Chapter 331

Chapter 331. The Officials: This Is a Good Thing!

At that moment, standing slightly behind her to one side was Esmeralda, Captain of the Shadow Guard.

Today, in a rare departure from her usual habit, she had not hidden herself in the darkness. Instead, she had changed into a crisp black military uniform and held several documents stamped with the royal seal in her hands.

As for Logaris, he was currently buried among the massive volume of confidential letters, documents, and ancient books confiscated from Moran’s estate.

He was trying to find clues among those faint traces that could completely eradicate the “Blood Withering” curse on Dorg.

“Everyone.”

Sylvia spoke.

“A nation cannot go a single day without a monarch. His Highness the First Prince is gravely wounded and recuperating. Former Prime Minister Moran has fled to an enemy nation. The court’s chief ministers... have met with misfortune.”

With each sentence she spoke, the faces of the officials below grew another shade paler.

“Astrelia now needs a single voice.”

Sylvia’s gaze swept over the entire hall before finally landing on the Captain of the Shadow Guard. “Esmeralda, read it to them.”

Esmeralda stepped forward. Her movements were crisp and decisive, and the sound of her metal boot heels striking the marble floor was especially piercing in the deathly silent hall.

She unfolded the document in her hand and read it aloud in an emotionless, cold, and hard tone.

“In light of the extreme crisis currently facing the nation, after joint consultation between the Cabinet and the royal clan, it is proposed that Her Highness Princess Sylvia Van Astrelia formally inherit the throne of Astrelia. The coronation ceremony is scheduled to be held seven days from now. During this period, Her Highness Sylvia will serve as regent with full authority.”

After she finished reading, Esmeralda’s gaze swept over the hall. “Does anyone object?”

The hall fell into a deathly silence.

Object? Who would dare object? Who was tired of living enough to dare object?

An old minister seated at the head of the left side was the first to rise. He walked to the center of the aisle and knelt on one knee.

“I, your subject, swear to serve Her Majesty Queen Sylvia unto death! May Astrelia reclaim its glory under your leadership!”

The remaining officials snapped out of their daze as though waking from a dream. They scrambled to push aside their chairs and knelt in unison.

“Very good. All of you may rise.”

Sylvia’s tone eased slightly as she looked at the still-frightened officials. She knew that applying pressure blindly would only bring the state apparatus to a complete standstill.

The high-ranking nobles had been slaughtered to the last. Right now, she needed these long-suppressed lower and middle-level officials to maintain the basic operation of the kingdom.

“I know what you are afraid of. However, there is no need for concern.”

Sylvia slowly walked down the steps. Her specially made high heels struck the marble with a clear, rhythmic “tap, tap,” each sound seeming to land directly on everyone’s hearts.

“I have always believed that the foundation of Astrelia is not those so-called great nobles who have long since rotted away, but you—the people who truly work diligently and get things done.”

She turned to Esmeralda. “Issue the 《Proclamation to the Kingdom’s Bureaucrats》.”

Esmeralda unfolded another document and announced in a loud voice.

“First decree: Regarding last night’s upheaval, only the chief culprits will be executed. The others will not be investigated! All middle and lower-level officials who did not participate in the rebellion will have their lives and property placed under the absolute protection of the royal house, and all of them will retain their original posts.”

The moment these words were spoken, a neat wave of relieved exhalations clearly rang through the hall.

Many people even went limp beyond their control and nearly collapsed to the floor.

“Not only that.” Sylvia raised her voice at exactly the right moment, and her tone seemed to carry a trace of bewitching magic. “Many positions at the top are now vacant. I do not need useless people who only know how to flatter and curry favor. I need capable people who can work, and who can do real work!”

She stopped in place, her gaze blazing as it swept across the lifted faces, each one filled with a mixture of fear and desire.

“As long as you can ensure that the Royal Capital’s administration, public security, and supply circulation do not fall into chaos over the next seven days, then seven days from now, at my coronation ceremony, I will let you see the brand-new promotion orders that belong to you!”

Under this combination of grace and authority, the pragmatic officials who had been trembling in fear a moment earlier, terrified that they would be purged, froze.

Then the fear in their eyes faded. In its place, a flame called ambition gradually ignited.

That was right! With the people at the very top gone, it meant that people like them, who had been suppressed for half their lives, finally had a path upward!

This was a good thing! They wanted nothing more than to advance!

“Now, return to your posts and keep this nation running.”

Sylvia’s gaze suddenly turned cold.

“As for the officials involved in last night’s incident who have been arrested... Esmeralda, hand them over to your Shadow Guard. You will be fully responsible for interrogation and conviction.”

“As you command, Your Highness.” Esmeralda lowered her head slightly, and a bloodthirsty glint flashed through her eyes.

The officials withdrew quickly and in an orderly manner, and the hall became empty once more.

...

Less than an hour after the Privy Council ended.

At the lowest level of the Royal Capital dungeon, in the death-row section, the remaining old nobles who had been captured alive by Northern Territory soldiers in various mansions last night had all been stripped of their luxurious silk garments and changed into rough, foul-smelling prison uniforms.

With the evidence Prince Dorg had endured eight years to gather, combined with the brutal methods of Esmeralda’s Shadow Guard, the process of conviction proceeded with astonishing speed.

Every file was written with perfect clarity: embezzling military pay, reselling Magic Crystals, colluding with foreign enemies, and treating human lives as grass.

Sylvia did not return to the Golden Rose Palace to rest. Wearing that dark-gold royal dress, she came directly to the gloomy, damp dungeon.

Esmeralda followed behind her, holding a thick stack of death sentences.

The Minister of Finance knelt on the cold stone floor of his cell. The pampered fat on his body trembled violently with fear.

When he saw Sylvia stop outside the cell door, it was as if he had seen his last hope of survival. He crawled and scrambled toward her, then clutched the rusted iron bars tightly with both hands.

“Your Highness! No, Your Majesty! Spare me!”

Tears and snot streamed down the Minister of Finance’s face. The wound on the broken bridge of his nose was still oozing blood, smearing his entire face into a miserable mess.

He desperately tried to squeeze his head through the gaps in the bars, attempting to stir her sympathy.

“When you were young, I even held you in my arms! When the late king was still alive, I even gave you a little foal made of pure gold! Even if I have no great achievements for the royal family, I have still labored hard. Please, for the sake of our past affection, leave me a way to live! I am willing to hand over all of my family assets!”

Sylvia looked down from above at this important minister who had once commanded the court like wind and rain, deciding the life and death of countless people with a single word.

His bitter weeping did not stir any emotion in her.

She even smiled.

Under the dim firelight, that smile was breathtakingly beautiful, yet so cold that it made one’s blood run chill.

“Yes, of course I remember.” Sylvia’s voice echoed through the empty corridor without the slightest warmth. “Seven years ago, when the Valeria Empire’s army pressed down on our borders, the court discussed the matter of a marriage alliance.”

She bent slightly and looked straight into the Minister of Finance’s pupils, which had widened rapidly from terror. Every word she spoke was clear enough to cut into the bone.

“At the time, you were the old bastard who shouted the loudest.”

“You swore solemnly to my father-king that as long as I was sent to marry that brutal imperial prince, Astrelia could receive at least a generation of peace.”