royal line over the past two hundred years, were all highly intelligent and capable.
Only with that kind of leadership could the various powerful lords stay in place, keeping the country rich and peaceful without falling into chaos.
Sadly, Elara had never been to Celosia. The key figures and powers of the state were unknown on the map. Otherwise, she would really like to get to know these royal geniuses in advance.
After checking Celosia's details again, Elara reluctantly moved her eyes to the third top-tier nation. Then her eyes widened in shock once more.
Freesia State
Nation Grade: First-class
Ruler's Gender: Female-led
System of Government: Ancient feudal system (similar)
Military Strength: Strong (mainly naval forces)
Economic Power: Extremely strong
Territory Size: About 4.9 million square kilometers (plus more than 1.2 million square kilometers of ocean territory)
Location: Mostly in the eastern continent, occupying one-third of the central plain, bordering the eastern coast, deserts, and forest hills, including a large ocean area.
National Status: A golden-rich country
Important Leaders: Unknown
Important Family Powers: Unknown
Vassal States: Unknown
Other Information: Unknown
Elara's eyes widened slightly. She looked at the words after "female-led" in the bracket again.
Female-dominated? Was it the kind of female rule she was thinking of?
Yes yes yes
System 92, noticing her emotional reaction, answered excitedly. Yes, Master. It's exactly what you're thinking. In this female-led society, the wife is the highest authority. One woman can have multiple husbands. And… though we can't detect the exact reason yet, somehow, men in this era can give birth in a "reasonable" way.
It's truly a nation where women are supreme.
[If you're interested, you can look into the officials of the Plumera Kingdom later. Even though Plumera is a third-class male-dominant country, many low-ranking officials in the court actually share wives with their brothers. Also, you probably noticed during your two trips outside the palace that there are far more men on the streets than women.
Occasionally, when noblewomen appear, there are always several or even a dozen young men around them. Those young men are most likely the husbands of those noblewomen.
Elara: …!]
Elara took a moment to process everything and remembered the last two points that System 92 had mentioned.
At the time, she had only thought the streets had few women because women weren't allowed to show their faces in public.
And the noblewomen who did appear with many men around them seemed to just have bodyguards there for protection.
But now… she hadn't expected the truth to be like this?! Elara went silent.
After a long pause, she finally realized she hadn't just traveled to ancient times, but also to a strange world where it was "normal" for women to have multiple husbands, and even for men to "normally" have children.
She recalled the memories in the original body's mind and finally understood why she had missed such an important detail before.
Because even though Plumera Kingdom was a third-tier country, it was a male-dominated one.
Especially after the kingdom fell into chaos, with endless conflict and division, women who already had little power became even more oppressed.
This body had been born in the royal palace of Plumera Kingdom, and the former emperor had been extremely lustful, taking many consorts.
So, in the original memories, the environment Elara grew up in wasn't much different from the strict and male-centered harem life she had imagined.
That's why she had subconsciously ignored the strange details and hadn't thought too deeply about them.
Now, hearing System 92 speak in her ear, she finally understood how different her subconscious beliefs were from this world.
She also remembered the stack of information she had collected from Lianyi Tower about the current court officials.
Back then, she had been focused on watching how Lord Gregory and his group of corrupt ministers spread and divided power.
Because of that, she had ignored the other parts of the documents.
But she remembered flipping through the records and seeing several notes about Lord Gregory and his trusted officials.
They would invite their mistresses after banquets to serve them all together, and even swapped their mistresses afterward.
At the time, Elara had only thought this was just some strange and disgusting private habit of Lord Gregory.
She had been too busy studying the power split to care about that kind of information, so when she saw similar records about other officials, she skipped over them.
But thinking about it now… those mistresses being swapped around might not have just been because of Lord Gregory's twisted tastes.
They might have actually been "shared mistresses" or even "shared wives" between him and his allies.
Elara stared out of the carriage window at the streets of Plumera Capital, where only men could be seen walking around.
She didn't look away until the carriage was almost out of the capital.
System 92, glowing in her mind, thought she had finally accepted and sorted through all this new information.
But then Elara sighed in her mind while taking a sip of hot tea and said,
System, I always thought people cursed me for being a spoiled and cruel princess because I was lustful and violent. But now… I realize what they really hated was the violence part. They didn't even care that I was lustful?
If she didn't mistreat anyone, then could she actually fill her entire palace with lovers and no one would complain?
System 92 paused for a moment, then nodded seriously after thinking over Elara's words for two seconds.
Yes! According to how this world works, that's exactly how it should be.
As long as you don't go around hurting people, even if you bring in enough lovers to fill the whole palace, no one will say anything.
As long as you recover this body's "energy," keep your kidneys and back strong enough to handle it, you'll be fine!
At that, Elara's hand holding the tea cup paused ever so slightly.
Mm, you're right, System.
She took another sip with a calm expression, then slowly put the cup down.
Also, my original body had very good kidneys and a strong back, thank you for your concern, System.
But next time, I suggest you worry first about how to help me restore this broken body you gave me. Thanks in advance.
System 92: …Suddenly felt a little afraid to speak.