novelraw Chapter 657: Whirlpool
Chapter 657: Whirlpool
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
At dawn, when the sunlight sprinkled down from the celestial vault above, accompanying the ringing of bells resonating inside and out, the large gates connecting the inside and outside of the Golden Palace also slowly opened apart. Like the entrance from one world leading to another world, it presented itself before several carriages driving over.
Although named "carriages", in reality these vehicles were all pulled by Cardinals.
In recent years, the Cardinal Association advocated by the Empress carried out an out-and-out innovation for Naris's transportation. Among which of course there were obstacles and it wasn't accomplished in one move. Especially the Chief Financial Minister, after he saw one Cardinal after another on the financial statements being approved for purchase compressing the budget, even his tears were directly about to shoot out. However after multiple debates with the Minister of Environment and Health, the Financial Minister ultimately also had to give up arguing.
The primary reason was not being able to go against the Empress. Secondly, he was also indeed sick and tired of the widely criticized smell of horse manure on the streets of Saint-Nazareth.
After several carriages slowly stopped, the door of the leading black carriage slowly opened outwards. An elder with white hair looking quite robust walked down from within the carriage compartment, it was precisely the newly ascended Prime Minister, Eouni.
This elder didn't look like he had any abilities, yet unexpectedly became an evergreen tree amidst the precarious political environment. The people below fell batch after batch like straw, yet he remained standing firm and even got promoted all the way, ultimately becoming the Prime Minister in his sixties.
This was entirely because Eouni had an ability that none of the previous Prime Ministers could match: extremely excellent observational skills.
Not only towards people, but also towards the situation.
This innate ability not only allowed him to maintain a mistress and male concubine for many years behind his legal wife's back in his private life, but more importantly allowed him to always stand in a safe place under Elizabeth's command.This ability had already become his passive instinct, and this morning was also the case.
Right when Eouni just stepped out of the carriage taking his first breath of air outside the Golden Palace, he felt a stuffiness in his chest, seemingly a sense of heaviness before a torrential downpour.
He stretched out a hand rubbing the air, yet didn't feel moisture as he envisioned. Thus he could only let out a muffled hum, turning his head to look at the several carriages parked behind his carriage.
At this moment, the doors of those carriages were already open as well, from which several "big shots" of Naris walked down.
Just taking one glance, Eouni didn't want to look anymore.
Minister of Defense Pietro, Minister of Foreign Affairs Shuji, Director of the Occult Bureau Albert...
The relevant figures with numerous and complicated matters in the political arena was just these. The appearance of one of these people was already enough to give him a huge headache, let alone now they were all gathered together.
He sighed a breath in his inner heart, but his face remained normal, looking at them walking towards him greeting,
"Good morning, Lord Prime Minister."
"Lord Prime Minister."
"Hehe, good morning."
Eouni chuckled "hehe", walking together with them towards the inside of the Golden Palace with his hands behind his back. But seemingly besides this opening greeting, Eouni didn't say anything else, merely walking forward.
The rest of the people exchanged glances with each other while walking. After secretly exchanging opinions, it was still the Minister of Defense who opened his mouth first.
"Lord Prime Minister was just summoned by Her Majesty yesterday, and called over again for the routine report today, truly hard on Mr. Eouni."
"...They are all minor matters. Compared to you group of 'dangerous elements', the financial meeting yesterday made me worry less."
"You flatter me..." Defense Minister Pietro laughed awkwardly, but still continued to ask, "Presumably with Mr. Ihsan's ability, yesterday's financial report should have made Her Majesty very satisfied right?"
Ihsan was currently Naris's Chief Financial Minister, and yesterday's report was also done by him.
But exactly as mentioned previously, Eouni possessed extremely outstanding observational skills. He almost instantly read what the other party wanted to ask.
Eouni blinked, following which he replied neither agreeing nor disagreeing,
"Satisfied yesterday doesn't mean satisfied today. You understand this point, Lord Pietro."
"..."
Eouni left behind the other ministers behind him, walking rapidly into the Golden Palace. Seemingly not wanting to converse too much with them, making the remaining few people exchange a glance before barely catching up.
The reason Eouni did this was also very simple. Because he saw it, these ministers had complaints about Empress Elizabeth, and seemingly had already reached a state to a point where they had to be released...
The outer courtyard of the Golden Palace was a bit more bustling than usual, Eouni thought so as he looked at the inner court officials brushing past inside the palace.
Her Majesty the Empress seemed to have driven all the inner court officials to reside in the outer courtyard, also unknown for what reason.
When they passed by, two inner court officials standing in the corridor were lowering their heads whispering secretly in conversation. But Eouni only heard a few fragments of words that's all.
"Really, did you see it?"
"Absolutely true, I feel us moving out from the inner courtyard must be because of this reason..."
"Could it be Her Majesty truly..."
"Otherwise why did Her Majesty secretly kill those dogs of hers previously? Several dozens almost a hundred ah, my goodness, I heard they were all buried in the grass of the inner courtyard. I also don't know why she had to kill all those cute little guys, but I think it has..."
"Shh!"
The two inner court officials who were conversing hurriedly stopped their voices after seeing the several ministers walking into the palace from outside the large gates, lowering their heads to continue busying themselves with their own matters.
Actually Eouni didn't hear clearly the whispers of those girls at all. He could only vaguely hear a few scattered vocabulary words, "Her Majesty", "reason" or something, it should be about matters within the Golden Palace.
He merely blinked, acting as if he heard nothing continuing to walk forward. After bypassing several corridors he then stepped into the conference room. At this time, Her Majesty the Empress hadn't arrived yet, so he sat upright and still on a side seat, closing his eyes anticipating Her Majesty's arrival.
The Empress arrived a bit later today than usual. In the past when they hadn't arrived the Empress would have already been sitting here waiting for them to arrive. Today they sat here for almost ten minutes yet still hadn't seen the Empress's shadow.
They naturally wouldn't dare to have any complaints, just still inevitably producing curiosity towards this unexpected change.
"Tap! Tap! Tap!"
It wasn't until a burst of heavy and powerful footsteps sounded from outside the door that Eouni opened his eyes, looking at the door simultaneously with the several ministers beside him who had prepared for a long time.
"Everyone, good morning."
Only seeing Elizabeth step into the conference room with a very plain expression. Although the expression on her face still lacked warmth, it still couldn't conceal the glowing vitality on her face.
Eouni had already witnessed it yesterday, but the ministers beside him were noticing the Empress being entirely different from normal days for the first time.
How to say it, casually evaluating Her Majesty is a felony, but this kind of feeling was ultimately still unavoidable.
If the Elizabeth of the past gave the people below the feeling resembling a guillotine that had experienced many battles and was full of the stench of blood, then the current Elizabeth was more like a sharp precious sword entirely brand new out of the factory, polished shiny with oil.
This wasn't saying the feeling Her Majesty the Empress gave people wasn't dangerous anymore, just...
Mm, seems to have more vitality?
Like suddenly transitioning from the severe cold deep winter to the early spring of the Awakening of Insects, probably this kind of feeling.
He also didn't know if Her Majesty obtained some secret medicine in recent days, able to replenish blood to the point of a ruddy complexion and glowing vitality, seemingly even her mood improved quite a bit.
Only a pity he didn't dare to casually converse with Her Majesty, otherwise this old man would also want to ask and see if there was some secret medicine...
Eouni thought like this, but on his face he still submissively opened his mouth saying good morning to Her Majesty the Empress.
Elizabeth sat empty-handed on the main seat. Her hollow eyes swept a glance at the several ministers below who had made preparations, seemingly instantly penetrating everything. Without waiting for them to open their mouths, she looked at the Defense Minister Pietro among them.
"Lord Pietro, before formal reporting, you have a matter to bring up?"
The minister whose name was called blinked, taking a glance at his colleagues but not daring to look at Elizabeth. Remaining silent for quite a while before giving up on himself spreading open the original proposal in his hand, saying heavily.
"Yes, Your Majesty, it's about the matter of the disastrous defeat of the Southern Continent Allied Army."
"Go on."
Elizabeth leaned back on the seat behind her, looking with keen interest at the crowd below, allowing the icy line of sight in her eyes to sweep past every inch of their expressions. Wanting to dissect alive any bit of secrets hidden beneath those reactions, as if doing so could bring her endless amusement.
"Half a month ago, the Southern Continent Allied Army suffered a setback in the encirclement and suppression of the Southern Red Dragon Court, the losses... absolutely unprecedented. Not only did the general appointed by Your Majesty perish, the large batch of recruited army directly collapsed failing to form an organized system, even directly going missing. We additionally didn't arrange manpower to reorganize the army anew. Tallying up the missing and dead soldiers, the total number can reach seven or eight out of ten. So many people, even a hundred thousand pigs probably couldn't all be caught within a day, but to surprisingly be utterly defeated by the Red Dragon Court within one day, this is simply..."
"I am aware of the situation. The one reporting back said there was an anomaly in the sky at that time, it was the anomaly that defeated our army, not the Red Dragon Court."
"Then according to Your Majesty's intention, what should be done next? Could it be giving up on the Southern Continent exactly like this?"
"Yes." Elizabeth seemed completely unconcerned about the outcome over there, directly announcing her command, "I have already decided to abandon the entire allied army in the Southern Continent to stop losses."
Pietro opened his mouth, seeming somewhat unbelievable. He murmured opening his mouth.
"Wait wait wait, Your Majesty, I don't understand..."
"Is it very hard to understand? Or instead to say, you don't not understand, but have an opinion towards this decision?"
"I..."
Pietro opened his mouth. Under Elizabeth's extremely oppressive sweeping gaze, he was terrified to the point of almost being unable to speak. Even beads of sweat squeezed out on his forehead. But ultimately, he still trembled his teeth, contending with the countless "I have no opinion" wanting to escape from his mouth, before difficultly opening his mouth.
"I have an opinion... Your Majesty... whether it's the matters of the Southern Continent, the matters on the eastern side, the matters of the Northern Border, and also the matters on the sea... pardon my bluntness, I haven't understood Your Majesty's deep meaning. And it's not simply me, my colleagues, and quite a few ministers also harbor doubts towards these resolutions of Your Majesty..."
Sitting on the side seat Eouni closed his eyes, silently sighing a breath, not expecting these guys still had the courage to speak out their opinions towards Elizabeth.
Have to know in the past few years, Naris's foreign policies had already been finalized by Empress Elizabeth to possess an unprecedentedly tough attitude. Especially towards Schwari and Kadu who had disputes in the past. If it was only this much, these ministers perhaps wouldn't express anything. After all among their elders perhaps some participated in the disputes with Schwari from a few centuries ago, possessing a bit of national enmity and family hatred was also very normal.
But uniquely what made the ministers below extremely puzzled, was Her Majesty the Empress's fondness for messing with a messy kind of proxy war.
The previous Human Allied Army in the Southern Continent was like this, Naris folks in the army could be counted on one's fingers. They were entirely recruited Easterners from the West Continent, stirring up a mess in the Southern Continent, and even supported a puppet regime of the Green Dragon Court.
Not only the Southern Continent, the chaotic eastern side of the West Continent was also like this. Over there it seemed a fanatical religious military organization called [What-chama-call-it Pure Holy Ointment Army] was established. Striking under the banner of "bringing order out of chaos" engaging in a war with many small nations whose situations had already stabilized, resulting in messing up the atmosphere over there turning fiery hot anew.
The Black Chieftain on the ocean backstabbed all the other great pirates, frantically hunting freelance pirates; the Sardin Woman's Country and Turan Family in the Northern Border were also secretly supported to confront against the rising what-chama-call-it Wutong Tree...
Over these years down, these ministers watched helplessly as the Empress had to stick a foot in everywhere. Throwing in massive amounts of money outside yet obtaining nothing besides a ground full of death and chaos everywhere.
If not for Naris within its borders having truly grown robust and fat in recent years, and these matters hadn't spread to within the borders, likely it wouldn't have waited until today for Pietro to say these words to Elizabeth.
Pietro presented all of the above to Elizabeth. Both inside and outside his words clearly expressed a viewpoint, "Your Majesty take a rest, don't do this kind of thing anymore".
After finishing saying these, a layer of weak sweat couldn't help but ooze out on Pietro's forehead. He cautiously cast a sidelong glance in Elizabeth's direction, only to find she was merely listening attentively, not looking towards his side.
This action of not looking at him directly instead made his inner heart slightly relax a bit. Unknowingly why, he was truly very afraid of Elizabeth's gaze looking towards him. That appalling feeling was truly very hard to describe, it was like stripping off all the clothes and flesh on his body, and then placing him under the sun suffering exposure like that painful.
Elizabeth hadn't published her viewpoint yet, while the Director of the Occult Bureau to the side also seized this time opening his mouth.
"Your Majesty, although the Pure Holy Ointment Army on the eastern front of the continent is progressing smoothly in the war affairs, the nations swept along the way basically being powerless to resist, but we've received reliable intel, there are many resistance organizations hiding in the annihilated nations brewing. Head-on confrontation with the Holy Ointment Army we support is already impossible, they might because of this head towards extremes targeting us standing behind the Holy Ointment Army. Carrying out terrorist attacks within Naris borders, up to even plotting actions targeting Your Majesty is also not impossible..."
The matter was exactly like this. Although the Holy Ointment Army supported on the eastern side of the continent fought those small nations very easily, incomparable to that hard bone of the Red Dragon Court to chew on, but even the most inhumane genocide would ultimately have circumstances of retaining roots. The intel received this time was precisely like this.
The Director of the Occult Bureau was also standing together with Pietro. Fundamentally he also rejected this kind of thankless foreign-related behavior. Especially, over these years Empress Elizabeth hadn't mentioned to anyone the true reason she did these behaviors.
The so-called going to the Southern Continent dividing interests?
If it is truly like this, why still need to recruit soldiers outside, why was the attention towards over there later on also somewhat inadequate?
"What?! Attacks targeting Her Majesty? Albert I command you to..."
To the side, Prime Minister Eouni who had always kept silent was the first to be unable to sit still upon hearing there might be a "decapitation operation" targeting Elizabeth brewing. He hurriedly opened his mouth seeking to elevate the degree of attention for this matter, but Elizabeth to the side merely smiled slightly. She remained exactly unconcerned, not only towards those resisters intending to be against her, even towards the admonishments they both just made it was also like this.
She seemingly completely lacked the necessity of intending to explain her reasons for acting to them. It was just that a bit of appreciation towards their sincere admonishments flowed out from her slightly spacing out hollow twin eyes. But besides this, there was nothing else.
Elizabeth raised her left hand, stopping Eouni's unfinished words, casually saying.
"The scope of your duty is preventing any terrorist attacks targeting Saint-Nazareth. As for targeting me... if they have the guts, then let them come as they please, they are very welcome to give it a try."
"Your Majesty, still better to be careful, you..."
"Shush, this topic ends here, I'm bored with it, next topic."
Pietro said such a big pile, Albert also added a huge pile. They had probably envisioned countless consequences of their admonishments. Being dragged down and beheaded by an enraged Elizabeth, lighter ones being demoted and insulted. Yet uniquely they didn't anticipate Elizabeth wouldn't do anything to them...
Perhaps because Her Majesty Elizabeth's mood these few days had been very good?
But, seemingly Her Majesty also didn't want to make any explanations, even treating their admonishments as air.
It was just that, them with mortal eyes and mortal bodies merely being officials under the Empress who didn't even dare to raise their heads looking straight at her, how could they see the things seen from Elizabeth's perspective at this moment?
Yet seeing Elizabeth sitting in the main seat, keeping on listening to them reporting other matters bored to death, it was just that on her originally should be empty palm, a massive, luxuriously and exquisitely decorated golden cup seemingly had already been grasped in the center of her hand, swaying following the swaying of her wrist.
"Splosh splosh..."
While swaying, intermittent heavy and faint sounds of liquid then transmitted from within that golden cup, just exactly like a cup of fine red wine colliding within a goblet.
Elizabeth's golden eyes subtly twisted, lowering her head looking into that golden cup. Yet seeing within it seemingly had already accumulated a large amount of scarlet, filthy liquid as thick and heavy as oil pollution.
That unholy liquid was fast about to fill up the entire golden cup, but in Elizabeth's hand it still appeared so lightweight. Even following her wrist spinning that golden cup began to twist spinning out a whirlpool wanting to devour everything all around...
It seems, just a little bit more is lacking...
While lowering her head looking into that unholy golden cup twisting the turbid liquid, Elizabeth thought with some anticipation,
"Next for the honeymoon with Fisher, what kind of arrangements should be made..."