The Solitude of an Emperor [TO BE UNPUBLISHED]

40 : Rage and Fear

Captain Theobarlt was so worried to see the Crown Princess' reddened eyes and cheeks. She probably cried before going into their urgent meeting. What happened? However, no matter how unwell she looked, she could pull off good leadership. As she discussed the problem that had arisen, you could not tell if she was breaking down or not. She had such great control in her feelings that you could only think that she might have just gotten cold this morning.

"Are we going to make use of the new recruits?" Captain Quira, he is pertaining to the fresh graduates of the knighthood.

"No, however, we will make a formal announcement regarding an application to join the subjugation. This way, it is up to the new recruits whether they will be joining or not." Darya answered.

"It is a good idea but regarding this formal announcement to make, are we going to emphasize the rewards to stimulate any applicants?"

"The reward will not be announced for the reason that if we gave them money, those applicants who need it will be forced to join just for the rewards. We are going to tell them that it is up to their performance to how we are going to reward them. Moreover, I would like Captain Billion to be in-charge of protecting the Imperial Palace while I am away with the other Captains and their battalions."

"I will do my best, Your Highness." Captain Billion obliged.

"We have four Captains remaining. All of you will be dividing your group into two, except for Captain Theobarlt's team as he will only be taking half of his battalion. Captain Quira, Captain Key, and Captain Urgos will be choosing the most capable leader of their teams to lead another team..."

The planning took two days to finally be prepared. With just a little information they had, it was hard but for Darya who knows exactly how they are going to attack, it took shorter than expected. Luckily, Crown Prince Reginald decided to come back to his Kingdom sooner and he was not able to know about the subjugation.

Many people lined up for the application of joining the subjugation. Captain Theobarlt served as an inspector of the capable applicants because he had sharp senses. Thanks to that, the applicants did not wait for long to be accepted or rejected. There are also nobles who joined to help such as Count Sebastian and Marquis Hainey.

However, Duke Esteban is not happy about this.

"Your Highness..." He called for Darya once again. He had already told her his opinion about her participation in such dangerous battle. He expressed all his concerns about her because he had no idea what would happen at this time as he had no memory of it.

"Please heed my request."

Darya did not speak because Duke Esteban is making sense of his claim that she does not need to be part of the subjugation. She can trust her subjects and she only needs them to follow her plan. What is making her worry, actually? Is it because she was betrayed before that she is having a hard time trusting her subjects?

Captain Billion... Captain Quira... Captain Key... Captain Urgos... In her past life, they were just loyal to the Imperial Family. They are just following the orders from above... but now that she had spent time with them, she realized that they are just doing what is from above because they could not do anything. The system is making them believe that what is from the superiors are right. They are all raised to become servants of the people from above.

"I heed your request, Duke Esteban, however, I have already executed the plan which includes my presence." She turned around to look at his eyes. "But because I could not just ignore your request, I would like to minimize my actions by just joining the subjugation without actually facing the monsters."