"Your Highness, today is Sunday."
Isabella sat in her study, looking out at the gloomy weather through the beautiful glass window, responding simply to Marilla, saying, "I know, Lord Marilla... the weather is truly not good today."
The sky was filled with dark clouds that made it hard to breathe, the kind of weather where it would be no surprise if it started raining at any moment.
Isabella quietly looked at her book, sighed, and closed it. She really couldn’t focus today... In fact, ever since Yila left the empire, her reading progress had slowed significantly.
The main reason was that she had become much busier with work, and the time to improve herself naturally became very short.
In the past, when Yila took time out to read with her, she could ask him anything she didn’t understand immediately. Although his answers were long-winded and hard to comprehend... if she remembered and understood, it was indeed very beneficial.
"Everyone except Lord Marilla, you may leave..."
Isabella unconcernedly displayed the majesty that belonged to a king. Watching the guards and maids leave respectfully, she said casually, "You all know the atmosphere in the Royal Capital now, those with ulterior motives... just return to your masters."
Upon hearing these words, several maids’ bodies stiffened slightly...
The number was even more than Isabella had imagined, most of them were spies for the nobility... The Yila Faction did not need to insert spies, since Yila had once been the greatest spy himself.
At that time, both sides did not need to draw such fine distinctions...
Isabella spoke abruptly, sighing as she spoke, without any intention of continuing to read. Instead, she looked out the window and said, "It has only been a winter, and the weather hasn’t even begun to warm up..."
Although if unrelated people heard it, they would completely not understand the meaning, Marilla understood immediately. She corrected, "Your Majesty... actually, it’s been five months, and three days short."
Well, that’s not much different.
Looking at Isabella, who seemed to be lost in thought, Marilla, with a calm expression, asked the young empress in front of her, "Forgive my presumption, but what are you thinking about now, Your Majesty?"
There was nothing Isabella couldn’t say about this. Propping her chin with her hand, she showed a helpless smile and said, "I’m thinking, does it count as more impressive than Yila that I cleared out the nobility in five months?"
The helpless smile was exactly the same as Yila’s... Moreover, it was surprisingly true. Yila had spent a long time without being able to clear out the nobility from the empire, but it seemed this stage would be completed today.
However, if Isabella brought up this topic herself, there was no problem. If someone else brought up topics like "Yila is stronger than Her Majesty" or "Her Majesty is stronger than Yila"... Isabella would explode.
*What a troublesome empress...*
"Perhaps? But, Your Majesty, you were not the one leading."
Isabella, who looked entirely unbothered by Marilla’s words, waved her hand and said with the composure of a qualified monarch, "It doesn’t matter, how do you know... all of this wasn’t under my guidance?"
Indeed, if everything was under Isabella’s guidance and control, one could say that she sacrificed all her authority, willingly becoming a puppet... all to turn the empire into what Yila liked.
But Marilla wasn’t fooled. She was very sure... Isabella was very passive. She didn’t even have a fallback plan to ensure her own safety, and she never had one since birth.
"Lady Isabella... do you know what this means? Do you know what Ulrichla... is preparing to do?" Marilla couldn’t help but say.
This topic was very cruel for a normal ruler...
"I know, this means... everything will remain the same."
Isabella said this, laughing softly and pointing towards the door, "Lord Marilla, you have seen it too, haven’t you? Those who were inserted by my side, it was because of them that there was once a false edict, leading us to this point..."
Tracing it back, that was indeed the case. But if you left out Isabella’s own *desire to prove herself*, it would be too clean... Ultimately, the issue remained that she didn’t personally go to apologize to Yila immediately.
*Stubbornness... weakness...*
"After this, the people around me will change from one group to another... even those familiar with Lord Yila. I will feel more at ease, just like you, Lord Marilla, right?"
Isabella said this, watching Marilla shake her head, and she too shook her head with a bitter smile, saying, "So when I say, ’everything will remain the same,’ for me... I am still me, without much change."
*As always, still that puppet-like but not-quite-puppet ruler... indeed having the dignity, with enough face to push political affairs, yet without the coercive power to enforce anything, and being forced into many things.*
*For example, being forced by Yila’s nagging... and the like.*
"As for what General Ulrichla is going to do, I understand too."
Isabella’s eyes brightened as she couldn’t help but laugh, saying, "It’s truly ruthless. Yila will definitely be very angry when he finds out... just like when I angered him over the issue of slaves."
For some reason, hearing Isabella acknowledge her own awareness was somewhat amusing.
"Yes, it is very aggressive, but this is a sacrifice for the greater good."
Marilla said, respectfully nodding, "We cannot eliminate the nobility because they have territories and civilians under them. We can’t free up manpower to govern, and outright killing the nobility would lead to condemnation, so..."
She didn’t continue, but the words didn’t need to be said.
So long as they seized the opportunity of war to take all lands and territories away, and later allowed the refugees to return when they reclaimed it, they could even reduce taxes to recuperate... thus, not only avoiding infamy but earning a good reputation.
If the territory couldn’t be governed, it should just be destroyed! Without the lord, the civilians would revolt, so let the civilians lose everything! The nobility wouldn’t surrender, so let them all... die on the battlefield!
However, that would inevitably result in piles of corpses, in unnecessary innocent sacrifices.
Yila would definitely go mad with anger if he knew.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock~"
At that moment, Isabella and Marilla both became aware of the commotion in the Royal City. They simultaneously realized... a grand and historically significant coup was about to unfold.
"I’m tired, Lord Marilla... take me back to my bedchamber~" Isabella said, ignoring the distant explosions and thunderous roars, simply ordering, "I won’t attend tomorrow’s morning assembly... but I hope next week’s morning assembly can proceed normally."