The Price is Everything of Yours (76 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 247

The Imperial Palace’s opulent council chamber was silent, save for Abelus’s furious huffing and puffing—he alone, as chair of this meeting, dared to speak. Abelus glared at his assembled nobles and bellowed,

“Have you no tongues? Speak up! What is our plan? Those northern monsters continue to ravage our people, do they not!”

Strictly speaking, that claim was not true. The Maindlant army was not committing the typical atrocities usually associated with the word “ravage,” such as massacring civilians or extreme plunder.

True, they had been conscripting soldiers from various regions, steadily expanding their forces, and requisitioning supplies—but never beyond reasonable limits. If anything was truly being “ravaged,” it was perhaps the nobles’ pride.

When Abelus first issued his declaration of war, the nobles assumed the crisis would be quickly resolved. Yet here they still sat, and the situation had only worsened.

They would have been better off striking first.

Had they blocked the narrow Illophium Pass—the sole gateway into Maindlant—they could have exploited the terrain. No matter how capable their enemies were, exiting would have been difficult, granting the Empire more time to rally its nobles.

But the Grand Duke had acted swiftly, and now the Illophium Mountains no longer posed a weakness for them.

Quite the contrary—those very enemies now roamed the Empire at will, capable of retreating whenever they pleased, turning defense into their strength.

Abelus knew this, and so did every noble present. If the Grand Duke’s army had been weak, perhaps things would differ—but they kept winning, gaining momentum, and growing stronger with every defeated lord’s conscripted troops. Something had to be done—and soon.

But what, exactly?

The nobles remained silent. Abelus’s gaze fell upon the highest-ranking noble in the room.

“Marquis Odroy! Speak up! Don’t you always boast of your loyalty to the throne? Those monsters are racing toward the Imperial Palace even as we speak—what are you doing just sitting there?”

Ever since Princess Kaymil’s confinement, Marquis Odroy rarely appeared at court. He attended important state councils like this one dutifully but usually left without saying a word.

Abelus found this infuriating. As if he couldn’t bear to witness his crumbling nation! What grand achievements had the realm accomplished under Kaymil’s rule anyway? Even after witnessing a traitor’s fate, he remained blind!

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