Faced with overwhelming tyranny, the people had nothing to say.
They abandoned a system that had guarded five hundred years of glory. The citizens of the capital, who carried that glory in their hearts as they lived — they were relocated like wild beasts driven from the land. And further still, they desecrated the tombs of emperors past to fill the treasury.
A tyrant.
Kurz swallowed hard. The same word was flickering through the minds of every general seated in the command tent.
In the frigid silence, someone spoke.
"……Your Highness knows how wisely she cares for her soldiers."
Kurz quickly turned his head. There stood Baron Wittenmaier, the Deputy Chief of Staff. Though still young, he was well known for his prematurely whitened hair. His eyes were perpetually heavy with fatigue, dark and sunken.
'The goody-two-shoes general.'
Kurz clicked his tongue silently.
Not only pro-Princess faction members had gathered here. Those who had once backed the Crown Prince, those who had once backed the Second Prince, those who had taken a step back from the factional warfare — talented individuals from every walk of life had assembled. Among them, Baron Wittenmaier was a young man who had zealously defected from the pro-Crown Prince faction to the pro-Princess faction.
Kurz Schleiermacher found Baron Wittenmaier rather irksome. The baron was a bit too moral. He supposedly hadn't dated a single woman to this day — what enjoyment could a man possibly get out of life? Kurz was skeptical.
"Her Highness rises earlier than anyone and retires later than anyone. While the soldiers groan with hunger, commanders from other nations roast pigs and indulge in pleasures — yet Her Highness alone eats the same food as the common soldiers."
"A petty hypocrisy."
The princess answered without hesitation.
Kurz Schleiermacher listened to the exchange with admiration. She openly called her own charitable deeds hypocrisy. What leader in the world could do such a thing? Kurz knew that true virtue was born precisely where one had the audacity to call one's own hypocrisy exactly what it was.
Baron Wittenmaier spoke.
"Yes. Her Highness refuses fancy military uniforms and instead wears ragged, black clothes like a common priest. Her bedding in the tent is the same kind used by junior officers… Of course, I am aware that this is a form of performative military governance."
"Baron Wittenmaier!"
An old general let out a roar.
"Enough."
The Empress raised her right hand to stop the officer. Keep talking. That was what her gaze said.
"But just as every truth contains a trace of falsehood, every falsehood contains a trace of truth, or so this officer believes. To skillfully calibrate that truthfulness and falsity… Your Highness may call it hypocrisy, but this officer dares to suggest that it is, in fact, the mark of a great sovereign."
Huh, the goody-two-shoes was making some pretty solid points.
Kurz's gaze shifted. Baron Wittenmaier wasn't standing up and reciting platitudes about how the Empress shouldn't abandon the capital or how the Empire's dignity must be preserved.
The Baron spoke.
"My knowledge may be limited, but I dare say this with certainty: no one is more fit to be a sovereign than Your Highness. When a person of that caliber boldly declares an act of tyranny… there must be some calculation of gain and loss behind it. This officer is curious how Your Highness is weighing those gains and losses."
Baron Wittenmaier swept his gaze across the room.
"I trust the rest of you esteemed officers feel the same way."
The Baron's words transformed the atmosphere inside the tent. What had been an air of outrage over the Empress's outburst shifted into something closer to—let's hear why Her Highness said what she said. Each of them regarded the Empress with solemn faces.
'Wow. A goody-two-shoes through and through.'
Kurz Schleiermacher was genuinely impressed.
The Baron had stepped forward on behalf of the others. First, he ridiculed the Empress's virtues—a touch of insolence. That, in turn, enraged those loyal to the Empress. That alone shifted the air in the tent slightly.
Immediately after, he revealed that the ridicule had actually been praise. Properly showing the truth while properly concealing the falsehood—that, he argued, was the hallmark of a true sovereign. Everyone gathered here was wise enough to see the world for what it was. They all truly understood that this was, in fact, the mark of a great ruler.
The officers silently yielded to Baron Wittenmaier's point. And in doing so, they all arrived at the same question… Why had Her Highness announced what appeared, on the surface, to be nothing more than a self-defeating strategy? What possible gain could be hidden in it?
'So textbook it's almost impossible to notice.'
Kurz acknowledged that the goody-two-shoes had completely turned the mood around. He, too, had recovered from his shock and was now simply waiting for the Empress to open her mouth.
Empress Elisabeth spoke.
"Baron Wittenmaier. Answer my question. What damage will the Habsburg Empire suffer by abandoning the capital?"
"At once. The strategy of surrendering the capital entails three categories of damage: short-term damage, medium-term damage, and long-term damage."
Baron Wittenmaier answered without hesitation.
"First, if we discuss the short-term damage, the public's trust will collapse immediately. By deploying the scorched-earth strategy, we have already erased nearly half of our territory. A significant number of people who have lost their homelands have gathered near the capital to form refugee camps. Public sentiment in the capital is already extremely unstable… If we announce that we intend to abandon even the capital—the symbol of the Empire—the people will no longer be able to endure it and will rise up in rebellion."
The other generals nodded.
That was right. The people's rebellion was what they feared most. Under normal circumstances, they could simply mobilize the army to suppress it. But the current situation was anything but favorable.
"The Demon Lord's army approaches from outside, while the people stir up unrest within. On top of that, the remnants of the Crown Prince's faction and the Second Prince's faction are adding fuel to the fire. The Empire will perish."
"What is the medium-term damage?"
"The Empire's administrative system will be almost entirely destroyed."
The baron spoke earnestly.
"Administration is not simply a matter of processing affairs between officials. Where do reports go? Where are matters handled collectively? Through what channels do policy proposals flow? All of that takes place in designated locations. If we abandon the capital and flee… even if we manage to quell the rebellion, the Empire will face an extended period of extreme chaos."
It was a statement worthy of the deputy chief of the General Staff, who oversaw military administration.
While the attendees nodded once again, the princess asked.
"And the long-term damage?"
"Humankind will lose the strength to resist the Demon Lord's army. In the half year since that cursed Demon Lord delivered his speech… our Imperial forces are still comparatively better off. But in other nations' armies, discord between officers and soldiers is already occurring openly. I hear that outright insubordination doesn't even rank among the worst of it."
Groans leaked out from various parts of the room.
Soldiers losing trust in their generals—the people gathered here understood that predicament better than anyone. Over the past several months, they had done nothing short of fighting on the very front lines in order to regain the soldiers' trust.
In the process, quite a few generals had been killed by stray arrows… Without both talent and fortune, they wouldn't even have been able to take their seats here.
Baron Wittenmaier let out a quiet breath.
"In such a situation, the Empire abandons its capital. What is the purpose of this relocation? The Empire, which should protect and safeguard its people, flees solely to preserve the Imperial family… The nation's dignity plunges into hell. And it isn't just the Habsburg Empire. The people of every nation on the continent will witness this and grow disillusioned. Nobility is simply like that, after all."
The Demon Lord's army will actively exploit this, and ultimately humanity will lose the moral high ground, the baron said.
"This humble one wished to propose that we meet a glorious end together with all of you, my fellow generals. We will evacuate the civilians. The Imperial family and all nobles will remain in the capital. Some nobles may attempt to flee, but we will hold them by force. Then we will face the Demon Lord's army. The Empire's nobles will all perish in battle. The Empire may fall."
"……."
"But the dignity of humanity remains."
Silence lingered.
Kurz nodded. He had thought the same. It was the best course of action — every noble from the Emperor down to the knights would defend the capital and die in battle.
In that noble extinction, nobles and commoners would unite once more. Give up the flesh to claim the bones. The only difference was that this time, they themselves were the flesh… That was all. Was there any other way?
"That was an excellent proposal, Baron Bietenmaier."
"I am honored."
"However, I can overcome all three of these losses."
The generals were taken aback.
The Princess swept her gaze slowly across the room with sunken, heavy-lidded eyes. Her stare was not fixed on those before her, but on some distant point far away.
"Demon Lord Dantalion accused me of committing moral atrocities. My reputation has been ruined. And yet, you generals still believed in me and followed me here. Therefore, I believe you have sufficient right to hear the truth."
"……."
"I killed the Habsburg Empire's fourth prince… my younger brother, Robert."
The command tent went still as ice. Everyone stared at the Princess — and then at those around them — with faces that could not believe what they had heard.
"Impossible… Your Highness, what do you mean…"
Kurz could not tell who had spoken. In truth, there was no need to know. It was the voice of every person gathered in that tent.
"I realized I was different from others when I was five. I could see things that no one else could. But most people could not see what I saw. And I made my judgment: the Empire would fall."
The command tent fell silent. An ominous, foreboding silence.
The Habsburg Empire still had its Emperor. Yet the Emperor had been placed under house arrest by the Princess's faction. The second prince was also imprisoned in a remote tower. In truth, Princess Elisabeth now held supreme authority over the Empire. The noblest person in the Empire had just uttered the word "fall"…
"What Demon Lord Dantalion said is entirely accurate. Nobles think only of their own interests. They have no sense of responsibility, no sense of duty. Policy is nothing more than whatever benefits their own faction. The Imperial Court entertains sycophants without the slightest standard, while loyal subjects are either cast out or banished to some remote provincial estate. It carries the name of an Empire, but in truth it is a rotting corpse."
The Princess gave a bitter smile.
"A thorough purge was necessary. I first sought to end the succession dispute. At the time, the Imperial family had six claimants besides myself. Far too many.……I personally dealt with two of them, and Brother Rudolf dealt with another two."
"What…!"
Once again, the command tent shook with shock.
The Princess spoke with self-mockery.
"We were of the same blood, after all. My brother was different from me in every way, but one thing was the same — we were both degenerates. My brother and I will surely fall to the very bottom of hell and writhe in agony."
Behind the Princess's self-mocking face, loneliness lingered.
"Robert…my younger brother had powerful maternal relatives. Archduke Braunschweig stood behind him as a backer. The Archduke would inevitably have pushed Robert to claim the throne. Such powerful maternal kin were nothing but an obstacle to the security of the Empire. And so, without hesitation, I killed Robert."
"……."
"He was a pure child. He hadn't yet been touched by talk of empires and maternal factions. To Robert, I was simply a kind older sister. In other words, Robert did not die as the Fourth Prince of the House of Habsburg. He died as my—younger brother to Elisabeth…"
The Princess smiled dryly.
"Truly, the Demon Lord spoke correctly. I am a disgusting, garbage murderer. A monster born solely to protect this walking corpse of an Empire. That is my true nature."