The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 720: sometimes, you can find healthy apples in the pile of rotten ones

Chapter 720: sometimes, you can find healthy apples in the pile of rotten ones

The first step the prince had to do was consolidate the eviction with the treasurer and the right-hand man.

As expected, the right-hand man, who was actually someone sent by the Emperor to watch the Prince closely, was rebelling hard. The agents had to tie him because the other option was to forcefully put him to sleep. We brought the Prince to the meeting room and left the wife and the son behind in the reception room. As for the daughter, I had Heraz question her more since she seemed to be capable of honesty.

Thanks to that, we also found out that the treasurer was actually a competent man that the Empire had thrown over to the Principality because he was too...honest? Apparently, the treasurer’s boss didn’t like how straight and stoic the man was, but since the man’s teacher was a great scholar, they couldn’t just ’exile’ him to some obscured region.

And that was how he was moved to the Principality, which wasn’t an obscured region but considered ’beneath’ the Empire.

"Sir Gria is a good person; thanks to him, we’re able to at least stay afloat despite the low trade flow," the daughter explained. "But I can tell he is slowly losing his spirit because the people in charge kept doing tricks to embezzle funds."

"An honest treasurer," Natha muttered with a soft chuckle. "What a treasure."

Indeed. No matter how honest the person who kept the money, however, it wouldn’t do much if he didn’t have enough authority to investigate embezzlement and bring the case to trial. He was essentially there to count the money and try to prevent the territory from crumbling.

"The treasurer is not the only treasure, isn’t he?" I glanced at Natha, who shrugged in response.

Of course, what I meant was the daughter. She seemed to have enough awareness and knowledge--more than the supposed heir. She looked like a resourceful lady who had to suppress herself because her family only wanted her to marry and did nothing else.

Especially nothing that would overshadow her brother.

Ah...such a sadly frequent story.

"Are you thinking of keeping her?" Natha asked.

I smacked him because it sounded like I was trying to make a harem or something, but he just laughed like the naughty demon that he was. "It’s just...if we’re going to let the citizen stay, it would be better to have a ’figure’ to ’lead’ them...you know? Someone who knew them instead of the committee member."

"Hmm..."

"And it’s not like she’ll have anywhere to turn to," I shrugged. "She is probably already looking for a way to get away from his abusive family. If she hadn’t, then I wanted to give her a chance to get away."

Natha took out Heraz’s report and read the royal family’s profile again. "Well, she doesn’t seem dangerous. Are you going to keep the treasurer too?"

"That depends on him," I shrugged. "But it’ll make things easier if we don’t have to look for more people to keep this territory stable. Maybe have Lesta or Eruha teach him a thing or two about the way the other realms work?"

Natha chuckled and answered it by kissing the back of my hand. Oh, what a flirt. "Anyway, what should we do with this one?" Natha pointed at the Emperor’s eyes, who was still screaming against the gag.

But of course, my leaves gag was the best; soundproof while still letting the man breathe. free𝑤ebnovel.com

"Oh, just let him be. If the other vassals protested, just tie them together so we can send them back to the Empire in one crate or something," I sneered. In the first place, we only secured this person so he wouldn’t be able to do anything to complicate things--like organizing a living shield or contacting the Empire.

I turned toward the flinching Prince. He had changed into proper clothes and was holding the piece of paper with the stuff I told him to tell the citizens. As we had this conversation, the announcement for all citizens to gather in front of the palace had been sounded through the voice projector.

"Your Highness, the druids had secured the border keep," Heraz reported not long after. "More than half of the citizens had already arrived--the rest are the officials and the wealthy merchants. What should we do about them?"

"Get them forcefully," I clicked my tongue. Deciding on stuff like this had gotten easier and easier for me. "Just take the family head and the rest will probably follow. If not, it doesn’t matter. Just take the decision makers."

"By your command."

For me, the regular citizens were more important than the officials I would most likely kick out anyway, so I told the Prince to get ready and bring him to the front yard of the palace. At the end of the paved yard, there was a section that looked like a balcony, overlooking the plaza where the citizens usually gathered during important events.

From there, we could see that the plaza had been filled with confused and curious citizens. Well, of course they would, since the sun had just risen. The sky was still a dull purple color, not yet bright enough for even the bakery to open. But I made sure that the lamp flanking the balcony shone brightly so they all could see the Prince standing there.

The noisy crowds started to get quiet when they saw the Prince. I could see how confused they were because there was no official announcing the Prince’s appearance loudly like usual--heck, there were even no soldiers around the plaza and the palace. Their confusion increased when they saw me behind the Prince, and even more when they could see Natha slightly further away behind us.

It seemed like the crowd would get noisy again, so I told the Prince to hurry. "Get to it."

"Uhh--ye...yes..." the Prince acted like I was holding a knife behind his neck, but he at least properly stood in front of the device that acted like a microphone and would project his voice all over the city.

Let’s see if he could do it well, or I would really hold a sharp object behind his neck since my spear had been buzzing ever since we stepped into the yard.

[M-my people!] the Prince started, gripping the railing as if his totally looking fine middle-aged body needed a lot of support to stand. [I-I know you must be wondering why I summoned all of you in this u-ungodly hour]

The voice coming out of the speaker was rather squeaky. I wondered if the Prince was nervous, or if it was how he spoke usually. But anyway, since he had started to speak, all of the people’s attention was now on the balcony.

[The t-truth is...I-I have to make an announcement]

I whispered sharply behind the Prince. "No-ti-ce."

[Ah, yes--my people! You m-must have read the...the paper--notice! Yes, the notice that had b-been sent to your h-house]

The Prince stuttered, but it didn’t prevent the citizens from hearing him. Naturally, they were all even more confused. Murmurs immediately spread through the crowds; if they hadn’t fully awake before, they were surely now. Focusing my mana onto my ears, I could hear some of those murmurs.

"Huh? Didn’t the soldiers tell us to destroy it because it’s fake?"

"I was told it was done by terrorists."

"They told us to ignore those papers just yesterday, so...what happened?"

"And who are those...people...behind His Highness?"

Oh, at least they called us ’people’ instead of ’creatires’.

"Wait--so what about that notice?"

As the confusion grew, I nudged the Prince on the back, and he jumped a little bit before returning to the microphone.

[What I want to say is that...uhh...] he looked down at the piece of paper that almost looked like a rag at that point as he kept squeezing it with clammy hands. [The notice is r-real, and I announce here that we s-shall...we shall abide by the notice as per the uhh...the New Covenant]

The murmurs increased to the point that it was no longer a murmur. Those who were at the front and could see the balcony clearly started to call out to the Prince as they realized what happened. The content of the notice, which they were told to forget and ignore, came back again.

"W-what?!"

"Your Highness--but, that..."

"Does that mean we have to get out of h-here? Do we have to leave the principality?!"

The distress shout of the masses made the Prince flinch again. Did he used to people only agreeing with him? I wonder. [T-that’s...uhh...that’s...]

"Your Highness! Please! We can’t just--"

The Prince crushed the paper in his hands and started to shout back while stomping his foot on the ground. [S-shut up! I...I also have to leave you know! Stop blaming me!]

As the ’me’ echoed throughout the city, silence ensued in the plaza. Everyone, including me, looked at the middle-aged man throwing a sudden tantrum while parting our lips and widening our eyes, dumbfounded. The people were speechless; even the murmurs stopped.

"What the hell?"

Even Natha sounded amused. "Wow, this person..."

I clicked my tongue and raised my hand. "Take him out."

The shapeshifters immediately dragged the Prince, who was still screaming and throwing a tantrum about how unfair everything was, including cursing at the Empire and of course, us. He was screaming even more than the citizens, which was totally ridiculous.

In the end, I had to step up.

"W-who is that?" the murmurs returned as I stood in front of the microphone device. I took a deep breath and spoke.

[You heard the Prince, and we had given you enough time to pack your bag]

I raised my hand, and the troops working diligently since dawn came around the plaza and the palace with the tied-up soldiers behind them. It was time to make them realize the seriousness of the situation.

[According to the New Covenant endorsed by your Goddess, we shall take the territory back]