Although the appearance of Roland, the “Empire's Sword,” caused some changes to Greg's original plan, fortunately, his side's combat power was still more than sufficient, so he did not panic too much.
Furthermore, as he expected, the third-layer Boss hiding beside the Crown Prince indeed would not show up in such a public setting.
This also meant that to draw that guy out, the original plan still had to be executed as scheduled.
Thus, Greg continued to patiently blend into the crowd, waiting for the right moment.
On the other side, Crown Prince Finn, who had absolutely no sense of danger, sat on the smaller throne with a relaxed posture, though his eyes scanned the square restlessly.
When his gaze swept across the left side of the square, his eyes paused.
Because sitting there was Veronica, the Saintess of the Church of Light, and standing behind her was Silvia.
“Women of the Church of Light...”
Finn's gaze lingered on Veronica's dignified and holy face for a moment, and then fell upon Silvia's exquisite yet somewhat youthful face, a look of undisguised greed flashing in his eyes.
Before long, he would be able to completely force his father to abdicate and become the Emperor of the Empire himself.
As his power swelled, his ambition grew along with it, even giving him the audacity to set his sights on the Saintess of the Church of Light.
He thought that after he ascended the throne, if he could also claim that lofty Saintess for himself, that would be true, supreme power.
“Tch.”
Veronica keenly sensed that slimy gaze.
She tilted her head slightly in Finn's direction and slowly opened her eyes, which were usually narrowed.
They were a pair of eyes as brilliant as the stars, clear and deep, seemingly containing a holy and inviolable power.
The instant her gaze locked with Finn's, Finn suddenly felt a violent headache strike him, as if countless fine needles were simultaneously piercing his temples. He let out a miserable shriek, abruptly snapped his gaze away, clutched his forehead, and panted in agony.
“Hmph, filthy creature.”
Veronica narrowed her eyes again, her tone carrying undisguised disdain.
In her eyes, of all the people present, only Lord Greg was worthy of looking directly at her. As for those other unfaithful fools, they weren't even worthy of catching her eye.
Standing behind Veronica, Silvia finally felt a sliver of goodwill toward her because of this action.
She hoped Greg would look at her with that kind of gaze, but at the same time, she detested any man other than Greg looking at her with such eyes.
So, if Veronica hadn't acted a step ahead of her just now, she wouldn't have been able to hold back either.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
Standing behind Finn, Prime Minister Marcus leaned down and asked with concern.
Although he had noticed the undisguised greed in Finn's eyes when looking at Veronica earlier and knew how incredibly foolish his behavior was, since Finn would soon become the Emperor of the Empire and was also his future grandson-in-law, he could only pretend he had seen nothing.
“That crazy woman... I will make her submit sooner or later!”
Finn growled through gritted teeth as he clutched his painful eyes, his voice dripping with malice and humiliation.
Sitting nearby, the Emperor watched his only son's foolish display, starting to doubt whether his decision to abdicate the throne to him was correct.
But he quickly remembered that Finn and Prime Minister Marcus had already colluded to win over more than half of the Empire's nobility, and had even ambushed numerous powerful private soldiers in the forests near the Imperial Capital.
And now, he couldn't even protect his favorite youngest daughter, so how could he protect the entire Empire?
“Sigh...”
He let out a heavy sigh, his already pale face seeming to age a few more years.
Standing behind the Emperor, Roland, the “Empire's Sword,” remained expressionless and silent.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Just then, another group of people arrived. This time, however, there were no luxurious decorations or guard of honor—only a prison carriage escorted by heavily armed soldiers slowly entering the square.
The bars of the prison carriage were forged from black iron, engraved with runes that sealed mana, gleaming with a cold luster in the sunlight.
After the carriage came to a halt, a soldier opened the door, and a young girl dressed in a white prison uniform stepped out.
Wendy's hands were bound by handcuffs, and heavy chains locked her ankles, yet her head remained unbowed.
Although her hair was somewhat disheveled and her face was smudged with a bit of dust, she still exuded an innate air of nobility.
And the moment she stepped out of the prison carriage, passionate shouts suddenly erupted from the crowd.
“Princess Wendy! We believe in you!”
“You are innocent!”
“Your Majesty, please return Her Highness's freedom!”
The shouts rose and fell, surging like a torrential wave.
The sheer volume of the noise was so immense that it even startled the horses that had just escorted her. They neighed and took several steps back, and only by the soldiers pulling tightly on their reins did they not lose control.
Wendy stood in front of the prison carriage, also somewhat stunned by the scene. She had completely unexpected that she would receive such a warm welcome the moment she stepped off the carriage.
After all, this was right in front of the Emperor and the Crown Prince. Normally, no matter how much people revered her, they wouldn't dare to shout it out so publicly at a time like this.
Wendy guessed that the Lord Bishop must be pulling the strings behind the scenes.
This allowed her, who had still been slightly anxious, to completely put her mind at ease.
In fact, her guess was indeed correct.
Standing in the crowd, Greg looked at the scene and nodded in satisfaction.
“Hmm, it looks like Allie is executing the task I assigned her well.”
To put pressure on the enemy, he had arranged for the members of the Dark Night Order in the Imperial Capital to blend into the crowd beforehand to act as shills, creating the illusion that Wendy was deeply loved by the people.
But the actual effect was far better than he had originally anticipated.
Because once the shills he arranged took the lead in shouting, the commoners who originally supported Wendy but had remained silent couldn't help but join in the shouts.
Ultimately, it culminated in the current situation.
Greg figured this was probably because, unlike a certain puppet Crown Prince, Wendy had already accumulated a significant amount of prestige among the populace.
...
Standing behind Finn, Prime Minister Marcus frowned slightly as he listened to the rising waves of shouts.
He hadn't expected the Fifth Imperial Princess to have quietly gathered such high prestige among the commoners. This was by no means a good thing.
If they failed to execute her smoothly today, then in the future, it was highly likely that they would be the ones pushed onto the execution platform instead.
Although Finn was temporarily unable to see, the deafening shouts reached his ears without missing a single word.
Listening to the voices supporting Wendy, the anger and jealousy in his heart almost consumed him.
He gritted his teeth and cursed in a low whisper:
“Shout... Keep shouting... Once the pyre is lit, let's see if you can still shout then!”
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