The Empress's Will to Live: System Help Me!-Chapter 18: No morality.

That complete silence stayed with all of them because they knew exactly what she was talking about, but Orsen understood it better than most, because he had stood at Daisy’s father’s side for years and had tried to maintain something similar himself, only to fail when the pressure became too much.

From the nobles, from the rich families, from the merchants who wanted their own share of influence, and from the church itself, an institution built entirely on controlling the people through belief. Though this was the perfect time to change everything, the people didn’t believe in anything anymore... no, that wasn’t entirely true.

They believed in one single person now, and that person was Daisy.

The church had lost its meaning a long time ago, and it was inevitable. They sold tickets to heaven, sold blessings to desperate people, promised healing to the wounded and the dying, and when nothing happened, when no miracles came, the people almost erased the church from existence. Three of the most corrupt churches were burned to the ground, priests were dragged out and beaten, and the pope himself fled straight to Daisy’s father, begging him for help, and he gave it. Sadly, he did, because the church still held too much influence back then, but even after the people were stopped, the anger never faded.

It only waited and now, with that speech, Daisy did something else entirely.

She declared that anyone who wished to take the crown was going to fucking die, and there was no misunderstanding, no, everyone who heard it knew exactly who she meant. They knew who that message was for. The church, the remaining nobles, the wealthy elites clinging to power.

And if everything goes as expected, those people soon gather, convinced they can reclaim what they have lost. They demand a meeting, plot their return, speak of influence and authority... only to realize that there is no power left for them, and that there never will be again.

"But Daisy, how would the citizens react to this?" Orsen asked, finding, for the first time, the courage to voice his concern. "I mean, your father tried to build the Empire in a way that served the people and never abused his power. But what you’re describing now... that’s exactly the kind of power abuse he avoided. And it’s not just about the nobles, the rich, or the Church." He glanced around at everyone present. "It’s about the ordinary citizens themselves, people on the brink of rebellion. I think you know it too, your speech may have worked but, one wrong move, and it could all collapse."

[System: He is right. You yourself said that a dictatorship wouldn’t work, but that’s exactly what you’re doing. The Empire is fragile.]

Yeah... thinking about it now, she was all over the place with her plans. At first, she just wanted to be a good empress, one for the people, with the people, trying to rule them fairly... but after her death, after the betrayal, everything changed. She realized she needed the will to survive, and with that, her entire perspective shifted.

She had played the game back on Earth, conquered an entire continent with her strategy and now it’s the same. The only way she could truly rule her Empire, her own land, was to seize power, even if it meant bloodshed, even if she had to massacre her own people.

She needed the power and to be honest, she did it right.

The people in the capital were already with her... that alone was enough. Even if she made mistakes and a rebellion erupted, those people would stand by her. And more than that, she had no intention of letting them go.

"Our capital houses almost two million people." Daisy began. "The wider region holds another three million. What we need to do, no matter how morally wrong it may sound, is to bring all five million of them to our side... and to do that, we must involve them."

"Involve them?" Orsen asked in confusion but everybody else was confused too.

"It’s impossible to reach all five million people," Daisy continued, "but we don’t need to. A few hundred thousand would be more than enough. We’ll involve them in the resurrection of the Empire, and through that, our truth will spread. When people see how we treat them, others will follow."

The reaction she received, however, was far from positive, about as bad as she had expected.

To them, what she described sounded like complete nonsense. In their eyes, it would never work, but the only reason they thought that way was because they had never tried it before.

What she described wasn’t new at all, it was a tactic politicians had used countless times back on Earth..

Natural disasters, earthquakes, landslides, floods, these were the moments that worked best for politicians. The method was simple, as a leader, you call on everyone, from rich to poor, to help, to unite them under a single goal... helping others. The military, relief forces, rescue teams would work alongside factory workers, ordinary citizens... but what truly mattered was how it looked from the outside, how people saw the leader standing with them, working alongside them.

They saw a leader who could move the masses. A leader who stood among them. Someone who worked side by side with ordinary people.

And that was when popularity rose. Support followed. Influence expanded.

In short, you used everything... though in the modern world, so-called leaders, politicians often get exposed on social media. Everyone could see through them... some even ended up in jail... but in Daisy word... there’s no social media.

"We are going to use starvation and the suffering of our own people to secure our power." Daisy began as she stood up and she felt nothing wrong with it, no guilt, no hesitation, because this was what needed to be done. "We will decide who eats and who doesn’t, when they eat, and how much. We will continue until we have enough power and influence. "Her gaze hardened at them."We must remember one thing, we are the Imperials. We are the ones who must defend this land and its people, no matter the cost."