Episode 47: The Emperor Who Lost His Reason, The Second Torn Edict
Winter Castle, a magnificent yet brutal black iron fortress situated at the edge of the empire.
Piercing through the furious northern blizzard that threatened to swallow all the warmth of the world, a carriage hoisting the Imperial flag was precariously approaching the castle gate. The faces of the dozens of Imperial Guards escorting the carriage were already pale with the bitter cold and bone-chilling terror. They realized more painfully than anyone that they were walking their own feet into the maw of a tiger, teeming with the continent's most ferocious beasts.
Screech, screeching-!!!
The massive black iron gate, weighing tens of tons, opened with a rough scraping sound, and the Imperial delegation entered the castle's spacious central plaza. On either side of the plaza stood tens of thousands of Northern Iron Cavalrymen radiating murderous intent. Their eyes gleamed ferociously, as if ready to tear at the delegation's leash at any moment.
The Minister of the Interior, who had arrived as the Emperor's envoy, had his legs give way and stumbled miserably into the snow as he stepped out of the carriage.
"I have come bearing the solemn imperial decree of His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Empire. Grand Duke of the North and Eleanor Castillo, receive this command with proper etiquette immediately!"
The Minister of the Interior tried to put on a brave face in a trembling voice, but his words were merely drowned out by the sound of the harsh northern wind, scattering away infinitely pathetic.
None of the knights of the North bowed their heads to the Emperor's envoy. Instead, they merely scoffed while stroking the hilts of their massive greatswords. A short while later, in the largest and most magnificent hall of Winter Castle, dozens of high-ranking Northern vassals and legion commanders sat around a round table, maintaining a chilling silence. And at the highest seat in that vast space, Eleanor, with a dark navy uniform coat draped over her shoulders, and Grand Duke Caelon of the North sat side by side on two thrones, coldly looking down at the envoy.
Eleanor crossed her legs and rested her chin on her hand, her red eyes gleaming with an arrogant and noble posture.
"Read this, Envoy, and see what kind of amusing scrap of paper the Emperor has brought this time."
Gasping for breath from the pressure of the mana Eleanor was emitting, the Minister of the Interior pulled a massive scroll stamped with the red imperial seal from his bosom and unfolded it. His voice was trembling like an aspen tree.
"This is a solemn decree from His Imperial Majesty. Grand Duchess of the North, Eleanor Castillo, and her daughter-in-law, Liliana Castillo, have committed heinous acts by paralyzing the Empire's economy and bringing foreign mercenaries into the capital, the very heart of the country. This is a clear and terrible act of treason, selling out the security of the Great Empire and colluding with foreign powers to overthrow the Imperial Household."
The moment the word 'treason' sprang from the envoy's lips, a chilling, murderous aura erupted from all directions, as if the temperature in the Great Hall had plummeted below freezing. The retainers of the North sprang to their feet in unison and roughly gripped their sword hilts.
"How dare these insolent bastards attempt to frame Her Highness the Grand Duchess with the filthy stigma of treason?"
The old Count roared, his veins bulging, but Eleanor lightly raised her hand, instantly quelling the retainers' rage. Still wearing a languid, cold smirk on her lips, she nodded her chin toward the envoy.
"Please continue reading. The forced justification the Emperor has squeezed out of his meager brain is quite nauseating and intriguing."
The Minister of the Interior swallowed hard as he looked down at the cold sweat pooling on the floor and quickly read through the remaining contents of the edict.
"Therefore, His Majesty the Emperor orders the confiscation of all territories and titles of the traitor Eleanor Castillo and her immediate extradition. Furthermore, he strictly orders that Grand Duke Caelon of the North, who sympathized with this rebellion, be disarmed and that all troops of Winter Castle be forcibly incorporated into the Imperial Guard. If this edict is defied, the entire North will be declared traitors, and a massive punitive expedition will be launched."
The moment that preposterous sentence ended, the Great Council fell silent, eerily quieter than the eye of a storm. It was a disgusting scheme by the Emperor, who had been completely defeated by Liliana's financial power in the economic war, to fabricate a forced justification under the pretext of hiring foreign mercenaries in an attempt to swallow up not only Eleanor's life but also the entire military power of the Grand Duchy of the North.
Unable to field an army due to a lack of funds, he sought to frame her as a traitor to forcibly seize the North's mighty Iron Cavalry, a desperate act reaching the height of pathetic pettiness.
"Pfft."
Breaking the heavy silence, a clear and cheerful burst of laughter erupted from between Eleanor's lips. It was a bizarre sight: a woman branded a traitor before the Empire's most solemn edict, far from fearing, clutching her stomach and laughing heartily.
The envoy and the Royal Guards turned pale, doubting their own eyes. Eleanor looked down at the envoy with red eyes tinged with laughter and slowly rose from the seat of honor. Her footsteps echoed across the marble floor as she approached the envoy's chin.
"What a truly pitiful and foolish monarch you are. The sight of you struggling to frame my daughter-in-law's clever defenses as collusion with foreign powers is so desperate it brings tears to my eyes. Now that the treasury is empty due to lack of funds, to think you are openly throwing a fit to steal my life and this northern army."
Eleanor reached out with a hand clad in white silk gloves and roughly snatched the edict from the envoy's grasp.
"However, the Emperor is under a fatal and terrible delusion, Envoy."
Whoosh!!!
The explosive red mana of a 7th Circle Archmage began to rise from Eleanor's fingertips like a mirage.
"If you believed that a mere scrap of paper like this could strangle me and tame the beasts of the North, that is merely the perfect proof that your head is nothing but a decoration. Did you call it treason?"
The smile on Eleanor's lips instantly contorted into a cruel, demonic grimness.
"Very well. If you are determined to fabricate a rebellion where none exists and jump into the fiery pit of destruction, I, Eleanor Castillo, will fulfill that petty wish to the brim and perfectly."
Whoosh-!!!
Simultaneously with her cold pronouncement, hellfire-like crimson flames surged from the hand clutching the decree. The red seal and scroll, symbolizing the Emperor's most solemn authority, turned into pitch-black ashes within Eleanor's magic in a single second, scattering across the floor. Following the tearing apart of the first decree in the Imperial Palace in the past, it was the completion of an overwhelming act of rebellion: the complete burning of the Emperor's second decree in the heart of the North.
"You must be truly insane. To burn the Emperor's decree, this is all-out war. The Imperial Army will trample the entire North!"
The Minister of Internal Affairs screamed like a beast as he stumbled backward, falling on his buttocks. It was the very moment the Royal Guards recoiled in terror and drew their swords toward Eleanor.
Swish !!!
With a chilling rupture slicing through the air of the Great Hall, red blood gushed out.
"Aaaargh!"
The right arm of the Royal Guard Captain, who had dared to place his hand on the hilt of his sword toward Eleanor, was completely severed shoulderbone and all and tumbled across the marble floor. Beyond that gruesome severed surface, Grand Duke Caelon of the North stood behind Eleanor like a perfect Grim Reaper, emitting a ferocious, blood-red killing intent while letting his massive greatsword hang down. His golden eyes burned like a madman, ready to tear apart the Minister of the Interior who had dared to shout at his liege at any moment.
"How dare you raise your voice and run your mouths so presumptuously before me, you disgusting vermin of the capital!"
Caelon's low, scratching voice weighed down the Great Hall, filling it with horrific terror.
"Didn't my wife tell you? That if your rotten Emperor desires rebellion so much, she would willingly become a traitor herself and wash that golden throne with blood. The sword of this Grand Duke Caelon obeys only the orders of Grand Duchess Eleanor; that old Emperor's edict is useless even as dog food for us in the North."
Caelon raised his blood-stained greatsword high and thrust its cold tip right in front of the messenger's nose. The Minister of the Interior, his groin soaked with sweat, prostrated himself on the ground and began to beg for his life.
"The Emperor, who has declared me a traitor and sought to seize my knight order, has already crossed the most terrible line of death that must never be crossed."
Eleanor trampled the ashes of the edict under her boots and shouted in a clear and absolute voice.
"Listen carefully, return, and deliver this message to your liege. From this very moment, the Grand Duchy of the North permanently severs all ties of subordination to the Imperial Household and declares complete independence. Furthermore, as punishment for provoking us, we will mobilize all of Castillo's capital and the 10,000 Iron Cavalry of the North to march toward the capital and behead the Emperor."
This was not a defensive political offensive. It was a declaration of the most brutal and magnificent all-out war, aiming the blade directly at the heart of the Empire to drag the rotten Emperor from the throne.
"The Northern Iron Cavalry, obeying the will of Her Highness the Grand Duchess, will burn down the Imperial Palace and offer the heads of the enemy."
"Long live the Great Ruler Her Highness Eleanor! Long live the Grand Duke of the North!"
The wolves of the North, filling the Great Hall, raised their weapons in unison and began to roar like madmen. Their frenzied shouts pierced through the thick walls of Winter Castle and echoed across the entire Northern Territory, shaking the very foundations of the earth. Eleanor looked down at the Northern warriors shouting blind loyalty toward her and placed her hand on Caelon's stern shoulder.
"Now is the time to unleash your hounds and tear into the very heart of the Empire."
Combining Eleanor's overwhelming determination with the Grand Duke's ruthless military might, the prelude to a great war that would bring about the largest and most horrific bloodbath in the Empire's constitutional history was raising its majestic anchor amidst the scorching northern blizzard.
The Emperor was rushing toward total destruction, completely unaware that the pathetic spark he had cast was returning as a hellfire that would burn the entire continent.
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