At your direction, Professor Rudolf's speech stirred up immense waves in Heiligenburg.
The highly respected former law professor used his own ordeal as a starting point, brutally dissecting the tyranny and greed of Erak Congreve and laying it bare before all the people of Ruperkan.
The public's emotions were completely ignited, and they began to chant, 'Get out of Ruperkan.'
Under the pretext of maintaining order, Taylor led the elite guards to assemble around the perimeter of the Ruperkan Grand Region.
Erak Congreve's guard corps completely disintegrated under the pressure of the vast sea of people and the external military threat. The soldiers threw down their weapons one by one and joined the marching crowds, where their own families were.
Caught between internal and external pressures, Erak Congreve fell into utter despair within his tower.
Through his window, he watched the angry faces below and listened to the death knell being rung for him, and he finally understood that his era was over.
Presented with a 'decree of abdication' by a representative of the Workers' Party, he tremblingly signed his name, renouncing his position as Elector in a plea to spare his own life.
To his surprise, however, the Workers' Party did not seize all of his wealth. While the factories and farmlands under his name were confiscated, the rest of his fortune was left untouched, for which he couldn't help but feel a little grateful.
The next day, amid the cheers of hundreds of thousands in Heiligenburg, Professor Rudolf was acclaimed as the new lord of the Ruperkan Grand Region.
The old professor delivered an inaugural address, announcing that Ruperkan would join the 'Leithanien Economic Community' and requesting that His Excellency Lacey, Elector of Wasser Fief, dispatch a working group to assist in rebuilding a new Ruperkan for the people.
With this, seven of the Empire's nine Electorates were now clearly in your camp.
Taking Ruperkan without bloodshed was another unprecedented political subversion, identical in method to the overthrow of Otto Gladstone.
In Trullinczentyr, before the throne of the Twin Empresses, White Empress Lizelotte finally realized that you had grown from a mere chess piece into a player capable of overturning the entire board.
The tool she had envisioned, one that could be controlled and utilized, was now completely out of her grasp.
She realized that you were no longer satisfied with sweeping away the decadent vassals; your gaze had already fallen upon the crown on their heads.
...
Trullinczentyr, the Twin Towers, within the Throne Room.
Herlinmarte Hildegard, the Empire's 'Unyielding Authority,' was pacing back and forth.
The black formal military uniform she wore rustled softly with her movements.
'We must dispatch troops.'
She stopped and turned to face the silent Lizelotte on the throne.
'Immediately!'
'Unite the five Grand Regions of Heidenshweir, Enwald, Niedenher, Fordgang, and Oschdenheim. Combined with the royal family, that's more than enough to form an army that can crush him!'
Herlinmarte's hand rested on the hilt of her sword.
'Lacey has just taken Ruperkan. His foundation is unstable, and the people's loyalty is not yet secured. This is the perfect opportunity for us to raze Wasser Fief in one fell swoop!'
'As for those two opportunists, Wolner and Meklen, faced with absolute military might, they will immediately realize they've backed the wrong side!'
On the throne, Lizelotte Iwegnade sat quietly, her pure white skirt spread out like a sacred flower in full bloom.
She wasn't looking at her sister; her gaze was fixed outside the window, as if contemplating the vast skies of Leithanien.
'And after we raze Wasser Fief, Herlinmarte?' she asked softly.
Herlinmarte seemed unable to comprehend her sister. 'We destroy the Workers' Party, of course! Send Lacey to the gallows, and everything will return to its proper course!'
'No.'
Lizelotte's gaze finally returned to the hall, devoid of any warmth.
'That would not be a return to the proper course. It would be the beginning of another chaos.'
She stood and slowly descended the steps.
'Herlinmarte, have you forgotten how we came to sit upon this throne?'
'It was their revulsion for the Witch King's tyranny that placed us upon this pedestal.'
'Lacey is not like us, but he is doing something similar to what we did all those years ago.'
'Right now, in the eyes of countless people in Leithanien, who is he?'
Herlinmarte frowned but did not answer.
'He is a hero of common birth who, through his own ability, has won back land and bread for the people,' Lizelotte answered for her.
'He is a liberator who dares to challenge the decadent nobility and speak for the common folk.'
She walked up to Herlinmarte, looking directly into her sister's burning, furious eyes.
'And now, are we, the Twin Empresses of Leithanien, to dispatch troops to suppress this people's hero in the name of 'upholding the old order'?' Lizelotte asked with a hint of mockery.
'Who do you think the people will side with? What do you think they will do?'
'They would rise up. An uprising would sweep the nation, on a scale far exceeding the September Revolution of the past.'
'And Lacey, even if he were to die in battle, would instantly be fashioned into a martyr, a totem, who resisted tyranny and fought for the common folk.'
'At that point, we would not be facing one Wasser Fief, but thousands upon thousands of them.'
Herlinmarte's lips tightened. She could picture it—the very foundations of the Empire would be shaken to the core by the people's fury.
Lizelotte continued, 'Furthermore, those others—Ziegler, Gabriel... they've just been flirting with Lacey. Do you really think they would help us in earnest?'
'They would only hide in the background, watch us and Lacey destroy each other, and then happily carve up the power we fought for. They might even turn around and install a new emperor more suited to their interests.'
'We cannot allow that to happen,' Lizelotte said, enunciating each word.
'What we must do is drag him down from his pedestal. We must ruin his reputation, turn him from a hero into a criminal.'
'We must strip him of his legitimacy.'
Herlinmarte's breathing gradually calmed, the fire in her chest extinguished by Lizelotte's rational words.
She had to admit that Lizelotte was right.
A military victory could lead to political ruin beyond redemption.
'What is your plan?' Herlinmarte asked.
The corners of Lizelotte's mouth curved into a smile.
She relished scenes like this, scenes where she convinced her sister with her own political wisdom.
She turned and walked back towards the throne.
'In your name and mine, we will issue a decree.'
'Publicly accuse Lacey on three counts. One: conspiring to subvert the legitimate rule of the Electors, thereby undermining the foundations of the Empire.'
'Two: inciting the masses and dividing the nation, tantamount to treason.'
'Three: desecrating the Golden Law Score and abandoning the traditions of Leithanien.'
'The decree will announce the revocation of all political status and authority held by Lacey as the Elector of Wasser Fief, and order him to immediately dissolve the illegal regime in Ruperkan.'
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