BXBX NOVEL Chapter 262 The Sleeping North
It makes him nervous to know that the silent Lord Raven would turn impatient and abandon them for good because of failing to do what he had ordered.
If Lord Raven lost his patience in waiting, then that would mean that the Vesalas would be alone in their goal to avenge their family and take down the Seirendes.
This was the thing that scared him the most, for he was confident that Emperor Valentin will never find fault in the Vesala Household as long as they do not understand the power of the curse magic.
"The only thing we have to do was to wait until this farce was over then we will move again…" Duke Maxim thought deeply as he talked with Empress Carolina. "Think about it, when everything was over and it would be proven that there were no traitors amongst the higher nobles, then it will only cause Valentin more harm!"
Hearing her brother's words, Empress Carolina's eyes flickered in excitement, "You mean, his position might be shaken because of his blatant disregard for the noble's dignity?"
"Yes! They will surely pressure him to abdicate the throne and force him to proceed in selecting the successor! Now that the second prince is dead, surely the nobles would not even consider the mad dog third prince!" The more the Duke thought about it, the more it made sense.
"That leaves… Kazimir!" Empress Carolina also thought that it was the case for she knew the nobles very well. They value heritage over moral standards.
She knew that there was no other possible candidate for the throne in the other branches of the Imperial Family.
Emperor Valentin's older sister was married to the King of Rubino Kingdom, their children also had their fates fixed. As for his younger brother, he was unfortunately deemed infertile and exiled himself to the north.
This means that it was only a choice between Kazimir and Leon.
Even if Kazimir was recently not favored due to the Vesala's little mistake, if it was a choice between him and the trash third prince who didn't have a noble background and high talents, then there's no need to even choose!
The Astazes would not support the third prince as well, even if the second prince died.
"Now that I think about it, I never thought that it would be this easy to see Seirende's downfall. The death of the second prince is such a sweet accident!" Duke Maxim could not help but grin widely upon realizing the possible after-effects of this farce.
"Then we'll just have to wait until the nobles lose patience…" Empress Carolina didn't like the idea of Emperor Valentin falling from grace, however, her goal didn't change.
She had to revenge for her ancestors. After she exacted her revenge, she planned to take away Valentin and live with him, far from all this, thinking that Kazimir will do his part to run the country under Vesala's glory.
As for the other two so-called 'wives' of Valentin. Well, she will ensure that they will no longer see light the moment the Vesala rises like the sun in the sky!
With the possibilities that they were envisioning in mind, the two ended the call amiably.
However, they had no idea that everything that they were thinking was not bound to happen. That was because as they were put under house arrest, the Emperor was already planning to clean up the rest of the Empire outside the capital.
After freezing the movements in the capital, every trusted ally on the outside commenced their movements.
With the help of the Farauld Magic Institute, all the portals connecting to the capital were temporarily closed, as well as the ones connecting to the Empire. It was a total lockdown for the entire Seirende!
This made the ones who were planning to sneak in and out of the Empire through the portals become blocked.
Moreover, the security on the borders was also strengthened. It was not enough to have the portals blocked, they have to strengthen the physical security at the borders.
But with the immobilization of the Amethyst Warlocks and the Viridescent Summoners, there were only the knights who were stationed among the borders, the Blades and the Imperial Sky Knights that could be sent to lead the garrison stationed on the borders.
This was when Emperor Valentin realized that it wouldn't be enough to rely on the forces of the knights ordained in the capital. Locking down all the higher nobles also meant losing a significant chunk of the Seirende's military strength.
With that, he summoned General Farauld, The Grandmasters Andvari and Reuben, and finally, Leon to discuss their strategy for managing the unstable military power of the Empire.
"Who do you think shall we engage to trust to do our operations outside the Capital?
I am afraid of choosing someone from the higher nobles to engage in this stage.
But to arrest all the traitors, we need a stronger military power to hasten the arrest."
The Emperor immediately laid down the problems that were bothering him.
He couldn't afford to delay the fight any longer, for he knew that the mysterious Lord Raven might still have some people outside the capital to mobilize if he didn't start exterminating them.
"His Highness, would you like to engage the Laurent Family?" General Farauld suggested.
The Laurent family was a well-known family of knights residing within the neutral territory of the North.
It was also the family where Dame Aquilla belonged, as well as Nathan's maternal family.
"The Laurent Family… That seems to be the most viable course of action. However, it wouldn't still be enough. I am thinking of getting the west territory involved, however, there are too many spies in there that made me uneasy." Emperor Valentin contemplated.
The investigations done by Leon's men discovered that the Vesala worked for so many years to plant so many spies in their rival faction that would eventually put the Astazes on the immediate downfall.
Almost half of their cursed armies were from the Astaze's main and vassal territories. If Emperor Valentin didn't know that the Vesala duchy was the true mastermind of the cursed army, he would immediately think that it was the Astaze who betrayed the land!
If that would be the case, not only will the Astazes be wronged, but the balance in the Empire will shatter, causing an overwhelming rule of influence taken by the Vesalas.
May it be political, military, or economic, it would surely shake the foundations of the Seirende Empire.
Knowing this made his heart tremble.
How deep have the Vesala's roots been entangled in his Empire? Most of the connections discovered were built even before the execution of the former Duke of Vesala!
He had been so naive to think that everything Duke Maxim and Empress Carolina were planning was just to put Kazimir on the throne.
Knowing these facts, he knew that the Vesalas wanted something deeper than having his eldest son ascend to the throne.
It was to destroy the Empire that his ancestors painstakingly built!
"What kind of grudge did their family have to devise such an intricate ploy to destroy the Empire?!" He couldn't help but say aloud.
This question left the rest of the people speechless. They too were also puzzled about how seemingly deep-seated the Vesala's grudge could be.
"We might not find the answer now, however, time is ticking fast." Leon broke the silence and raised his hands to suggest, "We seemed to only have no options but to disturb the longstanding neutrality of the North, His Majesty Emperor."
"The North…" Emperor Valentin mumbled and a nostalgic expression was revealed on his face.
The Northern Territory was said to be the most secluded and neutral territory in the Seirende Empire.
This was because most of the nobles were of neutral standing and almost didn't do anything to place their influence inside the Imperial Family all resides.
Except for the few who were discovered to be connected with the sinister Spectre, every noble located in the North were known to have avoided the affairs of the Capital.
This was also the place where the Silvertown was located - the only entrance to enter the Silver Dew Forest.
But no matter how eccentric the people of the North were, their loyalty was still anchored to the Seirende Family.
Thus, the major function they accomplish was to protect the rest of the Empire from the monsters and beasts coming from the Gullfoss Mountain Range.
As such, the hidden forces in the North were as strong as the Imperial Sky Nights because they were experts in battling the beasts of the enormous mountain range.
Because of this, the citizens of the Seirende Empire often refer to the territory as the 'Sleeping North".
Of course, the Sleeping North had to be led by another capable person who can keep the land united with the forces protecting the Northern Territory.
That was none other than Fidel Vonn De Seirende, the younger brother of Emperor Valentin, and the Governor of the Sleeping North.