“Stella, you finally came!”
Lucy quickly stood up when she saw Stella walk into the room.
“What happened?”
Stella was somewhat confused.
Today, like always, she had skipped class and was reading in the library at Avalon Academy when a servant from the Favi family suddenly ran over and told her that there was an urgent matter here that required her presence.
So she had left Avalon Academy together with the Favi family servant and arrived at the Favi family manor.
“You all go out first!” Lucy waved her hand at the servants in the room, signaling for everyone else to leave.
“As you command.”
All the servants in the room withdrew.
Stella noticed that besides herself and Lucy, only the head of the Favi family — Ole Favi — remained.
At this moment, Ole was smoking a cigarette with a grave expression.
Judging from the ashtray, he had already smoked several.
Stella felt somewhat puzzled in her heart.
Why would Ole be under so much pressure?
“Lord Ole, why did you call me over in such a hurry? Did something happen?” Stella asked in confusion. “Could it be related to Mr. W?”
“Mr. W’s matter has indeed brought me a lot of trouble. Tsk.” Ole clicked his tongue and extinguished another cigarette. “However, today’s matter has nothing to do with Mr. W. It is a hundred times more serious than that.”
“A hundred times?”
Stella grew even more curious.
“Stella, we just received news that a civil war broke out within the Saint Luo Empire!” Lucy dropped a bombshell.
“Civil war? Between who and who?”
Stella frowned.
She did not think that the current Saint Luo Empire would experience a civil war internally.
“It was between the First Prince Soren and the Second Prince Damian!” Lucy said.
“It was actually Big Brother and Second Brother…?”
Upon hearing this news, Stella was first surprised.
But after thinking about it for a moment, she felt that it made sense.
Although she had left the imperial palace many years ago, before she left, she had already received news that her father doted on Damian to an extreme degree — far more than he did on Soren.
Therefore, there had always been a competitive relationship between Soren and Damian.
However, she had not expected that Soren would actually dare to go to war against Damian.
With Gustav’s suppression, Soren should not have had the cards to confront Damian directly.
“Lucy, how long has the civil war been going on? So quickly? Did Damian win? Has it already ended?”
“No. On the contrary,” Lucy shook her head. “The First Prince obtained the support of the Holy Land. He set out under the name of purging the internal corruption of the imperial family. With the full assistance of the Holy Knight Order, he crushed the army led by the Second Prince. The Second Prince himself was also killed by the First Prince!”
“This…”
Stella was momentarily speechless.
The development of the situation had truly exceeded her imagination.
She knew that the imperial family of the Saint Luo Empire had always focused on winning over and utilizing the Holy Land while remaining somewhat wary, fearing that the Holy Land would interfere in the Empire’s internal affairs.
After all, the Holy Land’s power was truly immense.
Every generation of emperors had maintained a distant yet close attitude toward the Holy Land.
Yet this Soren, in order to ensure that his position would not be challenged by others, had chosen to pledge allegiance to the Holy Land and actively brought in the Holy Land’s power to interfere in the succession struggle.
“Second Brother was killed by Big Brother. Father must have been extremely angry when he found out. Has he taken any action yet?”
“No. His Majesty the Emperor admitted that he had been momentarily confused and was very pleased that the First Prince was able to eliminate the traitor Damian, who would have hindered the Empire’s future development,” Ole said seriously. “He publicly announced that Soren would be the sole and unshakable heir to his throne.”
She did not believe her father would say something like that.
“What is even more difficult to understand is that His Majesty the Emperor also announced that from now on, the Holy Land will become the state religion of the Saint Luo Empire. In the future, the faith of all humans will be unified under the leadership of Pope Altes to worship the omnipotent gods.”
Ole stared at Stella.
“Princess, what exactly is going on? Will our family also have to offer faith to the Holy Land from now on?”
“This… This…”
The sudden question left Stella momentarily at a loss for words.
The only reasonable explanation she could think of was that none of this had come from Gustav himself.
It was probably all decided unilaterally by Soren.
Making the Holy Land the state religion of the Saint Luo Empire must have been the condition Soren used to win over the Pope.
After obtaining the Holy Land’s support, Soren crushed both Damian and Gustav behind him.
The current Gustav was no longer in control of his own actions.
“Princess, weren’t you always in contact with His Majesty the Emperor? Such a major event has occurred, yet you knew nothing about it. We even had to be the ones to inform you?”
Ole cast a highly suspicious gaze at Stella.
“We have always believed that you could introduce us to the imperial family. Yet you keep finding various reasons to refuse. Could it be that you are an abandoned child of the imperial family?”
Stella fell silent.
The fact that she was an abandoned child had finally been discovered by the Favi family.
As expected, Via’s judgment had been correct.
She could hide it for a while, but she could not hide it forever.
“Stella, explain yourself!” Lucy was somewhat anxious. “You said before that you were very favored by His Majesty the Emperor. Now that something has happened within the imperial family, why hasn’t anyone come to protect you?”
“That is…”
Just as Stella did not know how to explain, the door to the room was opened.
“Who are you? Why are you trespassing into my manor without permission!”
Ole shouted in panic.
This was the first time strangers had entered his manor without his consent.
“Don’t be nervous, Count Favi. We are not here for you.”
An officer wearing an imperial military uniform walked up to Favi and patted his shoulder before turning to look at Stella.
“Ninth Princess, in accordance with His Majesty the Emperor’s orders, we have come to escort you back to the capital.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Not only you. His Majesty the Emperor has summoned all members of the imperial family within the Empire to gather at the imperial palace,” the officer explained. “The Holy Land is about to hold an important ritual. All members of the imperial family must attend to witness the descent of the supreme divine oracle.”
“I refuse.”
Stella knew very clearly in her heart that this was definitely Soren’s order, not Gustav’s intention.
“I’m sorry, Ninth Princess. This is not a request for your opinion. This is a notification.”
The officer waved his hand, and the imperial soldiers surrounded Stella.
“Please cooperate. After all, according to His Majesty’s orders, if you resist, we are permitted to use force. I hope you understand the bigger picture and do not make things difficult for us. This is also for your own good.”
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