“Prince Wendy, is this the power you spoke of?”
Yekaterina seemed to see countless newspapers like this flying out from the Royal Palace like snowflakes, reaching every corner of the city, into the hands of every soldier and citizen.
For the first time, the voice of the royal family would resound throughout the entire kingdom, unstoppable and clear.
“No, this is only the beginning.”
Wendy’s eyes were equally burning.
“This is just the weapon itself. How it’s used is the key.”
He turned to Prime Minister Allison.
This formidable woman could no longer hide her excitement, a strange flush coloring her smiling face.
“Prime Minister, is everything ready?”
“Reporting to Prince.”
Allison took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the waves within her heart.
“According to your instructions, Edwin Veid has already been brought to the Judgement Platform in Royal Capital Square. We’ve also ‘invited’ dozens of prestigious nobles and merchants from the Royal Capital to observe.”
She paused, a cold arc curling at the corner of her lips.
“At the same time, I’ve arranged for over a hundred swift Messengers and City Guard soldiers. The moment the newspapers are printed, they will be distributed to every corner of the city.”
“I guarantee, before the sun sets today, everyone in the Royal Capital who can read will know the crimes committed by the Veid Family.”
“Very good.”
Wendy nodded in satisfaction.
“Then… let’s begin.”
He looked to Laxana.
“Miss Klein, increase the Magic output. Get all machines running. We must print at least fifty thousand copies before noon!”
“Fifty thousand?”
Even Laxana was shocked by the number.
“Isn’t that too many?”
“Not at all.”
Wendy shook his head.
“What I want isn’t just for the news to spread, but…”
“An explosion of information!”
“I want everyone in the Royal Capital, wherever they go, whatever they see or hear, to be surrounded by the crimes of the Veid Family! I want them to have no time to think or doubt—only to passively accept the ‘truth’ we feed them!”
“This…”
Laxana and Yekaterina exchanged glances, each seeing a deep chill in the other’s eyes.
The man before them, as he described this plan that bordered on brainwashing, wore a terrifyingly calm expression.
What kind of terrifying soul was hidden beneath that impossibly handsome face?
“Do as he says.”
Yekaterina was the first to respond.
She looked at Wendy’s profile, her gaze burning hotter.
“Whatever my Prince says, goes.”
Laxana pressed her lips together, but finally nodded.
At the command, over a dozen Printing Presses roared to life, and the entire workshop went into high-speed operation.
One newspaper after another, each bearing evidence of crimes, rolled off the lines like weapons from a factory, produced without end.
An unprecedented storm of public opinion was quietly brewing.
And the three who set it in motion stood at the eye of the storm, silently watching everything unfold.
Two days left.
Wendy recited silently in his heart.
In two days, when Astreia returns, what she will see is a Royal Capital completely overturned.
A brand-new Royal Capital, shaped by their own hands…
***
Royal Capital Square, noon.
Sunlight baked the high platform at the center of the square, the authority of judgement wavering in the heat.
Below, the crowd was a dense mass, their buzzing conversations forming a low hum of noise.
Most had been ‘invited’ by the City Guard to come watch, almost by force.
No one knew what the royal family was up to, only that something was going to happen here today.
“What’s going on now?”
“Who knows? Can you guess what those noble ladies are thinking?”
“Shh… keep it down. Can’t you see all the big shots standing over there?”
At the edge of the crowd, dozens of well-dressed nobles and wealthy merchants had been ‘invited’ to the best seats.
Each wore a complicated expression, whispering among themselves, trying to sense which way the winds would blow from this strange scene.
At that moment, a burst of hurried, orderly footsteps sounded from all directions.
Hundreds of Messengers and City Guard soldiers surged into the square from every street, a trained torrent.
They carried thick stacks of paper in their arms, moving in perfect unison as they stuffed them into every person’s hands.
“What’s this?”
A mercenary took the fluttering sheet, turning it over in confusion.
“Take it! The royal grace—everyone gets one!”
A soldier shouted impatiently before moving on to the next.
In an instant, the entire square was filled with the rustle of paper.
People stared curiously at the objects in their hands, something they had never seen before.
The paper was rough, but far lighter than expensive parchment.
And the neat inked letters printed on it fascinated them even more.
“‘Valoran Daily’… What’s that?”
“Look at these letters! They’re as perfect as engravings—amazing!”
A merchant, wearing a single-lens monocle and looking quite dignified, was the first to make out the bold headline.
She read it aloud on instinct.
“‘Shocking! The Sinners of Valoran, the Downfall of the Veid Family!’”
As her voice fell, those around her fell silent, turning as one to stare at the newspaper in her hand.
The female merchant’s breath hitched.
She followed the headline downward.
“Confession of Edwin Veid, former Secretary of Sunset Fortress…”
“It is hereby proven that I, Edwin, at the command of Duke Veid, long-term embezzled Northern Legion military rations… forged documents, framed Eldest Princess Astreia Valoran…”
Her voice grew smaller and more tremulous, but her eye behind the monocle widened.
“Colluded with the Orcs, sold fortress deployment maps… planned to launch a coup and seize the throne upon the Princess Royal’s return…”
“What?!”
“What did she say? The Veid Family colluded with Orcs?!”
“Is what’s written here true?!”
A single stone set off a thousand waves!
Those who could read began to read the contents aloud for those who could not.
Each shocking word—’embezzlement of military supplies,’ ‘framing of the Princess Royal,’ ‘colluding with Orcs,’ ‘seizing the throne’—burned into the heart of every citizen of Valoran like a brand.
The square’s noise instantly transformed into a wave of fury!
At that moment, with a “creak,” the door of the prison carriage behind the Judgement Platform opened.
A gaunt, ashen Edwin Veid was dragged onto the platform by two guards.
He wore formal attire, but on him, it only made him look like a pathetic clown.
A judicial officer ascended the platform, unrolled a scroll of parchment, and used Magic to amplify his voice across the square.
“By the order of Her Majesty the Queen, the criminal Edwin Veid is to publicly confess his crimes before all the people!”
At that instant, a tall figure in a hooded cloak pressed through the crowd to the edge of the platform.
The newcomer lifted their face, emerald eyes shining with curiosity.
“Why is it him?”
“What happened in the Royal Capital…?”