“Demon King, please take a look at this.”
Alef placed a photograph on the table and pushed it toward Via.
Via picked it up. After seeing the image, she looked slightly surprised.
The person in the photo was someone she recognized—she had met him before at social events. It was Soren, the First Prince of the Saint Luo Empire.
However, in the photo, Soren was wearing a crown and holding the scepter that symbolized the empire’s highest authority, looking every bit like a member of the imperial family.
Standing beside Soren were the previous emperor, Gustav, and members of the Holy Land.
“Did Soren actually become emperor?”
Stella leaned over to Via’s side. When she saw the First Prince in the photo, she was shocked.
“Yes,” Alef nodded. “Not long ago, the previous emperor Gustav announced his abdication and passed the throne to the First Prince Soren. From now on, the Emperor of the Saint Luo Empire is Soren Julius.”
“Father voluntarily announced his abdication?” Stella frowned. “Didn’t anyone oppose it? This is too strange. Under normal circumstances, if Gustav voluntarily stepped down and passed the throne to such a young First Prince, it would definitely cause massive opposition. But this time there were special circumstances—Gustav claimed that in a dream, he heard God’s guidance. He then brought in a saintess from the Holy Land to perform a ritual and interpret the divine oracle.”
“What did the oracle say?”
“The human world needs a new transformation. The emperor of old can no longer guide humanity toward the future. The power of the emperor must be passed to the next suitable successor,” Alef explained. “That was the content of the oracle. It was announced personally by Saintess Sophie.”
“Even though I already knew the Holy Land would support Soren, I really didn’t expect it to be Sophie who helped him this much.” Stella frowned.
Via remained silent.
In the corner of the photo, she had also spotted Sophie. Her expression grew complicated.
Based on her understanding of Sophie, her sister shouldn’t have gone so far as to assist Soren in ascending the throne to this extent.
“Demon King, there was originally some public resistance to Soren’s ascension. But after the saintess interpreted the divine oracle, there was no longer any opposition to him becoming emperor. You should understand how difficult it is to oppose the Holy Land in the human world, right?” Alef said.
“Mm. I know.”
Via put the photo down. The situation had become somewhat urgent.
“Soren has stopped pretending. He didn’t want to wait at all and rushed to become emperor. However, by pulling the Holy Land to his side, he’s made himself nearly untouchable. His biggest rival, the Second Prince, has already been labeled a traitor and killed. The remaining heirs have either been suppressed by the army or brought to the capital and placed under control. Even if someone wanted to voice complaints, it wouldn’t have any effect.”
“Demon King, what should we do next?” Alef asked.
“Well…”
Via began to think. She turned her gaze toward Stella.
“Stella, from your perspective, what should our next move be?”
“Me?” Stella blinked.
“Yes. Since you have the ambition to become emperor, you must have thought about how to get there, right?”
“Mm, I have,” Stella nodded. “From my point of view, Soren has only just ascended the throne. He probably hasn’t had time to fully consolidate all power within the empire yet. Father had been suppressing him before, so not everyone below necessarily accepts him as the successor. Even with Father’s official abdication and the Holy Land’s support, most people are probably still in a wait-and-see position.”
“That does seem to be the case.”
“The empire itself isn’t an airtight iron plate. There are gaps. If we can incite rebellion while his rule is still unstable, we might be able to win over other factions or families that are still watching. Only then will we have a chance to bring Soren down.”
“Then how do we incite a rebellion?” Via asked the most crucial question.
“On that point, I have no solution,” Stella showed a regretful expression. “Unless we can make the lords and nobles within the empire feel threatened in terms of their interests, they will continue to wait and see.”
“I agree with what you said. Only through a widely known war can we shatter the legitimacy of Soren’s position as emperor.”
“Soren had already considered this, which is why he suppressed or took control of all the other heirs. However,” Alef reminded her, “Demon King, by saving the Ninth Princess, you created the one miscalculation Soren made.”
“Stella does have the qualifications. She possesses legitimate claim to the throne.”
Via leaned back on the sofa and closed her eyes.
“The current problem is how to incite others to rebel…”
“Exactly. So for now, we shouldn’t make contact with the Favi family. Their situation…” Alef said. “Even the family you stayed with before—after Soren ascended the throne, he issued an empire-wide wanted order for you. He fabricated charges of rebellion and defying the previous emperor Gustav. The bounty is extremely high. I imagine that even in the face of such a massive reward, they would sell you out.”
“As expected. I knew Soren definitely wouldn’t let me go,” Stella wasn’t surprised. “As long as I’m alive for even one more day, he won’t feel at ease for even one day.”
“Mm. I guess I really do have to go find her.”
Via opened her eyes, stood up from the sofa, and walked out of the room on her own.
“Via, this is…?” Stella looked confused.
“I believe the Demon King must have come up with something,” Alef said, not chasing after her.
Crunch crunch crunch.
Albion was sitting in the garden, holding a piece of wood and continuously stuffing it into her mouth.
“Albion!”
Via found Albion and greeted the short silver-haired loli. “Look what this is.”
When Albion saw what Via was holding, the wood she had been chewing suddenly lost its appeal. She dropped it, her eyes lighting up as she leaned closer.
It was an enormous lollipop.
Via shook the lollipop slightly.
“Awo!”
“I know you like sweets from the human world, don’t you?” Via deliberately dodged, making Albion pounce at empty air. She squatted down with a smile on her face. “Albion, I can give you this lollipop. But you’ll have to do something for me first.”
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