The Kingdom in Turmoil

Lady Anatia listened in silence to our account.

When they had finished, she let out an uncharacteristic sigh.

"I understand what happened on your end. It all makes sense now, so that's what it was. Don't worry about Father. He's taking a detour and heading straight for the capital."

"Now, Anatia-nee-san. Can you explain what happened here?"

"Yes… There's been one surprise after another here too, but stay calm and listen."

According to Lady Anatia, early this morning a large number of kingdom soldiers and knights had suddenly abandoned their posts and disappeared.

They weren't just out of contact. Some entire units had vanished without a trace.

At first, the chaos was so complete that it took considerable time just to grasp the situation.

"We only got the full picture just now. When I got Tianis's message, I had a bad feeling, and sure enough, they got us good."

"What's the specific scale?"

"About thirty percent of the entire military. Almost all of them were members of the Secretary's faction or closely affiliated. Did you meet with the Secretary?"

"Yes. He pursued us to the city of Tazula with his knights. Still, thirty percent… This goes way beyond reorganization."

All they were hearing was bad news.

The nation's foundations were shaking beneath them.

"I've put those who were sidelined in the non-mainstream factions back in positions of authority to hold things together, but it's all we can do just to keep people calm. We can't actually accomplish anything. The Chancellor has always been at odds with the military, so I can't leave it to him. The timing of this betrayal couldn't be worse. Once the Alsarm forces rejoin us, things should settle down… The only silver lining is that there's no sign of riots. But the calls for an explanation are growing louder by the hour."

"So they just brazenly walked right out. And the kingdom doesn't even have the power to hold them accountable."

"Doesn't that mean our country's in trouble?"

"Don't be so carefree about it, Yupe-nee-san. One wrong step and we're finished."

"How did it come to this…? It's just the Secretary and his subordinates who betrayed us."

What Princess Yupe said wasn't entirely without merit.

No matter how important the position, a handful of betrayals shouldn't normally threaten the nation itself.

"A great many people followed that mere Secretary, nobles included. Apparently even they couldn't uproot their entire domain populations, though."

"Wait, that means there are territories without lords. How irresponsible."

The nobles' departure meant they had abandoned the lands they governed.

Regions now existed with no one to rule them.

They had thrown away their rights and their history to go to the Church of the Sun God.

"We'll have to manage somehow with concurrent appointments for now. That'll make the remaining nobles more powerful, but we can't function otherwise."

"In the worst case, factions as powerful as the royal family could emerge within the kingdom… What a headache. We can barely maintain the country, let alone confront the Church of the Sun God."

This was the very definition of internal strife compounded by external threats.

The weakening of the royal family and the betrayal of powerful nobles.

And even if the royal family tried to absorb the abandoned territories, there was no one to put in charge, so only the other nobles would grow stronger.

The prestige of the royal house was clearly waning.

"The upside, if you can call it that, is that there's almost no opposition now. Decision-making has become very smooth. The factions that were obstructing us are gone. I hate to think what it would have been like if we were still being sabotaged."

"I wish we could have united sooner, but… no use dwelling on it. For now, let's assemble the military and explain the situation. At this point, being honest is probably better. Trying to spin it will only breed distrust. And Yupe-nee-san."

She turned her gaze to Princess Yupe, who had already settled into a chair and started to relax.

She was about to eat a piece of cake she had produced from somewhere.

"What?"

"Originally, I was going to have you quietly executed or locked away for life, but I've changed my mind."

"… Huh. You were thinking of doing that to your own sister, Tianis?"

"Why would you expect to get off scot-free? Being manipulated doesn't erase what you did. Right now we need all hands on deck, so you're going to work under me. You may have lost your succession rights, but you're still royalty, so your face carries weight. And Nee-san, you've at least got looks and a figure going for you, so people who don't know the truth will receive you well. We'll say you've returned after recovering from your treatment."

"No way, my carefree, leisurely life will be ruined!"

"Have some awareness that you're royalty! How did you ever think you could replace me?"

"Because he said once I became queen, he'd take care of everything else… Oh, I know! Look, I'll lend you the Royal Shadows, so let's make them do the work."

As it turned out, the Royal Shadows had followed after Princess Yupe.

They were currently outside the room.

"They're not your personal soldiers, Nee-san… and they seem to have lost their minds to drugs or something."

"They're perfectly sane. They just turned out like that after I trained them."

"What have you been doing, Nee-san…? I'll put them to work too, but you're going to work like a cart horse. To make up for all the slacking you've done until now."

Princess Yupe wore an expression of utter despair.

At least her life had been spared, so I figured that was better than the alternative.

"I'll need you all to help out for a while too, Yohane. This has gone way beyond the coronation. We don't have enough people, after all."

"Shall I hire some attendants for your daily needs?"

"Yes, please. I'm not picky, just get anyone…"

At that moment, a soldier came running in.

He entered without knocking. It must be urgent.

"What is it?!"

"R-reporting! A delegation bearing the Empire's flag has arrived near the capital and is requesting an audience with royalty!"

"The Empire…"

Bad news, it seemed, came in waves.