“I… I don’t know.”

“Call it intuition. No one is certain, but everyone carries another kind of belief in their hearts.”

“But how can it be this silent?”

“They have no power. Who would believe those people’s words?”

Noah nodded. The slum was literally dried up by that fire. There was no way to confirm the life or death of the people who barely survived.

“I helped those people a bit back then. About forty or so. I allowed them to gather and live together, at least.”

Noah looked at his lord with eyes full of surprise.

“But you know, if someone were to sow the seed of certainty in that intuition that might be false, what do you think would happen?”

It would erupt like a volcano, especially in the current situation.

“But isn’t it too cruel? I promised not to use this. When I accepted Lesonia.”

“…”
“Ah, no. Now that they’re asking me to surrender the land… I don’t have any other choice.”

Noah understood all of his lord’s thoughts from his muttered words. Once the task at hand became clear, the unease he felt as he looked around and fretted about it disappeared, as if it were someone else’s business.

“Is there any other action besides that?”

“Why wouldn’t there be? But just imagine for a moment. How many sacrifices do you think were needed to fill the Empress’s grand Wollung Castle?”

“Ah…”

“Details on top of the big facts are trivial, aren’t they? Whatever the case, completing that narrative will probably be the responsibility of the imperial citizens.”

With that, he started to run frighteningly quickly. As Carson moved, the knights following him also advanced without hesitation. Noah, too, moved tirelessly to follow Carson, turning the reins of his horse and guiding it.

Inside the city, the grain was drying up, and the atmosphere among the people was becoming increasingly ominous. If such dreadful rumors spread at a time like this, the imperial citizens would likely not endure it for long.

Even though Noah tried to catch up with him, it was difficult to do so because of the rush, so he loosened the reins and moved the horse slowly.

Thinking about what kind of method should be used and when, he suddenly burst into laughter. Over the past few years, Noah’s life had flowed in an unpredictable direction along with Carson’s life.

Now, the stage of his life had become the entire Keynes Empire. Although he hadn’t served Carson for a long time, there was not a single thing he wanted to do that he couldn’t.

Around a month later, on a night when Carson’s Crown Prince Cheong Bong-shik had less than half a month left, a report came.

“My lord, there’s a riot.”

Noah rushed into the office without even thinking about knocking on the door. However, Carson kept looking out the window, not turning to face the door.

Many torches, starting from Harleben, were brightly waking up the entire city.

“Yeah.”

Carson silently maintained his position, looking at the flow of the times. Without asking, it was clear where the raging torches were heading.

It was the Jakohena Square, the closest to the palace from the palace.

On days when people gathered in that square, no matter what the reason, at least one person inside the palace would die at the hands of the Empress.

The Empress always shouted that she would get rid of that square, and make a fountain only for herself right there, as if it were a habit.

That’s how much the Empress hated people gathering.

Over the past month, the situation had turned unbelievably fast. And the hot wind of anger was directed at the Empress as if someone had pushed it.

After that, it was a job that anyone could know without thinking deeply.

“Is there any news from Landhill?”
“Quiet.”

As Noah began spreading rumors about the Empress with appropriate evidence, public sentiment became uncontrollably turbulent.

And right at that moment, as if someone had timed it, an enormous amount of royal money, Sanbate, circulated in the capital. As if someone had sprinkled it from the sky, money overflowed in the market.

Signs of a riot began right there.

“I will continue to monitor the square.”

“Yes, continue to watch the Empress’s movements. Reinforce the security around the Emperor’s residence.”

“What if it escalates into a military incident?”

“Restrain it as much as possible. It’s not time yet. With this scale, we can’t pull the Empress out.”

Noah moved again to carry out his orders. There was no chance of the townhouse where he stayed being attacked.

It wasn’t because of Carson’s skilled knights. Since they arrived here, they hadn’t properly wielded their swords.

The people of the capital themselves surrounded Carson’s mansion, not to attack him but to protect him from the Empress.

As Noah closed the door, Carson stiffly rubbed his tense neck twice, hearing the sound of the door closing.

When he became convinced that the random flow of Sanbate coming in was Ines’s work, Carson also quickly responded. They appointed a representative to lead the riot and discussed the appropriate timing.

As a result, the torches of today happened.

The light of the torches spread across the moist window. The pulsating movement reminded him of sprouts rising from the ground on a spring day.

Breathing out slowly as a habit and sitting down, he reflected on the events of the past month.