Arabella explained what she heard to Alwin and Ferdinand.
She understood how the two mothers felt, wanting to protect their children at all costs, regardless of what they beco; however, punishing soone else for a cri is different.
After listening to their thoughts, Arabella learned that only Eugene’s mother tried to stop him.
The other family mbers did nothing since they were thinking of the benefits they could gain from it.
Lord Hal was hoping Eugene would succeed so they would finally be free of the Forr Marquess, who was too prideful and stopped listening to his vassals.
Lady Hal was hoping Eugene would fail miserably and have himself caught and executed, so her son would be the only heir of House Hal.
Eugene’s elder brother, just like his mother, believed that Eugene would fail miserably and hoped that he would so his mother would stop nagging at him to ensure he was always better than Eugene at every little thing.
Only Eugene’s mother truly tried to stop him out of concern not only for her son but also for the people he was involving in it.
Thus, this made it all the more reason that his mother did not deserve to be punished for this when she was the only one who did the right thing when it mattered.
Arabella inford Alwin and Ferdinand about what she learned from everyone’s thoughts so they could make inford decisions.
Ferdinand nodded at Alwin after they conversed telepathically, so Alwin continued to speak for them.
"I repeat. Lying to His and Her Majesty is a cri.
We already caught everyone who actively plotted and participated in the rebellion.
And we know Eugene Hal is the one responsible for this.
We understand that you want to protect and save your son.
But getting punished for his cris is not the way to raise a child.
He must take responsibility for his actions," Alwin said of their stance.
[So they already know everything?!! Then why summon us privately instead of announcing what happened to the public? Are they giving us a chance?!!]
[Does this an we can negotiate the punishnt?! We can, right?]
[It must be due to the circumstances...]
Lord Hal and the others finally realized what they were up to.
This summons was made intentionally to give them a chance to explain and negotiate.
Alwin’s words were indeed to make it clear that they already know everything. They simply wanted honesty from these families and gave them a chance.
Because Sibruh is already chaotic as it is, and the Imperial Crown is already directly ddling with local affairs, they cannot execute nobles right now.
The people in the territory were already exhausted with all the issues they had been dealing with, and they had just begun to relax a bit lately.
Executing all the family mbers of the second most powerful family in Sibruh, or even just one among them, will make the people think that they were indeed siding with the Sibruh family.
anwhile, the nobles would think that they were trying to fully control Sibruh, and the new Marquess was just a figurehead.
These past few months, there had been several changes in the ruling heads already, and the nobles and the people were beginning to beco worried.
Alwin and the others heard that there were already rumors circulating that Ferdinand was planting his people to control the whole Empire directly and gradually eliminate the ruling houses.
If rumors like this spread widely, nobles from various parts of Valeria may begin to think that they are indeed only doing this to get power directly into their grasp in all territories.
This will make the nobles, especially the ruling households, believe that the Imperial Crown might be after their seats.
That Valeria may be planning to unify the whole empire with just one ruler and manage it using imperial officials.
This ant the nobles would lose their standing in society.
Of course, nobles would not stand for this. It would be too much of a shock to the current system as well, since the people are also dependent on noble households for employnt.
Ruling Households from various territories might work together and try to be free and independent of Valeria.
This would lead to bigger problems and possible chaos in the Empire.
Thus, as much as possible, they would resolve this without creating new issues and in a less risky way.
And talking to the nobles like this is their viable option right now.
This way, they could resolve this more peacefully without ignoring the victims or the cri itself.
Thus, they indeed summoned the families of the involved nobles here to make a settlent with them..
The nobles understood it and offered all sorts of offerings or tribute in exchange for their sons’ being spared from execution.
Eugene’s mother was also a noble and understood this.
She imdiately said, "My deepest apologies for daring to lie. I am desperate to save my son. My inheritance from my family is a fertile piece of land. I know it is not enough, but it’s all I have. I offer all of it to help the displaced villagers due to my son’s sches or wherever it may be useful."
Eugene’s mother then glanced at Lord Hal, wordlessly begging for help once again, for him to also do his duty as Eugene’s father, even if it’s the last ti.
[Eugene’s cris are heavy. There needs to be sothing of more value...] Lord Hal thought.
He was conflicted for several more seconds but finally ca to a decision.
"I... I heard there will be mining projects. I offer one of our mines to help the people in these difficult tis," Lord Hal said.
[What?! Why one of the mines?!! Those are for my son to inherit!]
Lady Hal’s eyes widened, and she looked like she was about to throw a fit, but Lord Hal held her hand and gave her a warning look to stay silent.
[These should be useful to the people and also help in the projects in Arabella’s na.] Ferdinand thought and nodded at Alwin.
"Which mine specifically?" Alwin inquired.
[Is this a test? Eugene’s life is important, but if we surrender our best-earning mine, we might all die of hunger a few years later. Most of our earnings co from it now, with farming likely prohibited in the next planting season. But if I don’t give the best, we might be executed instead... What should I do?]
Lord Hal thought carefully before he said, "Please choose which one would be more useful for your cause."
He decided to leave it up to them and crossed his fingers that they would not get the top-earning mine.
Alwin glanced at Arabella and Ferdinand, and they both nodded. This was better since they could pick what would be appropriate for the project they had.
They would accept the tributes and use them for the people of Sibruh, especially the one’s affected by the rebellion and Eugene Hal’s plots.
There are tis when rulers must set aside the law for the sake of the future or the greater good, and this was among those tis.
But in fact, this was still part of the laws. They were tasked to always choose what’s best for the people, and this was one of them.
Instead of executing Eugene and the involved nobles, why not make use of them so the people would benefit from them?
This was their solution.
However, soone was not happy about it.
[Why did he leave it up to their choice?! Of course, I would choose the best! That was supposed to be for my son! Why are we giving it up due to that stupid son of a fool?!!]
{May I speak?} Arabella asked Ferdinand.
{Of course. You may do as you please. Why won’t you tell them we will show rcy this one ti?}
Ferdinand agreed imdiately since he knew she would not do anything unreasonable. He asked her to inform them of their decision not to require execution, since he preferred her image to be the one showing rcy while he was the an one.
"Lady Hal, what do you think causes the fall of a Household?" Arabella inquired, and the room fell silent and tense.
[Does Her Majesty want all of us to be punished?!]
[Isn’t Her Majesty supposed to be kind?!]
They thought Arabella was hinting that they would not accept any of their offerings and wanted them all punished according to the law, which was execution.
"I..." Lady Hal nervously glanced at her husband, who was equally pale as she was.
[Was our tribute still not enough?! But if we give up more, it will be difficult for our Household to recover even after the lockdown. We have a lot of employees too. They will lose their job if we give up a lot of our resources. Mining is our most profitable investnt so far.]
Lord Hal was also in a panic, as the other nobles were.
"You may speak honestly about what ca to mind upon my question," Arabella said to Lady Hal.
"Uhm, lack of support and education to the heir and allowing an incapable heir to lead the household," Lady Hal said.
It was her stance about her son and Eugene.
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