After I died, my personal maid rebelled.

For Maria, the day that time reversed was no less than the day of the apocalypse.

If we could freeze that moment in reverse time and look down upon this vast battlefield from above, we would find that everyone on that day was incredibly busy…

First was Thorne, the brave warrior, surrounded by enemies, battered and bruised, still fighting like a cornered beast. Ahead of him were the Ironclad Butchers, the elite troops of the demon army, a terrifying infantry force composed of tall ogres clad in armor weighing hundreds of pounds.

Behind him were the last remaining lance cavalry of the Northern Territory. They were all elite soldiers who had been trained for many years and were the vanguard of Oswald's battle-hardened troops. They had once achieved the glorious feat of breaking through the battle formation of 30,000 demons with only 800 men.

However, at this moment, neither side paid any attention to their nemesis. Instead, they swarmed towards Thorne as if fighting for a kill.

Secondly, on the other side of the battlefield, Princess Diana, pale-faced and holding a staff, was being carried by royal knights. Their battle lines had already collapsed under the combined attack of the Northern Army and the Demon Army, and they were now fleeing in panic.

The one blocking the princess's way was naturally Lilith, the Grand Master of the Royal Knights. Her iconic shield was shattered, and she was covered in blood, looking extremely disheveled.

At the heart of the battlefield was Annie, leading her army of warriors in a fierce and bloody battle against the rebel forces of the north.

Braving a dense rain of arrows, the soldiers on both sides clashed like two hungry wolves, tearing at each other fiercely, determined to bleed one side dry before giving up.

Finally, there's Maria. Elene, leading three thousand elite soldiers, broke through the battle lines and fought her way to Maria. To protect her, Nicole's hands were severed by Elene, and her prized spear fell to the ground.

Maria knelt on the blood-soaked ground to cast a healing spell on Nicole, while Elene stood before them, holding up Nicole's Wishing Star, her eyes bloodshot and silent.

If this scene were frozen in time, it might be the most bizarre picture in the world...

But everything ended in that one second.

This brutal war ended in a way that no one could have predicted.

"You don't need to lie to me, Miss Elena. There were only the three of us there. If Nicole has no memory, then the one who has must be you."

Alene tilted her head, not even blinking, and asked in confusion, "Commander, memories? I don't understand what you're talking about, Miss Maria. Please forgive my rudeness, but if you intend to use some kind of divine oracle to promote the blessing ceremony, it could very well cause unrest."

"After all, the last person to do that was beheaded, wasn't he?"

Elena calmly rose, smiled faintly, and continued, "As I said, I am merely a secretary assisting the Duke in handling state affairs. If you truly wish to facilitate this matter, how about I write a letter arranging for you to travel to Broad Valley and personally meet the Duke?

Maria left the Duke's mansion with a heavy heart. As a saint, she had known countless people and seen all walks of life.

But she still couldn't see through Elena... That woman rarely showed any emotional fluctuations; her eyes were as calm as still water, making it impossible for anyone to judge the truthfulness of her words.

Moreover, the two had only met a handful of times, mostly in their previous life.

The first time was when I came to the Northern Territory with the hero and his party. Oswald came to greet us with Elene dressed as a maid.

At the time, everyone assumed Elena was just a personal maid, and aside from being amazed by her beauty, they didn't pay her much attention. After all, it was an unspoken common knowledge within the team that heroes could encounter beautiful women wherever they went.

The second encounter was by chance. It was an autumn day when Maria, who was out for a walk to clear her head, happened to meet Oswald and his men admiring the scenery on the city wall.

Beneath the distant snow-capped mountains, the setting sun casts a blood-red glow, turning the mountains and forests ablaze with color.

Oswald was unhappy with the entire hero team, but he showed some respect for Maria, jokingly pulling her aside to chat.

"Holy Maiden, do you know that I possess four treasures in the North?"

He pointed to the cavalry patrolling outside the city wall and said proudly, "First, there are long-lance cavalry, heavily armored and riding big horses, who are brave and unparalleled, and will surely win any attack or battle."

Then he turned to the people in the city and continued to laugh, "Secondly, we are the people of the North, who are honest, resilient, and fiercely independent. They will come when called and fight when summoned."

"Thirdly, he is one of our army's generals." He patted Federico on the shoulder and said proudly, "He is a champion in every battle, possessing both wisdom and courage, and whose might shakes the world."

"These four..." This time he didn't use his finger, but instead shifted his gaze, whether looking at the red-haired Elene or the distant woods, he murmured.

"This is the red frost of the snowfield."

At that time, Maria had a strong premonition that the information about the hero team was incomplete and that they must have overlooked something.

Then Oswald lamented: "Eagles soar in the sky, fish swim in the shallows, all creatures vie for freedom under the frosty sky. Sorrowfully, I ask this vast, boundless earth, who controls destiny?"

As the poem was recited, the scene shifted, and when Maria saw Elene again, she was already in full armor, wielding twin swords of cold iron, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers standing behind her. With a single command, the heavens and earth collapsed, smashing the chessboard of the Northern Territory and even the entire kingdom.

Why did it fail...?

Walking down the streets of the Ice City, Maria found no answers. Although the atmosphere in the Ice City was more lively than in the Royal City, the residents here were just as ignorant and reckless.

A group of boisterous workers gathered around, eager to try their homemade, unregulated liquor. After only half a cup, several of them collapsed.

To be honest, even now Maria doesn't believe that it was this group of people who would rather die than see the heroes' rule in the Northern Territory.

She sighed and walked towards the city gate.

Not long after she left, a grim-faced Elene arrived at the scene and, following the Duke's instructions, ordered the soldiers to force the workers to vomit.

She showed her token and walked out of the city gate, where the Papacy's convoy had been waiting for her for some time. It was clear that none of the Papacy personnel had any confidence in the Northern Territory.

Maria slowly shook her head, which confirmed their suspicions.

They boarded the carriage and whipped it, returning to the royal city.

Springtime was in full bloom, and the scenery outside was beautiful. Maria propped her head up and gazed at the wildflowers blooming on the grassland outside the window, lost in thought.

But soon, she saw a familiar figure.

Her long, light blue hair fluttered in the wind, and she seemed to be holding a dangerous creature in her arms.

"parking."

Maria stopped the carriage and disembarked to cross the meadow alone. Before she could get close, squads of cavalry rushed up and blocked her way.

These soldiers seemed to have been in some kind of battle, as they were all sweating profusely. However, after seeing the saintess's special attire, they checked her again to see if she was carrying any weapons before kindly letting her pass.

Luna, sitting on the blanket, excitedly exclaimed upon seeing the visitor, "Your Holiness, look! I've found a little black dog!"

"This is a bear cub, Miss Luna. Please be careful not to get scratched."

Maria slowly stepped forward, half-speechless and half-warning, reminding him, "Also, with the cubs here, there must be a mother bear nearby."

The female soldier glanced at the bear cub and explained, "The mother bear is dead. She was killed by another, much larger male bear. We just drove the male bear away."

"A bear must eat a lot," Luna said, picking up the trembling bear cub. "It seems I can't afford to raise it. By the way, Your Holiness, is bear meat edible?"

"Cough, cough." Maria was speechless. As expected of someone from the Charles family, they were born with the ability to weigh the pros and cons.

However, she always maintained a high level of patience when dealing with young girls.

"I think that with the Duke's wealth, keeping a bear wouldn't be a problem. Look, some nobles in the royal city keep tigers and pythons, and their combined wealth is less than half that of your family."

Luna was somewhat tempted, but she quickly put the teddy bear down and handed it to Maria with a nonchalant air, saying, "Then please take it to the royal city, Saintess, and find someone willing to take care of it."

"Why?" Maria took the teddy bear, still puzzled.

I heard that Oswald doted on his sister so much that he could gloss over the siege of the Duke's mansion, and even gave her a special cavalry unit afterward.

She's only sixteen! What military noble family would assign three hundred elite cavalry to their sixteen-year-old daughter? Even a princess at that age only has fifty-odd guards.

Logically, Oswald should have agreed as long as her request wasn't too unreasonable. Besides, the Duke's mansion was so wealthy; surely they could afford to keep a bear?

"Because my brother taught me that one can be generous with the money of nobles, but one should be extremely stingy with the money of oneself and commoners."

Luna puffed out her chest, as if she had learned some incredible knowledge.

"Wait, wait, did you really learn that from the Duke?" Maria quickly composed herself, thinking that it was probably just an unintentional joke. For the kingdom, nobles were the foundation of its rule.

"Yes, my brother even wrote a book for me, telling me to read it more, observe more, and experience more."

Luna proudly handed Maria the book, even though Maria had actually been reading it the whole time, but the sudden appearance of the bear had distracted her.

Books written by others: Hmph, what kind of cheesy and pretentious stuff is this, and it's considered a classic?

My brother's book: Wow, amazing, so cultured! It's no wonder people say that Charles only knows how to ride horses and fight, it's just out of jealousy. My brother is the real literary giant of our time. The Charles family is both literary and martial, invincible.

Maria smiled politely. Oswald, a privileged nobleman who couldn't even pass the Central Academy exam, what could he possibly write?

He took it and glanced at the cover: The Prince.

Maria's brow furrowed. Could it all be Oswald's arrogant attacks on other nobles and the royal family...?

But Maria was stunned when she casually turned to a page; Oswald's neat handwriting came into view.

Those who seize power in a country invariably rely on either the people or the powerful elite. Therefore, every country naturally possesses two opposing parties, arising from the people's unwillingness to be oppressed and ruled by the aristocracy, while the aristocracy seeks to oppress and rule the people.

……

A monarch who relies on powerful nobles will find that many nobles take it for granted that they are equal to the monarch. Therefore, the monarch cannot command and manage the nobles according to his own will. Conversely, a monarch who gains power with the help of the people will find himself standing above them; as long as he treats the people justly and fairly, the entire country will obey his commands from the bottom up.

……

A monarch's fairness should favor the common people, because the people's will is more legitimate than that of the nobles, whose desires are difficult to satisfy. The people desire freedom from oppression, while the nobles crave more exploitation. If the people are dissatisfied, the monarch will feel insecure, because the people always constitute the majority and are more powerful than the weak nobles.

Maria slammed the book shut, her heart pounding like a storm, and dared not read any further.

What exactly is Oswald trying to do?! What is he trying to do?! Doesn't he know he's also a nobleman? And when did he become so cultured...?

Maria felt as if she had lifted a corner of the veil, and behind the veil lay the truth of the entire Northern Territory's people's rebellion against the hero.

Look at the people around the hero: the kingdom's princess, the knight commander, the northern marquis, the merchant guild's daughter, and himself, the saintess of the papacy...

Among these people, who isn't high and mighty, who hasn't been pampered since childhood?

When they helped Annie gain control of the Northern Territory, they never considered how the peasants who received the marquisate lands from Oswald would view them.

The saviors chosen by the goddess? The heroes destined to defeat the demon king? No, in the eyes of these peasants, they were just a group of thieves, a group driven away by the duke, only to return after his death and continue to enslave and oppress the peasants!

Maria dared not read any further, nor did she want to know any more of the truth. She suddenly understood why the princess was still hiding in her room, afraid to go out; needless to say, she must still retain the memories of her previous life.

As a princess, she was welcomed by the people wherever she went, enjoying all the advantages of timing, location, and popular support. The vibrant and flourishing atmosphere she experienced is still vivid in our minds.

In the northern territory, Princess Diana only saw pairs of angry eyes.

That anger was so vivid and fervent that the princess's noble status was merely oil poured on the fire, igniting only endless hatred.

Maria hurriedly tossed the book to the bewildered Luna, picked up the teddy bear, and ran towards the carriage without looking back.

She thought she would never come to the Northern Territory again.