Empress of Another World

One Hundred Eight

The chancellor laid out his plan based on logic and years of experience. I could see why Lucretius valued him so much. All I had to do was to agree with him and thereby giving him the royal permission to carry out his proposal.

“We need to mobilize every imperial army and place an official subpoena for the rebels. To do these, we need permission from the Senate.”

Those noblemen on the dowager empress’s side didn’t seem to agree with the chancellor, but they didn’t dare to oppose him openly.

What the chancellor proposed was a standard procedure. There was no reason to disagree with him.

The chancellor turned to me. “Your highness, I require your royal seal.”

I nodded and raised my hand towards the document.

Just then, Marquis Toruka’s voice stopped me. “Wait! We need to confirm something before we continue.”

“What do you mean? Our priority is to stop the rebels and search for the emperor.”

The chancellor glared at the marquis, who didn’t seem to care.

“I agree that we need to stop the rebels and find the emperor. It is a very obvious next step. I am sure the chancellor will do a good job carrying this plan out.”

The chancellor looked confused. I felt the same way.

The marquis continued, “However… Shouldn’t we also consider and plan for other possibilities too?”

“…”

He sounded hopeful and expectant.

“We need to discuss what we will do if his highness does not return.”

“…”

A heavy silence fell in the room.

Marquis Toruka wanted to discuss the possibility of Lucretius’ death. He most likely hoped for it with all his heart.

I couldn’t stop feeling anxious, especially after looking at the marquis’ confident face. It also bothered me that I didn’t know where the dowager empress and her princesses were. Things were not quite right.

I knew she was planning something, but I just couldn’t tell what it was.

My heart felt tight and hot. I kept imagining Lucretius getting hurt, or worse, dead.

However, I couldn’t let my fear get in the way. If I showed any weaknesses now, I would make everything worse.

I closed my eyes.

The heavy ring in my hand calmed me down. It felt as if Lucretius’ hand was holding mine.

I couldn’t help but think he left me the royal seal because he expected something like this to happen. Why didn’t he tell me in detail before he left? I felt angry at him. When he returned, he would never hear the end of it.

The important thing was that Lucretius probably had plans in place in case of situations like this. I had to believe this.

Just as I believed in him, I knew he believed in me to take care of the situation.

I opened my eyes. I knew what I had to do.

I turned towards the royal guards and ordered, “Please arrest Marquis Toruka.”

“Pardon? What do you mean, your highness?!”

The marquis protested. Many other men also seemed shocked.

I continued, “Until we are certain Marquis Toruka is innocent of this rebellion, we need to have him in custody.

The marquis raised his voice. He seemed shocked, but also seemed overly confident I couldn’t do what I was about to do.