Chapter 196
Roman could not leave the Secret Council.
It was because the knights of the five families blocked the way.
The heads of the families followed suit as well.
"Please let me leave."
"You are the crown prince! Please accept it!"
"I told you, I don't want to be the emperor."
"Your Highness, your fate is not yours alone! It is the fate of the empire as well!"
"I told you, I'm not even a citizen of the empire!"
"Your Highness is the only blood relative of the imperial family! If Your Highness refuses the throne, the imperial bloodline ends here! This is not a matter of choice!"
Roman glanced at me with a teary face.
It wasn't because he felt pressure, he really didn't want to take it on. His nature was fundamentally incompatible with politics and power.
Lady Mien subtly interrupted, being wary of Roman depending on me.
"I will help you, Your Highness."
"I don't trust you."
"You must trust me. In this empire, I am likely the only one you can rely on, Your Highness."
"Don't call me that!"
Roman looked at me again.
As if asking what on earth he was supposed to do.
I would give advice, but I wouldn't push him.
"Shall we talk for a bit?"
Roman hurried over to me.
The heads of the families trailed behind as well.
"We would like to have a private conversation."
"No. The crown prince is my son."
Ignoring that, I walked to a corner of the Secret Council.
I meant to go ahead and wait, but Roman was following immediately behind me. The others remained where they stood.
I sat by the window.
Roman sat next to me.
"What should I do now?"
"Do you resent me?"
Roman shook his head.
"No. I was born this way, what can I do? Judging by what they said, you really had no choice either, young master."
I nodded silently.
He looked at me.
"Please help me. I want to leave."
"Even if you do, lady Mien and the nobles will constantly come to persuade you."
"Can't I just hide away somewhere?"
"They'll find you one way or another. That's more dangerous than staying in the palace. There will be people who want to harm you as well."
"Isn't there any other way?"
I looked at Roman as I answered.
"There are two solutions."
"What are they?"
"One is to become emperor. The other is—"
I looked at the heads of the families and Lady Mien.
"To disband the empire in the name of the emperor."
"What?"
I continued.
"Roman, you have no choice but to become emperor. You can't name someone else; nobody will acknowledge that."
"What if I just run away?"
"There will be a civil war. With no one sitting on the throne, everyone will fight to become emperor. The empire could even break apart into several kingdoms."
He sighed again.
"It'd be the same if I disbanded the empire."
"That's right. If you abdicate, war will come in some form no matter what."
"If I become emperor, does that mean there will be no war?"
"Not even a power struggle."
Roman stared at me.
He looked overwhelmed.
"There is one more way."
"What is it?"
"Just rule as emperor for up to ten years. If you marry and produce an heir, that's enough."
Roman couldn't respond.
He must not have even considered marriage.
No one knew when Syren would invade. As long as Roman became emperor until then, it would suffice. He was weak for now, but by then, he would become a true emperor.
It also suited me for Roman to take the throne—it would make all sorts of preparations easier. I could protect him better if I stayed close. It might look as if I was holding power like the grand duke, but—
There was really no alternative.
Roman mulled it over for a long time.
"If I become emperor... you'll help me, right?"
"Of course."
He made his decision.
Now that he had, I would push ahead.
Roman looked at the heads of the families.
"I will do as you all wish."
The heads of the families bowed deeply once again.
The chamberlain and palace maids bowed with gritted teeth. Lady Mien looked at me with a subtle expression.
"Your Highness. Please let me serve you."
Roman shook his head at Lady Mien's words.
"I know nothing. That's why I entrust myself to Young Master Roger, who saved me from slavery and protected me."
"Your Highness! He is not a government official!"
"This cannot be!"
The chamberlain and palace maids prostrated themselves flat on the floor.
They knew their own fates.
The heads of the families showed no concern.
"I have no qualification either. From this moment, I give full authority to Young Master Roger. If anything goes wrong under him, I will take responsibility."
"Rest now, I'll take care of things."
"All right."
Soon, the corps members entered. They had come in early through the secret passage and already screened the chamberlains and guards.
Donnie handed me scrolls.
"Escort the crown prince."
"Yes, sir."
The corps members took Roman away.
I watched him glance back repeatedly and then went to sit at the head seat. The chamberlain and palace maids stood there with pale faces, and the heads of the families sat down. Lady Mien also sat, glaring at me.
"Have the chamberlains and guards enter!"
The door to the inner quarters opened, and the chamberlains and guards entered. These were people who had either been neutral or on the former emperor's side.
I looked at the scrolls Donnie handed me.
"As the crown prince's deputy. I appoint Chamberlain Joshu as the highest-ranking chamberlain."
A middle-aged chamberlain bowed.
I continued.
"For guard captain, I appoint Guard Craig. For the highest-ranking palace maid, I appoint Miril, lady-in-waiting of the Great Hall."
I set a stack of scrolls on the table.
"The guards are to bring in the officials remaining in the palace, according to the names on these scrolls. Officials with crimes are to be arrested immediately, starting with those two."
Right away, the guards seized the top-ranked chamberlain and palace maid by both arms. The two just set their jaws grimly and did not say a word. There was plenty of evidence of their involvement in treason.
The guards led the chamberlain and palace maid away under arrest. The other chamberlain and guards also took scrolls from the table and left. Soon there would be a commotion.
"I have a message for the heads of families as well."
"Please, go ahead."
"Act as acting elders of the Secret Council for the time being."
"We shall do so."
"That is all. Those who are not officials should leave the palace. Guards, please escort Lady Mien."
Lady Mien spoke coldly.
"It seems you have forgotten my support."
"I have not forgotten. I am grateful for your help, but leaving Roman with you would be too dangerous."
Without delay, I stood and headed for the inner room.
Lady Mien glared sharply at me.
She had revealed her ambitions far too early.
/ / /
Half a month had passed.
Every day, new officials were selected and old ones weeded out. Most of the new talent was recommended by Lord Watts.
Our knight order came to the palace and acted as the temporary Royal Guard, while our Imperial Knight Order led by Oren resumed its original duties. They functioned as a sort of prosecution.
They began arresting those involved in treason and locking them up in the Imperial Knight Order's prisons, regardless of rank.
Many staff of the Administrative Council were replaced, as were the judiciary and legislature in the Legislative Council. Anyway, the grand duke's faction had controlled them.
The newly appointed personnel worked to stabilize the disorder. The Legislative Council exiled the offenders or punished them depending on the severity of their crimes.
In the process, I discovered a ridiculous reality.
The empire's treasury was empty. The imperial family's assets were the same. It was virtually bankruptcy.
The grand duke had embezzled all of the empire's funds. Or spent them to feed his ambitions. The empire was just an empty shell now.
I had wanted to make Roman a strong emperor.
Now it looked practically impossible.
Overturning the empire as well.
"Young master. The crown prince's investiture is about to begin."
"Let's go."
Together with Donnie, I headed to the grand audience chamber.
This investiture would be conducted with minimum ceremony. The imperial enthronement would be on a grander scale.
Many nobles and newly appointed officials were gathered in the audience chamber, where the emperor usually conducted state affairs.
Only the capital's nobles were invited, all in imperial formal attire.
"You've worked hard."
"It's been tough. I never thought the imperial family's finances were this bad."
"That bad?"
"Yes. Restoring the assets with taxes alone will take at least ten years."
"That's serious."
Lord Watts clicked his tongue.
The empire could fall at any moment. They couldn't even muster funds for war.
That explained why the grand duke neither built up a power base nor clung to the empire's authority.
He'd already stripped away everything of value. Winning the last battle was now meaningless.
"The crown prince is entering!"
Roman entered carefully.
He wore the crown prince's ceremonial garb and overcoat, holding the imperial staff made of gold.
Roman had adapted somewhat in the past week. He still couldn't hide his discomfort.
The attention of so many people seemed to burden him deeply.
Most of the gathered nobles were people dissatisfied with me. Reasonably so—I had no title or official position, so they saw me as unqualified.
I'd heard recently that Lady Mien had met with them often. They seemed entirely unaware of the empire's financial situation.
Anyway, just exposing their families' corruption would bring in a fair amount of tax.
The crown prince stood atop the red carpet.
Next, the priests and high priest of the capital temple lined up, holding the investiture document and the imperial sword, among other items.
Ding—
The bell rang to begin the ceremony.
Roman knelt on one knee. The high priest sprinkled holy water onto his head for the sacred baptism. Then the high priest presented Roman with the official document.
Ding—
The bell rang out again, announcing the event to the gods. Since the ceremony was conducted strictly by imperial rite, there was no master of ceremonies or introduction.
The ceremony ended in an hour.
Roman bowed formally and left the audience hall. As soon as he was gone, the nobles began to stir.
The heads of families seemed to have brought their daughters in hopes of making them empress; those girls seemed to have fallen for Roman's looks. Admittedly, Roman was good-looking—gentle and handsome, in a way.
"We express our gratitude to all honorable guests who attended the investiture. The imperial family has prepared a banquet, so please enjoy the feast."
The nobles followed the chamberlains to the banquet.
"May I have a word?"
"Go ahead."
A chamberlain who had been following me led Lord Watts to a room near the banquet hall. After the chamberlain exited, watts spoke.
"I want to establish two agencies."
"What kind of agencies?"
"An intelligence bureau and a prosecution bureau."
"Isn't the Imperial Knight Order already our prosecutors?"
"The Imperial Knight Order consists strictly of knights. But the original purpose has faded, and now they mostly carry out arrests under orders from the Legislative or Secret Council."
"That's true."
That was why the Imperial Knights had come to the palace—to arrest me as the emperor's assassin.
"It was because there was no proper agency. The prosecution bureau will cover what the Legislative Council and Imperial Knight Order have been doing. The Imperial Knights will return to their original roles."
"Then what of the Legislative Council?"
"The Legislative Council's staff will be transferred to the prosecution bureau. Only the high-ranking members will remain, strictly for legislation and judicial review. Their prestige won't decline."
Lord Watts didn't immediately grasp it.
I went on.
"Imperial knights will command cases and the Legislative Council staff will handle investigations. We'll call those knights 'prosecutors' and give them independence in their investigations."
"Will you found a new Imperial Knight Order?"
"Yes. Until now, the knight order was too much under the Secret Council's control. The new Imperial Knight Order will be the empire's top elite, answerable only to the military."
Lord Watts looked at me.
"But won't that weaken the imperial family's strength?"
"The Secret Council will be weakened, too."
It must have seemed odd—I wasn't hoarding power, but apparently curbing even the imperial family's authority. According to Lord Watts's understanding, that was strange.
The Secret Council was the emperor's advisory body, the imperial secretariat, and the state security agency. It had vast influence over all bureaus of the empire. Its power had grown too great.
Thus, my goal was to weaken the Secret Council's power. But the imperial family's strength wouldn't diminish as much as Watts thought. The intelligence bureau would inherit the Secret Council's clout.
The intelligence bureau would be directly under the emperor, trained as an elite force. The nobles would see only the state security field transferred from the Secret Council.
However, the intelligence bureau would not only keep the prosecution bureau in check, but also stand above it. Controlling just those two would be enough; the military would never be easy to control anyway.
"Who do you plan to head the prosecution bureau?"
"Division Captain Oren from the Imperial Knight Order."
Oren was one of the five officers.
"And the intelligence bureau?"
"I will take that position."
A crease appeared on Lord Watts's brow.
He seemed to understand now.
But what could we do when the imperial family had no money?
Might as well expose the nobles' corruption.
That information would bring in revenue.