To The Eternal Knight (2 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 78

The Emperor swallowed a sigh. Strangely, he kept losing control of the situation—how brazen of her to speak out directly like this after he’d just told her to show restraint.

In one swift stroke erasing the pitiful image she’d left ten years ago, Nerea opened her mouth again.

“Therefore, this matter cannot afford to be delayed indefinitely. It is too trivial for Your Majesty—who must oversee the entirety of Castarti—to ponder over for long, is it not?”

Her added remark subtly pressured the Emperor.

He looked anew at “Count Nerea Esteban,” then swept his gaze across all the nobles gathered in the banquet hall: the neutral nobles awkwardly wedged between the imperial and noble factions, and even the Grand Duke, sharp as a thorn in his eye.

The Emperor furrowed his brow.

With the Grand Duke refusing to return to Valer territory, even the previously hidden neutral faction had emerged—daring to show themselves even at this banquet. Unacceptable things kept happening one after another.

Feigning composure, he let out a low hum and spoke as if offering a reasonable suggestion.

“How about we settle this through a noble assembly?”

A faint ripple passed once more among the nobles at that moment. Edward, too, narrowed his eyes.

A noble assembly? That would be blatantly advantageous to Gabe Esteban.

After all, the system—where results were decided by a council of thirty high-ranking nobles—functioned primarily through personal connections among the nobility.

Gabe’s expression instantly bloomed with smug triumph, having apparently grasped this intention. Edward’s heart raced with urgency.

No matter how influential Count Rosa might be among those attending the assembly, relying on just one vote was utterly futile.

Yet before Edward could intervene, Nerea’s reply came even swifter.

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