Sophia stepped out of the carriage, surrounded by Delilah and the guards.
Her black combat boots stepped onto the snow dyed red with fresh blood, emitting a muffled sound.
The edge of her black fox fur swept past the severed limbs on the ground. Her expression remained as chilling as a glacier, as if this asura arena built from mortal flesh and blood before her eyes was merely an inconsequential opera.
"Kneel!"
Accompanied by a rough reprimand, several Mason soldiers with faces covered in black soot but eyes shining astonishingly bright forcefully pinned a man wearing ornate gold-patterned armor into the snow in front of Sophia.
That was the First Prince of the Kingdom of Orr.
At this moment, the golden crown on his head had long gone missing, and his golden curly hair stuck messily to his forehead, yet a certain laughable pride belonging to the old era still remained in his eyes.
"Where is the King of Orr?" Delilah asked, her longsword slamming down and shattering a piece of frozen ice beneath her feet, her tone revealing an impatient, chilling killing intent.
The First Prince abruptly raised his head, spat at Delilah, and sneered, "Lowly soldier, did you think breaking through the city gates would allow you to find my Royal Father?
"That is the most noble bloodline on this continent!
"I will never betray him. You barbarians, merely monkeys wearing crowns, will never be able to understand the loyalty of the Royal House of Orr!"
Sophia looked down at him from above, the corners of her mouth slowly curling into a sarcastic arc.
"Loyalty?"
Sophia's voice sounded exceptionally ethereal and piercing amidst the reverberations of magic amplification.
"Little blondie, This Queen actually somewhat admires your dullness.
"That respected Royal Father you speak of, the moment the city gates were sealed tight, he had already thrown you, this so-called heir, onto the very front lines to act as a meat shield."
The First Prince's face instantly turned deathly pale, yet he stubbornly forced himself to roar, "You're speaking nonsense! Royal Father went to mobilize the Palace's Royal Guards, and he will soon bring people to save me! He promised me that as long as I hold the City wall, he would officially anoint me as the Regent!
"After he abdicates, I will be the King of Orr, the only King of Orr!"
"Save you?"
Sophia let out a contemptuous sneer.
"He is waiting for the God of Death.
"Since he left the spot for the first wave of slaughter to you, and you are actually still feeling proud of this... The King of Orr's ability to cultivate discarded pawns is indeed much stronger than his ability to govern a country."
The First Prince kept his mouth shut tight, as if saying, 'If you want to kill me, just kill me.'
The wind and snow swirled around the smashed city gates, mixing with the smell of gunpowder and nauseating blood.
The interior of the Royal City of the Kingdom of Orr had already completely devolved into a boiling furnace.
Everywhere, Orr soldiers who had abandoned their armor and weapons could be seen fleeing miserably through the alleys. Some audacious Palace servants were taking advantage of the chaos to move golden candlesticks away from the side halls, only to be kicked to the ground by a flying kick from a Mason recruit the very next second.
"Reporting—!!!"
Just as the First Prince was trying to figure out how to resist, a Mason soldier still smelling of gunpowder smoke sprinted over from the corridor on the west side of the Palace.
He knelt in front of Sophia with a thud, his tone full of uncontainable excitement:
"Reporting to Your Majesty!
"A secret report has come from Lord Vasha's side. She has successfully intercepted the carriage the King of Orr was using to prepare to flee to another country!
"The several important ministers accompanying him were shot dead on the spot. The Old King directly ran away; he hasn't been caught, but he must still be nearby!"
This sentence was like a heavy hammer, forcefully smashing the First Prince's final shred of reason.
His eyes became bewildered and hollow, and then transformed into an extremely twisted hatred.
"Vasha... that bitch again!" he cursed loudly, struggling hysterically.
"That born traitor!
"How dare she? How dare she destroy Royal Father's path of retreat! That bitch who betrays her country for glory!"
In his impression, Daphne had died early on, so he didn't remember who Daphne was, even though Daphne was currently standing right in front of him.
But he still remembered Vasha.
After all, in his eyes, Vasha was someone he and his respected Royal Father could send to another country for a political marriage in exchange for benefits.
"Too noisy."
Sophia furrowed her brows slightly, her fingers brushing past the tip of her nose with a hint of disgust.
She couldn't even be bothered to take another look at the First Prince who had lost his reason, merely waving her hand casually, as if simply shooing away a fly buzzing messily around her ear.
"Dispose of him.
"This level of waste material is not worthy of appearing in This Queen's line of sight when I drink tea later."
"Accepting the decree."
The two soldiers behind Delilah exchanged a glance, their eyes entirely devoid of pity.
The First Prince's cursing came to an abrupt halt. Along with that cold light slicing through the wind and snow, the final shred of the Royal House's illusory dignity completely sank into the freezing mud.
Sophia turned around, her black fox fur tracing an elegant arc in the air.
"Let us go. Let us go meet that noble King of Orr who is hiding in the corner of the Palace."
Victor quickly followed behind Sophia, the quill pen in his hand dancing wildly on the parchment scroll. Due to extreme excitement, his breathing had become rapid.
A Divine Miracle-like judgment! In less than three minutes, Your Majesty completely dismembered the final hope of a dynasty.
Your Majesty did not choose to use harsh torture to extract intelligence, because beneath that omniscient and omnipotent Eye of the Black Rose, all conspiracies had nowhere to hide.
She deliberately exposed the truth of him being a 'discarded pawn' right in front of the First Prince; this was not just killing him, but rather condemning his heart!
Your Majesty was warning the world: in the face of absolute power and civilization, the bloodlines and loyalties of the old era were nothing but pale jokes.
That casual wave of her hand didn't wave away a prince, but rather the final trace of decaying aura from the old era! Your Majesty was stepping on the ruins, walking towards the singular throne of Truth.
As they stepped into the Main Council Hall of the Kingdom of Orr, a chilly draft blew through, sweeping up the scattered parchment papers and torn silks on the ground.
This place had long lost its former majesty.
The gemstones originally embedded in the stone pillars had been forcefully pried away, leaving behind ugly black holes.
The murals on the walls were torn, and the exquisite carpets were covered in messy footprints and spilled wine stains.
Those princes and ministers who usually boasted of their nobility had retreated even more miserably than any refugee when the city was breached.
"Your Majesty, this place is slightly crude. We must wrong you to make do for a moment; people have already gone to catch that old thief of Orr."
Several Mason soldiers nimbly moved aside the broken long table obstructing the center of the hall, and fetched several decently clean, thick cushions from who knows where, layering them upon that towering black stone throne.
Sophia unbuttoned her black fox fur coat, letting Willow take it, and then sat down steadily upon it.
The cold, stony texture was isolated by the cushions. Resting her chin on one hand, her pale golden pupils scanned the spacious hall. That aura of imposing majesty without anger instantly suppressed the room full of defeat.
"Oh my heavens, quickly come look at these masterpieces of genius."
Irene picked up several parchment scrolls from a pile of messy papers, shook off the dust with disgust, and let out a burst of laughter after seeing clearly what was on them.
On the paper, a simple map of Mason was drawn crookedly, densely marked with locations for poisoning.
Not just the water sources, but even the ventilation shafts of every quarantine camp were crossed out.
"Your Majesty, look."
Irene handed the paper to Sophia, the corners of her mouth curling into a sneer.
"This is the tactic the Royal House of Orr held in and birthed.
"Poisoning all the water wells in the city with that rotten meat powder... Tsk tsk, this plan is as childish as a three-year-old playing in the mud; they don't even understand basic pharmacological reactions."
Delilah leaned over to take a look, her eyes instantly becoming extremely disgusted.
"This kind of behavior is simply worse than beasts.
"They never thought about how to defeat our soldiers; they only thought about how to make ordinary commoners die even more miserably.
"Does this kind of person even deserve to be called a King?"
"Precisely because they are incompetent, they are vicious," Sophia spat out coldly.
"If they had spent half the thought they put into poisoning on improving farming, we might have had to expend a bit more effort today."
Orr had more land than Mason. If they had properly researched farming, they would definitely be living much better than Mason.
Just as the few of them were discussing, heavy and orderly footsteps came from outside the door.
A squad of Mason soldiers, sweating profusely yet unable to hide their excitement, filed in carrying dozens of massive wooden chests.
"Reporting! Your Majesty!
"The inner treasury of Orr has been sealed! This is the first batch of inventoried supplies!"
As the chest lids were violently pried open, the originally dim hall was instantly illuminated by a burst of brilliant light.
The chests were piled high with snow-white pearls, polished round shells, as well as bundles of thick furs and sharp wolf-tooth ornaments.
What surprised the soldiers the most were the neatly stacked dried goods in several large chests.
Those were dried scallops, dried fish, and large sheets of kelp emitting a salty, savory aroma—things almost never seen within Mason's borders.
Sophia's eyelashes trembled slightly.
"Seafood? Isn't this place inland? How can there be so many high-quality dried seafood goods?"
On the surface, she still maintained the posture of a Tyrant who remained unfazed by favor or humiliation, but inwardly, she was already calculating how many benefits and rations for her subjects these supplies could be exchanged for.
"These things..."
Daphne leaned forward, sniffing the scent of sea salt, as if recalling something.
"Your Majesty, I remember hearing when I first Transmigrated into this world that beyond two more countries to the southeast of the Kingdom of Orr, it borders the sea.
"The roads there are very narrow and the countries are small. To travel to other countries, they must cross through Orr. If Orr doesn't grant them passage, they cannot leave from there.
"Orr has been monopolizing the tributes from those small countries all these years, which is why they have accumulated these rarities."
"Borders the sea?!"
Hearing these words, Irene acted as if she had been electrified. She violently tossed aside the disgusting poison plan in her hand, dashed in front of Sophia, and grabbed onto her sleeves tightly with both hands, her eyes shining like two high-power light bulbs.
"Your Majesty! Did you hear that! It's the sea! An ocean with infinite salt, infinite minerals, and immense water pressure!"
Irene was so excited she was rambling incoherently.
"If we have the sea, we can even build a true industrial port!
"Your Majesty, our next goal..."
Watching Irene looking like she couldn't wait to hand-craft a destroyer right this second, Sophia helplessly pressed her temples.
I knew it.
Give her just a little clue, and she could fast-forward this medieval continent straight into the Age of Discovery.
However... the ocean?
Mason and the other nearby countries were completely unaware of the news that there was surprisingly a place bordering the sea nearby.
Indeed, Mason was too far from there, and Orr acting as a transit station seemed just right.
Furthermore, the point Daphne mentioned that very much tempted Sophia was that the only route for that sea-bordering place to travel to other countries was through Orr. This meant that these small countries controlled by Orr could subsequently also be firmly grasped in Sophia's hands.
It was just a pity that the King of Orr didn't know how to utilize these things at all.
Sophia lowered her eyes slightly, her fingertips caressing the pure white pearls.
"We must walk the road step by step, Irene," Sophia's voice was gentle yet carried an unquestionable power.
"First, thoroughly digest these heritages of Orr.
"As for that blue territory, since it has appeared in This Queen's line of sight, it will sooner or later be stamped with the mark of the Black Rose."
Just as the people inside the hall were commenting enthusiastically on those chests of seafood heritage, heavy and messy footsteps came from the corridor outside the hall, mixed with an aged and hysterical cursing voice.
"Vasha! You sinful spawn!
"To think you colluded with foreign enemies; you will definitely be nailed to Orr's pillar of shame!"
The side door of the hall was pushed open. Vasha was dressed in a dark green tactical uniform, her cape still bearing wet bloodstains.
She carried that pitch-black short blade in her hand, her expression as indifferent as an eternally unmelted glacier.
Behind her, several soldiers were dragging a bloated old man dressed in an ornate silk inner lining but covered in mud, like they were dragging a dead dog.
That was the once unendurably arrogant Old King of Orr.
"Your Majesty, the person was caught next to a dog hole by the side hall of the rear palace."
Vasha walked to the center of the hall and knelt on one knee, her voice so calm not a hint of fluctuation could be heard.
"When he tried to squeeze through, he got his stomach stuck by the searching soldiers.
"If this minister had not arrived in time, those soldiers who didn't recognize him would have probably disposed of him as a rioting commoner."
Vasha paused, her tone taking on a trace of extremely indifferent sarcasm:
"As for the other princes... They were quite smart and changed into the coarse linen clothes of ordinary farmers. Unfortunately, amidst the chaotic army, the soldiers didn't have the time to discern their identities, and finding them in the way, casually dealt with them.
"At this moment, they are lying in the snow piles of the rear garden, sleeping together with the untouchables they looked down upon the most on normal days."
"You! You kinslaying, country-betraying..."
The Old King was violently thrown to the ground by the soldiers. He had originally still been craning his neck to loudly curse at Vasha, but when he tremblingly raised his head and saw that sitting upon the black stone throne that originally belonged to him was a silver-haired, golden-eyed young girl with an expression as solemn as a god, all of his words instantly caught in his throat.
That overbearing aura of a superior radiating from the inside out caused the Old King, who had been pampered for a long time and was cowardly at heart, to completely collapse at that moment.
Thud!
He slumped onto the cold floor tiles like a puddle of mud. His entire body shook like a sieve, even emitting the clattering sound of his teeth chattering.
"Spare... spare my life... Your Majesty Sophia.
"I am willing... I am willing to offer all the keys to the National Treasury!
"Don't kill me! I was deceived by those ministers!
"It was all Morgan, it was all the ideas of bad seeds like Green!"
Amidst the Old King's nauseating pleas for mercy, another figure being escorted in appeared entirely out of place.
It was the Queen of Orr.
Although her hair bun was messy and her collar stained with dust, she still kept her spine straight, even pushing away the soldiers' hands attempting to shove her, and walked to the center of the hall with steady steps on her own.
She shot a cold glance at her husband slumped on the ground, a trace of helplessness flashing in her eyes.
Then, she turned to look at Sophia, bowed slightly, and performed a standard royal curtsy belonging to a defeated party:
"Your Majesty, the bloodline of Orr has already thoroughly rotted.
"From the moment you stepped through these city gates, the old Orr was already dead."
She took a deep breath, her tone carrying a resoluteness that had seen through life and death.
"If you kill him, this concubine does not seek to drag out an ignoble existence. I only beg Your Majesty to look upon the fact that Vasha once lived in this cold Palace, and give this concubine a dignified, swift end.
"I do not want to endure torture, nor do I want to live on disgracefully. I only beg that you give me a swift end."
Victor stood behind Sophia, his pen tip flying, his eyes revealing a profound deconstruction of human nature.
A Divine Miracle-like judgment! Your Majesty didn't even need to open her mouth; merely with her posture sitting upon that throne, she forced the so-called royal authority to reveal its true colors.
Look at that Old King: squeezing through a dog hole, betraying his ministers, abandoning his dignity. This is precisely the epitome of the corrupt power of the old era.
And the Queen's composure was the final shred of mockery towards this corruption.
Your Majesty is not killing people; she is pruning this continent.
Lord Vasha's blade severed the shackles of bloodline, while Your Majesty's gaze announced the rebirth of these ruins.
Orr's throne no longer belongs to bloodlines; it now belongs solely to—civilization.
Sophia looked at this couple kneeling on the ground, even feeling the scene before her to be somewhat absurd.
The old man hid in a dog hole, the young one cursed like a street rat, yet this Queen actually had quite some backbone.
However, killing them was easy, but how to handle this mess, and making those small countries bordering the sea obediently submit, that was the main point.
Sophia slowly raised her hand, her slender fingertips lightly tapping the armrest of the throne.
"Since you want a swift end, This Queen shall grant it."
Sophia looked at the Queen, and then shifted her gaze to Vasha.
"As for this noble King..."
"Your Majesty!"
Daphne suddenly spoke up from the side.
The air inside the Council Hall seemed to freeze due to Daphne's sudden cry.
The Old King of Orr, who was originally slumped on the ground attempting to beg for mercy, felt his murky pupils abruptly constrict upon hearing Daphne's voice.
He tremblingly turned his head, looking at that Saint who had been standing quietly by Sophia's side, radiating a faint glow.
Daphne slowly stepped out of the ranks. Her eyes, which were usually full of smiles and as clear as sapphires, were currently so deep that the bottom couldn't be seen. Golden holy fire faintly danced within them, yet devoid of the slightest bit of temperature.
"Your Majesty, please hand this person over... to this minister to handle."
Daphne's voice was very soft, yet carried a viscous feeling that made one shudder.
She looked down at the old man on the ground, who was as lowly as a bug. In her mind, the dark, sunless days spent locked deep within the Royal Dungeon of the Orr Palace continuously surfaced.
There was no light there, only the smell of cold, damp moss and rust.
This person sitting in a high position had stripped her of her dignity countless times, withholding the watery porridge that sustained her life, and even taking away her only tattered straw blanket during the harsh winter, just to see what kind of magic she would use in the severe cold.
"During those years in the dungeon, this minister thought every day..."
An extremely dense ball of golden light spilled from Daphne's palm, its radiance so blinding that the surrounding soldiers turned their heads.
"If one day I could stand in the sunlight again, I must absolutely make the initiator taste that kind of pain for himself."
"You may." Sophia naturally had no reason to refuse.
If letting Daphne finish off this old thing could relieve the suppression in her heart, then Sophia would feel happy for her.
"Lord Saint! Lord Daphne!"
The Old King heard the killing intent in her tone. He scrambled and crawled, throwing himself towards Daphne, but was once again firmly pinned to the ground by the soldiers.
"I did that to temper your mind! I was foolish!
"I am your Royal Father! You cannot kill me.
"No, that's wrong, killing a King will taint your Holy Light—"
Sitting on the throne, Sophia coldly rested her cheek on her hand and gave Daphne a slight nod:
"Since this is your karma, then let it be ended by you."
Receiving permission, the corners of Daphne's mouth curled into an extremely morbid and poignantly beautiful arc.
The Old King saw the undisguised destructive will in Daphne's eyes, and finally understood that begging for mercy was futile.
The surge of adrenaline triggered by extreme fear instantly transformed him from a spineless coward begging on his knees into a rabid dog barking madly.
"You monster cursed by the devil!"
He sprang up, pointing at Daphne and cursing loudly, spit flying everywhere.
"What kind of Saint do you think you are? You are nothing but a lowly Witch!
"Sophia! You heavily rely on such a madwoman, a vicious Witch! Your Mason will sooner or later burn to ashes in that fire as well!
"You bunch of lowly traitors, This King will wait in hell—"
Poof—
The cursing came to an abrupt halt.
There was no intense explosion as expected, nor were there any earth-shattering screams.
Daphne merely extended a finger calmly, and that densely compressed Holy Light instantly pierced through the Old King's glabella.
In that instant, his entire person was enveloped by an intense light. His originally twisted face surprisingly revealed a bizarre, near-transparent tranquility beneath that holy glow.
Subsequently, under the gazes of everyone, his body rapidly shriveled and weathered, turning into a wisp of insignificant ash in the cold wind, falling silently onto the black stone floor tiles he had once painstakingly maintained.
Daphne withdrew her hand, and that trace of gloom in the depths of her eyes completely dissipated the moment the ashes scattered.
She returned to her well-behaved appearance, jogging quickly back to Sophia's side. Her small hands expertly tugged at Sophia's sleeves, her tone carrying a hint of reliance and relief.
"Your Majesty, this minister has finished taking my revenge."
In the corner of the hall, due to terror and excitement, Victor's breathing sounded as heavy as a bellows, and his pen tip nearly tore through the parchment paper.
This was his first time seeing Your Majesty's Saint kill someone.
He didn't expect that Your Majesty's women were just like Your Majesty, possessing the dual sides of a wise ruler and a tyrant!
What a Divine Miracle-like purification! Your Majesty didn't just pardon past sins, she bestowed upon her followers the right to sever the darkness with their own hands!
Lord Saint's strike was not simple revenge; it was conducting a final holy fire baptism for the old era!
With her tolerance, Your Majesty completely mended the flaw in the Saint's soul.
From this moment on, the Saint was no longer the Witch in the mouths of others, but the purest blade of destruction in Your Majesty's hands.
Orr's royal authority began its ruin the moment he squeezed into the dog hole, and met its complete end the moment it turned to ashes.
The furnace fire of civilization would ultimately bloom into the most coldly beautiful flower upon the ruins of this old era!
Feeling the tugging at her cuffs, Sophia took another look at the small pile of ashes on the ground, and finally cast her gaze upon the Queen of Orr, who had been quietly spectating with a complex expression.
"Queen, your husband has already disappeared.
"Now, it's your turn."
Sophia's voice remained flat, as if she had just handled a pile of expired official documents.
Inside the hall, the puddle of ashes the Old King had turned into was slowly seeping into the crevices of the carpet under the draft.
The Queen of Orr looked quietly at that small pile of ashes, a trace of unprecedented relief actually showing in her eyes.
She redirected her gaze back to Sophia, her expression calm, her tone even carrying a bit of pleading.
"Your Majesty, please let your Lord Saint... bestow upon this concubine the same end as well."
Sophia raised an eyebrow slightly.
To be honest, this was her first time hearing such a request.
"This concubine has seen too many victors," the Queen laughed self-deprecatingly, her thin fingers smoothing the messy hair at her temples.
"They love to strip the corpses of the defeated bare, hang them from the city towers to air dry, or parade their heads on spears through the city to flaunt their military prowess.
"In this life, this concubine has lived without enough dignity in this cold court.
"After death... I do not wish to become someone's medal of honor, and even less do I wish to be violated by those soldiers."
Sophia fell silent for a moment.
She originally hadn't planned on conducting that kind of medieval, barbaric public display.
Too dirty, and also lacking in aesthetic sense.
Of course, for those thieves who broke into the Palace at night before, she had still hung their heads.
But she definitely didn't have the fetish of stripping corpses bare and hanging them up.
"Granted," Sophia assented indifferently, and then gave Daphne a look.
Daphne nodded knowingly and raised her hand once again.
This time, her light was much gentler. The golden holy fire was like a thin veil, instantly covering the Queen's entire body.
Daphne didn't have much impression of the Queen.
She only remembered her as a woman of few words, so Daphne didn't bear any hatred, merely choosing a softer method.
There was no cursing, no mental breakdowns.
Wrapped in that warm light, the Queen of Orr even gave a slight nod to Sophia in greeting, and then, like melting snow and ice, turned into a wisp of white smoke, leaving only a neat set of ornate formal dress and a few broken pearl necklaces in place.
"Clean this up."
Sophia withdrew her gaze, issuing her first formal military order to Delilah after entering the city.
"Since this Palace has changed hands, then follow the rules This Queen has set and give it a thorough cleaning."
With Sophia's command, the Mason soldiers who were originally still on guard inside the hall rapidly sprang into action.
Although these soldiers had just experienced a massacre, they still had abundant stamina thanks to the blessing of delicious food. According to General Delilah's description, it seemed they would have a delicious reward after the battle concluded.
They formed groups according to their previous training and began an extremely efficient major cleaning.
Anyone experienced in wiping out royal palaces knew that the first step after killing everyone in a Palace was inventorying and transferring.
The corpses of the Orr soldiers lying in the corridors, on the steps, and in the gardens were carried away by pairs of Mason soldiers.
They did not rifle through the corpses like traditional victors, but instead piled them uniformly onto flatbed carts and hauled them to the pre-selected deep pits on the outskirts of the city.
That place was called a mass grave by the soldiers, but under Sophia's mandatory requirement, all corpses had to be sprinkled with large amounts of lime before burial to prevent epidemics from breaking out after spring arrived.
The second step was the high-intensity washing of the Palace.
The Palace's marble floor, originally as white as snow, was now severely mottled by viscous bloodstains and black gunpowder ash.
Sophia couldn't stand this smell, so hundreds of soldiers carried wooden buckets drawn from Orr's water room, wielding stiff brushes, and began scrubbing frantically.
"Scrub hard! Your Majesty has said, if there is even a speck of red left in the floor crevices, we won't get a share of tonight's grub!" a Captain shouted loudly.
Massive amounts of clear water poured down, mixing with fresh blood and flowing into the drainage ditches.
The soldiers even used a certain industrial lye soap with a pungent fragrance developed by Irene.
Amidst the scraping sounds of the brushes, the originally filthy steps revealed the stone's original texture once again.
The third step pertained to checking for omissions in Orr's property.
This was the work the soldiers did with the most enthusiasm.
Although they couldn't take it, who didn't love touching gold? Who didn't love touching treasures?
Just getting a feel for it made them think they could have sweet dreams at night.
Because the Orr Palace was massive, aside from the dozens of chests of seafood inventoried in the main hall, even more treasures were hidden in the mezzanines of various side halls.
Holding the detailed map provided by Vasha, the soldiers acted like a swarm of precise worker ants.
Some were transporting bundles of unmolded grain from the warehouses.
Some were carrying heavy chests of gold and silver vessels the King of Orr had plundered from who knows which neighboring country.
Others were specifically responsible for gathering the exquisite fabrics discarded by the Orr nobles by the roadside.
Every single supply item entering or leaving the main hall had a clerk dispatched by Victor beside them, writing furiously, detailing the destination of every gold brick.
Furthermore, the soldiers discovered that what Vasha provided was only a small surface portion; there were surprisingly even more in many of the hidden compartments!
This old thing had even guarded against his own sons and daughters.
The fourth step was safety screening.
Although it felt like the princes and nobles whose names could be called had mostly been killed off, there were always fish that slipped through the net.
To prevent these people from waiting thirty years for their fortunes to turn and making a comeback, they absolutely had to be wiped out completely.
Delilah personally led a squad of black musketeers to conduct the final sweep in every corner of the Palace.
They searched every wine cellar and knocked open every wall that might conceal a hidden compartment.
Just as Sophia expected, several attendants hiding in secret passages and close guards attempting to play dead were indeed dragged out.
Victor sat behind a newly wiped small square table. Looking at this orderly scene, his eyes revealed a near-fanatical reverence.
The Mason soldiers did not plunder, nor did they vent their desires; instead, they were meticulously tending to these ruins as if building a temple.
This was precisely the most thorough crushing of barbarism by civilization!
Your Majesty's order to bury the old enemies with lime was the ultimate mercy towards life, and the supreme definition of rules.
At this moment, the Orr Palace was no longer a nest of schemes; in Your Majesty's hands, it was transforming into a brand-new center of civilization filled with Order and hope!
He really wanted Valery to come see this as well. Compared to their Your Majesty, the kings of other countries were simply the dirt on the ground while she was the sky!
Sophia was currently sitting upon that newly washed throne fitted with new cushions.
The Orr within the hall had been replaced by Mason.
Irene was leaning on the armrest beside her, holding a deep-sea scallop that emitted a bizarre luster, just dug out from the warehouse, gesturing excitedly.
"Your Majesty, the shell of this scallop is thick enough! If we grind it into powder and mix it into the Black powder, we might be able to create a kind of special effect bullet with a flash!"
Sophia helplessly pushed away the scallop Irene was nearly poking into the tip of her nose.
Looking at the gradually refreshing roads outside the hall, she opened the secret map concerning the countries bordering the sea, which the King of Orr had hidden in the secret compartment of the table in the main hall.
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