Episode 26: Torn Authority, Dumbfounded Imperial Family
In the heart of the empire, the dazzlingly magnificent Grand Audience Hall of the Imperial Palace.
Emperor Alexander III tilted a fine teacup, unable to conceal the bitter smile that had hung on his lips since morning. The nobles of the imperial faction, lined up below the audience hall, also let out sycophantic smiles to match their liege's mood.
"Your Majesty's wisdom is truly like the sun. No matter how much the arrogant mistress of Castillo may wield wealth and mana, how could she possibly resist when you intend to take her daughter-in-law as a concubine by the solemn 'Imperial Decree'?"
"Indeed. Even that venomous spider-like woman, Eleanor, will eventually have to kneel before the absolute authority of the Imperial Household and hand over her daughter-in-law and dowry of her own accord. If the daughter-in-law is taken hostage, all those massive gold coins from the Castillo Trading Company will roll into the Imperial treasury, Hahaha!"
The Emperor shook his tongue greedily, convinced of victory. He held no doubt that he could completely reverse the economic blow suffered from the bankruptcy of the Minister of the Interior, Marquis Morte, by swallowing the goose that bore the giant golden eggs, Liliana, in its entirety.
Imagining the envoy arriving right now, laden with Liliana like a sack of cargo in the imperial carriage, while admiring Eleanor's look of despair, felt as if a ten-year-old burden had been lifted. Just then.
BANG!!
The heavy doors of the Grand Audience Chamber, which had been firmly closed, burst open roughly.
"Oh! It seems the envoy has finally returned. Let's see just how low Castillo's daughter-in-law bows as she enters."
Just as the Emperor was about to leisurely rise from his throne, his eyes widened as if they were about to pop out. The one who entered the audience chamber was neither the beautifully adorned Liliana nor the imposing envoy.
"H-h-h. Your-Your Majesty..!!"
A man covered from head to toe in pitch-black mud, horse dung, and unidentified filth was crawling onto the marble floor of the audience chamber like a ghost who had narrowly escaped death. The pungent, disgusting stench made the nobles recoil in horror, covering their noses and stepping backward.
"W-what is that! Why don't you drag that mad beggar out immediately!"
"Your-Your Majesty! I am a servant! I am Your Majesty's envoy!"
"...W-what did you say? An envoy?"
The corners of the Emperor's mouth trembled as if convulsing. The Chief Envoy, the face of the Empire and the Emperor's representative, was crawling on the floor in a horrific state, worse than a beggar.
"W-what on earth is this! Lady Liliana! Has the mistress of Castillo knelt!"
At the Emperor's roar, the envoy, still prostrate on the floor, pulled something out of his bosom with his trembling hands and held it up. They were fragments of the 'Imperial Edict,' torn into dozens of pieces and reduced to rubbish. The red wax symbolizing the Imperial Household had been mercilessly trampled by boots, crushed beyond recognition.
"Your, Your Majesty! Duchess Eleanor... she has torn Your Majesty's edict to shreds right before my face!"
"W-what?"
The sound of the thread of reason snapping snapped inside the Emperor's head.
"T-Tear my edict? How dare a mere Duchess tear apart a solemn Imperial command?!"
The Emperor's face flushed red and then blue, and his whole body began to tremble with extreme rage.
"Furthermore, Deputy Merchant Guild Head Lady Liliana has declared that, in protest against Your Majesty's attempt to forcibly take a concubine, she will cut off the supply of all food and magic stones to the Imperial Palace as of today! Starting tomorrow, not even a single sack of flour will enter the Imperial kitchen!"
"These, these traitorous bitches have finally gone mad!! How dare they threaten me with food?!"
The Emperor lost his reason, kicked the armrest of the throne, and roared.
"Mobilize the Imperial Knights and the punitive forces immediately! Storm the Duke of Castillo's mansion right now, behead that bitch Eleanor, and burn the estate to the ground! I will cut off their heads and display them in the middle of the capital!!"
Just as the military officers were about to leave the audience chamber to hastily gather troops, the Emperor's furious rage.
"T-that cannot be, Your Majesty!!"
The envoy slammed his forehead against the marble floor, screaming desperately.
"You must not send the punitive expedition! In that reception room... His Highness the Grand Duke of the North, Caelon, is standing firm!"
The moment that name was mentioned, all the nobles in the audience chamber, who had been about to summon troops, froze stiff in place as if struck by lightning.
"Ca-Caelon? Why is that mad beast of the North there...?"
"The Grand Duke has spoken. He has declared war, stating that if Your Majesty moves even a single soldier to Castillo... he will lead '10,000' Knights of the North immediately south toward the capital and reduce the Imperial Palace to ashes! Furthermore, this was not merely a threat! A secret letter from the Grand Duke has already been delivered, and it is said that 2,000 of the North's elite Iron Cavalry have begun marching toward the outskirts of the capital! The moment the Imperial army sets foot on the threshold of Castillo, it is war, Your Majesty!!"
A suffocating, terrible, and horrifying silence weighed down the massive Grand Audience Hall.
"...The Northern Knights, ten thousand of them are marching south...?"
The blood drained instantly from the voice of the Emperor, who had just moments ago been raging, demanding the execution of traitors. Even if he gathered every last member of the Imperial Guard, there were only three thousand. Even those were mostly young nobles who had spent their days receiving only ceremonial training in a sheltered environment.
In contrast, Caelon's Northern Knights were the continent's most formidable killing machines, constantly teetering between life and death as they severed the heads of colossal beasts. It was clear that if they were determined to storm the capital, the Imperial Guard would not hold out for even two days and would be annihilated, and this magnificent Grand Audience Hall would be reduced to a horrific pile of ashes beneath Caelon's greatsword.
"Your Majesty! What shall we do! If the Northern Army truly besieges the capital, the Imperial Household is finished!"
"Furthermore, as Lady Liliana says, if the supply of food and magic stones is cut off starting tomorrow, the people will be the first to rise up and riot! Your Majesty, please heed this!"
The ministers fell into a panic, prostrating themselves on the floor and screaming. It was a shallow and petty move, blinded by greed, to snatch a powerless daughter-in-law as a concubine. That light greed had simultaneously touched the raw nerve of the absolute triangular formation of Mana, Capital, and the continent's strongest military power. The price had become the worst possible self-defeating move, collateralizing the destruction of the Imperial Family, and was tightening its grip on the Emperor's neck.
"Ah, ah..."
Emperor Alexander III's legs gave way, and he slumped onto the throne with a thud. Even though his authority had been torn apart, and the envoy had returned in a wretched state, he could not even send an army immediately.
Before the overwhelming military might of Caelon and the immense capital of Castillo, even the Emperor, whom he had believed to be an absolute ruler, was nothing more than a thoroughly helpless old man.
"That cowardly Northern bastard and that vile witch-like woman..."
The Emperor gripped the golden armrest of the throne tightly. He squeezed so hard that blood welled up between his fingernails and dripped down. He had tried to overpower them with force, but his throat was blocked by the Grand Duke of the North's greatsword. He had tried to tighten the noose with money, but was trampled by Castillo's immense capital. His plan to forcibly seize power had come to nothing, and the dignity of the Imperial Family was in danger of becoming a laughingstock to the people of the continent.
Amidst extreme fear and humiliation, the Emperor's clouded eyes, which had been biting his lip until it bled, suddenly turned toward a pile of documents stacked in a corner of the desk. There lay a petition that Eleanor had formally submitted a few days ago.
[Petition for the Revision of the Imperial Grand Court 'Divorce Trial' regarding the embezzlement and breach of trust by Duke Valdemar Castillo and Little Duke Claude.]
A vicious and despicable murderous intent, like a venomous snake coiled up, gleamed in the Emperor's eyes.
"...Yes."
"If I cannot mobilize the army, I will simply use the Empire's rotten law."
The Emperor muttered in a low, hissing voice like a snake.
"For the Imperial army to strike Castillo is an all-out war, but dragging Eleanor onto the solemn judgment seat of the Imperial Grand Court is a 'legal' act that even that ignorant Grand Duke of the North cannot stop."
The Emperor picked up Eleanor's divorce petition with bloodstained hands. Rather than lose by force, it was a final desperate attempt to hunt her down inside the court by thoroughly bribing the hundreds of high-noble jurors and Grand Justices under the Emperor's influence.
"Summon the Grand Justices immediately!"
The Emperor's furious shout echoed through the audience chamber.
"Just as that bitch Eleanor wanted, I fully authorize the convening of the Imperial Grand Court the day after tomorrow! I will grant her a legal stage for judgment! In that sacred court, I will turn Valdemar's guilt into an acquittal, and frame that arrogant vixen Eleanor as an embezzler before the eyes of the entire Empire, placing her on the execution platform forever!!"
It was the moment the terrified Emperor threw open the gates of the massive hunting ground Eleanor had dug for herself, declaring his intention to kill her.
Little did he know that it was the perfect guillotine meticulously prepared by the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
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