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

Where is she?

Prince Garsen returned to his palace as quickly as possible, completely bewildered.

Then, in the chaotic palace where the bodies of the dead and wounded were being dealt with, he saw his head maid and a group of servants with their heads bowed, not daring to speak.

“Gasen…” The head maid, her face ashen, led Prince Garsen to a secluded lounge. “The Empress has been kidnapped.”

shake--

For a moment, Garsen seemed to be hallucinating. He heard the resonant sound of countless metals being struck. He hadn't clearly heard what the head maid had just said, so he could only blankly cover his forehead and subconsciously ask:

"What do you think happened to the Empress?"

The head maid glanced outside, then closed the door.

"The Empress has been kidnapped."

-

Now, Jason was completely stunned.

His eyes widened in anger as he stared blankly at his head maid, his heart pounding uncontrollably. He felt an unbearable pain shooting through his chest and liver, and instinctively tried to take a deep breath, but the pain in his throat nearly made him cough up blood.

The Empress, his niece, now the most indispensable puppet and target of the Roman Empire—has actually been kidnapped?!

Or were they kidnapped inside the heavily guarded palace?!

Garsen simply couldn't believe it had actually happened! But more than the details of what had happened, Garsen's mind was undoubtedly racing.

He knew very well what the Roman Empire would become without the Empress! And the only way to prevent the Roman Empire from collapsing was to appoint someone with Roman royal blood as regent during the Empress's absence!

The problem is, once he becomes regent, all the bad things happening now will be pinned on Zagason. Not only will he bear all the responsibility, but he will also be hated and despised by all the nobles!

This is something he absolutely must avoid—but the problem is, he is one of the last remaining members of the Roman royal family!

In other words, he either had to watch Roman completely collapse... or he had to become the target under all the pressure, just like Yang Hao back then, or... he had to order the Empress to be brought back before things got out of control!

Garsen clutched his heart in agony. He slumped onto the sofa, while the head maid stood before him, using magic to soothe his pain with concern.

"Where is the Queen? Didn't our people put a tracking spell on her? And what about the Chief Justice?!"

"They were all taken away. Their marks disappeared in the southwest—according to the surviving mage, the people who kidnapped the queen must have disappeared into the sea."

"Why did this happen? Didn't our mages do anything?! And the Night Witch? Didn't she do anything at all?!"

"...The Witch of the Night is another matter."

The head maid turned her head away, then sighed bitterly:

"She... betrayed us. She's gone now; she took all the documents and records from the Mage Tower—we have no idea where the Night Witch is now."

Another powerful blow.

If he could, Garsen would have loved to capture the Night Witch immediately and torture this despicable traitor to death in the dungeon... but unfortunately, the Night Witch's betrayal was far too devastating.

Her betrayal not only enabled the kidnappers to achieve their goal, but also resulted in heavy casualties among the palace guards and imperial knights who would otherwise have suffered few losses in the stampede caused by the darkness.

If it weren't for the Night Witch's betrayal, all of this could have been avoided! But she still betrayed us in the end... and even after her betrayal, Garsen still couldn't confront the Night Witch.

He could only grit his teeth and let out a painful howl... After taking a cup of cold water from the head maid to calm his inner pain, Garsen took a deep breath.

Even now, there's still a chance to salvage the situation...

How many people know about the Empress?

"...Those who know about it have been apprehended."

"They must not reveal a single word about it, or I will immediately execute their entire family! Also... immediately block the news about the Empress, and announce to the public that the Empress has been attacked and seriously injured and must recuperate, and that she will be unable to rule during this period, and that I do not have the authority to succeed the Empress."

"I understand. But Garsen, you know we can't keep this a secret for long!"

"So we need to get a mage to figure out a way to move my brother's body! He still has authority in the country. As long as he can move, even if he doesn't say a word and just sits on the throne, the nobles below won't dare to say anything! Now, get a trusted mage here immediately!"

"...Regarding the late emperor's coffin...Gasen, you should come and see it for yourself."

With a wry smile, the head maid helped Garsen out of the lounge and, under the watchful eyes of the others, walked step by step into the memorial hall.

...Gasen looked at the empty memorial hall, at the place where the coffin should have been placed, now only the floor tiles of the memorial hall remained.

The pain in his heart finally became unbearable. Accompanied by a painful wail, to onlookers it seemed that Garsen was weeping because his beloved brother's body had been stolen, but little did they know that Garsen was in despair and pain because he had lost his last viable option.

Even my brother's body was taken away... Those beasts! They're utterly beasts!

You kidnapped the little queen and the chief justice, which is one thing—they are women with political status, so there's no problem with you taking them!

But why did you even steal the corpses? And you stole two of them! Two corpses!

Garsen could almost picture the nobles in the courtroom, gossiping about the empty throne. If it were just a matter of time before the emperor or regent was sitting there, perhaps the nobles could patiently wait for two or three days.

But if a week later there's still no sign of her... then the enraged nobles will probably cause a scene on the spot, openly inquiring about the Empress's whereabouts and hoping to personally offer their condolences to the seriously injured Empress.

Once that happens, nothing Garsen can do will make a difference. All he can do is stall, keep stalling—but if he keeps stalling, things will eventually get out of control...

So what should I do? What should I do to turn the situation around?

Garsen clutched his heart, his face contorted in agony... He was filled with hallucinations, including one of himself being forced into a corner and left with no other option but to sit on that throne.

Once he sits on that throne, all the public's anger will be focused on him. He will become the target of everyone's hostility.

But if he doesn't sit on that throne, all the power he desires will vanish—the Roman Empire will be completely torn apart by the turmoil among the nobles, especially now that the entire Roman Empire has not yet recovered from the rebellion.

Not to mention... who exactly kidnapped the Queen at this crucial moment? Where exactly did the Night Witch betray us and go?

Suddenly, Garsen began to ponder this question. And just as suddenly, the servant Garsen had hired stood beside him, offering a remark he had unconsciously made:

"Disappeared at sea... Besides the Alessars, the only other possibilities are the Isugardians."

...Ysgard?

Yes! Ysgard!

At this moment, Garsen realized that the only ones who could have kidnapped the little queen were the people of Ysgard!

Because the final tracking technique disappeared on the sea, and now the Roman Empire has only come into contact with the maritime nations of Isugard and Alessar!

The Alessars were to form a marriage alliance with Roman, so it was impossible for them to harm the young queen—they had already agreed on all the details of the marriage. To kidnap her at this crucial juncture instead of waiting for the engagement...that's just not right! It's definitely not the Alessars! So it couldn't have been them!

If they're not Aresera, then the only ones left are Isgardians!

Just as Garsen was angrily thinking about something, the servant suddenly presented him with a small object.

Garsen looked over and saw that they were several yellowish-orange bullet casings.

"The Aleserians don't seem to use these things... The elves prefer to use longbows, so after thinking about it, it's probably only the Isugardians who would use these things."

"..."

Physical evidence, witness testimonies from mages using tracking techniques, and the dead and wounded at the scene all indicate that everything was done by the people of Isgard!

In his rage, Garsen didn't even bother to consider why his servant was making such a strange face—he only knew that it was all the work of the Isgardians, so he was determined to take revenge on them no matter what!

...But on second thought, if this incident were used to condemn Ysugard, it might actually garner priority in receiving domestic applause.

Garsen's pain intensified.

He let out a long, dejected sigh, his heart filled with blatant hatred for the people of Isgard, and decided to take care of some palace affairs before resting.

This turn of events left Garsen utterly devastated: many of his supporters appeared to have perished in the black dragon's attack, and not only that, but several nobles were even preparing to impeach the royal family for inaction in the audience hall...

He seems to be running out of time. But where is Jason's last lifeline?

He looked at the elite Alessar soldiers who had already taken up residence in the palace... Yes, it seemed he still had the Alessars to rely on!

Garsen chose to grasp at his last straw.

On January 16, when the nobles in the palace had reached their limit and needed to "meet with the Queen," Prince Gassen, who had lost interest in handling state affairs, stepped forward as a representative of the royal family and presented a new decree in the form of "an exclusive order from the Queen."

"Considering the current threat from the enemy, the Queen has decided to have the elite soldiers of Alessar protect our palace. She has announced that the palace will remain closed until she is able to resume her reign, and until then, she hopes that all nobles will not be agitated when attending court."

Garsen's decree left all the nobles looking at each other in bewilderment.

This is because it is the first time in Roman history that foreign troops have been allowed to protect the palace of their own country—even when the Allese accepted the request for troops, the reason given by the Allese was only to "assist in suppressing the rebellion" rather than to occupy the Roman palace.

What's going on all of a sudden?!

Does the Roman royal family no longer have the power to protect themselves? Do they have to rely on foreigners to handle everything?!

The nobles were outraged and placed all the blame on the Queen, while Garsen secretly retreated to his lounge.

He was exhausted. He had been utterly exhausted lately. Not only was he physically weary, but his mind and spirit were also utterly worn out.

He wished he could rest properly, but he couldn't rest now... He was in great pain, and the only person who seemed to be able to alleviate his pain was the servant.

The attendant always provided the services Garsen needed most. Even now, when Garsen was almost driven to desperation, the attendant's flattery made Garsen feel better.

"Let me get some rest... Stop bothering me with those dirty political affairs and noisy nobles, stop letting them bother me."

At the most dangerous moment, Gassen, unable to withstand the pressure from the royal family, chose to indulge in decadent pleasures and rest. In a sense, he no longer wanted to care about Roman's affairs; as long as the elite of the Alessars were protecting the palace, he could continue his life without worry.

As he indulged in pleasure, the servants' corrupting influence on him deepened and deepened...

When the time came to January 20th.

No member of the royal family ever appeared in the audience hall of the palace.

At this moment, even the nobles, who should have been the most composed, could no longer contain themselves.

They suspected that the Queen's "serious injury" was a smokescreen to shirk responsibility. They began to question the true intentions of the Alessars. They believed that the current Roman royal family was no longer capable of shouldering the responsibilities of the entire empire. They wanted to see clearly and then shift the blame for the deaths of their relatives and friends onto the royal family.

As the nobles formed a noisy crowd and marched toward the palace, the imperial knights and the palace guards, because of their status, dared not act rashly. They could only form a human wall to block their advance while trying to persuade them with kind words:

"My lords! Please return! The palace is currently under martial law, and we cannot allow anyone to enter until His Majesty recovers!"

"We are going to offer our condolences to His Majesty; how can you stop us from showing our loyalty!"

An enraged nobleman shouted angrily, and they threw all the tools in their hands at the knights' faces. The knights could only silently accept the humiliation from these noblemen and use their strong bodies to stop these fat and strong men from intruding.

However, not everyone can be as good-tempered as an Imperial Knight.

For those elite Alessar soldiers.

They accepted Prince Garsen's request to use their air rifles to protect the Roman Palace while having the power to execute any intruders at will.

And so, the moment a nobleman finally squeezed through the wall of knights and stepped onto the tiled floor inside the palace,

The Alese man opened fire with his air rifle.

Pfft! Pfft!