"Sorry! Official duties kept me busy and delayed you all!"
Esdeath and Durandal ignored the minister without answering, while Rita replied with a smile.
"...Minister Rita must have worked very hard."
Hearing Rita's words, the minister's face darkened...
Busy with official duties? Like hell I believed that.
"Every general and minister here is a pillar of the Empire. It is only natural that you are busy with official affairs. I will remember your contributions." Unlike the minister, the Young Emperor, who was already a boy, seemed to have actually believed Rita's nonsense.
"..."
Minister Honest looked wordlessly at the Young Emperor above, at a complete loss for words... After all these years, he had thoroughly led the boy astray with his own deception.
But that was a good thing for him...
"Enough, let us discuss serious matters! Ever since that strange stone monument fell, rumors have spread everywhere, and the entire Empire has fallen into rebellion." General Bude spoke at this moment.
He had tried to destroy the monument, but even he... had been helpless.
"Could it be... that the monument truly descended from heaven? Is the thousand-year Empire really going to be destroyed in my hands..."
As soon as Bude finished speaking, the Young Emperor looked deeply worried.
"Your Majesty need not worry. This is the conspiracy of those rebels. Those stone monuments must be one of their methods."
Minister Honest responded calmly to the Young Emperor's words.
"Yes, it must be the rebels' conspiracy. They want to destroy my country. Why would they do this... The country has clearly prospered under my rule, with peace throughout the land! Yet they want to destroy such a country."
The Young Emperor looked extremely furious. In the worldview the minister had instilled in him, he had been "working hard" to govern