v2 Chapter 3
The Empire in a Fervor
However, several days ago, when Gertrude entered the Empire's territory, the dramatic change that occurred on the frontier stirred them into a fervor.
The silver light pouring down from the heavens completely annihilated the monsters that had been rampaging across the frontier. Furthermore, it completely healed the wounds of the Anti-Monster Knights Order's soldiers.
Even wounds invaded by miasma that had no choice but to be amputated unless purified with evil-banishing magic.
The miracle did not end with just that, as the monsters across the “Forbidden Lands” along the route Gertrude followed were completely wiped out across the board. As expected, the Miasma Bogs were not purified, but merely by the monsters currently appearing vanishing, the lords of those lands and the Anti-Monster Knights Order on dispatch could catch their breath.
"It's Princess Gertrude's miracle!"
Everyone rejoiced and praised Gertrude, but among them, the most enthusiastic was the Anti-Monster Knights Order whose lives had been saved.
Their loyalty toward the Emperor was low to begin with. Their fervor, to the point where they might very well claim that Gertrude rather than the Emperor was their sovereign, spread to the central nobility in the blink of an eye.
The evil-banishing power possessed by princesses of Silvana's direct line was something everyone knew. That Andreas forcibly took Gertrude as Imperial Consort was also in order to have her save the heir, Prince Wolfram, with that power.
The sacred power that kept evil at bay. That was thought to be a power that merely kept monsters and miasma away… that is to say, only repelled them.
Of course, even that alone was a miracle that should be called a divine work of god, but it could not extinguish monsters or miasma that already existed. Gertrude's elder sister, the Crown Princess Dolores nicknamed the Princess General, also used a sword to destroy monsters.
Destroying evil just by being there could only be possible for the Goddess Silvana, or one heavily favored by the Goddess.
Princess Gertrude was the beloved child of the Goddess Silvana-sama.
The Emperor shoved that beloved child of the Goddess into the unfairly low status of an Imperial Consort, and was trying to keep her useless for the sake of his son.
How sinful…
While nobles rebellious toward Andreas condemned him, nobles of the Emperor's faction praised Andreas.
The Emperor who wed Princess Gertrude, the beloved child of the Goddess, as Imperial Consort was also loved by the Goddess.
The responsibilities of an Empress would be too heavy for a young princess. Because she was bestowed the Order of Saintess Brunhilde, keeping her as an Imperial Consort would rather be for the Princess's sake. The Goddess Silvana was bound to forgive as well.
The assertions of both sides ran parallel endlessly, but there was only one shared view.
That as long as Princess Gertrude resided there, the Empire could be distant from the threat of monsters.
For the nations of the continent other than the Kingdom of Silvana, the existence of monsters was a breeding ground of distress and exhaustion. Since it was liberated from that, it could be said that the Empire gained a major advantage for expanding its territory.
As for the crucial Prince Wolfram, when Princess Gertrude accomplished her entry into the Imperial Capital, the moment he bathed in the silver light that poured down on the Imperial Capital, his condition reportedly recovered dramatically.
His faint, gasping breath became peaceful, the agony etched into his face ever since birth unwound, and the miasma encroaching upon his body drained away entirely.
New miasma was not accumulated, and he completely finished the meals he had hardly been able to take, reportedly bringing jubilation to Empress Constanze.
Because the period he had been ill was long, he needed to recuperate for a little while longer, but once he recovered, he would become able to run around like an ordinary healthy child. The healing mages gave such a definitive guarantee.
In other words, that meant Wolfram would finally emerge onto the public stage as the Emperor's heir. As expected, he was absent from today's welcoming ceremony, but he would eventually come to have interactions with Princess Gertrude.
Wolfram's future hung on how they treated the princess who was his lifesaver and lifeline, and how they did not ruin her mood.
But that was still a matter for later.
The attention of both the pro-Emperor faction and the anti-Emperor faction was directed toward Princess Gertrude.
Just what kind of person was she?
Who was the merciful princess who took pity on a prince disdained as a defective product even by the nobles of his own country, and volunteered of her own accord to her elder sister Queen to go to the Empire…?