What had he just said?

What did she mean?

What was the meaning of this?

Faced with the Imperial Empress’s question, Marquis Nick’s brain began operating at a speed unlike anything before.

Because with his keen political instincts, he understood very clearly...

The Imperial Empress’s question was absolutely not casual.

She definitely had some deeper meaning.

But what deeper meaning?

What had you just said? What had you said?

Ha, surely it could not be that Her Majesty the Empress had not actually been listening to him just now, and that was why she had asked...

“No!”

Marquis Nick abruptly snapped awake.

The important thing was not this question, because this question was too short, too vague. There was simply no way to analyze anything from it.

Therefore, what was truly important was...

The Imperial Empress’s action.

She had just crushed the wineglass.

But why had she crushed the wineglass?

What was the intention behind crushing the wineglass?

“Ah, apologies. I don’t particularly like wine.”

At that moment, the Imperial Empress also seemed to finally notice what she had done. Her small face remained cold and proud as she took out a handkerchief and elegantly wiped her palm.

“Lord Nick, there’s no need to mind. I have no other meaning. I simply didn’t hear clearly. Repeat what you said just now and finish speaking.”

“......”

Who was she trying to fool?

Finish speaking?

Her intention was already so obvious, yet she still wanted him to finish?

If he really followed his original train of thought and finished that sentence, then he would truly be courting death!

“So the true intention behind shattering the cup is...”

Throwing the cup as a signal?

Marquis Nick shuddered, his gaze hurriedly sweeping across the windows around the banquet hall and the entrance.

Outside the windows, everything was empty. At the door, aside from several palace maids awaiting orders, there was no one else.

But Marquis Nick became even more terrified. The calmer it was, the more absolutely normal everything seemed, the more afraid he became that in the next moment, axemen would charge in and mince him into meat paste.

This was not alarmist talk. He had seen this scene before!

When he was nine years old, he had followed the previous Marquis Nick, his father, to attend an evening banquet. At that time, Saint Peron V had done exactly this. During the banquet, he shattered a cup, summoned soldiers, and had the ministers who had once supported several of his brothers hacked to death alive!

After that, Saint Peron V’s throne had become completely secure, but that scene had also left a deep impression in Marquis Nick’s heart.

Now the scene had reappeared.

Only this time, he was no longer a bystander.

He was someone inside the story!

“Lord Nick?” Celicia asked again in confusion, somewhat unable to understand whether these Kingdom ministers had eaten the wrong medicine before coming here. Why did they go blank every time she asked a question?

She had merely failed to hear what he said because of the strange sensation inside her body, while also accidentally crushing a cup, hadn’t she? Was there any need to...

“Too little!”

Marquis Nick suddenly said loudly.

“What I mean is, the seven hundred billion Aimier in reparations proposed by Your Majesty is truly far too little!”

Celicia: ???

“In my view, that amount must be at least nine hundred...”

Marquis Nick gritted his teeth. “One trillion. One trillion Aimier will do!”

“Have you lost your mind, Nick?”

The other ministers’ expressions changed drastically. “That is almost equivalent to ten years of the Kingdom’s tax revenue...”

“I have not lost my mind! I have my reasons! The Kingdom’s lowborn people forgot their awe toward the Empire precisely because life has been too comfortable for them recently, and that is what caused this war!”

Marquis Nick waved his fist, his face resolute, his words ringing with confidence, as though he were an excellent debater and diplomat.

Unfortunately, he was not a debater or diplomat of the Empire...

but of the Kingdom.

“Therefore, only by making them feel this pain can we completely eliminate the possibility of war at the level of the people! I make this proposal for the sake of peace! Everyone! For peace! Long live peace!”

“......”

Everyone’s faces went dull. They truly had not imagined there could be someone this shameless in the world.

Celicia, on the other hand, showed no change in expression. She merely accepted a cup of grape juice from the maid beside her and took a small sip.

The chill slid down her throat, yet compared to the strange sensation constantly accumulating inside her body, it was so very insignificant.

“Lord Nick speaks reasonably. But we can discuss the details later. Sit first.”

“Yes... thank you, Your Majesty.”

Marquis Nick wiped away a handful of cold sweat, feeling as though he had taken a walk along the edge of hell.

Too terrifying. Had it not been for his natural intelligence and speed of reaction, he might really have died here this time.

Fortunately, he had successfully passed through this difficult trial.

As for the reparations...

He had not lied. This was for peace. At worst, the people would suffer a little. In any case, his House Nick only paid so much tax each year.

So long as they temporarily endured humiliation and bore the burden, they would definitely be able to exchange it for the moment when the Kingdom returned to glory!

The Kingdom’s people would surely understand his painstaking intentions!

“It’s the next one’s turn...”

With Marquis Nick’s performance over, Count Harlet, seated slightly farther back, naturally took a deep breath, as though facing a great enemy.

Before the Imperial Empress arrived, they had still had some slight confidence.

But after watching Grand Duke Tebokri and Marquis Nick suffer defeat one after another, the remaining men finally recognized...

just what a terrifying figure the Imperial Empress truly was.

This negotiation had been unequal from the very beginning!

The Imperial Empress held absolute authority and power in her hands, while they were only mice clutching their small leftover wealth, trying to struggle.

Trying to defeat the Imperial Empress and gain even a sliver of life for the Kingdom in this negotiation was far too difficult.

Even so, Count Harlet would absolutely not retreat. He was different from the previous two weak and useless noble wastes. He had once been responsible for suppressing the entire royal capital’s opposition faction, and had always been known for cruelty and ruthlessness. Ferocity was his calling card, and fearlessness was his blade!

He did not fear life or death. Rather, as one of the men who had once suppressed those opposition factions that did not support the war, Count Harlet was already quite surprised that he had not yet been purged. He had long since prepared himself for death!

In that case...

“Your Majesty the Empress!”

Count Harlet rose directly. He did not retreat in order to advance like Grand Duke Tebokri, nor did he probe indirectly like Marquis Nick. He directly voiced his thoughts.

“Regarding the ceded territory, is it not too greedy of the Empire to demand the entire southern plain region, as well as Port Telf? The port is one thing, but the Kingdom’s southern plains... that is, the region north of the Empire’s Northern Plains, is exceedingly vast. Ceding such a wide range of territory is bound to make the entire Kingdom’s people dissatisfied and stir their will to resist!”

“Does Your Majesty intend for this war to continue? If so, the Kingdom has not entirely lost its ability to fight. Perhaps we can still satisfy your request!”

Count Harlet beat his own chest, making every word he spoke ring out like a war drum.

He wanted to make the Imperial Empress before him remember that although the Empire had already breached the Kingdom’s capital, that did not mean the Kingdom had perished!

In the Kingdom’s fertile east and in the north, there was still an exceedingly vast strategic depth. And in the south, the hundreds of thousands of troops under Grand Duke Borgia still retained combat power!

Although the Kingdom had lost this war, if the Empire pressed them too far, the Kingdom would inevitably still have the strength to fight!

“Your Majesty of the Empire, I ask that you consider this deeply!”

Count Harlet stared fiercely into Celicia’s eyes. Those eyes were like a cold lake frozen solid, so cold they made one suffocate.

Yet there was also some inexplicable haziness in them, as though the focus of those eyes lay somewhere extremely distant, not on the negotiator right before her at all.

“Consider it deeply?”

Only after another moment did that haziness finally fade slightly. The Empire’s Empress exhaled softly and once again looked down upon the Kingdom minister before her.

“What do you want me to consider?”

“......”

Another counterquestion?

Was she... playing dumb?

Count Harlet nearly laughed from anger. Even at a time like this, she still looked down on them so thoroughly.

Did the Imperial Empress truly think everyone in the Kingdom was soft—

Crack.

Another crisp sound rang out.

Count Harlet, still in the midst of his anger, froze for a moment and subconsciously looked toward the direction of the sound.

Then he saw...

The jade-like hand the Imperial Empress had lightly rested upon the table suddenly tighten. The antique long table they were seated at was immediately broken off by force in a large chunk!

“......”

What did this mean?

Even Count Harlet, who had already staked his life, instinctively began to think at this moment.

Intimidation?

Because she disliked his words, she was displaying violence in this way to threaten him?

No, that was not right.

For a noble Empress, displaying strength by snapping the dining table would inevitably be far too crude.

Surely it could not be that she had accidentally broken it in anger for some reason!

“So what she means is...”

If they did not agree to her plan for ceding territory... she would make the Kingdom’s territory split into even smaller fragments?

Yes. This had to be what she wanted to express.

But... what confidence did she have? To make the Kingdom split even more...

“Could it be...”

The blood gradually drained from Count Harlet’s face. Though he had clearly not feared death, at this moment his body swayed somewhat weakly.

The Imperial Empress... already knew that Grand Duke Borgia, who held military power, harbored disloyal intentions?

Yes! It had to be!

Only this could explain the Imperial Empress’s confidence!

The foundation of the Kingdom’s remaining ability to resist, aside from strategic depth, was most importantly the nearly intact army of several hundred thousand in Grand Duke Borgia’s hands!

If this army were loyal to the Kingdom, that would be fine. But now that Saint Peron V had stepped down and the Kingdom temporarily had no ruler, that army, most of which consisted of Grand Duke Borgia’s private soldiers, would not obey commands at all.

They were Grand Duke Borgia’s bargaining chip. And now, Grand Duke Borgia had already drifted outside the war, coldly watching this great drama draw to its end.

In other words, if the Kingdom could not satisfy the Empire’s demands, the Empire could simply go support Grand Duke Borgia and ignite his ambitions. At that time...

The Kingdom might truly split into two nations!

That was even more unacceptable than ceding territory!

“What a sinister and vicious scheme!”

Count Harlet swayed. After thinking for a long while, he ultimately slumped back into his chair, closed his eyes, and said with a bleak expression,

“I understand. We will do our utmost to fulfill your terms. We only ask that you fulfill what is written in the treaty and promise to guarantee the Kingdom’s independence and integrity! We... have lost!”

As soon as Count Harlet said this, the other Kingdom nobles also seemed to understand the outcome of this negotiation. One by one, they lowered their heads, their expressions grief-stricken.

Someone even began quietly sobbing, as though that Kingdom filled with glory had already gone completely far away from them.

“......”

Only Celicia, within the frosty coldness of her beautiful face, faintly revealed a trace of confusion.

What exactly were these people talking about here?

Were they performing a play?

From beginning to end, she had not even said anything yet.

...Forget it. She had no time to waste with them here either. They were not important.

She had still underestimated the power of that little thing. The last few times, she had almost failed to control herself. If she kept staying here, perhaps she really would lose her composure.

Those three sluts. Just wait for me. This grudge will definitely be repaid!

Celicia’s gaze deepened. As for the method of revenge, she already had something in mind...

“Seeing that all of you seem unsettled, let tonight’s banquet end here.”

Too lazy to listen to these Kingdom nobles wailing like ghosts and wolves here, and with no desire to listen, Celicia casually brushed the debris from her palm, hastily solved the problem of filling her stomach with a few bites, and rose directly.

“I have some matters to handle. Good night, everyone.”

“......”

One noble’s expression changed, as though he still wanted to step forward and cross blades with the Imperial Empress, but in the end, he lowered his head dispiritedly, lacking the courage.

Celicia swept her gaze around, then turned and left.

She lifted her hand in a light gesture, and several palace maids, following her signal, surrounded her as she departed.

Compared to Her Majesty the Empress’s cold composure when she arrived, when she left, there seemed to be a slight abnormality in the steadiness of her steps.

Of course, this tiny detail naturally went unnoticed. Even if someone did notice it, they would not think much of it. They would only assume that Her Majesty the Empress had worked day and night until such a late hour and was understandably somewhat tired.

After Celicia left, the reception dining hall returned to silence.

The rare white whale candles had burned down to mere stubs, flickering on the verge of going out.

The charcoal fire in the hearth also brightened and dimmed, ready to extinguish at any moment.

Just like the declining people present.

These noble ministers, each carrying ambition and thinking only of fighting for the Kingdom’s interests, had now suffered a second defeat. This defeat, compared to their previous inexplicable failure, struck them even more heavily.

“Cough, cough... So this is the Empire’s Empress?”

Once again, it was Grand Duke Tebokri who spoke first, breaking the silence.

He coughed, as though he had aged another ten years. On his wrinkled old face, there was only lingering emotion.

“What skill, what bearing, what strength!”

Grand Duke Tebokri praised her continuously, as though only this could make his earlier behavior seem less embarrassing.

Yet oddly enough, the others did not feel anything was wrong. Instead, they kept nodding and echoing him.

“I underestimated her.”

Marquis Nick likewise shook his head self-mockingly. The more confident he had been before, the more ridiculous he now felt his earlier self had been.

“If the Kingdom had such a mighty ruler, why would we ever have to worry it would not prosper?”

Count Harlet remained dispirited. He, who had not feared death, had been struck harshly from another direction, to the point that he even felt life had no meaning.

The Empire’s Empress—just how terrifying an existence was she?

“Heh. Speaking of which, we were saying earlier that Muen Campbell had thrown the inner palace into depravity. But how could such a mighty ruler possibly be obsessed with male beauty? It must be nothing more than false rumors fabricated by busybodies.”

“Yes, yes...”

“These false rumors are truly infuriating. They made us misjudge the situation. Especially the ones about that Muen Campbell. I’ve heard who knows how many versions of those romantic scandals.”

“Do not believe them lightly in the future!”

“Exactly.”

The Kingdom ministers lifted their heads and glanced at the clock on the wall, thinking that if it were Saint Peron V, he would probably have gone off to seek pleasure long ago by now. They could not help sighing with emotion.

“Still unwilling to rest deep into the night, immersed in work instead. To have such a diligent Emperor...The Kingdom did not lose unjustly.”