The Empror's Trap

"I believe that if certain people are unwilling to set aside their prejudices, Camelot will eventually die from its own arrogance and conceit," Kenji said bluntly. "Before you mention her background, please don't forget that she is from my household. She is not in the demonic cult now, but in the hands of me, Duke Anos. She is my bodyguard, and I know best whether she has been influenced by the demonic cult over these years."

Seeing that Kenji seemed determined, the ministers couldn't find a way to make him remove Lina from this position. Finally, the ministers discussed among themselves.

"Grand Marshal, I have one request that I hope you will agree to."

"Speak."

Kenji gestured for him to continue.

"Miss Lina can serve as the leader, but I believe that this force's actions must be approved by Her Majesty before being officially deployed—You also said that this force is subordinate to the emperor, right?"

"Correct."

"Then I hope the Grand Marshal will, at critical moments, consider Her Majesty's orders as the highest command. What do you think?"

After hearing this, Kenji couldn't help but smile.

These people were first-class at placing restrictions on others. Since they couldn't limit his nepotism, they directly made their emperor the highest commander of this force. This way, the force would truly belong to the Camelot royal family in the future—once he agreed, it meant that this force he had painstakingly created might be taken away by Pluvia with good reason in the future.

This wouldn't do.

"I strongly agree with this approach," Kenji said very amiably with a smile, though inwardly he was thinking, This won't do.

"I believe that if certain people are unwilling to set aside their prejudices, Camelot will eventually die from its own arrogance and conceit," Kenji said bluntly. "Before you mention her background, please don't forget that she is from my household. She is not in the demonic cult now, but in the hands of me, Duke Anos. She is my bodyguard, and I know best whether she has been influenced by the demonic cult over these years."

Seeing that Kenji seemed determined, the ministers couldn't find a way to make him remove Lina from this position. Finally, the ministers discussed among themselves.

"Grand Marshal, I have one request that I hope you will agree to."

"Speak."

Kenji gestured for him to continue.

"Miss Lina can serve as the leader, but I believe that this force's actions must be approved by Her Majesty before being officially deployed—You also said that this force is subordinate to the emperor, right?"

"Correct."

"Then I hope the Grand Marshal will, at critical moments, consider Her Majesty's orders as the highest command. What do you think?"

After hearing this, Kenji couldn't help but smile.

These people were first-class at placing restrictions on others. Since they couldn't limit his nepotism, they directly made their emperor the highest commander of this force. This way, the force would truly belong to the Camelot royal family in the future—once he agreed, it meant that this force he had painstakingly created might be taken away by Pluvia with good reason in the future.

This wouldn't do.

"I strongly agree with this approach," Kenji said very amiably with a smile, though inwardly he was thinking, This won't do.

"I believe that if certain people are unwilling to set aside their prejudices, Camelot will eventually die from its own arrogance and conceit," Kenji said bluntly. "Before you mention her background, please don't forget that she is from my household. She is not in the demonic cult now, but in the hands of me, Duke Anos. She is my bodyguard, and I know best whether she has been influenced by the demonic cult over these years."

Seeing that Kenji seemed determined, the ministers couldn't find a way to make him remove Lina from this position. Finally, the ministers discussed among themselves.

"Grand Marshal, I have one request that I hope you will agree to."

"Speak."

Kenji gestured for him to continue.

"Miss Lina can serve as the leader, but I believe that this force's actions must be approved by Her Majesty before being officially deployed—You also said that this force is subordinate to the emperor, right?"

"Correct."

"Then I hope the Grand Marshal will, at critical moments, consider Her Majesty's orders as the highest command. What do you think?"

After hearing this, Kenji couldn't help but smile.

These people were first-class at placing restrictions on others. Since they couldn't limit his nepotism, they directly made their emperor the highest commander of this force. This way, the force would truly belong to the Camelot royal family in the future—once he agreed, it meant that this force he had painstakingly created might be taken away by Pluvia with good reason in the future.

This wouldn't do.

"I strongly agree with this approach," Kenji said very amiably with a smile, though inwardly he was thinking, This won't do.

The court ministers never trusted Kenji to begin with.

Those loyal to the emperor believed Kenji posed a great threat to Pluvia, so they didn't trust that he could faithfully assist her. Meanwhile, those opportunists and factions supporting the crown prince and various princes all hoped to eliminate Kenji to weaken Pluvia's control.

These people formed an opposition against Kenji's supporters. Many of the ministers present expressed disapproval of Kenji's nepotism.

Not to mention the old general before thesadadam—as traditional military officers, they were already gradually fading from the army. Now that Kenji had arranged so many new commanders he had discovered, once these old generals left the military, more troops would likely fall under Kenji's control.

Therefore, the old general would not allow Kenji's appointment of Lina, as it was equivalent to pushing Kenji to an even greater concentration of power.

Indeed, the old general's words proved effective. After he took the lead in stating his reasons for disagreeing with Lina's appointment, many ministers also came forward to express their positions. The general meaning was that the Grand Marshal could consider anyone else, but they couldn't accept this demonic cult remnant.

Kenji almost laughed in frustration.

Their words sounded nice, but if he truly gave up on appointing Lina and replaced her with another one of his trusted subordinates, they would most likely still disagree.

"Grand Marshal, let us be clear with you today. If you insist on having Miss Lina take this position, then I will have no choice but to submit a joint petition to Her Majesty. I believe that although Camelot currently lacks talent in this area, it doesn't mean there's no one suitable in our great empire. Someone with slightly less ability can still fulfill this position!"

Hearing these words from the officials, Kenji looked at the speaker.

Just a court attendant, yet he dared to step forward and confront him face-to-face... Most likely someone had instructed him to do so. Otherwise, even if someone wanted to openly oppose him, they would at least need to have some influence in the court. Although this attendant was considered a central official with a not insignificant position, in this place, on this matter, he didn't have such high speaking authority.

"Someone with less ability can also hold this position?"

Kenji slightly observed Lina's expression. Standing beside him, although she showed displeasure, he noticed that she was secretly watching his actions the entire time.

Her movements were subtle and easy to overlook if not paying attention, but coincidentally, Kenji, being overly familiar with Lina, had long been able to discern many of her subtle emotional changes.

"Stabilizing Camelot's internal political situation—who among you dares to guarantee they can accomplish this?..."

No one spoke.

"Preventing the Holy Church and other enemies from infiltrating our Camelot territory, eliminating the lingering church followers within Camelot—who can achieve this?" Kenji continued asking.

Still no one spoke.

The reason for their silence, in Kenji's view, was very simple—these tasks were too dirty, and the price for establishing such merit was too great. Stabilizing the internal political situation was a nice way of putting it; bluntly speaking, it meant monitoring officials and, when necessary, quickly arresting or even killing officials who might threaten stability. This was a thankless job.

As for preventing church infiltration, this was even more difficult. It wasn't that they couldn't handle the church followers, but mainly because many of the church's fanatics were willing to fight to mutual destruction for the lord they believed in.

Once those hiding in Camelot made a big move, not only would promotion be unlikely, but not being dismissed from office would be considered lucky.

"To be honest, our Camelot is full of talented people. Is there truly no one among you who can accomplish this? I don't believe it," Kenji sneered. "Although I may be younger than many present, I more or less know about your past deeds when you were young. In the court, there are actually very few incompetent people. You all did some impressive things in your youth. But now, who is willing to take on this difficult task?"

"So I choose my bodyguard as the leadership candidate, which is not excessive. You might say she is a demonic cult remnant and cannot be trusted—although you still show her some basic respect."

"I cannot force everyone present to trust Lina as I do, but if anyone harbors suspicion due to her background, I think this would contradict our Camelot's all-embracing capacity."

Kenji turned to look at Lina, who still showed no change in expression:

"I trust her, and from now on, I will likely maintain this trust. Over three hundred years ago, Camelot abolished the official selection system that emphasized background, precisely to attract talents from all over the world. Yet now, you all continue to criticize because of her background—forgive me for saying so, but I have heard her being called a 'demonic cult remnant' no less than ten or twenty times since she began appearing with me in public."

"I believe that if certain people are unwilling to set aside their prejudices, Camelot will eventually die from its own arrogance and conceit," Kenji said bluntly. "Before you mention her background, please don't forget that she is from my household. She is not in the demonic cult now, but in the hands of me, Duke Anos. She is my bodyguard, and I know best whether she has been influenced by the demonic cult over these years."

Seeing that Kenji seemed determined, the ministers couldn't find a way to make him remove Lina from this position. Finally, the ministers discussed among themselves.

"Grand Marshal, I have one request that I hope you will agree to."

"Speak."

Kenji gestured for him to continue.

"Miss Lina can serve as the leader, but I believe that this force's actions must be approved by Her Majesty before being officially deployed—You also said that this force is subordinate to the emperor, right?"

"Correct."

"Then I hope the Grand Marshal will, at critical moments, consider Her Majesty's orders as the highest command. What do you think?"

After hearing this, Kenji couldn't help but smile.

These people were first-class at placing restrictions on others. Since they couldn't limit his nepotism, they directly made their emperor the highest commander of this force. This way, the force would truly belong to the Camelot royal family in the future—once he agreed, it meant that this force he had painstakingly created might be taken away by Pluvia with good reason in the future.

This wouldn't do.

"I strongly agree with this approach," Kenji said very amiably with a smile, though inwardly he was thinking, This won't do.