The Aftermath

Lance eventually arrived at the capital. Fiona ran to the Flamor manor to check up on her father while Lance ran to the Palace. There were many soldiers patrolling the area and the smell of blood was everywhere. 

The citizens looked to be evacuated but the soldiers were not from the military. Lance was aware that most of the manpower was placed in the Thorkell battle-front and that was why they were able to perform well so where did all these soldiers come from?

They also look well-trained too. After a closer look, Lance noticed that these soldiers seemed very similar to the soldiers he just fought at the border.

His eyes bulged in shock, "Thorkell Soldiers in the capital? Impossible! Grenden, How dare you rebel!" Lance said in rage.

Using his eyes and his battle experience, he was able to get into the palace without taking much damage. The palace had a strong bloody odor which gave a very ominous vibe to Lance. He quickly came to his father's office and saw the dead body of Duke Zenat.

He fell to his knees and his heart completely broke. He actually knew Duke Zenat longer than he did his own mother and was being taken care of by him very well. This heartbreak was something Lance never wanted to experience again. He walked over and removed the sword that was stuck into Duke Zenat's body. He carried the body and put him down on the couch.

It did not take a genius to know who was responsible for this. His eyes turned bloody, "Grenden, Today will be your last day alive".

He quickly departed and ran down the hallway. After what seemed like a long time, he eventually sensed some people in a room and arrived secretly. 

It was just Grenden and three other soldiers. Without thinking, Lance quickly ran in and lunged at one soldier, killing him.

He then turns around and swipes at another soldier, killing him as well.

Grenden's eyes turned into shock as he saw the scene in front of him, the last soldier quickly clashed with Lance and Grenden blasted a huge wave of magic towards Lance.

Lance was pushed back and the soldier dashed towards him to slash at him but his eyes gave him a vision that allowed him to perfectly counter and kill him.

He turned towards the direction of Grenden but saw nobody there.

His eyes bulged again, where was he?

He heard movement in the next room. He quickly ran there and as he turned on the light, he was surrounded by dozens of soldiers. Lance saw Grenden's smile as he felt a sharp pain in his head and everything slowly faded to black.

When Lance awoke, he saw himself tied up and his father's corpse was in the corner.

He couldn't even cry anymore, he had lost too much today. He can't believe he came too late.

"Your father was killed by foreign enemies, unfortunately, the Duke was killed as well, but don't worry, I will be your right-hand man in the future and help you lead this empire," Grenden said while slowly rubbing Lance's chin.

Lance obviously didn't believe a word he said but unfortunately, there is no proof of anything and he knows Grenden probably established a decent alibi or reputation for himself. Lance doesn't even have any backers now, his two main backers were killed. Could he even contend with Grenden's power and influence?

He stares once more at his father's corpse and a wave of depression hits him. "Just kill me," Lance said calmly.

"You already know you were destined for the throne, how can our future emperor be killed so easily? But you are still too young. Just trust uncle to give you good advice in the future, okay?" Grenden said while the feeling of victory washed over him.

He naturally knew he had no true legitimacy for being king but he didn't need the title, just the power. Outside of trying to kill him secretly, there is nothing Lance can do to stop his power and influence. But even killing him secretly is something Grenden doesn't want to deal with in the future.

"Cut off his legs, a crippled emperor? Now that would be entertaining to see" Grenden said as Lance's eyes bulged once more.

He would rather die than live as a motionless puppet to this disgusting count. He was hoping and praying that someone could save him or kill him. Anyone, Please. Many images flashed through his head as the blade was about to fall on his legs.

All his good moments with the Duke, With his mother, with his father, and even his first love who he can't reach anymore. A tear fell down as the memory flashed by.

And right when despair was about to hit him? A feminine figure breaks open the door. 

Lance was hooked, "There is no way. Did she really come to save me right when I was thinking about her?" 

Lance was feeling a rollercoaster of emotions until powder immediately filled up the room and he felt himself get tackled.

A small spark flashed from the woman's hand and then he found himself surrounded in a barrier before an extremely loud explosion was heard. 

The room was left in pieces and most of the soldiers were dead or disabled. Lance looked over in shock, from one moment, he was about to have his legs chopped off and in this moment, most of his enemies were dealt with.

Count Grenden, slowly got up and a wave of fury flushed over his face.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be at the Thorkell battle-front? Why are you here?!" He said with rage. 

"Soldiers, get them!" Count Grenden yelled as the noise attracted the remaining soldiers and the woman slowly walked forward.

Due to the messy scene and the explosion, Lance's senses weren't as keen as they should be but as he looked closer, he was a woman with a powerful temperament giving off a strong aura. She was shooting all kinds of powerful spells, back to back, while not giving the soldiers any time to breathe. 

Even though they had Kortz, how could someone who fought a Kortz master like Princess Kunai for so long still struggle to handle these guys?

Lance's vision then saw it clearly, this woman was not Selena like he imagined, but it was Fiona!

He always knew how powerful this woman was but it was not until he himself was in a life-or-death scenario where he got to truly understand just how impactful she could be in any scenario.

"Don't worry Your Highness, we won't let any of these guys get away" Fiona responded perfunctorily after noticing Lance got up. 

Grenden realized he was no match and attempted to escape but was subdued by Fiona.

Grenden was unsure how Fiona got back so quickly, given how much money he gave to the Thorkell empire, there was no way the war would be wrapped up this quickly. Was there something else that went wrong?

He was so close. So close. He couldn't get over it.

Grenden is a man who is greedy for life but he is well-prepared for failure. Instead of having the rest of his life ruined, he would rather die here!

Lance was about to say something until his eye activated. He showed a look of horror and then quickly broke free from his restraints that weakened after Fiona tackled him. 

After subduing Grenden, Fiona turned around to ask Lance what to do but she did not notice that Grenden just opened his mouth and there was a miniature bomb inside. 

Right when it was about to blow up, Lance tackled Fiona away and then took most of the explosion on his back.

Grenden was left dead on the floor and Lance immediately passed out in pain.

Fiona could not understand what just happened, Grenden had a bomb? When? Was he trying to blow me up just now?

Cold sweat dripped on Fiona's back, she almost just lost her life due to a second of carelessness. 

She turns back and sees the big wound on Lance's back.

A strange feeling came over her heart, she had almost been a dominating queen who excelled over everyone and never needed help.

When was the last time someone took near-fatal damage to save her life?

She turned Lance over and looked at his face. She didn't even know what she was thinking until her father ran over with Mr. Mandeline and other nobles not affiliated with Count Grenden. 

He hugged his daughter quickly, 

"My dear daughter, are you okay? I didn't want you doing something so dangerous!" He said as a soft rebuke but in a gentle voice.

"I'm fine father, his highness saved my life, please send him to the doctor" Fiona stated.

Marquis Flamor was shocked, His daughter had never reacted to a man like this before. He looked over at Lance and started sizing him up as a future son-in-law.

"Not bad, not bad," he thought to himself.

He always had a good impression of Lance but this was beyond his thinking.

The others signaled that this was not the time for father-daughter bonding and they should stabilize the area.

The nobles then assessed the damage and collected all the bodies.

Eventually, people found out about the death of Duke Zenat and that caused heavy mourning for everyone in the capital. The Death of the emperor and the death of the Count were also announced. 

Because the Count died before any proof could be obtained, most of the people in his faction targeted the rebellion on the Thorkell empire instead of the Count. This annoyed many people who knew the truth but since the Count was already dead, they decided to move on.

Lance was brought to the Flamor manor for treatment and was personally taken care of by Fiona, to the surprise of Marquis Flamor.

 They kept him hidden from the palace to avoid any incidents.

Back in the New Southern City, Selena had suppressed all the enemies and spies and brought peace back to the city. Since they were at the very south, there were not a lot of enemies in the first place so it was not too difficult for Selena to handle.

The empress had arrived using the teleport method and was slowly learning about the new city through Selena.

The empress was impressed with how efficient and effective her son and daughter-in-law were at managing a city, she felt like she could properly retire now.

Her eyes gazed at the capital, Selena saw this and asked if she had missed it.

"No, not really. I don't feel like that Count will win in the end but I am quite curious about who deals with him. Zenat? My brother? or even that boy? I'm not quite sure" the empress says while muttering to herself.

Soon, Jason arrived and everyone in the new southern city was celebrating. 

The casualties were kept to a minimum and this event gave everyone confidence in themselves and their lords.

The empress never revealed her identity and only became known as the archduke's mother. 

With the Southern territory conquered, the Zoraine empire in a ceasefire and the Thorkell empire's border city captured, the Kadence empire has reached an unprecedented level of peace.

Mages can now comfortably be recruited to the magic tower to learn non-offensive magic without hindering the war potential of the empire.

The city became more and more prosperous.

The southern city is pretty isolated from the capital and almost all the citizens don't really care about what's going on there.

Jason is mainly to blame since he has little to no involvement with Lance's territory, even though he's set to become emperor.

The new southern city continued to enjoy peace and diversity as the months slowly passed.

While the new southern city has been enjoying itself, the capital had a much more gloomy atmosphere.

With the deaths of the emperor, the disappearance of the empress, and Lance stuck in a coma, the royal palace could hardly become stabilized. 

Without a member of the royal family here to stabilize the palace, the capital will continue to become chaotic and lead to drastic measures.

Many people sent requests to Jason in the southern city but he ignored every single one of them, Jason has never cared for the empire or the safety of the nobles. He has already found a safe haven for himself and his family so he couldn't care less what the others do.

After realizing that Jason wasn't a good option, the higher nobles, mainly Duke Mandeline and Marquis Flamor, were discussing how they could bring the capital back to its glory.

The only way is to rely on Lance but he has been in a coma for so many days and shows no sign of waking up. Lance doesn't have any relatives or a fiancé, there is simply no one suitable to take over.

Then both the eyes of the Marquis and the Duke beamed, Fiancé!, that's it. If they can find Lance a fiancé and advertise her as the future empress, everything will be solved.

They turn towards Lance and they see Fiona carefully wiping his face and a thought comes to their minds.

Wouldn't this work?

Fiona is currently the most popular woman in the empire in the younger generation and she is called the Hero of the war alongside Lance.

Everything works out.

"Fiona, how do you feel about the Lance kid..." Marquis Flamor asked carefully.

Fiona frowned, "What's this question supposed to mean?" she thought to herself.

"Is there something wrong, father?" Fiona asked.

"No, nothing is wrong. We are just thinking of making you the new empress" Marquis Flamor said.

"Is it to boost the status of our family?" Fiona asked calmly.

"No, the capital is unstable right now and no one has legitimacy to control the palace except Lance, Jason, and the empress. Lance is in a coma while Jason and the Empress are completely ignoring everything going on here. I believe they are probably in that magic tower so they don't even have to listen to us" Marquis Flamor said with a sigh.

Fiona was thinking about it carefully. She believes she has the power to boost the status of her family by herself without relying on selling herself in marriage but this situation is more about the overall picture for the empire, not about family benefits. She would step up if that's what would solve the problem.

"Okay father, I agree. I always thought I was the most suitable for this position anyway and..." she turns to look at Lance.

"I don't think he's bad," she said while a rare sweet smile appeared on her lips.

Soon after, Fiona was advertised as the crown princess and was backed by Duke Mandeline and Marquis Flamor. 

The military faction lost its pillar with Duke Zenat. It will eventually become integrated into the Future Empress' faction through Marquis Flamor's relationship with Fiona.

Duke Mandeline became part of the neutral faction now that his sister had stopped being empress and sought to increase his political influence so he had the power to help Ivory achieve her goals.

Time slowly passed and eventually, Lance woke up from his deep sleep.