The Villain Princess survived the Imperial Riot

"Imperial Knights..."

The brother and sister looked in fear at the tower that they could not cross no matter what, and heard him say again:

"Surrender or die."

Volume 119: Bird in a Cage: . Changing Weather

The High Knight's capture of the two purple puppies hadn't yet reached Cloud Ridge. With nothing else to do, Hestia made a rare trip to the Arcane Academy.

She did not have the competitive spirit of the iron-blooded princess in the official history, and her admiration for the God-Emperor was close to zero, so she devoted herself to power, wealth and gain. All day long, she was either thinking about expanding her wings or tracking down clues about hostile secret cultivators, and then getting two more people in the realm of enlightenment to sacrifice to the great witch.

Therefore, the purpose of going to the college was mainly for inspection, and at the same time, a scholarship fund was established in the name of Lorraine to prepare for the subsequent expansion of Lorraine's civil government.

Yunling once had a prosperous industrial and commercial development. The students of universities and the Academy of Official Law at all levels were mainly from the urban middle class, followed by the descendants of the new rich after the Empire conquered Fran.

Poor students like Viola who received sponsorship from the church were a minority. Families with no savings would send their children to work as laborers or apprentices early on, using their health and skills to supplement the family income.

In theory, the rising middle class was both the most opposed to the Empire and the most supportive. They detested tyranny, which saw the rights that rightfully belonged to the citizens usurped by the aristocracy, bureaucracy, and military. But they also feared unrest, believing that the slightest disturbance could destroy their painstakingly accumulated possessions and consign them to a living hell alongside the peasants.

In their eyes, the empire can certainly suppress the peasants who cause chaos, but it cannot hurt the sincere loyalty of the general public to the empire. They create wealth and culture for the empire and deserve preferential treatment and protection.

Some of the secret practitioners in Yunting Villa are businessmen with profound family backgrounds, as well as a group of scholars who study secret history.

Hestia would never allow the Yunling Iron Army to dominate alone, so she would not let go of the loyalty of such a group of people. If she really forced them all to join the rebel camp, it would be bad for both the country and the people.

According to official history, the Grand Duke of Lorraine would have passed away in recent years, and then the emperor failed in his expedition and fell ill. The majesty of the empire was severely damaged, rebellions broke out everywhere, and the states in the Southern Parliament were also ready to move.

In the past, the empire needed Lorraine to appease the many states of the Southern Empire and focus its military efforts on more distant territories. However, Lorraine was superior to the Southern Empire. In addition to its own authority, it also had the deterrent power of the Iron Army.

There have always been forces that want to abolish Lorraine.

Therefore, the princess must give the Southern Empire a clean slate and strengthen centralization, and at the same time make room for promotion for Yunling's successors.

After briefly understanding the situation at the Academy of Arcane Law, the princess returned to Yunting Villa in her carriage. During the journey, she encountered two groups of mortals carrying alchemical explosives who rammed the carriage, but the assassins were quickly captured alive by the Imperial Guard.

Given Hestia's current state, let alone the carriage's indestructible condition and Iyana's close companionship, even without these protections, if the rebels threw explosives into the carriage, they might not be able to blow off a single hair of the princess's head.

After executing Raffl Tinson, the Witch's Book erected a brand new stone tablet. This meant she could fully utilize the secret arts of the High Knights of the Mastery Realm, and as long as her stored spiritual energy was not drained, her defenses would be almost invulnerable to the full illumination of the secret arts.

The disadvantage is that mastering the secret arts consumes spiritual energy exponentially. Although some spiritual energy in the Witch's Book can continuously restore spiritual energy, it is still a drop in the bucket.

In Hestia's estimation, without taking into account secret weapons and ritual vessels, a desperate battle with a secret cultivator of Clara's combat power would cost hundreds of thousands of units of spiritual energy - that is, the lives of hundreds of thousands of mortals.

Although she doesn't need to execute mortals personally to collect their spirits, collecting such a huge amount of spirits at one time can probably only be done on the battlefield of a decisive battle.

After handing over the rebels who rammed the carriage to the inquisition, Hestia returned to the villa she had longed for and met an unexpected visitor.

"Princess...Your Highness." Cynthia Roland stared at the floor with a complicated expression, finding it difficult to face the sharp edge of the Celestial Dragons.

"Contacted?"

"Not yet. The fact that I was captured alive by you is already known to everyone. If I rashly contact them using my real name, they won't show up."

"Then what are you doing here? You won't be able to see your brother, even once, until you've made a real contribution." Hestia knocked on the table meaningfully. "I have high hopes for you, but if you don't pledge your loyalty, how can I believe you'll work wholeheartedly for me?"

"I'm still working on it, Your Highness... Although there's been no progress, I've heard that some members of the Camarilla have united to target you."

"Secret Alliance?"

Hestia frowned slightly.

The ancient era of the Camarilla predates the new era, and even predates the Rafaan Empire, which is ruled by nine elders of order.

It has a long history, hidden through secrets, its true coordinates constantly shifting. Most seekers must cross the Forgotten Sea at the southern end of the world, stripping away the shimmering wisdom and illusions of the nebulae, before they can see the massive, hollow rock-carved city on the Dusk Islands, where matter and dreams intertwine, the starry sky and the ocean merge, and time and space are abandoned.

In the history of apocalypse, the Secret Alliance was a paradise for secret practitioners to escape from chaos and disputes. In the era of the Divine Emperor's Jedi Tiantong, it became a gathering place for many opponents of the Tower.

Everything in the Dusk Islands is impervious to the erosion of time, and even mortals can achieve immortality. Many of these myths cling to form, even remaining in the human world.

However, Cynthia did not go to the archipelago established by the Secret Alliance, but instead contacted and traded with many members in the gathering mapped at the bottom of the Dream.

The commandments of joining the Camarilla did not include overthrowing the Empire, and the Sisters of the Cocoon were also members of the Camarilla. However, as more and more opponents of the High Tower sought refuge in the Camarilla, it naturally became one of the rebellious bases.

The Roland siblings are not very powerful, but they must have some family heritage, so it is not surprising that they are close friends with some members of the Secret Alliance.

"Who's targeting me?" Hestia asked indifferently.

"I'm not sure, but what we do know is that Fran's full-scale rebellion was orchestrated by them, and many of them were former Fran nobles." Cynthia raised her head cautiously, observing the Queen's expression, then quickly lowered it again. "This means they have a very close collaboration with Free Will..."

"so?"

"So...so..." Cynthia was speechless.

She was unable to obtain any further information. Fundamentally speaking, most of the people who participated in the secret alliance meeting were not real members of the secret alliance. She was a pawn and naturally had no right to inquire about the inside story.

"Don't waste my time, Miss Roland. I can wait, and neither can your brother." Hestia shook her head. "Anything else?"

"No more... Your Highness." Cynthia clenched her fists and bowed. "I'll take my leave first."

She left Yunting Villa, staring blankly at the glaring sunlight, tears streaming down her cheeks. After wiping them away, she regained her resolve and walked out of the villa.

Just at this moment, a maid with fair skin, tall figure and charming features came towards her. Her beautiful face amazed Cynthia. She felt that she was somewhat familiar, but she just couldn't remember where she had seen her.

Just as the two were about to pass each other, the maid suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"Um, hello?" Cynthia asked, choking.

"Miss Roland," the maid's voice was as soft as a venomous snake's tongue, "are you just giving up like that?"

A familiar voice, Cynthia covered her mouth and her pupils contracted.

It's Miss Aphra!

Brother is saved!

In the study, after sending Cynthia away, Hestia finally summoned Batir Thayer. She had originally expected it to take a month to resolve the Black Hand Guild issue, but this man in a powdered palace dress had managed to complete it in just two weeks.

Entering the study with Battier were three of his secret servants and an iron box engraved with secret text.

Hestia recognized the secret texts, the Path of Order, which contained a powerful confinement barrier.

"Is this the surprise you mentioned?" The princess was suspicious and prepared for defense.

Although the probability is small, what if the Shaye family is openly loyal but secretly rebellious and seals a secret technique of the Zhixiang level in the box?

"Yes, Your Highness." Batir Shaye bowed politely.

"What's inside?"

"Your pet."

Batir Shaye removed the seals one by one and then opened the iron box.

A bloated golden bird came into the princess's sight...a bird.

It has the body of a bird, with soft and shiny golden feathers, but on its neck is a human-like head with three faces.

One face had both eyes blinded, with cracked wounds spreading along its brow bone; one face was dark and uncertain, as if it had absorbed the light, but one could still see the bloody muscles after the skin was peeled off; the last face was cracked from the brow bone, and in the crack, one could see a deformed brain wriggling in strips.

"..." Hestia was silent for a moment, then asked, "What is this?"

"Canary, Your Highness!" Batir Shaye was polite, elegant, and easygoing. He took credit for the performance in a poetic aria. "The three directors of the Crocodile Bay Black Hand Guild are all here. I heard that Your Highness enjoys raising magical beasts, so I prepared this surprise!"

"..."

Hestia really wanted to ask him if there was something wrong with his brain. She was shocked, but she didn't know why she was so happy.

After a few seconds, she slowly spoke: "It can be seen that you have a deep understanding of flesh and blood alchemy."

"This is the might of the Twin Sheaths, Your Highness. I'm sorry I shouldn't have spoken the Heretic God's name. I believe so deeply in the God-Emperor that I simply need to harness some of His power to serve the Empire!" Batir Shaye had a flexible bottom line in his faith. "The Twin Sheaths were born from the Great God Wupi, the god of gestation, continuation, and transformation. I combined His power with that of flesh and blood alchemy to stitch the paths of these three Heretics together. What you see isn't the finished product; it's a gestating egg. When the egg is complete, these three Heretics will become one!"

"Sew up the path?" Hestia had never heard of this before. Even the most evil player could not play such a weird secret job.

"Your Highness, Dreamland is not a dimension we can comprehend, and the Dao is not the Dao that corresponds to our material world. I once sought a secret treasure and glimpsed a glimpse of the Dao's secrets," Batir Shaye said. "Does Your Highness know what lies beyond the mists of the Origin Sea?"

"Chaos." Hestia frowned.

"This is the first layer of secrets, but the true history lies in deeper, darker corners." Batir Shaye smiled. "I peered through that secret treasure and saw countless intertwined, abandoned roads in the mist. They were eroded, or perhaps corrupted in the process of interweaving. And now, I have stitched together the paths of these three people. Far from dying, they have nurtured each other into new beings, a demonic entity that I cannot yet comprehend. It is so beautiful, Your Highness, this is a work of art bestowed by the Divine Emperor!"

"You mean to say that Chaos is those intertwined, corrupted paths?"

"I don't know, Your Highness, but it's obvious that the more areas of esoteric cultivation we explore, the more unstable our minds become, and the easier it is to lose our way." Batir Shaye didn't care about corruption or not. He just wanted the princess to appreciate his masterpiece and praise his loyalty. "Your Highness, benevolent, look at these evildoers who commit murder and robbery, human trafficking, drug smuggling, loan sharking... They're guilty of every possible evil! And you! Let them receive fair punishment!"

I'm not, I don't.

Hestia could not develop the twisted habits of the Saye family, and it was even more difficult for her to associate this punishment with "righteousness".

"I don't care what you do with them," the princess said indifferently, "I just want to know if they reveal the information I want to know."

"Of course, Your Highness. They confessed everything: the location of the fake banknote printing factory, the Offa family they collaborated with, the Black Hand Guild's base and alchemy workshop in Crocodile Bay, gold worth 500,000 gold shields, bonds, and shares on the Lund Stock Exchange..."

Batir Shaye said this, reaching out and stroking the tops of the "birds". Suddenly, the three faces seemed to regain their "freedom" and chirped pleadingly:

"Kill me, please, kill me, I've told you everything, kill me quickly, at least let my soul return to my dream home—"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, the birds are a bit noisy." Batir Shaye said embarrassedly, "I'd better educate them first..."

“No, no, no, noble Tianlong, please!” the blinded face wailed, “Something is wriggling in my soul, I see, I see…”

"what did you see?"

"I see the fog!" He trembled. "It stretched out its claws, grabbing our souls. We, me, we, who am I?!!!!"

He screamed madly and found that his memories were merging and he couldn't tell which one belonged to him.

"An unstable path will lead to chaos." Hestia pondered. "My Lord, do you wish for me to raise an evil demon?"

"That is absolutely not the case, Your Highness," said Batir Shaylian, "It is still accepted by the Dream and does not yet belong to the evil demon!"

"I'm afraid it's not far away."

"It's possible. This is a great experiment... Your Highness, it would be a shame if it were destroyed." Batir Shaye glanced at the princess anxiously. After confirming that she didn't like this "surprise," he sighed and said, "I will ask the Iron Army to destroy it, Your Highness."

Hestia nodded slightly without saying anything more.

She originally wanted to recommend the Shaye family to join the Yunling Medical Association or the Royal Medical College, but now it seems that it is better not to let lunatics join forces.

After Shaye left, Iyana appeared in the study and brought a secret letter from the Sea of ​​Ashes.

Hestia took it and looked at it, her brows furrowed.