The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 716: When violence suddenly no longer the best answer...

After taking care of things from our end, we gathered in the castle again to wait. That was usually how it went, right? We sent an eviction notice with a warning and a deadline, giving them time to find a new place and pack their bag.

While waiting, we could do the things we needed to do, like forming the committee and putting on the framework for inter-realm trade. The warriors of Wrath seemed more than happy to divert their fury to the empty region, cleaning up the borders from smugglers, fugitives, and all kinds of shady characters.

Truly win-win. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

But even after we ran around all busy, there was no sign of the people in the Principality moving out, or the Emperor giving order for that. Of course, there was no sign of their willingness to pay damage compensation to me.

"As expected, they did not heed our warning," I sighed after listening to Heraz’s report.

Zia pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "Can we just like...attack them?"

"If it’s possible, we should avoid doing anything too brutal," Natha said, which I followed with a nod. We couldn’t build a city meant for peace with blood. Especially because in such cases, the first who got bloodied was the innocent people, not the authority. "Aside from ravaging the palace, however, the Empire hadn’t been doing incriminating stuff--no offense, sweetheart."

Again, I could only sigh. It was funny that the Empire was actually one of the ’good’ ones. I mean, the others were doing stuff like sacrificing virgins and whatnot, so the bar was very low. Destroying another race’s kingdom couldn’t be called ’merely’, but if we attacked them for that reason, it would become Wrath vs Lenaar all over again.

"The current royal family also had nothing to do with the war," he added.

Zia and I looked at him and asked at the same time. "How come?"

"The current Emperor is the son of the previous emperor’s cousin, and the previous emperor is the youngest brother of the Emperor who ordered the war."

"Huh..."

"After the attack on druids, there was a struggle for power between brothers for the emperor’s seat--all except the youngest one," Natha explained. "The fighting brothers all died and the youngest became the next Emperor."

What the hell? What was this drama? They went at each other until they died? Was this the final season of a historical drama?

Zia grabbed a bucket of popcorn from somewhere and shared it with me. "And?"

"The youngest never wanted the position in the first place, but he made do," Natha shrugged. "He did not have any children, however, and his brothers died along with their families--it was very bloody, I heard--so, no direct blood relatives."

It was either he got too traumatized for building a family, or he was gay. I’d like to bet on the gay part.

"And the next kin is a cousin, twice removed?" Zia squinted, trying to follow the story by making a family tree in the air.

"Yes," Natha took a piece of popcorn from my bowl--what a rare occurrence--before continuing. "The Empire only allowed men to sit on the throne, and it had to be from the father’s side."

"They love making things complicated, aren’t they?"

"What about the Principality?" Zia asked again.

"The first Lord is the warring Emperor’s uncle--hence a Prince," Natha replied while looking at the report this time. Even this demon got overwhelmed by the human’s genealogy. "It seemed like the first emperor didn’t want any contention from his father’s relatives."

My brow arches by itself. "But he got killed by his brothers?"

He thought about giving a place for his uncle, but not for his brothers? I had no idea what that person was thinking, but perhaps the uncle was stronger in some way. Or maybe he thought his brothers were easier to control, since they were younger.

A fate befitting someone who willingly annihilated a whole city-state using dirty methods. They didn’t even go for a real war, but resorted to using a mana disturbance artifact to prevent the druids from using their power. It was basically a genocide, wasn’t it? This coward. Cowards.

"Ironic, isn’t it?" Natha smiled, rubbing the deep frown forming between my brows. "Still, the Prince couldn’t just separate himself from the Empire even if he wanted to, since he still needed the subsidy for the new territory. Currently, it is already the fourth Lord."

"Shouldn’t they be more willing to abide by the notice, then?" Zia pursed her lips. "If they have nothing to do with the war, they should try to repair the relationship."

Natha turned toward the shapeshifter bringing us an afternoon report. "Heraz?"

"Their situation is a little difficult, my Lord," he replied readily. "Since the current Emperor was not raised as a royal, he lacked acknowledgment from the noble’s side. He must have thought that accepting the notice would be detrimental to his influence. Some of the citizens are also still in denial and the palace is using it to argue that everything is a fraud."

I groaned and closed my eyes in frustration, even though I knew it was a perfectly understandable reaction. Understandable on the citizens’ part, I mean. It was hard to just accept that what they had been believing in was a lie. Zarfa told me that some people had been crying and screaming in denial, but...what could we do? Let them continue being deluded? Haa...

But it was definitely infuriating when the sovereign power was using it for their own benefit. After this whole wake-up call. After the Goddess returned.

So hopeless.

"Will they still say that if Stan appears?"

"I think, for them, it has to be their Goddess herself," Natha shrugged.

Zia clicked her tongue. "And yet they believed that stinky old man easily."

"I know, right?" we rolled our eyes in exasperation. I sighed and looked at Heraz. "And the Prince?"

"A rather delicate one."

"To put it bluntly, a coward," Natha translated with a sneer. "He won’t be doing anything that the Emperor does not order him to."

Heraz lowered his head, perhaps to hide his silent laughter. "That is so, Your Lordship."

"In the first place, it’s foolish to expect a good intention from them," Natha propped his cheek while reading the report again. "Abiding to our terms means they have to admit the Empire was in the wrong in the past. People can’t easily accept that kind of blemish in their history."

"Ugh..." Zia groaned and squirmed in her seat. "I mean, I also don’t like being reminded that Zir’Kal is my blood brother, but I can at least admit that he’s an asshole!"

That made me laugh at least, patting Zia in sympathy. She smiled wryly at me and shrugged. "So...back to attack?"

Natha chuckled. "Yes, but let’s avoid bloodshed," he said. "If you find a squatter in your home, you don’t come with a blazing torch. That’s a waste of repair money."

The purple eyes narrowed. "What’s a squatter?"

"Someone who illegally occupies your land," I told her.

"I see," the succubus crossed her arms and nodded. "But yeah, don’t want to damage them buildings."

That, I agree. To minimize the money needed to build my dream city and, more importantly, to establish it as soon as possible, we would need to preserve the city as much as possible.

"What, then? Negotiating with the Empire?" I stroked my chin in contemplation.

"They won’t accept us entering their border--might have to wage war too in the end," Natha said.

"But it’s prohibited," I pursed my lips. "Stan will catch you, you know."

"Ugh," Zia groaned again. "Can’t we just, like... go inside the palace and throw the Prince out of the border? Perhaps in the middle of the night so there won’t be too much resistance? No?"

She looked at us with a sheepish grin. But while she was joking, it jolted the light bulb in my brain. Gasping, I jumped up and looked at them with widened eyes.

"Actually..."

Without wasting more time, I took out my stationary chest from the storage ring. Placing it on the rug of the living room, I rummaged through it, looking for something I carefully placed at the bottom of the chest. It was stored inside a long protective tube, and I hadn’t been looking at it for a long time.

"That’s..."

Before I could ask, Natha already snapped his hands and all of the refreshments and papers on the table were cleared. I pulled out the paper carefully from the tube and spread it on the now-empty table.

"Is that...the druid palace’s floorplan?" Zia gasped.

"Yeah," I flattened the curling paper, and Jade immediately put his hands over the corner. What a good boy.

Running my hand over to the side where the secret tunnels were, my eyes soon caught what I was looking for. A path leading to nowhere, because it went past the paper.

Went past the border of the territory.

I patted the disappearing point on the paper, raising my gaze to the others. "What do you think is over here?"

Natha arched his brow for a second before his lips and silver eyes curled. "Your Grandma’s island."