Chapter 117: The cicada, the mantis, and the oriole. (4)
“Viscount of War Gabriel Sakra Indra! Prostate yourself before the Emperor’s Will!”
Come dawn, a great shout and deafening fanfare rocked the estate that Gabriel was currently living in. The sun had barely risen yet the emperor had already sent out his decree. Nay, thinking about the time it took to get here, the emperor had probably sent out his couriers an hour or two ago, before the sun had even gotten to touch the edge of the horizon.
“They really are terribly uncouth. How is one to sleep properly if they act like this?”
Alice stood within the mansion, narrowed red eyes looking down at the delegation that stood in front of the estate’s gate. A great parade of nearly a hundred men, an annoying fanfare from instruments loaded aboard carriages that they brought along.
‘We are here. See us. Hear us. You have been ordered, let all see’
It was a painfully obvious tactic, but an equally efficient one.
If he was on his own, Gabriel could just ignore it all. He could blow off the emperor and his decree, he could just pack his bags and leave, chaining him down would simply be too hard. But Gabriel wasn’t alone. The whole reason Gabriel got himself a noble title was for the sake of Alice, to make matters with her that much simpler. Alice De Vritara desired the Vritara duchy, and that which lay beyond. She would not leave this empire. Thus, Gabriel would not leave this empire.
And thusly, the emperor could use a crude tactic like this to force Gabriel’s hand. Each pair of eyes that saw the parade became another chain, each person a shackle. As long as Gabriel desired Alice, who was supposedly currently missing, he would have no choice but to let these eyes become chains.
Of course, seeing as Alice was currently standing next to him, her somewhat curly purple hair slightly damp due to the bath she just took, she was obviously not missing. But her having been kidnapped by the Kasarias Kingdom was the perfect ‘justification’ for Gabriel to take action against said kingdom so they were happy to let people believe what they wanted. After all, she was indeed kidnapped by the kingdom for a brief moment.