Amidst the noisy clamor enveloping the palace, Mahanas paced around his room with a deeply furrowed brow. He asked the attendant, who was silently pouring tea beside him.

“Still no news from Aglante?”

“No, sir.”

“Damn it.”

To think his elder brother would go this far.

Ophelia, who had promised to give him money in exchange for the princess title, had completely changed her attitude. His ungrateful sister not only ignored all communication from their home country and neglected the uprising, but she also spouted nonsense to the envoys he sent and drove them away.

“Her Majesty the Queen said you will not receive anything until you bring the Tears of Mevasa,” the attendant reported.

It was clear that she had harbored such dark intentions from the moment she asked for the princess title.

Mahanas recalled the necklace lying dormant in the royal vault. It was supposed to adorn his neck at his coronation ceremony someday. It was not something that should fall into the hands of an insolent wench who didn’t know her place.

Even though he wanted to revoke the title out of spite for her lack of gratitude, it was impossible to reclaim a title bestowed upon royalty without justification. Pacing around the room, Mahanas asked,

“Have you tried contacting Crown Prince Orien?”

“I have, but the response was the same as last time…”

Before the attendant could finish speaking, Mahanas threw the teacup and grumbled.

“Hand over the Tears of Mevasa? Nonsense!”

Both sides were filled with nothing but thieves. Lamenting the lack of decent human beings, Mahanas asked,

“How long do you think it will take for the rioters to starve to death?”

“At most, two months, sir.”

“Make sure to guard the palace’s granaries properly.”

The nobles had already fled to the palace, setting fire to their own estates to cut off the food supply.

Since those who couldn’t afford to pay taxes wouldn’t be able to purchase grain from other countries, as long as they held out, victory was inevitable.

In fact, there was no other choice but to endure.

If they could access the canals, they might be able to contact other countries and resolve the situation, but the palace was already tightly surrounded by rioters, making escape impossible. Sending messengers using birds and spies was all they could do.

The situation wasn’t this bad in the early stages of the uprising, but it deteriorated while envoys were sent back and forth to Aglante.

If only Ophelia had acted according to his wishes, it wouldn’t have come to this. Frowning, Mahanas reached for the teacup, only to realize he had already thrown it, further creasing his face. Nothing was to his liking.

He addressed the royal chamberlain, who was waiting for his orders in a corner of the room.

“Go to the ramparts and tell them if they want grain, they should knock on Aglante’s door.”

This couldn’t go on.

Sadro, the royal chamberlain in charge of overseeing the household of Leden Palace, thought to himself as he headed towards the outer walls surrounding the palace. No matter how he looked at it, the prince’s words seemed unsuitable for the situation.

All this time, they had been telling the rioters the same thing.

“If you need grain, talk to the Queen of Aglante.”

Prince Mahanas seemed to want to shift the blame to his sister in that way, but things weren’t that simple. The more they conveyed the prince’s words to the outside, the stronger the public opinion grew that the royal family was incompetent.

However, if he went against the prince’s mood, he might be driven out of the palace, which was a safe zone.

Sadro had clearly seen what happened to those who were expelled from the palace. The envoy who said anything remotely objectionable to the prince’s opinion was thrown out of the palace, and the rioters outside the palace charged at them as if they would tear them to shreds.

He didn’t want to suffer the same fate as those who had become mangled corpses.

In the end, Sadro climbed the ramparts to do as the prince ordered. The rioters, who had been shouting loudly and threatening the palace, screamed even more violently when he showed his face.

“Quiet down! The prince has a message for you!”

“The royal family must take responsibility for this situation! Return the taxes you took from us!”

“I said the prince has a message for you!”

Then Sadro grabbed the arm of the soldier standing next to him and whispered.

“Shoot an arrow. Don’t aim at a person, just shoot at the ground to scare them.”

“Understood.”

The soldier nodded, drew his bow, and aimed at the man standing at the very front. Sadro’s eyes widened as he watched the arrow leave the string. The soldier who had drawn the bowstring was also shocked.

The arrowhead pierced straight through the man’s chest.

The body of the man who had been demanding the royal family’s response just a moment ago crumpled.

The impact of the murder spread in an instant. The crowd began shouting even more fiercely than before.

“Set the castle on fire! Burn all the royals to death!”

The moment someone said that, the ramparts began to shake. Sadro tightly closed his eyes and hunched his body.

“I heard Leden has fallen.”

Anika, who had been having tea with her occasionally since their conversation at Sigrasal Castle, said.

While examining the ledgers with her eyes, Ophelia asked the woman who was informing her about the situation in Leden, so that she could cross-reference it with what she heard from Salode.

“Are you certain?”

“The palace was set on fire.”

Then Anika observed her reaction. It seemed to bother her, as if the space where she had spent most of her life had been damaged.

But who cares what happens to the Leden Palace? Ophelia erased an incorrectly entered number and asked.

“What about Prince Mahanas or King Dares?”

“The king has passed away, and although the prince’s body was not found, it seems he was unable to escape the fire.”

Could Mahanas really be dead? While recording the income collected from Galicia in the ledger, Ophelia assessed the probability of his survival. It didn’t look too hopeful.

Still, she wanted to personally strangle her elder brother’s neck.

Perhaps it was because the goal she had always been aiming for suddenly collapsed. She felt strange. It felt frustrating, annoying, and a bit unfair.

Haslen died being ridiculed by the crowd, but what did Mahanas do to deserve a quiet death? Such thoughts also crossed her mind. Even being tied up in the square and burned at the stake was too good for her elder brother.

Ophelia reproached herself for her own stupidity in not separately securing Mahanas’s whereabouts. She had thought that even if Leden collapsed, Mahanas would somehow find a way to survive, and she could catch him then, but it seemed her elder brother was more of an idiot than she had thought.

Mahanas’s death was practically her only goal. Idren knew that too, which was why he had even tried to keep Mahanas alive to keep her alive. He knew that was the only thing she was obsessed with.

But to lose that important thing with her own hands…

Then Ophelia suddenly thought about how quickly Idren would find out about this.

“Has this news reached Salode’s ears?”

“It probably will soon.”

It made sense, as those employed by Salode were from the royal family.

She would need to wait for Idren to return to discuss this matter with him. But before that, there were quite a few issues that needed to be resolved first. She had to prevent Siana’s marriage and also hold a council vote to enable the conscription of the southern army.

Pressing her throbbing temples slightly, Ophelia asked.

“Have you heard anything about the whereabouts of the Tears of Mevasa?”

“Actually, there’s something I need to tell you about that. I heard that the man who played the role of the leader of the rioters has it.”

“We need to retrieve it.”

The holy relic symbolized the legitimacy of the royal family. The gem itself held no power, but one had to possess it to be recognized as the legitimate king.

Although Leden was a worthless country, no one would miss the opportunity to expand their territory. They had to seize the gem before someone else laid their hands on it.

Anika, who had been looking at her with a troubled expression, opened her mouth.

“Um, actually, I’ve been in contact with the person who has the holy relic, and there’s a condition for handing it over to you.”

Ophelia had expected them to want something, as they had been living in starvation all this time. Putting down her pen, she asked.

“What did they say?”

“They want enough grain to feed all of them generously.”

“Understood.”

To maintain Anika’s support, she needed to start taking care of the people of Leden anyway. Anika acted as if she understood the reason Ophelia despised Leden, but now that Leden had collapsed and only refugees remained, it wouldn’t last long.

Given Anika’s personality, if Ophelia didn’t help those who were pitiful by her standards, she would think she was persecuting them.

They were also the people she had to leave behind for Idren, so it was right to take care of them.

Idren was also the reason why she had to secure the holy relic. Unlike her, he did not have mixed blood with the Mevasa royal family, so he couldn’t claim the right of succession without the holy relic. When she died, there would surely be strife…

Thinking that far, Ophelia inadvertently faltered.