After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me. (Author: Lu Wei)

Introduction:

After establishing a unified human empire, Yang Hao was unjustly impeached and removed from power due to the unequal distribution of benefits to nobles, popes, and landowners. None of those he supported spoke out against him, or rather, they were unable to speak out. This event is known as the "Silent Exile" event.

After returning to the village where it all began, feeling deeply humiliated, he was greeted not by the friends who had helped him before, nor by the village chief who had once saved his life, but by the annoying Sister Teresa, with whom he had never gotten along.

"Did you come here specifically to mock me?"

"It's certainly amusing to see you looking so pathetic, but there's nowhere for you to go in this country anymore. Here, this is bread for a homeless, skinny little dog. Don't think about it anymore; those bad women have nothing to do with you. Come with me."

...Ten years later.

"I've come to take back what's rightfully mine."

When the allied forces of the elves and demons attacked the human empire, which was torn apart by internal and external troubles, every human could see that the one being worshipped as king by the elves and demons was none other than the regent who had been driven out by them years before, along with the nun who accompanied him.

Prologue: The Exiled Regent

"The Kargard massacre, the smog incident caused by the illegal testing of weapons of mass destruction in residential areas, the protection of elves and vampires, the protection of heretics, the protection of non-believers, blasphemy, the waste of resources on slums and homeless people, the brainwashing education of the next queen, etc."

"...It is hereby declared that Yang Hao, the current Regent of the Roman Empire, is stripped of his position as Regent by the Holy Light Court, the Supreme Court of the Empire, the Upper Noble Council, the Landlord Council, the Lower House, and the Military Court for the aforementioned crimes. Furthermore, his useless public welfare organizations, such as the Workers' Guild and the Red Cross, will be immediately dissolved—"

The Roman Empire, Imperial Calendar 004, World Calendar 1404. The Judgment Square in the Roman Empire's capital.

The Regent, or rather the former Regent, Yang Hao, stared expressionlessly at the people on the high platform. His clothes were covered in rotten eggs and tomato sap.

"Mr. Yang Hao, is there anything else you would like to say?"

The presiding judge on the platform couldn't bear it. All of the above were fabricated charges against him by nobles, believers, landlords, warlords, and even members of the royal family who had suffered losses or whose interests were not distributed fairly, in order to slander him.

She hoped that the regent, who brought hope to humanity, would show even the slightest doubt or dissatisfaction. If he did so, she would do everything in her power to clear his name, in accordance with the contract.

But the presiding judge was disappointed.

Yang Hao merely glanced expressionlessly at the pretentious representatives, then focused his gaze on those who had once been saved but dared not utter a sound for a long while.

“I have no objection.”

He gave his answer coldly, his eyes filled with disappointment and exhaustion.

The tide has turned, and I no longer need to feel any recognition for this country that I have dedicated half my youth to.

Rather than struggling to get covered in that muddy excrement, it's better to just let go of everything and give yourself some peace and quiet.

It's a pity that I did so much for this newborn empire, only to be ruined by a bunch of scoundrels... Indeed, humans are such an untrustworthy race.

Disheartened, Yang Hao was filled with mixed emotions.

The presiding judge remained silent for a long time.

She gazed with bitter green eyes at the disheveled yet still proud man, her cherry-pink lips rising and falling in a flat motion.

"—Therefore, the verdict is hereby pronounced. Former Regent Yang Hao, for the aforementioned crimes, is stripped of... stripped of his imperial citizenship... stripped of all political rights... stripped of..."

The presiding judge rattled off countless "deprivations," but in the end, she took a deep breath as she looked at the "extreme punishment" written on the document prepared beforehand in front of her.

"...Finally, considering the sinner's previous contributions to the human empire, I, as the Chief Justice, will reduce his sentence—the sinner will be sentenced to exile. Do you have any objections?"

The trial square fell silent for a moment, then erupted into chaos in the next instant.

Everyone was saying, "Let him die."

No one pleaded for him, even though he ensured that the poor of the empire could eat bread every day.

The way those powerful figures looked at him was so dangerous.

But the presiding judge remained tall and proud, striking the gavel with the utmost arrogance and indifference to signify silence.

Changing the death penalty to exile was the last thing the presiding judge did for him, even at the cost of his own career.

............

After changing into his last piece of cloth in the prison cell, Yang Hao walked expressionlessly down the street, carrying a briefcase he had designed himself. The guards around him were protecting him as he left the city gate, so that he would not die on the street before leaving the capital.

Outside the guards were a crowd of indignant civilians, including many refugees and the poor who had previously received aid from Yang Hao's policies. These people had been full of gratitude as they received their relief food, and after Yang Hao stepped down, they were the ones who came to join the commotion with rotten eggs, tomatoes, and even stones.

"The Butcher! The Butcher of Khagad!"

"You bastard who used my friend as an experiment! Scumbag! Liar! And we trusted you so much!"

"Cultists! Cultists who deserve to be burned at the stake!"

Everyone was shouting—"Let him die."

No one was willing to stand up for him.

Ironically, the guards protecting him are now subordinates of warlords he has suppressed for years who have failed to rise up and seize power.

Yang Hao sneered inwardly. What had he been protecting all these years—human beings or animals called "human beings"? It was more like even beasts knew how to be grateful.

Snapped--!

A rotten egg hit the shield that the guard was holding up, and the foul-smelling egg splattered onto Yang Hao's hair. This was followed by several tomatoes hitting him, and then sand flying out as the fragile stone shattered on the shield.

Through the gaps in the shield, Yang Hao could see the workers dismantling the guild buildings that had been built to benefit them. He gripped the handle of his briefcase tightly, gritting his teeth as he thought, "Even a rabbit wouldn't eat the grass near its burrow, how dare they?"

Through the gaps in the shields, Yang Hao saw that the Red Cross medical staff were being driven out just like him. Dressed in white coats and wearing sterile masks, they squatted on the ground, letting the reveling rabble loot every seemingly valuable item in the hospital, not even sparing the sterile tiles made with a little silver.

You bunch of animals! Do you even realize that it's thanks to the Red Cross's efforts that you're no longer in mortal danger from severe colds during flu season?!

Yang Hao clenched his fist so tightly that he didn't even realize his fingernails were cutting the skin on his palm.

What finally brought him a deathly peace was witnessing the followers of the Temple of Light, or rather, the Church of Light, throwing the textbooks they had collected for public education into a brazier and burning them to ashes.

There was no longer any point in clinging to this country—as he walked out of the capital's gates amidst a hail of rotten eggs and tomatoes, a casual guard shoved him, nearly causing him to stumble and fall on the stone-paved national road built by the very policy that had been established:

"Get out of here! You only have one year to leave the borders of the Roman Empire! After one year, we absolutely must not see you within the Empire's territory! Get out of here!"

He didn't respond, but silently continued walking towards the end of the national highway.

Just as he left, the plan called "Unify the World," which was placed in the Regent's office and was powerful enough to allow the human empire to wipe out the surrounding races, was thrown into the trash.

The person in charge of cleaning the Regent's office even thought that such things were not worth keeping secret by shredding and burning.

A year later, it was found in a junkyard by elven scouts and handed over to Queen Fen the Elf, who regarded it as a priceless treasure.

Chapter 1: The Collapse of the Country One Year Later, and the Nun

Six months after the end of the [Quiet Incident].

The Roman Empire continues to operate slowly and effectively according to the administrative plan of "de-regency" promulgated by the existing ruling class, as effective as a suicidal patient taking a firm step toward the roof.

According to the new laws of the Roman Empire, everything popularized by the former regent must now be eradicated.

The free medical institutions known as the "Red Cross" were replaced by expensive aristocratic medical groups. The nobles reclaimed the rights that should have been their monopoly, and the residents did not feel anything unusual in just six months.

Short-sighted people only think that it's a good thing that the Red Cross, this bloodsucking thief's guild that they can't use, has been replaced by the noble lord, so they have to pay a few less coins in taxes each month and can eat a few more pieces of bread each month.

Not only the Red Cross, but everything previously promoted by the Regent was almost completely eradicated.

The Holy Court of the Church of Light condemned the scholars he trained as heretics. Those scholars who did not speak out for him during the Silent Incident were all arrested later. In addition to the researchers in charge of military research, those who studied culture, tradition, the origin of theology, and even popular education were almost all executed.

The Church of Light believes that burning at the stake can send the souls of heretics to hell. Those scholars who hope to use their knowledge to discourage people from believing in the religion, or who claim the right to be "unbelievers," are naturally subjected to the scorching heat of hell's lava until they are transformed into dead demons.

Two months after the scholars' arrest, amidst the smoke of battle that filled the parish and the stench of burning that lingered in the streets for two weeks, countless scholars' souls turned to ashes and fell into hell amidst the loud cries of ignorant believers praising "Our Lord." Only a very few managed to escape the borders of the Roman Empire through various connections, eventually fleeing by sea to another continent, to a country that had already begun colonizing the New World, where they barely managed to make a living.

It wasn't just religious figures who were persecuting scholars; nobles, landlords, warlords, and even the royal family themselves were doing everything they could to eliminate Yang Hao's former influence.

The free night school advocated by the former regent was ordered to close. The nobles said, "It doesn't matter if you are illiterate. We will protect you, provide you with justice, and give you the jobs and salaries you deserve!"

The common people were so grateful that they were completely unaware that if they didn't understand numbers, they naturally wouldn't understand why, even though their wages were the same as last month, the purchasing power of that money had decreased.

The steam-powered factories promoted by the former regent were dismantled, supposedly to provide more job opportunities for the people, according to the royal family.

The Roman royal family was not blind to the contribution of steam factories to productivity, but after expelling the regent, they simply couldn't understand what conditions were necessary for the policies he left behind to be implemented.

Since it's impossible to implement, why not just go back to the barbaric era when everyone could govern? The young empress watched helplessly as her fathers shattered their former glory into a pile of broken bricks, while the court chief, now reduced to a maid, could only sigh in despair.

The guilds in various regions were completely dissolved. What forced the guild leaders to relinquish their power was the promise of double wages and a five-year tax exemption from the nobility. Once the guilds were dissolved, the workers lost their ability to unite as one. They were forced to accept layer upon layer of exploitation, simply because they had each received two silver coins as hush money when the Quiet Incident occurred.

In the Roman Empire, a single silver coin could only feed a family of three for a day, and was even less than the total amount of copper coins a beggar could earn in a day.

There are many more, many more...

With the advocacy of landowners, the leadership of the royal family, and the implementation by the government, the peasants of the Roman Empire lost the backing provided by agricultural insurance and, encouraged by religion, firmly believed that "after the regent is expelled, the Roman Empire will receive divine blessings, and the harvests will get better and better every year."

The farmers no longer worried about the harvest. Naturally, the sprinkler system, which had cost a fortune to build and required a steam-powered industry to operate and was expensive to maintain, was completely destroyed due to long-term neglect. The money saved was not spent where the farmers hoped, but instead went to the salons of the nobility and became cakes and candies.

At General Dreschka's suggestion, the Royal Army, which the former regent had created for the royal family, was disbanded on the grounds that "they trusted the former regent more than the royal family, which was unacceptable to the royal family."

Of course, this may be the stated reason. The real reason may be that the maintenance costs for this army equipped with advanced steam firearms are too high, and there is currently no working steam factory in the entire Roman Empire that can produce such equipment.

Rather than maintaining an army that one cannot afford to support, wouldn't it be more appropriate to disband it and rebuild a traditional army with swords and shields as the mainstay, supplemented by archers and mages?

The royal family, clinging to a sliver of hope, believed they could rebuild their army during the honeymoon period with the various factions. And indeed, now, after about six months of turmoil, they were finally wealthy and had money.

Almost everything left behind by the regent was wiped out. Industrial research and public works projects that required large amounts of funding were explicitly prohibited, naturally leaving more gold coins in the national treasury.

The extra gold coins gave everyone in the Roman Empire the illusion that the country had become much richer after the regent left.

However, for the current rulers of the Roman Empire, although they have become wealthy, there are still considerable conflicts over the distribution of benefits.

The parish, led by the Grand Master, wanted to expand its followers with more benefits, but everyone outside the parish was worried that if the religion became too powerful, their own influence would decline accordingly—so no one agreed to the Grand Master's proposal, even though he had put in the most effort in the Silent Incident.

The objections enraged the fat, greasy man, who smashed several tiles in the round table conference room with his scepter.

The warlords, led by General Dreshka, wanted to use the money to expand their army to facilitate future military operations against the border elves and other foreign nations, engaging in brutal military expansion. However, a strong army would inevitably weaken other factions—thus, everyone except General Dreshka shook their heads in opposition, causing the representative chosen by the warlords to raise an eyebrow, clearly displeased.

The nobles wanted more land to belong to them, while the royal family wanted as much land as possible to be nationalized. The two sides were locked in a fierce struggle, neither willing to yield, and the meeting naturally ended in discord.

The landlords remained silent: because each faction was cutting itself in the process. They couldn't agree to the demands of other factions, but they also didn't dare to make their own demands.

The heated discussion escalated, and the polite greetings of "Master" and "General" were replaced by roars of "You fat pig!" and "You bald donkey!" and the crisp sound of weapons being drawn.

Thanks to everyone's restraint, the meeting that would determine the fate of the Roman Empire's interests did not end in bloodshed—because everyone knew they were incapable of handling the mess left by bloodshed.

But the absence of open bloodshed doesn't mean there won't be changes happening behind the scenes. The day after this unpleasant meeting, the leader announced that the diocese would exercise autonomy "on the premise of ensuring the integrity of the Roman Empire."

Before the royal family could react in their astonishment, General Dreschka followed suit with a declaration of military district autonomy, provided that the integrity of the Roman Empire was ensured.

One after another, apart from the small landowners and minor nobles who were truly unable to survive without the royal family, the more powerful families among the nobles and landowners also began to declare their independence.