Chapter 22: The Three Families Rebellion
This happened just before I was born. The Empire was left without an emperor with the death of the Crown Prince Jean in battle and the Emperor Edward IV dying unnaturally. There was a dispute over who would become the next emperor as one would expect. There were three people rumoured to be the next Emperor at that time. All of them were women and were sisters of the deceased Emperor Edward IV.
The first was Eleanor, the wife of Marquis Aquicurl Diederich, the second was Marguerite, the wife of Marquis L’Mitedeau, and the third was Leeds, the widowed wife of the former Count Berea.
The issue of succession was resolved with the birth of the orphaned son of the Crown Prince Jean, who died in battle. However, the three families who had nominated candidates for the emperor disagreed with this decision and revolted against it.
The Chancellor and the Chief of the Ministry of Ceremonies worked together to crush these three families. They killed off the families and effectively took control of their land.
Thus, there was no one left to revolt against the Young Emperor.
… that was how ‘The Three Families Rebellion’ was publicised.
Of course, the truth was different. This was what had happened in order:
First, they didn’t know if I was really Jean’s child until I was born since the old hag had a lover… She really doesn’t do anything good.
Now then, this struggle for the throne naturally turned into a factional strife between the Chancellor and the Chief of the Ministry of Ceremonies. The Chancellor had nominated Eleanor, the wife of Marquis Aquicurl Dudetich and the Chief of the Ministry of Ceremonies had nominated Marguerite, the wife of Marquis L’Mitedeau to become emperor.