While the invasion was about to wrap up in the East and West territories, the tension in the Imperial Palace began to rise.
"Your Majesty Empress! Please let us escort you to your quarters, the Emperor is not available to grant you an audience today!" The Grand Chamberlain frantically convinced the disheveled Empress Carolina who was on the cold stone floor kneeling to beg for an audience with the Emperor.
"No!!! I will not move until His Majesty listens to my plea! The Empire is under attack! The Governor of the North was trying to usurp the Empire by conquering the East! Why would the Emperor not care about the Empire!!!" Empress Carolina shouted until her throat went dry, a deep sense of panic was already invading her entire being as she heard the news of the invasion.
The timing of the invasion was ridiculously coincidental with the detention of the nobles. She couldn't help but feel suspicious of the things that happened in the Empire.
While her brother believed that it was just the governor taking advantage of the unstable position of the aristocrats, she believed that this was something that Valentin had permitted.
Her suspicion grew stronger when Valentin refused to let her plead for the Vesala territory. If it was the case, she and the Vesalas would be forced to the corners and retaliate.
But that meant that they would really be breeding rebellion! That would mean that they would now openly act as traitors!
As much as possible, she hoped that this was not the case. She hoped that as her brother Maxim said, it was just the Emperor's younger brother trying to take advantage of the issue.
For that would mean that there would still be a chance for Valentin to listen and try to help the duchy. That would mean that they still have a chance in getting what they wanted in a 'legitimate' and 'glorious' manner.
Gritting her teeth, she immediately stood up, surprising the grand chamberlain and the knights guarding the council hall.
She moved swiftly and took a dagger in her hand pointing it at her own throat. With the tears flowing in her eyes she shouted with desperation, "If His Majesty Emperor would allow his own land to be invaded willfully, then I might as well take my own life for I would not allow the enemy to take mine!"
"Heavens!" The grand chamberlain, the knights, and the aides panicked upon seeing the Empress threaten everyone with her life.
"Now, tell His Majesty one last time that I, the Empress of the Seirende Empire, demand him to see me!!!" Her voice rang in the palace corridors.
Inside the council hall, General Farauld and Emperor Valentin heard everything that was happening at the entrance.
Looking at Emperor Valentin, General Farauld asked, "The news finally came to their ears. Now, what will you do?"
"We will wait for the news of the success of the invasion." Emperor Valentin did not waver.
General Farauld could only silently shake his head as he saw how determined his friend, the emperor was. He was worried that if the Empress would really hurt herself, it would be a stain on his reputation. However, thinking about what Empress Carolina would become, he just kept silent.
They are already at the stage where keeping up appearances was unnecessary. While it was not yet announced to the public, Empress Carolina and the Vesalas were already traitors. They were no longer the Empire's subjects.
"Well… I will at least prevent her from prematurely killing herself." Emperor Valentin finally stood up, his expression filled with apprehension and disdain as he looked in the direction of the door.
As much as possible, he would not like to see Carolina as the Empress, but rather the traitor of the Empire. But now is not yet the time to carry out the purging within the palace.
The moment he opened the door, his face changed from contempt to his usual cold authoritative demeanor. "Restrain the Empress!" He ordered General Farauld immediately.
"Your Majesty… please! Listen to me… your Empress!" Carolina's eyes flashed with hope and desperation when the door finally opened. But after hearing Valentin's orders, her heart dropped.
"I heard your plea… I will immediately send the Imperial Sky Knights to know the situation in the East. I will even let them use the teleportation portal in the Sun Tower." Emperor Valentin calmly stated his decision, but there was not a single hint of trying to appease Empress Carolina in his expression.
"This won't do! My Emperor! The territory in question was the Vesala Duchy! I plead to you, My Liege, to free the Duke and allow him to defend his own territory!" Empress Carolina tried to fight with General Farauld's strength and knelt down on the ground.
Seeing Carolina bow down to plead for her family, there was no satisfaction in Emperor Valentin's heart. What he wanted to see was them being punished, for he had long lost his hope for them to be fully loyal to the Empire.
"I will do so when the news of the rumored invasion is verified. It will just take until the sun sets to do that. I will not allow an exception to any noble for a thing that was unverified. For that would tarnish my honor for showing biased favor to one of my noble subjects!" Emperor Valentin firmly replied as if it was the most natural thing for him to do.
In the eyes of the witnesses and even to Empress Carolina, it was an impeccable reason. However, to General Farauld who had known everything, it was a frightening showcase of his friend's acting skills.
Seeing that Empress Carolina finally stopped retaliating, Emperor Valentin finally ordered, "Now be patient and obediently go back to your quarters!"
Empress Carolina had no choice but to be escorted by General Farauld and the rest of his entourage to her place. She was extremely unwilling to let time be wasted. A few hours would mean everything to their family!
She and Duke Maxim cannot afford to wait until sundown to receive the Emperor's grant to be freed and go back to the territory.
While she was walking toward her palace, she was already filled with thoughts about how to help her brother go back to the East.
Who should I ask?
The Dark Knights?
The allied nobles?
Kazimir?
She was so engrossed in thinking of a way to help that she subconsciously bit her nails like a person forced into a corner.
She did not even notice General Farauld's observant eyes. Every expression she made didn't escape his eyes. He wondered, what would it take for the siblings to be desperate? To what lengths would they go just to get what they wanted?
He had a nagging feeling that he and Emperor Valentin did not yet understand the two enough to foresee how desperate their actions would be.
When that time comes will they be ready?
Will they be able to resist their actions?
What if their powers were beyond what they have still witnessed?
Nevertheless, they never expected to have their last leg of retaliation without sustaining casualties. There will be for sure, lives lost. Because they still did not know the extent of the main perpetrator's abilities.
Meanwhile, in the underground temple dungeons, Leon and Kayden were busy discussing Antoine's condition.
"Your second brother's abilities seemed to have improved upon taking the cure potion! His mana receptors showed a significant increase in its holding capacity. This meant that his ability to summon and sustain his contracted familiars increased too!"
Kayden was excitedly explaining the strange phenomenon that happened on Antoine's body.
Leon looked at Antoine who was still in a coma, his gaze was indiscernible and not even Kayden could figure out the emotions he felt towards the second prince.
"That might be a blessing in disguise then. But have you estimated when he would be walking up? I do not wish for the First Queen and his family to worry any longer." Leon asked calmly.
"To be honest, I have been confident that he would be able to wake up three days after the operation… But it has been a week already and he still showed no signs of waking up. His injury was recovering just fine, even the most critical wound on his heart had long finished its regeneration process. Now it seems that the problem lies in his consciousness. It was like his mind had already accepted death and wished not to wake up any longer."
Deep lines appeared on Kayden's forehead as he explained his observation to Leon. He was also clueless in this matter. He had already done everything he could do and he was confident that he did it perfectly. But the patient still won't wake up.
Leon didn't blame Kayden for this. He patted Kayden's shoulders assuringly and gestured to him to take a rest and leave him to tend to his second brother for a while.
