Chapter 90: Three fronts of Rebellion
(Imperial capital, imperial palace: )
Sitting right beside the emperor’s great throne on the stairs, the young man that resembled the father of the Tapaz empire looked at the people gathered before him.
"My prince, the winds bring news of the Princess’ advance." One of the people informed the conference, everyone’s attention still focused on the prince.
He was looking down at the people, his deep blue eyes reflecting the subjects that had remained loyal to the crown and its legitimate successor.
The light of the chandelier above them illuminated just this part of the throne room, a place that otherwise was filled with hundreds of people who came for the guidance, mercy, or favour of the one who sat on this throne.
The emperor is ill right now, and he may not live for long. It was a fact that most of the imperial allies were aware of by this point.
Not only was he not seen in the last few months, even though it was made known that he was recovering right now, only a handful of people could see him.
They also had sworn an oath to not reveal his condition to anyone else, binding their wills even against interrogation techniques.
The empire was becoming more and more restless with each passing minute, and if that wasn’t the worst thing, the princess was gathering powerful allies for her own succession.
"Hmmm..."
As the light above reflected off of the unique bronze hair of the prince, a characteristic feature of the Topaz royalty, his eyes looked through the audience.
In his hand, manifesting from what seemed like sand, was now a glass shard resembling a curved dagger.
"Emma managed to take over the grand conference and turn over the people there against their will."
There was a small black snake coiled around his neck right now, it’s head peeking out of the tall neck uniform that he was wearing.
The red eyes of the black snake and the red-black military uniform of the prince were a match made in moral heaven.
"We already predicted she would do something unpredictable. She has that reckless tendency."
When the prince was done scanning the room, his eyes were fixed on a certain individual.
"She still thinks she has everything under control."
-Shweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!
He flicked his fingers in a quick moment and a strange whistle was heard throughout the halls.
-Thup!
And while everyone was focused on his words, the dagger had already met his target: the person right beside the one that he had been looking at right now.
"If it wasn’t for the duke Samstrong by her side, she would be back to her toy room, playing like the little girl she used to be."
The fallen body of the individual whose head had been split in half by that strange sound did not seem to be of great concern to the people present.
In fact, from the way their eyes were completely blank right now, it almost seemed like they weren’t even aware of any of it.
"She has planted her pawns in all of the major families, just like we have wanted."
There was a black snake on his neck and there was a red snake coiled around his hands, one that had stark black eyes resembling the body of the other snake.
"That one eyed Serulian should have died to her. That way, the white lady would have become more cooperative."
He had laid out many plans. In fact, he was looking at those plans right now.
-Ooooooooooooong!
From the sand that appeared out of nowhere once again, the map of the entire continent appeared beside him.
In the presence of the emperor’s throne, with each front of the empire marked with a king or queen marker, in this land which should belong to the empire, scattered across places present on the map, there was a third marker with two scythes superpositioned on the crown.
"We raised the princess up to solidify our claim, and it was a big gamble we lost miserably. Now if that wasn’t enough, there is another bunch of fools trying to get in our way."
As good an image he had created of him within the empire to enjoy his peaceful life, there were many who did actually know what the prince truly was.
They did not want the empire to fall in the hands of someone like him, but, as great as the princess may be, the prince wasn’t a child.
He solidified his position after much plotting, and it was only now that he was at a point where he could make some substantial moves.
Regrettably, he didn’t have prophets on his side like his dear sister did. He had to predict and do all the work on his own.
And it certainly wasn’t an easy task with the evil forces manipulating the masses.
"Do we have any new information on the black front, vice captain?"
The prince asked one of the people that followed him, the vice commander of the imperial forces, a knight in orange armor.
It was pretty armor, and the person wearing it was also strong.
His eyes were the same as the others’ so it wasn’t easy to tell whether he was in the right state of mind or not.
"The black rebel forces have successfully taken over the southwestern baron territory adjacent to Viscount Galehorn’s region."
Hearing the knight’s report, the prince looked back on the map as the symbol with the scythe appeared on a small castle surrounded by what seemed like a granary.
"These bastards are amassing resources."
Most of the places that had fallen to these forces until now had important war resources.
Be it ration or ways to deliver fresh water, the black forces were taking over the resourceful lands.
"Also, the Serulians have declared their neutrality."
"Already?"
The prince was taken aback by how quickly the Serulian patriarch announced his decision.
"It seems like Sir Rainin has been sent to the Sungrade territory for unknown reasons. We are tying it to the White Lady’s previous visit to the east."
He had planned for this. He needed the Serulians to stay neutral in the upcoming war.
Even if they don’t get their resources, cutting off an important ally of the other two forces would be more beneficial to them.
However, it wasn’t supposed to happen for the next few months.
They were still in the process of storing as much war supplies as they could amass from them.
He wasn’t supposed to make his move for another few months. But something affected his decision.
"Why would that woman send her precious son to the enemy lands?"
Actually, since this was about them, another question came to his mind.
"Anything from the Sungrades?"
"Nothing out of place. The First Lady of the house seems to be pushing for the support of the princess."
"As she is supposed to."
Prince was looking at the map, thinking deeply about the strange instances involving the Sungrades.
"First they caught the Faceless Manipulator and now they have a Serulian under their command.
Hmm... this isn’t that simple."
The white woman was an unpredictable element.
He left her alone because her personal grudge towards the Sungrade was useful to him, but things weren’t going in a good direction.
"Looks like we have a new player."
Someone was pulling the strings somewhere.
The rebellion which started with his sister’s hostile takeover of the noble representatives at the conference was now being played by powers unseen by the crown.
Then they found out some evil forces had been trying to usurp against the throne.
Then the crown prince’s plans, which had been in motion even before the emperor got ill, started falling apart.
It was strange. But then again, he hadn’t failed just yet.
"The emperor, my innocent father, will perish soon. Then, the next part begins."
There were various other marks in this sand map. Marks that depicted various things that moved at the prince’s command.
Some of the formidable objects among this included elements directly connecting Stanox, the guardian families, as well as the so-called disasters that were present in the empire.
"We will have our opportunity soon." A smile appeared on the prince’s lips, his eyes turning into something similar to his snakes for a moment.
It seemed like his skin had turned into one resembling them as well, but that illusion only remained for a split second.
"What’s next on the agenda."
He had his own plans for the empire.
"His grace’s funeral, my prince."
Once he had this bloody empire in his hands... well, he knew what he’d do at that time.