I Became The Villain's Secretary

Chapter 15

"Your Grace, we have arrived." Renar announces, slowly opening the door of the carriage for Devland.

There was a very long line in front of the huge gates of the Imperial palace, but as Renar expected, the Mors family had priority over everyone.

'Ah, the power of status and money must be beautiful, I almost feel jealous.'

But despite everything, the thing that blinded Renar was the Imperial palace which was not just majestic, but more.

'Holy shit! I didn't think I could be more surprised!'

Truthfully, the size was the same as the four Mors family palaces (joined together), but outside it was filled with beautiful statues and decorations, and the inside there were stunning frescoes.

'These statues are absolutely amazing, and this whole place is so colourful.' Red, gold, blue...you name it! It was truly gorgeous.

The guards did not dare ask for confirmation of identity, and bowed, opening the door to the powerful family.

'These paintings are...so wow...' Renar couldn't resist and looked out of the corner of his eye at the very high ceilings and adorned walls.

"Ren." Devland called out. “Wait here, okay?”

He nodded, "At His Grace's command."

The four entered the main ceremony hall, and Renar glimpsed other people inside, perhaps a dozen.

Now he just had to wait for the end of the main ceremony, because only afterwards would his targets arrive to enchant with juicy offers of alliance.

***

"Welcome, dear guests." The air inside that great hall was cold, but the ruler's appearance warmed it. "Today we are all gathered together again for this important day."

Everyone curtsied, except the Mors family and the three princesses, who bowed briefly.

The speech was long, detailing the honor of being the ruler of such an honorable Empire.

The air was light, it seemed usual for the small crowd to hear this type of speech.

"Devland," Edward stepped down from the throne and walked down the steps, heading towards him. “I see you're on time this year.”

Their faces were completely different, only their eyes were similar in color.

He stared at him for a while, "Edward, I was just hoping you would present a better speech this time, so that's why I lost extra of my time this morning, but apparently I was wrong."

The air froze, until the Imperial Princess, Cassidy, stepped forward.

"Greetings to the prosperous Mors family, it's a pleasure to meet here once again." She said, curtsying.

“Unfortunately it hasn't been that long.” Devland uninterestedly states.

At first, people were always surprised to see the young firstborn of the Mors family so hostile, but now that he is an adult, it is no longer so weird.

The rest of the family was silent, with the former Grand Duchess and Grand Duke composed and imposing.

The Imperial Princess was always very calm despite everything, her main goal is to marry her daughter, Princess Brielle, to the second son of the Mors' Grand Duchy.

It certainly wasn't a matter of love, but of imposing power on them, if a member of the Imperial family managed to enter such a secretive family, then it would be easier to control them.

Despite everything, even if the Mors had blood similar to that of the Imperial family, it was impossible to have control over them.

Furthermore the Imperial Princess was no fool, despite everything she was much older than Edward, and before his birth she had been the heir to the throne for almost 15 years, following the same exact training, but in the Imperial family still held the old law of 'men have precedence to the throne'.

"Greetings Lord Christopher—" But Devland wouldn't let her go for even a second, he outright refused to give up his little brother after all.

“Your Highness, my dear mother wanted to be honored with a conversation with you, again this year.” He cut off.

Well, Devland used her mother as a shield every year, in fact she only fell to second place as the most influential woman in the empire just because she had to retire from her official position as Grand Duchess, but before then, not even the Imperial Princess was on her level.

Control over ports scattered across the empire, a dozen successful businesses, influence in the society of noblewomen, setting new trends in the world of fashion and becoming the butterfly of every conversation, all this despite rarely going out in public.

“Oh but certainly, I would be honored if Her Excellency would follow me into a conversation.” She said almost automatically.

Ember looked at Devland with a sigh, following the Imperial Princess. "Yes, I wouldn't dare to want anything else." Her expression betrayed her words, but nonetheless they walked away together.

"By the way Devland." Edward said. “I heard there were quite a few problems with the business that started with Cortez.” He said seriously.

Devland looked at him with an uninterested look. "Problem you say? From which dirty mole under you did you acquire this information?"

Edward sighed, keeping his composure. "Just don't screw up like that anymore."

Devland looked at him coldly, the mood changing immediately. "Of course, in the meantime you should stop taking claim over Clair's pearls, considering your limited connection to it." He clearly empathized limited.

Edward's eyebrow twitched, in fact yes, there was a major tension between the Empirial family, the Grand Duchy and the church, they were having a silent conflict over a divine artifact, Clair's pearl.

Those were the pearls that Princess Clair always wore, she was Edward's ancestor.

However they didn't technically belong to her, the Princess was married to Saint Augustus III, third son of Matteo Mors, Grand Duke at the time.

Being a Saint and the most precious blessed par excellence, he was in possession of divine pearls, given as a gift by Elira herself, and he had the Princess wear them several times.

However, after their deaths, the pearls mysteriously disappeared, only to be found in Priest Honorius II's territory three years ago, and now there is a conflict over ownership rights.

Do the pearls belong to the Church, the Empire or the Grand Duchy? Obviously legally to the Mors family, because even if the Princess wore them often, it is not known whether they were actually given to her as a gift or not.

While for the church there was always the possibility that a Saint or Saintess would come forward and take them, being the legitimate owners as well as the bearers of the blood favored by Elira.

But the presence of Saints is extremely rare, so the Church is the last in line, yet they are currently in their possession.

"You should watch your tongue, Devland." Edward said, trying to calm himself, he couldn't afford to discuss something like that in public without going mad, so it was best to put an end to it.

"What? The Emperor can't handle the truth?" He spit out, mocking him.

That stuck a nerve. The three main symbols of the Empire are truth, brotherhood and courage. Yet an Emperor without those qualities was unworthy.

Edward raised an eyebrow. “Are you talking like that because of the pressure?”

Devland smiled with an eerie look around him. "Pressure? What pressure?" He asked, and the bells rang.

The after ceremony was to begin.