Because that would mean she must spend a tremendous amount of time and effort to clean up the mess and rebuild a functioning political system, which is truly a waste of time.

Abolishing the imperial system is not something to consider now.

So, even though she knows the performance of the Eldest Princess Annie is unworthy, Perfikot can only try to push her to that position as much as possible.

However, overall, the Eldest Princess Annie's faults are not many; it's just her unrestrained sympathy and compassion.

Sympathy and compassion are certainly two beautiful virtues, and for a monarch to have such virtues, it is naturally a good thing for the common people.

This means she will at least not levy heavy taxes, at least she will not treat the common people like barking dogs or chickens.

In ordinary times or peaceful eras, the title of a benevolent ruler is indispensable.

Other than that, the Eldest Princess Annie doesn't have major problems or defects in her character; when it's time to kill, she doesn't hesitate.

At least during this time when Perfikot arranged for her to deal with the corruption problem in Langton, she did not hesitate at all when it came to killing.

At the same time, as a Royal Family princess with a military background, the Eldest Princess Annie's decisiveness is actually not lacking; she doesn't really mess things up when a decision needs to be made.

And this is one of the reasons Perfikot is willing to help, after all, she does not delay important matters, a little flaw is acceptable.

Moreover, a monarch with a kind heart is always better than those mean and heartless types who discard people after use, right? At least there's no worry of being discarded and killed after service.

Though for Perfikot, she is not worried about this issue at all.

Thus, for Perfikot, the Eldest Princess Annie as a heir to the throne is indeed not very qualified, not the most suitable person to sit on that position for now, but until someone can replace her, Perfikot doesn't really see a problem that requires her to be replaced.

But no matter how you see it, having additional unnecessary workload is something that's making Perfikot unhappy.

This also caused her to not look well when she went out of the city to inspect the situation of those poor people.

Poor, commoner, just one character different, yet their fates are worlds apart.

Those living in the lower city, although life is difficult, at least the Empire provides them with relief food, and most of them have a roof over their heads, and a bed to sleep on at night, and a quilt for warmth.

Life is difficult, but at least it's possible to find a way to make do.

But the poor outside the city are entirely different; they are, in the literal sense, quite literally dying.

As Perfikot disguised herself, with the protection of the personal Imperial Guard Knight Samantha, Church Court Judge Shabelle, and the secretly protective female Assassin Claudia, she arrived outside Langton City intending to understand the situation, and she saw at least a cartload of "corpses" being dragged away in front of her.

They're called "corpses" in quotes because Perfikot can clearly sense that the people on that cart are not completely dead.

Apart from the dozen true corpses on the cart, there were also about seven or eight people who were still breathing.

However, Perfikot did not intervene to save them because she knew they could not be saved.

Their bodies had long since fallen into a state of total collapse due to hunger and cold, like oil cakes that had been squeezed dry, with no more vitality or energy left to sustain their lives.

In a word, they have reached the point where oil runs dry, and lamps die out, close to death, just one breath away from being dead.

Even if Perfikot provided them food and medicine, their bodies wouldn't have enough energy to absorb and digest.

Unless Perfikot were to use the Philosopher's Stone to enforce a human transmutation to forcibly reconstruct their bodies, they couldn't survive.

In the original world, it would be akin to severe malnutrition and starvation leading to multi-organ failure; even with the medical conditions of the original world, it would be hard to save them regardless of cost.

If it were only one or two individuals, Perfikot might have saved them, but just from this cart, there were seven or eight like them; no matter how capable she is, she cannot save them.

Not to mention there are more "living corpses" by the roadside in slightly better conditions but not much different.

Watching this scene, Perfikot could understand why Eldest Princess Annie would come to seek help from her because watching these people starve to death is unbearable not only for Eldest Princess Annie; even Perfikot herself found it hard to accept.

"Do you know what the hardest disease to cure in the world is?" Perfikot walked the road and, passing by a child too weak to cry, threw a piece of black bread to his side while asking Samantha and Shabelle beside her.

The child's eyes lit up upon seeing the bread, and regardless of it being thrown into the dirty water, he grabbed the bread and started gnawing on it.

This move immediately stirred up a commotion; those who had a little strength left began converging towards Perfikot, trying to beg for some food.

Although deliberately dressed in ordinary clothing, her rosy face and strong steps still attracted quite a few prying eyes and greed.

But Perfikot didn't mind this because she didn't just step out with a few bodyguards for a stroll.

At this very moment, above her was her flying yacht, with a squadron of Steam Knights and a team of Flying Knights on standby; if anything were to happen, she only needed to hold out for a minute before a team of Steam Knights would descend from the skies.

Given the state of the slum as she saw it, there truly was nothing that could threaten her life within a minute, let alone resist the advance of the Steam Knights.

Yet seeing those barely-alive figures, indistinguishable from corpses and resembling zombies, gathering towards her, even Samantha, a knight who had faced down a dragon, couldn't help but grip her weapon and signal, ready to summon reinforcements.

However, Perfikot held her down, simply kicking away a person who tried to grab her clothes, swiftly making her way through the street with her two bodyguards.

As they were about to leave, Perfikot took another loaf of bread from her person, used alchemy to enlarge it and split it into numerous small pieces, and tossed them behind her.

The people gathered around Perfikot were seeking food; seeing the abundance of bread, they began to fight over it, leaving no one to focus on Perfikot anymore.

Thus, Perfikot easily rid herself of the trouble of being surrounded, making her way down another street.

It wasn't until then that Perfikot answered her previous question: "The hardest disease in the world to cure is poverty, and what you're seeing now is when the poverty has reached an incurable stage."

Staring at the scene resembling hell on earth, Shabelle couldn't resist praying to the All-Father: "May the All-Father look upon this place and bless all who suffer."

"I don't know if the All-Father is watching, but if the Empire continues to ignore this, I'm afraid heresy will eventually take notice," Samantha, a knight adhering to the knight's creed, found such a scene unbearable, wishing to help these poor people.

However, Perfikot said nothing more, just continued to delve further into the slum with the two, wanting to understand more and investigate the situation clearly.

For she sensed something amiss, making her think perhaps it wasn't that heresy would take notice, but that they already had.

"Why is there an alchemical creation in the slum?" Perfikot looked at a peculiar street lamp on the roadside.

In ordinary people's eyes, it's just a normal street lamp, but in Perfikot's eyes, this street lamp is an alchemical creation, continually collecting the grievances and souls of those impoverished beyond help.

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