CH 532

The fog created by the Southern Alliance as part of their strategy in the civil war that had been shrouding around the Imperial City near Gabriels City (Sword Capital) of the Gabriel Empire had finally dispersed and vanished. The Northern and Southern Alliance engaging fiercely in a civil war had suddenly reached a consensus overnight through some shady deals and announced that both parties had reached a mutual agreement.

The sudden peace announcement had cost a lot of arms dealers from various countries to almost run out of business. These dealers were about to take advantage of the chaos of the civil war to make a fortune out of their merchandise. Unfortunately for them, just as they were ready to ship out their merchandise, the Northern and Southern Alliance had ended the civil war, making it the biggest nightmare for all these arms dealers.

However, fortunately for these arms dealers, the empire located in the east, the Aldridge Empire, was still busy fighting off the invasion of the Red Sea Demonic Beast Army. As such, there would still be an opening for these traders to trade off their goods in the east. However, shipping it over to the east would cost a lot more, making the profit margin a whole lot lesser.

Compared to the sudden ending of the civil war, what was more shocking was the political reshuffling happening in the Gabriel Empire. In this reshuffling of political power, none of the other empires had prepared for the outcome. In short, the males had lost a huge chunk of their privileges.  

At first, the former emperor, Emperor Alfred the Third, had announced that he would wish to retreat to the Valley of the Emperor to further his knowledge in the art of swordsmanship. Hence, he would be abdicating his throne. After his announcement, Crown Prince Daniel, who would naturally take over the throne from his father, suddenly developed an illness that would hinder his performance as an emperor, so he was no longer qualified for the throne. In the end, Crown Prince Daniel had chosen to graciously pass his throne over to his younger sister, Princess Kriss.

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Regarding the crown prince’s decision, even Prince Burdis and Prince Glenard, who had previously fought among themselves and nearly went to war, had surprisingly supported the decision of Prince Daniel unanimously. Furthermore, it was Prince Daniel himself who announced that he was unsuitable for inheriting the throne and that there would be no qualms in passing the throne over to his sister, Princess Kriss.

Since the three most powerful contenders for the throne had clearly given up their rights for it, none of the other princes dared to contend or hinder the decision. Everyone could easily realize that the three princes had been defeated. Regardless of whether they were willing to admit it or not, Kriss had taken control of the empire, and the forces supporting the princess had absolutely crushed the forces that were supporting the princes.

After all the princes had withdrawn their privilege to the throne, Princess Kriss dramatically ascended the throne. After her enthronement, Princess Kriss became the first publicly recognized reigning empress in the history of the human continent.

The interdimensional traveler, Queen Manya Felan, who had been controlling the Manasvir Empire for the past tens of thousands of years, had not actually publicly declared that she was the actual ruler of the empire. Hence, Kriss would be the first to be written as the reigning empress of an empire in the history of humankind.

After Kriss had ascended and became the empress, she publicly conferred the Grand Duchess Bellina with the official title of the “Prime Princess.” The status and power of the Prime Princess would be equal to that of the empress. Even though she was not directly placed as an empress, Bella’s position was almost the same as an empress. While Empress Kriss had conferred her with the title of Prime Princess, Bella was also concurrently granted the title of Marshal for the Southern Alliance, giving her the governing power over the entire army of the Southern Alliance and officially recognizing the Southern Alliance as part of their military forces.

The Southern Alliance had already recognized Bella as their commander. Bella took total control over the Southern Alliance and could be considered a competent, self-reliant ruler. However, she had no intention of splitting up the empire’s army. After stabilizing the Southern Alliance, she intended to unify all the northern empire’s army into one jurisdiction. The armies of the three princes of the original empire and the armies controlled by the three major families that supported the empire would all be unified and reorganized into the new Northern Alliance. The former Prince and Chief General of the Empire Angus would take over the Northern Alliance as the nominal commander.

Following the retirement of the previous emperor, Alfred the Third, the three princes of the original empire also followed suit with their own retirement announcements. They handed their position over to the heir of their next generation. They all cited that they were too old and no longer had the energy to waste on politics as their reasons for retirement.

However, Prince Angus was retained by Bella and Kriss due to his outstanding achievement in the military forefront. Even though he would be giving up his title as a prince, he would still retain his rank as a Chief General of the Empire and remain the nominal commander to the Northern Alliance army.

As if they had been infected by the previous emperor, when these three princes of the empire were choosing an heir to assume their roles, they all had decided to nominate either their daughters or their granddaughters.

The throne of Prince Anders was passed on to his two daughters, Andanielle and Andanetta, while the throne of Prince Frauer was inherited by his daughter, Doris. Subsequently, Prince Brad had appointed his two granddaughters, Cathy and Sarah, to take over his role.

The current Gabriel Empire had implemented the new system called the “Eight Princesses” since all of the eight conferred positions were held by women. The first princess was Prime Princess Bella, followed by the daughter and granddaughters of the original three princes. These five princesses under the Prime Princess would respectively govern the five regions of the empire, the East, South, North, West, and Central Region. The title of the Princess of the East and the Princess of the South belonged respectively to Cathy and Sarah. At the same time, the Princess of the West and the Princess of the North were granted to Andanielle and Andanetta, respectively. Last but not least, Doris would govern the central part of the empire as the Princess of the Central.

Aside from the previously mentioned five princesses and the Prime Princess herself, there were still two remaining positions that had yet to be mentioned. These two positions would be in charge of the administration and military aspect of the empire and had been conferred to the two elder twins of the Hilikas family, Calman and Cahlia, who were the guardians of the empire. The responsibilities of these two princesses were to supervise the political and military decisions that were made in the empire. Technically, their roles were equal to that of the inspectors of the empire.

In addition to the several princesses, another four positions of Grand Duchesses were added to the hierarchy. Apparently, for various unexplainable reasons, even the patriarch of the three major families who supported the empire had followed the footstep of the former emperor and his princes by appointing their daughters as the heir to their positions as Grand Duchess. The Renald family that had failed in their plan to seize the throne had let their eldest daughter, Renath, be the appointed Grand Duchess, while the Johnston family that had previously surrendered themselves to the Southern Alliance had appointed Helena as the new successor of their family.

The initial title of the Grand Duchess of the Ignaz family would be conferred onto two instead of a single person. It would be taken up by the first daughter of the house, Ivy, and the second daughter of the family, Irina. Even though the single title had been split, the power of the title would remain unchanged respectively. Since Ivy had yet to return to the capital, the second daughter Irina would stand on behalf of her sister during the coronation ceremony for the Grand Duchesses.

Since the Empress and the Prime Princess were already leading the forefront and Bella had also already been serving as a Grand Duchess, which was an unprecedented title at that point in time, the appearance of females holding the title of Grand Duchesses no longer shocked the public. The topic that was currently making waves in public was how the political reshuffling had created a new chapter in the history of the human continent by enthroning an empress instead of an emperor. The Gabriel Empire had not only brought forth the first female Grand Duchess, but it was also the first to confer a female to the title of Prime Princess and, to top it all off, the first-ever female successor of an empire.

In between all these, Bella had adopted the strategy similar to the saying of “Releasing the soldier with a cup of wine.” Through this strategy, she had managed to reclaim the power of the generals in the original Northern Alliance army with the simple exchange of a hefty amount of money and blessings. These generals who were released from their seats were the conservative thinkers who could not accept the reign of an empress and had shown resistance towards the new political changes. As such, Bella offered them wealth in return for their military power. For the few generals who refused to hand over their military power regardless of the offer, Bella’s last option was to arrange her army of demons to settle them. Bella had allowed her demons to deal with them however they see fit.

Unlike all the previous coups that had happened in this world, Bella and her companions did not eradicate any of the princes. In fact, Empress Kriss had also conferred Prince Daniel with the title of a Prince as the brother of the empress, and henceforth he would be known as Prince Daniel Alfred the Fourth. This was a means to appease him for giving up the throne. In addition to that, he was also given a hefty amount of property so that the brother of the empress could enjoy a life of luxury and relaxation.

Both Prince Burdis and Prince Glenard, who had also pulled out from the civil war, did not leave empty-handed either. Although they were not conferred with the title of a prince, they did receive a title that held the same weight as a prince, and as opposed to a fief, they were granted a sum that was large enough to secure them a long and comfortable life.

Bella’s method had led to a very smooth and peaceful transition which quickly dispelled the political tension that had tainted the Gabriel Empire. It was only important to replace the top management that was resisting the change. Since most middle-class and lower-class officers had never caused them any trouble before, they could retain their position.

The original guardian family of the empire, the Hilikas family, did initially resist the political change. All six Sword Gods of the family were then defeated personally by Bella, and when the first and second-generation Sword Gods came out to support their fellow comrades, they too were defeated by Bella. After accepting their defeat, all eight of these Sword Gods had chosen to return to the Valley of the Hidden Sword and would no longer question the reign of the empress. As such, the only remaining Sword God that was in the Hilikas family now was Sword Goddess Claudine.

Since Claudine herself had been siding with Bella, she cooperatively helped monitor the Hilikas family on behalf of Bella. The current patriarch of the Hilikas family, Harry Verron, was a cross-dressing member of the Fraternity and a senior at the academy that Bella attended. He and Bella had once cooperated before, as their great chemistry led to a very immediate political consensus.

To stabilize the influence of the original royal family, both Bella and Kriss had made it very clear that the throne would only fall in the hands of the royal princesses. If the princess who was the heir of the throne were to marry someone, and even if her husband were to come from a royal family, the husband would still not gain the right to the throne. Of course, this rule had no effect on the engagement between Kriss and Bella because that particular stipulation was only legal between a man and a woman. Bella and Kriss were lovers of the same gender.

To ensure that Kriss could have an official holiday or if she were ever needed to deal with a major event and thus needed to be on hiatus from the public, a representative department was set up on her behalf. The few more well-known royal princesses, such as her elder sister, Princess Kliveny, and the rest would help manage the forefront of such an incident. This five-royal-princess representative team of the Gabriel Empire that represented Kriss would secretly help manage the empire’s affairs as well.

Regarding the news of the Gabriel Empire enthroning an empress, the various empires of the human continent reacted differently. As expected, the Manasvir Empire, which secretly had a good relationship with Bella, had immediately announced their recognition of the legitimacy status of Empress Kriss and even arranged for a messenger to deliver a letter akin to an alliance.

On the other hand, the other three remaining empires and the Radiant Church had different reactions. The Radiant Church did not make any statement regarding the news, and their silence represented their acquiesced to the news. The empire at the west of the mainland, the Kristoff Empire (Nation of Assassin), also remained silent like the Radiant Church. The only empire that openly opposed it was the Aldridge Empire (Nation of Arcana) that currently served as the head of the Imperial Union. This wasn’t a surprise as they had never recognized Princess Kriss’ right to inherit the throne, even from the very beginning.

As for the homeland of Princess Felia, the princess that Bella was currently impersonating, the Octavia Empire (Nation of Knights) had a different kind of response. After learning that Bella was indeed the ninth princess, Emperor Octavio the Twelfth had renounced the previous rumors regarding the death of Princess Felia and had even commissioned the Dragon Knight General to escort Bella back to the empire. In the eyes of the public, he was inviting Bella back to formally acknowledge her identity as a Dragon Knight and give her the recognition that she deserved.

Bella did not immediately respond to the emperor’s request, and instead, in the written letter to Emperor Octavio the Twelfth, she had informed him of her engagement to Kriss. Previously, Kriss and Bella had “come out” and confessed their mutual love to one another to Emperor Alfred the Third. Bella confessed that she and Kriss were lovers of the same gender to Emperor Octavio the Twelfth.

Bella would only respond to the emperor’s initial request based on the emperors’ reaction. If Emperor Octavio the Twelfth were to agree to accept the marriage between her and Kriss, she would make her way back to the empire, but if he were against it, she would never step foot in her homeland ever again.

Emperor Octavio the Twelfth had a better adapting nature than Bella’s apparent father-in-law, Alfred the Third. Although the emperor himself had never experienced having his princess bringing home another imperial princess to be engaged with, he still passed on his positive response to Bella through Olya.

“Felia, bring my daughter-in-law back with you. I have no objection! Such matters are for you to decide since you have already grown up.”

Bella did not know what plans Emperor Octavio the Twelfth had installed for her, but since he had accepted her engagement with Kriss, it was only reasonable for her to go back and personally see what her father was up to.

The coronation ceremony for the new Empress Kriss was carried out in a simple event and was not deliberately publicized. At the request of Bella and Kriss, the event was held in the palace itself. It was a stark difference from the previous emperors, who had spent lavishly on their enthronement ceremony. 

The host of this coronation event was none other than Empress Deborah the Fifth, herself. As Emperor Alfred the Third had already retired from the throne, it was best to let Empress Deborah the Fifth preside over the ceremony. The empress’ eyes did not dare to linger too long on Bella and Kriss throughout the event. She had previously been held by the Interdimensional Demon, Noesha, and had been put through a lot of teasing and punishment until she was considered “bent.” She was afraid that if she gazed at them for too long, her expression would accidentally reveal some unspeakable secrets.

“Kriss, from now on, this throne will belong to you. I hope you will be able to protect this country well.”

“I will do my best to protect this empire. I believe that with the help of my companions, there would be no problem.”

The enthronement ceremony for Kriss was completed after she had sworn her oath to Empress Deborah the Fifth. Initially, the ceremony was more cumbersome, but after Bella made some modifications and adjustments, the ceremony became a lot simpler. After the conferment ceremony of the Eight Princesses, they went on to the conferment of the Grand Duchesses. The former empress did not partake in any conferment ceremony and handed it to Empress Kriss to personally preside over it.

Throughout the event, the ministers in the palace had troubled expressions. Many of these ministers were still troubled by the accelerated transition of Kriss from a royal princess to that of a reigning empress. It would take them some time to settle and digest the circumstances. To add salt to the injury, aside from the ruler being a female, all these new positions were given to women. It was really hard for all these old politicians to suddenly accept and bow to these beautiful princesses and duchesses. 

“You have all once helped my father. I hope you can continue to serve the empire as before. As I am a novice in governing the country, I may seek your guidance in many aspects.”

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“I won’t repeat what Kriss had said. Everyone should have understood by now that if any of you are incapable, I’ll accept your early retirement and will appoint your daughter or granddaughter to take over your position!”

Kriss’ words were gentle and demure, but Bella was straightforward and blunt. She stated that if anyone could not do well, she would immediately scrape them off and replace them with a female heir. If they did not have any daughters or granddaughters, she would kick them out of the imperial city.

Confronted with Bella’s aggressive and commanding tone, similar to an emperor, the ministers in the palace were afraid to refute her words. All the ministers who were present knew that the beautiful blonde conferred with the title of a Prime Princess was actually the ‘real’ ruler. Compared to Empress Kriss, it was much harder to deal with Bella whereby if one were to be careless, then their daughters or granddaughters would be placed in the line of danger.

It was no longer a secret in the political circle of the Gabriel Empire that Bella was particularly strangely interested in beautiful girls. It would be horrible if Bella were to be attracted to their daughters when they were attending the court on behalf of their fathers. For the sake of the reputations of their own daughters, these ministers did not dare to be sloppy in their jobs. 

After briefly shocking the ministers, Bella had announced the dispersal of the event. In the empire of this Other World, the working environment of the imperial court was very different from that of the dynasty in ancient China, where the emperor was required to attend the court every day to personally discuss the national affairs with the ministers.

In fact, the emperors of the empires on the human continent in this Other World had relatively easier lives. Group activities that required the attendance of the higher authority were generally only called upon during important festivals or if there were any urgent military matters. As such, they would only meet up only once or twice a month. On a typical day, the emperors would stay in specially designated offices and only needed to review and approve things that required their attention. All the other matters like handling affairs or methods were left to the ministers in charge.

Kriss had it much easier since she had the helping hand of the very capable Prime Princess Bella and the seven Princesses that kept the government affairs running. All these princesses were siding with Bella, and hence, they were not afraid that they would be betrayed. All these princesses had engaged in a special relationship with Bella, so they could rule out the possibility of them engaging in political conflicts like those of the former princes.  

Currently, only the Aldridge Empire had voiced their displeasure over the succession of Kriss. No other discordance was heard by the Gabriel Empire. According to the agreement between Bella and Queen Manya Felan, the richest empire in the human continent, the Manasvir Empire, soon announced that they too would have a change in their ruling system. According to the new system, they would put a dual queen system whereby the empire would be overseen by both Empress Manya Felan and Princess Manasviel, who would be impersonated by Bella.

Bella had already planned it all. After she had successfully settled the empire here, the Gabriel Empire would send in a large number of troops to the Manasvir Empire, which was located at the center of the continent, with the excuse of assisting Queen Manya Felan to gain complete control over her domestic situation. After the settlement, the two empires would formally announce that they had formed an alliance. From there on, the two empires would join hands in going against the Imperial Union that had been refusing to recognize the reigning empresses.