"Great master! Good morning! Today is Wednesday, with clear skies, and it is the first day of Lutecia’s lockdown being lifted."
"Your breakfast is ready, a West Yonette cheese sandwich, an Elf Nectar salad, and a cup of avocado yogurt imported from the Northern Territory Grand Duchy."
"Would you like to get up and eat now, or would you rather rest a bit longer?"
In the early morning, Sebastian’s familiar voice ca from beyond the curtains, waking Charlotte from her slumber.
Although she could function without sleep nowadays, a habit ingrained from a life of routine, getting her daily rest remained Charlotte’s thod of relaxation and unwinding.
Stretching lazily and yawning comfortably, she slowly sat up and said languidly,
"Let’s get up."
As soon as she finished speaking, the ready Sherry ca in with maids, each carrying various exquisite garnts.
Charlotte glanced over them, casually choosing a white noblewoman’s house dress.
The maids quickly sprang into action, attending to her with reverence and caution as they helped her change clothes.
"Any news today?"
Charlotte asked, both lazy and curious, allowing the maids to dress her like a doll being outfitted.
From beyond the curtains, Sebastian’s voice beca a bit cheerier,
"Yes, news has co from the Royal Palace. The central council eting is to convene tomorrow, and I have already delivered the invitation to your study."
Charlotte paused briefly, sowhat surprised,
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes, tomorrow. This ti the uproar was too great. Even the nobles left in charge in other lands were alard. As soon as the lockdown was lifted, a great number of noble carriages went straight to the inner city, heading directly to the Royal Palace and the Lutecia Cathedral."
Charlotte laughed,
"They’re going to beg, aren’t they?"
Sebastian, from outside the curtains, shook his head,
"Not just that, many also see it as an opportunity, after all... quite a few titles were stripped this ti around."
Charlotte clicked her tongue,
"Well, they’re going to be disappointed then. Our King is set on strengthening centralized power. Titles that have been taken back won’t be easy to relinquish again."
Speaking, she asked with interest,
"They must have other moves, right?"
"Yes, I’ve heard that so of the nobles outside of the city, making use of the ti Lutecia was locked down, have jointly requested to propose a new item concerning the distribution of titles during the central council eting."
Charlotte imdiately understood.
The full na of the central council eting was the New Moon Nobles and Royal Family Central Joint Council, essentially a platform for dialogue between the nobles and the royal family, a battleground for their power struggle, and a weapon for the nobles to restrict royal authority.
Proposals passed with a high number of votes at the council, even the King in principle, could not reject, or else it would be seen as a violation of the Holy Code and the Royal Authority Contract.
Although the recent investigation punished a large number of nobles, it was after all, only a small part of the aristocracy. The majority of the nobles did not wish for the royal authority to be too strong.
Especially after this "Great Purge", the contradictions between the nobility and the royal family would only deepen, and the high likelihood of proposals to reallocate titles being passed with high numbers of votes.
Once the proposal passed, even if Louis V was reluctant, he would have to hold his nose and release all the reclaid titles.
However, the submission of proposals required procedures and ti, and the convening of a central council eting also had a "cooling-off period."
Apart from the fixed eting every four years, etings like today’s temporary convening could only take place once within a four-year period, a asure of restriction and balance of the council’s power.
The last fixed central council eting had been a year ago, implying that the earliest next eting wouldn’t be until the scheduled eting in three years’ ti.
So... as long as Louis V started the eting before the covetous nobles submitted their proposal, the nobles would not be able to apply pressure on the King via the council to re-allocate the titles.
Thinking this, Charlotte felt admiration for the King of New Moon Kingdom.
All she could say was, as expected of the Great Monarch universally recognized by New Moon Kingdom, not only was he personally powerful with outstanding military capabilities, but his political acun was also second to none.
As Charlotte knew, the King ostensibly held the final decision on when to convene the central council, but the timing could only be decided through a cabinet vote.
Under normal circumstances, such a hasty convening of the eting was definitely impossible to pass through cabinet review, but as Charlotte knew, ten cabinet mbers of New Moon Kingdom were implicated by this investigation, with two mbers executed and three others deposed.
When Charlotte ate lon, she specifically checked against the list she had reported to the Holy Royal Court.
The two executed cabinet mbers indeed had their nas on the roster list, but the three deposed were not.
However, as Charlotte knew, those three cabinet mbers were all nobles dissatisfied with the centralization policy.
It was clear that Louis V had used this purge to eliminate his adversaries, finding an excuse to kick the three unlucky ones out of the cabinet.
This was done silently, without any objections raised during the investigation, probably because they indeed found "evidence" of collusion with the Blood Demon Sect.
Moreover, among the other nobles investigated and tried, many similar cases existed.
Each ti Sebastian brought back intelligence of a noble being apprehended, Charlotte would compare it with the list, and aside from the genuine nobles on the roster list, over a third of those tried were not listed.
And the majority... were from the opposition.
Obviously, these were the unlucky few the royal family was using the opportunity to dispose of.
The new cabinet mbers had yet to be appointed, and the remaining mbers were mostly of the Royal Party, so whenever the central council eting should be convened, it was up to the King to decide.
Ultimately, the central council eting, which was supposed to be a venue for the nobles to limit the King’s power, beca the tool for the King to restrict the nobles’ proposals instead.
As for whether those titles that were stripped will be brought up again at the next eting...
That’s a matter for three years from now.
By that ti, the Royal Family will likely have completely seized control of those territories.
As for the Nobles... pull one batch, punish another. With Louis V’s tactics, it seems there will be ways to keep the proposals bankrupt, or even directly pass bills recognizing Royal direct jurisdiction.
Now, the Royal Family’s maneuvers over these past days seem like one connected series of moves.
Louis V probably planned it all along; it’s just that Charlotte gave him an extra knife, inadvertently speeding up the process.
After the purge, the Nobles suffered heavy losses; the Church, although it cleansed much of its filth and disrupted the peration of the Blood Demon Church, did suffer damage to its reputation.
The Royal Family alone made a killing and furthermore strengthened centralized authority.
This is truly dramatic.
You see, everyone initially thought that this central eting was the coalition of Nobles and the Church pressuring the Royal Authority.
But what happened? The eting hadn’t even started, and those jubilant Nobles had all been dealt with, on the irreproachable grounds of "judging the Fallen," in line with the New Moon Kingdom’s political correctness in combating the Blood Demon Church.
Thinking this, Charlotte’s opinion of Louis V increased a few notches.
...
With Lutecia’s unsealing, a flood of Nobles hearing the news and long-awaiting rchants and travelers poured into the Royal Capital, and the once-quiet streets revived with bustle.
If it weren’t for the "Great Purge" of the past few days, it would be hard to imagine the Royal Capital had been in such trepidation just a few days ago.
Indeed, the world turns with or without anyone; even after about ten days of investigation and trials, the people truly affected were limited.
With a population near one million, the Church and the Royal Family couldn’t possibly comb through everyone thoroughly. The focus was mostly on the roll call reported by Charlotte, slightly extending the related scope.
The most affected were the Nobles, who are tiny in population size.
For the common people, the purge of these individuals was rely gossip for after dinner. Perhaps, after finishing the discussion, they would spit and praise that His Majesty the King administered just punishnt.
After all... the reputation of Nobles has always been less than stellar, whereas Louis V holds a very high reputation among the common folk.
After reluctantly serving breakfast as the Dragon Maid, Charlotte continued to hole up in her study, perusing Albrecht’s mories.
She had a eting tomorrow and didn’t plan to run around anymore, lest she attracted too much attention.
After all, as a Great Noble of the Kingdom, her every move would be scrutinized.
Of course, interest in Albrecht’s mories was also one of the reasons Charlotte stayed ho.
Not going to lie, this guy committed to imprinting mories, and even included quite a bit of Bloodline gossip and odd stories. Charlotte found it interesting, treating it as a novel and a tale.
However, Charlotte’s personal ti did not last too long.
In the afternoon, Sebastian knocked on her door again:
"Master, Count Gaston has arrived in the Royal Capital and has just sent an envoy, wishing to visit you at the manor."
Count Gaston?
Charlotte frowned.
Before the Central Council eting, Nobles gatherings were prohibited.
Although a one-on-one Noble visit was relatively less conspicuous, Charlotte, an Earl from the Northern Land, and Gaston, a Regent Minister from the Bold Duchy, eting each other at this ti—if seen by others—would still unavoidably lead to speculation.
However, after a short contemplation, Charlotte agreed.
Since Count Gaston wanted to see her at this ti, there must be important matters he wished to seek her counsel on. After all, he was her forcibly contracted Blood Servant, who had helped her a great deal and taken a lot of the bla for her, managing affairs to her satisfaction. It was only right to et him.
As for what the matter was... Charlotte had her guesses.
"Understood, let him co over."
She said.
About fifteen minutes later, Count Gaston arrived at Charlotte’s manor.
He looked travel-worn, a worried expression in his eyes.
"Please, leave us."
Charlotte said to the maids and servants in the hall.
They bowed respectfully and withdrew, leaving only Charlotte and Count Gaston, with the Elf butler Sebastian standing behind Charlotte.
After the others left, Charlotte’s expression cooled, and she said coldly:
"Lord Gaston, I believe I told you not to seek out after arriving in the Royal Capital."
Count Gaston showed a look of sha:
"Master, I’m extrely sorry..."
"What is it you want?" Charlotte asked directly.
Count Gaston glanced at Sebastian, hesitating.
Nevertheless, he bit the bullet and bowed to Charlotte:
"Master, please... save the Gaston family!"
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