Church Headquarters, the Grand Hall.
Gathered there were the nobles who had converged upon Church Headquarters, summoned under the name of the Third Princess Liliana.
Most of them held no genuine respect for the Third Princess, and yet they had assembled—
—to force acknowledgment.
The greatest cause of the present crisis.
Namely, the disappearance of Pope Ortesia.
Despite holding the position of Pope—charged with guiding the faithful—she had abandoned her duties entirely, not leaving a single thing behind.
This was utterly unforgivable.
If it were at all possible, she ought to be held accountable, and there was an obligation to ensure that not one of the abandoned faithful went without.
But the Pope herself was already gone.
So then—
wouldn't it only be right
for another royal
to take
responsibility?
And naturally—
those who had simply
been left behind—
poor, pitiful—
Themselves
bear
no
responsibility.
Push this theory through, force the Third Princess into accepting the blame, and secure their own privileges above all else.
That is all they are thinking.
……There is nothing to fear.
She is, after all, nothing more than a sheltered little princess — she cannot possibly be accustomed to this sort of maneuvering.
Moreover, they know
that the Third Princess faction is currently desperate for military strength — in other words, for their power.
They are nobles, after all. They can sniff out the scent of a power play from a mile away.
As long as they control what the other side wants most, the princess's faction cannot afford to defy them. Hold that card, and they could play as aggressively as they pleased.
They let that confident air settle around them and waited.
At last, Liliana ascended the podium.
She looked visibly tense. *This will be easy,* the nobles thought — and in front of them, Liliana began her explanation of the Pope's disappearance.
What she laid out was, for the most part, the plain truth.
That Pope Orthesia had betrayed the nation. That she had conspired with the lord of Trakhia — the very pillar of the Third Princess faction — and with Feibrad, that self-styled leader of the neutral nobles, to bring about the kingdom's destruction.
The nobles' reaction was —
— exactly as expected.
"I would ask that you refrain from this absurdity!"
"You expect us to believe such absurd drivel? Are you mocking us!?"
"Just because you want our power, to spin such degrading tales — royalty or not, there are things one should and should not do!!"
They won't believe it.
Whether it's true or not doesn't matter. There's no need to verify it, no need to demand proof.
Things that are
inconvenient
are never acknowledged as
truth
—That, precisely, was the supremely convenient art of survival that those nobles had cultivated over many long years. With that method ingrained at their very core, no matter how one tried to persuade them, they would never comply.
"Tell us the 'truth' properly, Your Royal Highness! Otherwise, we nobles will have no choice whatsoever but to refuse!"
"Indeed! Rather than meekly obeying a royal who speaks nothing but lies, we shall choose death! Punish us as you see fit!"
"Exactly so! Rather than obeying orders, we have a pride to uphold!!"
Starting with one noble's opening salvo, the sentiment spread like wildfire through the entire assembly — that "rather than listen to unreasonable demands, we would choose punishment." It didn't stop there. If anything, the momentum only grew as everyone voiced the same conviction in unison, and even those nobles who would normally have kept quiet began piling on.
And then.
Liliana, having heard that resounding chorus — as if it were the very embodiment of this nation's nobility —
looked down for several seconds. Then she raised her head.
"I see. —
Then
,
as you wish."
" so I'll
grant it
to you.
"
The instant.
A rain of light descended upon the grand hall.
From the heavens above — a single beam.
A thunderous boom and a plume of dust rising up.
And where the dust settled—
"...ah..."
— Precisely. Dead center.
The searing trace of a beam that had struck with pinpoint accuracy in the exact spot where no noble stood, and one noble who, having watched it streak past right before his eyes, had fallen flat on his backside with a look of utter terror.
"That magic just now... could it be..."
Once the shock wore off, several nobles who recognized the spell cast looks of horror and dread toward the stage.
There—
"..."
Luxuriantly long crimson hair. Deep azure eyes. An expression of cold, cruel contempt for all things.
And above all — a face identical to that of Liliana, who stood at the center.
"No way... the Sky Witch..."
"That is correct."
Liliana declared, cutting off the noble's words—words born of the desperate wish that this all had to be a lie.
"Honestly, I couldn't care less what any of you think about what I've just told you."
She continued. Whether by intent or instinct, her tone had shifted to subtly mimic that of her master.
"—We are telling you nothing but the truth. The Pope's betrayal, the Trauchia family head's treason—all of it really happened, and we witnessed it with our own eyes.
As proof... when the kingdom faced a crisis, even the Sky Witch—a being who would never normally bow to political power—agreed to lend her strength, if only for this one occasion."
The impact was immense.
The nobles reeled from the blow. Some were frozen in sheer terror; others stared blankly, their faces drained of all sense of reality. A few who still had some fight in them scrambled to find evidence to dismiss the whole thing as a fabrication.
"Furthermore. You have been insisting from some time now that 'even a royal command need not be obeyed,' have you not?"
Pressing her advantage, Liliana drove the point home.
"—
What...
are you...
getting...
wrong...?
"
This time, she declared in a tone that evoked the purple-haired girl who had supported her all along.
"Haven't I told you time and again? These are the words of the royal family. This isn't a matter of whether you believe them or whether they're possible or not.
—
Listening
is your duty."
That's your duty, isn't it? You swore loyalty to the royal family, you rise to defend the kingdom in times of crisis, and you carry out the subjugation of foreign enemies when called upon. The privileges you enjoy exist precisely because of that, and the magic granted to you was given for that very purpose.
Shall I rephrase? I am issuing you a command: "Fight alongside us and destroy the enemy."
Obey.
If you cannot do that — then, as you wish, I see no path other than punishment, do you?
I didn't expect them to go this far.
That look was plain as day on every noble's face.
Yes — their earlier bravado had been nothing more than the contempt of "Surely Liliana can't actually do anything." They'd assumed she had neither the will nor the ability to punish them all collectively, and they'd simply grown overconfident because of their numbers.
Bluntly put... not a single one of them was truly prepared to face punishment.
Impossible — no. We never agreed to this. There must be some mistake.
So far had the fear and confusion spiralled that some were already slipping into half-delusional denial.
"...Well, be that as it may. You are, after all, members of noble houses that have contributed to this country for generations. Besides, punishing every last one of you would be dreadfully tedious to clean up after."
When Liliana said that, the nobles visibly relaxed.
See? We knew it. She talks a big game, but in the end she just doesn't have the nerve to actually punish us.
She probably thought that a little intimidation would be enough to make us comply. As if we'd fall for that. After this, she'd soften the terms slightly and ask them to join her faction — the oldest trick in the book.
We're not the kind of people who fall for something like that. No matter what she says, we'll make sure our rights and positions are firmly guaranteed —
This is what the nobles were thinking, right up until —
"So then, allow me to summarize my words once more. This command is for you to lend every last shred of your strength to the subjugation of the organization that has bared its fangs against the kingdom. You will move as this command dictates, and insubordination will never be tolerated.
Should you say you cannot comply —"
Liliana smiled sweetly.
"—
I don't need you.
Not a single one of you cowards.
By all means — pack up your things and leave the church. Return to your own territories or anywhere else you like. I won't stop you. Not in the slightest."
......At this point,
the nobles fell into the deepest confusion they had experienced all day.
What was going on? This completely ignored the entire "premise" of their negotiation.
Hadn't Liliana — been desperate to get her hands on their military forces!?
And yet here she was, issuing this demand: "If you won't do as I say, then leave" — so deceptively simple that no amount of struggling could find a way around it.
The nobles, who had been brimming with confidence that they could use their military strength as leverage to wring concessions out of Liliana, found their entire scheme upended and had no idea what to do next.
Gazing down at those bewildered nobles, as though mocking them,
Liliana continued to wear that same unreadable smile upon her youthful, beautiful face.
Sorry to keep you waiting, Lady Lyra......!
Our story with the nobles will continue a little longer. Look forward to the next installment!