Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 338 Isabella
Duchy of Tess, Blood Harbor.

Galahad has been gone for several days, but the Upper Town is still not fully repaired.

When the Church of the Mother Goddess stormed into the area, they not only looted the food but also killed many nobles in a fit of rage. Before leaving, they set a fire, which was quickly extinguished, but a prison and several mansions were still burned down. Now, the entire Upper City is in a state of panic.

Fortunately, the prince quickly brought the situation under control. To ensure safety, he announced that troops would be stationed in the upper city and anyone entering or leaving would be subject to inspection and questioning.

At that moment, the prince was in the dungeon of his own mansion, quietly watching the old man opposite him, whose face was full of anger.

"My dear butler, the prison has been burned down, so I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for a while—although I've replaced all the servants, this is still a house you know well, and I think you'll be quite happy~"

"Who are you? You're definitely not His Highness! Where is His Highness?!"

He glared fiercely at the prince, the master he had served for many years, who now seemed like a complete stranger.

When Euan saw the prince returning from the Rhine, he sensed something was wrong.

Upon hearing that the prince had successfully assassinated the queen, Yu'an was so moved that tears streamed down his face. He had never believed that the child he had watched grow up was as despicable as others had described.

He knew that His Highness would not yield!

But everything that followed slowly slid into the abyss.

When the prince returned, he did not greet him as usual, but instead made him feel like a stranger.

Yuan had spent over ten years with the prince, and she would notice even the slightest difference, let alone two completely different people.

At that time, Yu'an only thought that the prince had avenged his great enemy and that things were different from before.

When he finally sensed something was wrong, the "prince" had already successfully sidelined him and easily arrested him.

Looking at the unfamiliar expression on that familiar face, Yu'an felt fear grip his heart.

"Where is Prince William? Is he... is he still alive?"

The prince glanced at him disdainfully, then tapped his temple with his finger: "Use your brain! What value do you have to me?"

After saying that, he walked straight out of the room, leaving only Yu'an's terrified cries: "Who, who are you?"

He casually closed the door and walked unhurriedly to his office. He sat down in the soft armchair and began to open the documents piled on his desk.

"Who am I?" he murmured to himself. "You surely know who I am, Your Highness—"

There seemed to be a ripple in the air, but upon closer inspection, it was empty; there was nothing there.

But then a voice suddenly appeared inside the room.

"You devil who deserves to go to hell! Of course I know you, Empress of the Holy Mil Empire, the monster who took my body, Isabella!"

"Oh, how can you be so sure it's me?" The prince leisurely pulled out a document from the pile, leaned back in his chair, and put his feet on the table.

"Further words are pointless. What exactly do you want?!"

"Of course, it's to save Blood Harbor." "Ha, do you think I don't know? The chaos in Blood Harbor was caused by you. Before you left the Upper City, you transferred away the Port Guard, which allowed those cultists to break in!"

The voice in the air grew increasingly furious: "And then, even though you had control of the military camp, you delayed your return, allowing the cultists to massacre the upper city! So many lives were lost for nothing!!"

Snapped!
The prince sitting at the table—no, it should be Isabella—threw the documents she was holding onto the table.

The document was a casualty census of Blood Harbor's Upper Town, with pages densely filled with names.

"You're right. This time, the Church of the Mother of Life killed a total of 175 people, including three earls, twelve viscounts, and various minor nobles who were attached to them. They also killed dozens of prisoners in the prison. Tsk tsk, the casualties were really heavy."

The air suddenly fell silent. The prince seemed to sense something was amiss. After a moment, he hesitantly spoke, "Impossible, how could there be so many nobles?"

"It's a strange coincidence that they happened to gather at Blood Harbor and were slaughtered by the rebels. I am heartbroken about this."

The prince's silence was exceptionally long this time. After a long while, when he spoke again, his voice was filled with anger: "You, you're using cultists to eliminate dissidents!?"

Isabella grinned: "What do you mean by eliminating dissidents? They don't even deserve it! Don't you know how many nobles you have in your territory? It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you don't know. Let me tell you, little prince, I've wiped out all the nobles in your territory."

"Now, Bloodharbor has only one lord, and Tiss will only have one voice."

"How...how could that be? The other nobles aren't stupid. They'll know what you're doing. You...you're courting death."

"You mean, those nobles will join forces against me, just like they've been doing for the past ten years?"

The prince fell silent. He seemed to realize that the woman who had taken over his body was the empress who had led the empire to prosperity. She had almost single-handedly suppressed the nobles of the entire empire, making them unable to lift their heads.

Her name itself is a symbol of imperial power.

"So... why did you take over my body? You have such vast lands and such great power, why did you come to a small place like Blood Harbor just to slaughter these nobles?"

"Yes."

"I knew you wouldn't tell me. Wait, what did you say?"

"I came here to kill all those nobles," Isabella said coldly. "The empire has been established for hundreds of years. The nobles who were once the backbone of the empire are now parasites on it. Without getting rid of them, the empire will never have any hope. I can lead the empire forward, but I cannot get rid of them—the nobles have now become a part of the empire, deeply buried in its flesh and blood."

“I killed countless nobles in the Rhine, their blood flowing all over the steps of the palace, but it was no use. The next noble to replace them was still a parasite.”

"An empire is a towering tree built on a flawed foundation; the more luxuriant it grows, the closer it is to its fall."

"Wait, don't try to fool me!" the prince suddenly said. "The royal family has completely taken control of the army, and you have practically sidelined all the nobles in the country. The Rhine is completely under your control. If you really want to reform, do you think those nobles can stop you?"

Isabella clicked her tongue.

“You’re not entirely hopeless. You’re right. I can kill all the nobles, but the empire can’t function without them.”

"Why not?" the prince asked instinctively. "Aren't they sucking the blood of the empire?"

"Because of the Vatican."

(End of this chapter)