The Empror's Trap

Faced with Pluvia's decision, Wuze not only showed no fear or remorse, but instead burst into laughter.

His laughter echoed throughout the hall, sounding somewhat desolate.

"Your Majesty, if you want me to die, I dare not refuse. However," he looked at the emperor he knew so well, then sneered, "if you hope I'll beg for mercy, you're mistaken. Today I admit defeat, but at worst it's just a bowl-sized scar. When I'm down below, I want to see how you, who killed your family and betrayed your father, will justify yourself to the spirit of Father!"

"Killed my family and betrayed father."

Hearing these words, Pluvia felt momentarily dizzy.

In her daze, she seemed to see again the corpse of Yunis—her brother, and also seemed to see the complex gaze her father gave her on his deathbed.

Accident? Disbelief? She wasn't sure, but the previous emperor did leave with a smile, so perhaps he had anticipated this outcome, or rather, this was the outcome he most hoped to see.

"Are you finished?" she closed her eyes, letting those images completely disappear from her mind, then asked in a cold tone.

Wuze didn't answer, just smiled.

"If you're done, then leave," she waved her hand, no longer paying attention to Wuze being dragged out, but instead turned to face Princess Nina and the remaining princes.

Everyone looked at each other.

This incident could politely be called a court discussion, but bluntly speaking, it was an attempted coup.

Pluvia wouldn't truly investigate all the ministers involved in the coup, because a large portion of them were fence-sitters who looked for personal gain and supported whoever had the advantage. Although she didn't like these fence-sitters, she still needed to win them over.

However, the princes' coup attempt was different.

As family members, all surnamed Camelot, all brothers and sisters, these princes and princess had truly demonstrated what it meant to betray their own, disrupting the court for power, which Pluvia simply couldn't tolerate.

To be honest, she was already so angry that it wouldn't be enough to just deal with one or two people; she needed to intimidate these people. But many of them were just tagging along, and it wouldn't be right to punish them all severely. At least those princes, princesses, and ministers who were just joining in the excitement should be given a warning.

Simply put, she didn't want to completely eliminate all the of the present, but if she didn't act harshly, with her emotions already so high...

Noticing Pluvia's hesitation, Kenji thought for a moment, then immediately turned to look at these princes:

"Your Highnesses, what you did today was truly wrong. If you had issues with Her Majesty, you should have waited for her return to discuss them properly. How could you act on your own like this? You are all family with Her Majesty, why must you be so confrontational with each other?"

"Forgive me for speaking directly, but you were too outrageously wrong... I cannot help you. The one who tied the bell must untie it; you should apologize to Her Majesty yourselves."

After saying this, Kenji stepped aside.

Given this way out by Kenji, Liam was almost the first to react, immediately performing a deep bow—kneeling with both knees and kowtowing to apologize.

"Your Majesty, I was foolish, thinking about the future of the Camelot Empire and thus committed acts of defiance. My anxiety influenced some people in court, causing Your Majesty unnecessary trouble. I deserve death and have failed to live up to my title of. I beg Your Majesty to revoke my title and investigate my crimes!"

Although Liam didn't have good intentions, his ability to become Crown Prince showed he did have some merits, such as knowing when to submit quickly.

What was face compared to power and life? Face was something he could discard at any time—show weakness when needed, play pitiful when required. This was his strength.

If he hadn't overplayed his hand back then, perhaps the position of emperor would truly have been his.

Following Liam's smooth submission, others also hurriedly knelt to admit their mistakes—at this point, whoever didn't admit fault was simply asking for trouble.

Faced with Liam's self-criticism and extremely sincere admission of guilt, plus the fact that he wasn't the main culprit this time (at least he was restrained in court), Pluvia truly had no reason to punish him severely.

She tapped her head, pretending to wake from her anger, then said:

"Fine, Prince Liam did not speak disrespectfully in court, and repeatedly admonished Wuze for his disrespectful behavior, so I had not intended to punish him. But since you participated and entered the hall to cause trouble, though not the main culprit, you still an accomplice. Let's do this: Prince Liam is confined to his home for one month for reflection. As for the others, though their words were harsh, they were not the main culprits, so they will have their salaries reduced by half for half a year."

After announcing her decision, Pluvia looked at Chancellor Long: "Chancellor, what do you think of this treatment?"

"Your subject has no objections," Chancellor Long said.

"As for Duke Anos..." she looked at Kenji, then revealed a smile with unclear meaning.

This smile made Kenji a bit uneasy. He knew that when she smiled like this, it usually meant nothing good, or even if it was good, it would probably be too stimulating.

"This time, Duke Anos behaved appropriately abroad, with merit in saving the imperial carriage; after returning to the empire, he also promptly stopped..." Pluvia thought for a moment, feeling it was too direct to say these ministers were attempting a coup, "stopped the excessive actions of the court ministers. His merit is great. In recognition of the achievements of the Anos family, and Kenji's loyalty, previous risk of death to protect the imperial carriage, and suppression of rebellion, I hereby make an exception and promote Duke Anos to Prince Anos."

"!____?"

All the ministers present were dumbfounded.

It wasn't that they were inexperienced—emperors conferring princely titles wasn't rare, and Pluvia had conferred several since taking office, which they didn't find surprising.

But conferring a princely title on someone outside the imperial family was almost non-existent in Camelot Empire history—to ensure stability, only those within the imperial family were eligible to be princes, and they had to be of the Camelot surname, not imperial relatives by marriage.

There were historical cases of conferring princely titles on those outside the imperial family, but these were mostly during times of national crisis, with extremely strict conditions. And now, Camelot Empire was far from that stage.

As a result, Pluvia made this exceptional conferral!

"Your subject is grateful for Your Majesty's favor and grace. I have no way to repay this except to serve Your Majesty with all my power, to repay Your Majesty's kindness!"