It was still the middle of the night yet, the Capital was already full of chaos. The people who were about to sleep were now restless as the sounds of the chariots rushing to and fro rang all night.
The Imperial Sky Knights marched from area to area announcing the decree of the Emperor and started to search the land. Noble and common people, no one was exempted.
Their bodies were searched and every space in their house was investigated. The knights doing the inspection were firm to look at everything that would identify the traitors of the land as well as the culprit of the murders that happened the past few days.
The nobles from the assembly also rushed back to their homes in an attempt to organize their families at the last minute and try to explain everything that happened.
But it was as if the knights of the Empire had the nobles staying inside the capital on the top of their list that they came in less than an hour after the release of the Imperial decree.
This commotion shook the entire capital as they were completely caught off guard by the order. However, with the authority given by the Emperor to the knights, the majority of the citizens dared not to oppose the operations.
In just a span of a few hours, the Imperial Sky Knights were able to sweep a third of the Capital, but they do not intend to stop at that point.
Duke Maxim has been on tenterhooks upon rushing to the Empress' place to inform his sister, Empress Carolina. While on his estate, he tried to send messages to all his cursed army to hide and not convene in the estate.
"If possible, try not to encounter the Imperial Sky Knights and subject yourself to the search!" He ordered them before letting them scatter outside the estate.
After ensuring that everything is alright, that was when Duke Maxim felt a little relief at being found out. However, General Farauld was determined to not let him have a peaceful moment.
In a short moment, General Farauld along with his strongest adjutants barricaded his entire estate to prevent anyone from sneaking outside the Empire.
"General Farauld, what is the meaning of this!" Duke Maxim was extremely agitated.
Why are the Imperial Knights surrounding his estate? What is the General up to? Could it be that they suspect him after all?
Duke Maxim was extremely nervous that he subconsciously bit his thumb until it bled.
General Farauld looked at the Duke with a calm and undiscernible demeanor. He only answered in a natural tone without a hint of prejudice or favor,
"Your Grace, Duke Maxim, the Emperor decreed for the search of every estate in the Capital. However, as you can see, I lack the manpower to do that knowing how large your estate was.
So while we are waiting for the other knights to finish their assignments, we are just going to station ourselves here until my men arrived. I hope you don't mind waiting for your turn in searching. We will commence as soon as we have enough manpower."
'How is this lacking manpower! You brought your strongest adjutants and senior knights! Isn't this just house arrest?!' Duke Maxim cursed the nonchalant General Farauld in his heart.
However, he knew that he must not show any signs of panic or agitation at this moment. He wanted to gamble on the fact that the Emperor's side doesn't know their connection with the chaos that was going around.
As such, he waved his hand like the most benevolent person in the world while replying, "Then do as you wish, I only hope that the search in my estate would finish sooner, lest it will startle everyone in my household."
General Farauld sneered in his heart upon witnessing Duke Maxim's pretension. However, no matter how his mind wanted to arrest Maxim, he had to stop himself until the other preparations were completely done.
So with a grateful look, he saluted Duke Maxim and replied, "We are indebted to Your Grace's understanding." Then he smiled with the most superficial smile he could give as he watched the Duke turn around and enter the estate.
"Do not allow anyone to get out of the estate. Consider no excuses, no matter how reasonable they were." He then commanded his knights who in turn answered obediently.
General Farauld nodded with satisfaction as he stared at the grand estate with a snide in his heart, "Go on and enjoy your last days as a noble, for the moment you step out of the gates, you would only be a traitor and a sinner."
Meanwhile, in the palace, a similar scenario was also observed. Even the royalties were not spared by the decree and were subjected to a thorough search.
The Emperor intentionally left Empress Carolina and the rest of the identified traitors. However, he ensured that they were isolated from each other, with no means to communicate but through communication stones which were only limited to important people and not to everyone.
This significantly reduced the flow of information amongst them. All the major parties seemed to have been treated 'special' while the lesser traitors were arrested silently and thrown into the dungeons.
Duke Maxim and Empress Carolina were especially blocked out of this information, all the information they were able to get was that some were arrested due to possessing illegal items that were brought from the black market.
This also gave the impression that they were the 'traitors' arrested, which made the two perpetrators sigh in relief. In their minds, as long as it doesn't point to the Vesala Household, then it is well.
However, the forced house arrest lasted for three days!
What was more bothering was the fact that the Imperial Sky Knights had no intention to answer their protest and finish the search.
The nobles that had a major hand in participating with the Vesalas very much wanted to just open their gates and let the knights inspect them so that they could finally have some peace.
In their minds, they were confident that they have already prepared themselves enough to hide their tracks and appear innocent and clean.
Duke Maxim and Empress Carolina were also feeling the same.
Empress Carolina paced back and forth in the sunroom of her palace, in an intense dark mood. How could she, the Empress of the Empire be subject to such humiliation?!
She very much wanted to sneak out and check her son's condition however, the Imperial Knights were extremely strict that even her dark knight Callan was not able to come near her.
The only means of communication she had was a single communication stone connected to Duke Maxim who was also under house arrest.
"Brother, what was really happening? Aren't the search finished already? Why am I being held under house arrest?" She shouted agitatedly.
Because of her fear and uneasiness, she didn't mind her current unkempt appearance that was far from the regal and glamorous beauty of an Empress.
"I also have no idea, but do not worry, I think that the Emperor was just doing this to intimidate the nobles. I heard information that even the Astazes were also held on house arrest. This means that the Emperor's suspicion was not directly on us but on all the powerful nobles in the capital." Duke Vesala tried to assure his sister's worry.
But in his heart, he was starting to get nervous because it seems like the outside world had been so quiet that he couldn't brush off the fact that something was wrong.
"But how long will this farce be? I heard Kazimir was also involved in the matter? You promised me that you won't let him be pulled into this mess, but why is this all happening?!" Empress Carolina on the other side was even more agitated than assured.
She started to blame his brother for everything that happened in the last few days.
Duke Maxim felt his headache upon hearing Empress Carolina's accusations. But what can he do? It was an unfortunate thing to have Kazimir involved in this mess, at a time when their relationship was awkward.
"My subordinates tried to take him away so that they could avoid hurting him unintentionally. Who would have known that the Second Prince would be easy to send reinforcements? This made my subordinates fail to take Kazimir away from the scene, thus triggering this entire farce!" Duke Maxim was already getting tired of explaining the same thing over and over again to his sister.
It was not the first time he was asked this question. Ever since the Empress heard of the matter, she had been asking the same thing repeatedly. This also made Duke Maxim feel irritated that he was tempted to crush his communication stone many times within the span of his house arrest.
However, he remembered that they were still siblings and that Carolina still had that trump card.
Duke Maxim gritted his teeth and forced himself to be patient with her.
But as to how long will they stay this way?
