Ch.146The World After Defeat – 1

After the battle with Olivia, great chaos descended upon the kingdom.

The capital had literally evaporated, resulting in massive casualties, and Charlotte had vanished without a trace.

It was only natural that chaos would follow when the absolute ruler who held all authority and power disappeared.

Moreover, the royal knights who had been preparing for battle at the palace had mostly melted away in the flames that swept through the capital, which meant there was effectively no one to quell this chaos.

Despite the royal knights’ desperate search, Charlotte was nowhere to be found. Not even a trace of her remained.

All sorts of rumors circulated among the nobles.

The most prevalent rumor was that Charlotte had lost her life due to the aftermath of the battle in the capital.

The elderly nobles who had survived direct encounters with Charlotte and witnessed her achievements firsthand knew how powerful she was and vehemently denied these rumors.

Instead, they issued fearful rebukes, warning others not to do anything foolish. Their message was clear: if His Majesty returns, you’re all dead, so keep your mouths shut.

However, the nobles who claimed Charlotte was dead had their own reasoning.

“That woman hasn’t shown herself for almost two weeks now. What greater evidence do we need? Is she the type to relinquish her power even for a moment? Would she stand by and watch her authority waver in the slightest? If she were alive, if she had somehow survived the capital’s destruction, she would have certainly revealed herself by now. But she hasn’t. This is our opportunity—a chance to escape her oppression and tyranny.”

The fact that Charlotte wasn’t attempting to resolve the chaos spreading throughout the kingdom was enough to cause unrest among the nobles.

Since reclaiming the throne from her brother, Charlotte had consistently ruled through extreme terror.

She exterminated entire families of those who defied her, dismembered and displayed those who tried to rise up, and occasionally dragged people to the execution grounds on a whim.

Charlotte was particularly known for uncannily discovering even the most secretive conversations held in noble villa basements or inside carriages passing through the outskirts of the continent, and crucifying those involved.

A person of such character had not appeared despite nobles openly disparaging her as “that woman.” The implication was clear.

The nobles grew increasingly confident. Their speech gradually became more crude.

“That woman must be dead. Would she ever willingly give up her power? Absolutely not. She’s the type who would look down on nobles and issue commands in her arrogant tone even as she’s being dragged from the throne. Yet she still hasn’t appeared. It’s time for us to rise up. It’s time to reclaim our dignity as nobles and move forward with our heads held high, rather than living prostrate in fear.”

Ironically, the nobles who most fervently supported such radical claims were middle-aged ones who had experienced Charlotte’s temperament up close.

Knowing her nature, they changed their minds as soon as they realized she wasn’t showing herself despite her power being so severely undermined.

They concluded she must have died in that battle.

Fear transformed completely into confidence. Suppressed desires emerged one by one. With Charlotte dead, there was nothing left to fear.

The elderly nobles, well past middle age, still adamantly opposed this conspiracy.

Not participating in the rebellion might lead to the radicals taking action against them, possibly even costing them their lives.

But if they did participate, they wouldn’t even have lives left to lose.

The elderly nobles understood all too well from past experience just how cruel their monarch was. Therefore, they refused all invitations to join the rebellion.

Two weeks passed.

Charlotte still hadn’t shown herself.

The faction claiming the king was dead and that nobles should rule the kingdom grew increasingly arrogant, acting recklessly without restraint.

Now, instead of meeting in soundproofed basements and other secretive locations, they openly drank alcohol in their mansion reception halls while cursing Charlotte.

Private armies began gathering in their respective territories. Messengers hurried between the territories of the radical faction.

As the situation unfolded, ordinary citizens and adventurers also grew anxious. Rumors that the capital had evaporated and the king had disappeared spread like wildfire.

The anxiety among ordinary citizens was particularly immense. It couldn’t be helped.

Although Charlotte was a tyrant, she wasn’t a bad ruler.

With news of the king’s sudden disappearance and rumors of nobles planning rebellion, public sentiment couldn’t be calmed.

It was around this time that Charlotte reappeared.

Just as the nobles had finished their conspiracy and were about to rebel, when people’s confusion had reached its peak.

“I am not yet dead. To presume me dead on your own accord—such a crime must be repaid with the extermination of your entire bloodline.”

After reappearing above the devastated capital, Charlotte used magic to loudly proclaim throughout the kingdom that she had returned.

The fate of the nobles who had participated in the rebellion, claiming to establish a new country, was predictable.

Charlotte swept away the rebel forces with a simple gesture and personally tore apart the limbs of the nobles who had marched as the vanguard in their splendid armor, displaying them in mid-air.

There were no exceptions for nobles who participated in the rebellion, vanguard or not.

Charlotte extracted all memories from the corpses by rummaging through their heads, and slaughtered everyone connected to the rebellion without exception. The execution grounds were soaked in blood for the first time in a long while.

“You have shown unwavering loyalty to me. I shall bestow a reward upon you.”

The elderly nobles who had refused to join the rebellion out of lingering fear of Charlotte and were subsequently imprisoned received wealth five times greater than what they had previously possessed.

It was property confiscated from the nobles who had participated in the rebellion.

“Hear me. Hear the command of your eternal and immortal king.”

After reappearing and filling the execution grounds with human blood, Charlotte’s next task was to rebuild the capital.

Under Charlotte’s gestures, collapsed buildings rose again and the land that had turned into a realm of death regained its vitality. The ash falling from the sky transformed into clean air.

The capital regained its former appearance overnight.

The royal palace was also rebuilt anew—twice as long and twice as tall as before. People couldn’t help but be astonished by its preposterous scale.

Rumors of Charlotte’s return spread much faster than rumors of her disappearance.

No one living in the kingdom denied that their king was a tyrant, and if someone were unfortunate enough to speak ill of the king, it could be used as an excuse to kill everyone involved.

Of course, no one could speak ill of the king after seeing the nobles who had plotted rebellion hanging in the centers of their territories, screaming with all their limbs torn off.

Those who had tried to take advantage of Charlotte’s absence were all dragged to the execution grounds, making everyone even more cautious.

One month.

A month had passed since the boy was kidnapped.

Having completely resolved the chaos, Charlotte was sitting on the throne, leaning back with her legs crossed and tapping her foot, looking at a knight kneeling and bowing his head in the distance.

It was a female knight with silver armor symbolizing the royal knights and fiery red hair.

“Speak,” Charlotte said in a rigid voice. With permission granted, the red-haired knight bowed even deeper.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Alesia Beneviento, Captain of the 7th Royal Knights, wishes to report to His Majesty King Gargantua.”

The knight was Alesia.

Unlike other royal knights who had returned to the palace after the black blood monster crisis had mostly subsided, she had been dispatched to the edge of the continent, which delayed her return—a blessing in disguise.

The same was true for the knights under her command. Their playful complaints about being the last to return had changed to the title of “the only surviving knights.”

“From the 2nd Knight Captain to the 6th, and from the 8th Knight Captain to the 10th, a total of eight Royal Knight Captains and eighty-eight Royal Knights under their command perished in the demon advent incident that occurred in the capital a month ago. Their bodies were not found, and it is presumed they perished completely.”

Demon advent incident.

This was the official reason given instead of the truth about the battle with Olivia.

The claim was that a demon had descended upon the capital, burning the entire area and transforming it into something resembling hell, necessitating the purification of the capital.

Charlotte explained that she had disappeared for two weeks because the concept of time in hell differed from reality.

She claimed she had escaped immediately after annihilating the demons, but two weeks had passed in the real world.

It was easy to convince people. According to witnesses who had been just beyond the reach of the catastrophe, a fireball that seemed to contain hell itself had plunged from the sky to the ground.

The true identity of the fireball was Charlotte’s high-level destruction magic, Purgatory, but ordinary people didn’t even know such high-tier destructive magic existed.

And the magicians who did know about such high-tier destructive magic were swept away by the aftermath of the battle, with the few who barely survived being silenced forever.

Most people believed the story.

Those who didn’t believe were killed by Charlotte, who told them to go to hell and ask the demons themselves.

“And, the 1st Royal Knight Captain…”

Alesia hesitated, unable to continue. The 1st Royal Knight Captain—that was Serena’s title.

According to the boy’s original plan, she should have relinquished her position in the Royal Knights long ago, but due to the black blood monster crisis, the timing had been postponed.

“Ignore that woman.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

At Charlotte’s reference to “that woman,” Alesia bowed her head, thinking that the insolent woman had finally received her due punishment, but the reality was somewhat different.

There was no reason to respect Serena by using the title of Royal Knight Captain, so Charlotte was openly ignoring and belittling her.

This was a misunderstanding that occurred because Alesia couldn’t have known about the relationship between Charlotte and Serena. Alesia inwardly accepted this and continued her report.

“Currently, the 7th Knights under my command have been dispatched throughout the kingdom as Your Majesty ordered, focusing on maintaining public order. I’m told that people are quickly regaining stability with the news of Your Majesty’s return.”

“I understand, so that will be enough for your report. You may leave.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Alesia rose and exited the audience chamber with disciplined movements. Only Charlotte remained in the center of the vast room, savoring the quiet silence.

“…My dear.”

Charlotte murmured a wistful word as she took out a small box tucked into the waist of her uniform.

The box was opened with careful gestures. Inside was a simple, modest ring of an earthy color.

It was the dragon’s ring.