Chapter 234

The Venes territory, located in the southwestern part of the Empire, was one of the wealthiest regions even within the Empire.

The granaries were filled to the brim with grains harvested from the vast and fertile plains, and most of the trade goods flowing in from the southern Panam Kingdom and the western regions circulated through this territory.

In the past, there were even rumors that the position of Empress was bought with money, so one could easily imagine just how wealthy it was.

In line with such wealth, the lord’s castle of Venes was also an incredibly splendid building. While it couldn’t quite compare to the imperial palace, Magnus Kaelum, which was built with the full might of the Empire, it was on a completely different level from the castles of the Marquis of Landenburg or Duke Bien.

Although, if you actually looked inside, it was an utterly hideous place.

—

The bedroom of Venes Castle was always filled with decadent pleasures and immoral joys.

Under the faint purple lighting, a massive bed was littered with exhausted men and unconscious women, their naked bodies glistening with sweat, tangled together like mollusks. The pungent smell of bodily fluids mixed with floral and sweet scents, creating an intoxicating and stimulating aroma.

“Elpinel… why have you punished me like this…?”

In the midst of this mountain of limp flesh, a young man sat, his body slick with a sticky liquid, letting out a silent scream.

Ernst von Wittelsbach, the third prince of the Empire and Isabella’s son. Once praised as the future Emperor and a knight of unparalleled skill, he had now fallen so low that he was nothing more than a plaything for a witch.

Around him lay countless unconscious women—girls, really, too young to even be called women. They had been manipulated by Isabella to touch him against their will.

These girls, with their bright blonde hair and familiar-looking faces, some even with their purple eyes rolled back, all resembled Leonor in her younger days. It was a blatant mockery and a display of Isabella’s twisted tastes.

Ernst felt a hatred for his mother so intense it made him dizzy. But his body was no longer his own… all he could do was lament his helplessness.

—

Isabella, who had been enjoying her daily mockery of Ernst, wasn’t feeling particularly comfortable either. It wasn’t due to any ethical or moral concerns, but rather the stress of things not going according to plan.

“Everything’s gone completely sideways…”

As she exhaled a puff of smoke from her water pipe, Isabella sighed at the news brought by messengers from across the Empire. The plan she had been so confident in had started to fall apart almost immediately after being put into action. Such is the way of the world.

The plan was to draw in the eastern and northern tribes to divide Leopold’s forces, create chaos across the Empire, buy as much time as possible, and increase casualties. Once the fairies joined the war, Leopold, already stretched thin, wouldn’t be able to muster the forces needed to suppress Ernst’s army for years to come. Maintaining a stalemate and gradually regaining strength would have been enough. If Leopold failed to stop this, the Empire would be torn apart, which would also be a satisfying outcome.

It was a plan proposed by Feyrus, and Isabella had agreed, believing it had a high chance of success.

The start had certainly been smooth. The attack by Ka’har had tied down Landenburg, and the massive invasion by Varyakrus had forced Feylun to struggle with withdrawal.

But within days, everything had turned upside down. Before she could even think of a countermeasure, it had all happened too quickly.

“Five thousand troops wiped out in a single day?”

Even thinking about it now, it was absurd. These weren’t just any troops—they were Ka’har’s soldiers, known for their exceptional mobility, capable of toying with the Imperial Army in open combat. Yet half had been obliterated by crashing into a barrier, and the other half lost in a single night raid.

Even Feyrus, the ever-composed Feyrus, had been left speechless, his face frozen in disbelief. It was a war they could have won just by maintaining strict defenses and waiting.

“The Ka’har commander… his name was Amin, right?”

He could boast about this for the rest of his life. The legendary incompetence that left even Feyrus at a loss for words.

Moreover, Leopold had somehow convinced two legion commanders to head north, allowing Feylun’s forces to remain with Leopold’s army, sweeping through the local lord’s armies like splitting firewood.

That much was fine. The two legions holding back the invasion in place of Feylun were suffering massive losses. The problem was…

“The Holy War… has Elpinel, that monster, really started to move? No, surely not. It’s too soon…”

Elpinel. The supreme deity of humanity, the celestial god who detests all sin. A being that could never coexist with Lilith, the great demon of lust and pride that Isabella herself served.

Among the eleven gods, none despised demons as much as Elpinel.

Isabella had always known that Elpinel would intervene eventually. Destroying the seal of the Holy Grail meant breaking the celestial barrier and returning the world to its original state. As the demonic influence grew stronger, so too would the gods’ power.

But… with just one Holy Grail destroyed, it should still be too early for even a whisper to reach the mortal world…

It was impossible to receive a revelation without consuming a significant amount of lifespan.

However, denying what had already happened was meaningless.

Whether it was coincidence or fate, the priests of the capital had already organized a holy army and were advancing toward her.

The rumors Isabella herself had spread crumbled into nothingness before the might of Elpinel.

Now, even those in her faction could no longer deny that she was a witch.

They were too deeply involved to withdraw and had no choice but to follow her.

Moreover, the fairies of Alvheim were still just watching and showed no signs of attacking the empire. The reason for this was unknown.

Perhaps they were waiting for a better opportunity, or maybe there was some internal issue in Alvheim.

…It was a troublesome situation.

If things continued like this, the civil war might end before enough casualties were incurred.

She could only hope that the beastmen of the north would fight valiantly.

======[Ha-shal-leur]======

Lacey’s declaration of Isabella’s evil deeds spread throughout the empire in the blink of an eye.

A witch who killed royalty, corrupted nobles, and caused a war that plunged countless citizens into despair.

It was a shocking story, especially for those in the third prince’s faction who had only a superficial relationship with Isabella.

Even if they tried to refute it by saying there was no evidence, it was meaningless.

It was because of Robert, whom Lacey claimed was the witch’s accomplice.

Robert himself was screaming as he was being burned, but the confession he had written and the subsequent investigation based on it revealed evidence of his atrocities.

Of course, the evidence only proved Robert’s own crimes and did not clearly prove any intimate relationship with Isabella.

But that was enough.

From the moment Robert’s claim of being an apostate was proven true, people began to fully trust Lacey’s words, including her statement that Isabella was a witch.

Belief has a kind of inertia.

Once people started believing Lacey, even her claims without evidence were rarely doubted.

The neutral faction joined Leopold’s side, and more than half of Ernst’s local nobles also surrendered.

They claimed they had been deceived by the witch and had no intention of betraying the empire.

Whether that was true or they were just quickly withdrawing as the situation became unfavorable, only they knew. But as a result, the tide of the civil war had turned significantly.

—

“The Archbishop… You really went all out with this mess… You didn’t even give me a heads-up. Was this what you meant by leaving first?”

“Lacey asked me not to tell. The original plan was just to capture and punish Robert. I didn’t expect things like the empire’s archbishopric or the Archbishop either…”

My answer didn’t seem to satisfy Ludwig, as he let out a long sigh.

Three days after the Archbishop’s inauguration.

Lacey, who had gathered the clergy in the capital to organize a holy army, had already marched south and joined the forces of Landenburg, which were advancing toward Leopold’s main army.

The holy army wasn’t large in number.

Excluding the reserve forces left behind as a precaution, the troops that could be gathered in the capital consisted of only 150 holy knights and 200 combat priests.

Even that was the maximum number that could be gathered.

Most of the clergy were already scattered across the empire, dealing with the chaos there.

Of course, even if the numbers were small, the force itself wasn’t weak.

With 350 knight-level troops, it was more than the total number of knights in the Landenburg Marquisate.

There were also four master-level holy knights included.

“How will the Holy Kingdom take this? For now, there’s the pretext of exterminating the witch, but after the civil war ends, they’ll likely intervene. They might declare all those involved in establishing the empire’s archbishopric as heretics. Did you know that when you did this?”

Lacey probably knew. I had a rough idea too.

By creating the title of Archbishop, she had essentially made herself the “Saint of the Empire.” The Holy Kingdom wouldn’t take kindly to that.

“By then, Prince Leopold will have ascended the throne, so we can just ask him for protection. If the Holy Kingdom doesn’t want the church to split in two, they won’t be able to say much.”

If a cardinal hostile enough to Lacey emerges, we can just suspect him of being an apostate of the Holy Kingdom.

For now, the priority was to quickly crush Ernst’s forces and exterminate Isabella, who would be left alone.

The beastmen in the north, who were still engaged in a back-and-forth battle and increasing casualties, and Orhan, who was still alive and coming from the distant plains, were also still in the picture.