The person who intervened was the Grand Princess, who was just quietly observing the situation. The Grand Princess lifted her stuffed rabbit that she had been holding onto her shoulder and took out her thick book and opened it. On the back of her book was the text engraved in gold: The Code of the Vryland Empire.
“Article 23 of the Potions Act. In any case, it is illegal to use the Potion of Truth on a human being without consent.”
“To humans.”
Elliot picked out the main points from the passage her brother read to her. Since it was fed when it was a frog, it meant that it was not against the law.
“This is absolutely despicable!”
As soon as one of the imperial faction nobles shouted, a shout was heard from behind.
“It’s noisy!”
“Does that matter now!”
“Let’s hear about it!”
“If you’re not the culprit, why are you trying to hide it?”
“That’s right!”
The emperor gritted his teeth, glaring harshly at the people who fearlessly raised their voices.
‘I want to cut off their heads right now.’
But if he does that, he will be branded a tyrant. The Grand Duke, who had just been framed, might instigate an uprising among the people, but he could not give them prey.
‘I brought in an observer for no reason.’
She was called to witness Elliot’s downfall, but she never thought she would witness his downfall.
“Wizard.”
The emperor secretly instructed the imperial palace wizard.
“Use a spell to silence those two.”
The only way to secretly silence them was through witchcraft. But the wizard dared to shake her head.
“Do you dare disobey my orders?”
“I’m sorry, but there is no solution to the truth potion other than death.”
“It’s death…”
While the emperor was conflicted looking at the crown prince, the empress secretly took a step back from him.
“Her Majesty, where are you going?”
“To escape…”
The Empress, who had answered the Grand Duke’s question without realizing it, hurriedly closed her mouth. However, as criticism and interrogation poured in on me rather than the emperor, who was the main culprit of the murder, she opened her mouth again without realizing it.
“No. I just encouraged it from the side! It was the Emperor who instigated the Grand Duke’s assassination!”
Shouts of shock erupted from all over the throne room.
“The assassination of the Grand Duke…”
“The Grand Duke is alive and well!”
“That’s because that witch accidentally killed the Grand Duke and his wife while trying to kill the Grand Prince.”
When even the crown prince participated in the revelations, the emperor was driven to the brink of collapse. He once again had the urge to raise an army and disperse everyone, but there were too many eyes watching. Those who have already heard the revelations will go out and spread the word.
‘I feel like I want to kill them right away…’
It was impossible to kill the only heir. While the emperor just stared at the noose being tightened around his neck like a fool with his hands and feet tied, the Grand Duke even brought out the evidence he had prepared.
‘What I thought was a trap set by me was actually a trap set by that guy.’
What he held out in front of everyone was the witch’s ledger.
“Among these numerous records where the requester for black magic is the royal family, what you should pay attention to is this request with the name of Lucas Blaine written on it.”
He would have guessed that the witch kept detailed records of all her requests. Some of the nobles became thoughtful. It wasn’t just that she was shocked by the emperor’s guilt. She had a feeling that her name would also be written in the ledger. Because of this, the voices of the imperial faction greatly diminished. As the silence continued, the first person to speak was Duke Monette.
“Why on earth did you do that?”
The duke, who was well-versed in politics, could not have asked without knowing the emperor’s motives.
“I’m afraid that the throne will be taken away by the Grand Duke.”
It was an attempt to get the crown prince to speak on his own terms.
“But why did you target the Grand prince?”
When a nobleman asked, the crown prince once again confessed obediently.
“Elliot wants to do something else. Because it was obvious that he was aiming to become the next emperor.”
So they tried to kill the Grand Prince so that he could not inherit the title. Before that, women were prohibited from becoming heads of households, preventing Grand Duchesses from receiving titles.
The eyes of some nobles whose families were reeling from the abolition of the female head of household system turned harsh.
“It all started with casting black magic to remove the previous Grand Duke from his position as crown prince.”
While the emperor was in despair, the crown prince confessed things that were not even asked and added:
“Oh, we didn’t participate in that.”
“That was before you were even born.”
As expected, the desperate empress sat down on her floor and mumbled. All of the emperor’s crimes were so heinous that not even the emperor’s nobles could condone them. Since it was revealed that the way the emperor acquired the throne in the first place was unfair, it was as if he had lost his legitimacy.
“Yes, I killed him.”
The emperor, driven into a corner, eventually gave in to reason and admitted his crime.
“What’s wrong with the emperor keeping his position!”
But there was no reflection.
“What should we do now?”
The emperor provoked Elliot with a twisted smile.
“I cannot serve as my monarch the person who killed my parents.”
Eliot abandoned the military-subject relationship and treated the emperor poorly, treating him as a sinner. The emperor laughed wickedly, like a hunter spreading a net.
“So you will punish me for my sins?”
Punishing the emperor for his sins meant treason.
“Kill me. Cut off my head and take this throne. You are a traitor! Arrest him quickly!”
As expected, the emperor branded him a traitor and issued orders to the royal guards. At that moment, the soldiers quickly rushed out. It was the royal guard of the Grand Duke, not the emperor. While the Grand Duke’s royal guard was protecting the family head, the emperor’s royal guard stood in place like a statue, looking only at the guard captain who did not give orders. The commander of the emperor’s guard looked at him with rather perplexed eyes. This is not the emperor’s, but the nobles gathered in the throne room.
“What are you doing!”
As the emperor shouted, the captain of the guard spoke.
“Your Majesty, I beg to be humbled, but the Grand Duke has not yet committed treason.”
Normally, he would have obeyed orders unconditionally, but now he has changed. He had a premonition that he was holding a rope that was about to break.
“I have no intention of committing treason.”
The Grand Duke looked around at the audience and declared.
“I just said I would not serve him as a monarch.”
Those who did not understand how the two were different were both understanding and astonished when another declaration followed.
“As of today, the Grand Duchy of Blaine, including the Billund Dominion, becomes independent from the Briland Empire.”
The lords who declared independence did not stop at the Grand Duke.
“The Duchy of Monette also becomes independent from the Empire as of today.”
Lords who were dissatisfied with the emperor, including the Duke of Monet, declared independence one after another. It was just as Elliot had agreed in advance.
“No, wait…”
“What is this…?”
From the imperial faction nobles to the emperor, everyone was embarrassed and unable to speak. They did not know what it meant to become independent all at once. The Grand Duke establishes a new empire. In other words, the empire was cut in half. At the same time, the Brillant Empire becomes neighbors with a hostile nation. They had to prevent their independence and founding of a nation. The only way was to persuade them or suppress them with force. It was suicidal to wage war against half of the empire, especially against the militarily strongest camp of the Archduchy of Blaine and the Duchy of Monette. One of the imperial faction nobles, who was dying, came to appease.
“Don’t do this. There must be a way to reconcile…”
“Reconciliation. Reconcile with the person who took the throne and killed his parents! What nonsense is this!”
As the previous Grand Duchess’s family strongly protested, all members of the imperial faction had to keep silent.
“The decision is up to you.”
The Duke of Monette solemnly issued an ultimatum. It was pressure to withdraw support for the emperor. If all the lords turned their backs on him, the emperor had no choice but to abdicate. The imperial faction nobles exchanged thoughts with their eyes and then turned their gaze to the throne. The person sitting there was not a majestic emperor, but an old man with nothing but madness and stubbornness.
“Well, that would never happen… Absolutely not.”
Contrary to the emperor’s wishes, it ended up happening.
“No!”
The moment the emperor’s nobles abandoned him, the crown was taken from his head. He became Albert, a criminal, not an emperor, and was toppled from the throne.
“It’s mine! This is mine!”
The royal guard who had been serving him just a moment ago forcibly removed the man clinging awkwardly to the throne and held him. In this way, the emperor had to step down from the throne he had occupied by using all kinds of tricks because of those tricks.
“Then the disposition of the lord, his wife, and his son…”
“Wait a moment. There is one more sinner.”
At a time when the disposition of the dethroned emperor, who was crying out in despair, and the discussion of the next emperor should be discussed, the Grand Duke said something unexpected. As he winked, the head of the Grand Duke’s royal guard nodded his head and walked out of the throne room. The captain of the guard returned shortly after, accompanied by the Grand Duke and the witch of the Black Forest, Hazel.
‘Now you’re calling me.’
The witch, who thought she had been called as a witness and followed obediently, was taken aback the moment she sat down on the empty chair pointed out by the Grand Duke.
‘This, this…’
A shield of holy power was spread around her. The holy power was emanating from the Grand Duke standing behind the witch, the Grand Duke standing to the right of the throne room, and the head of the Royal Guards standing to the left.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on April, 27 after a little rest.
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