Elara had been in a fairly good mood, but after hearing what Kristof said, her mood instantly dropped, and her entire aura changed sharply.
She furrowed her brows, and a cold sharpness uncontrollably surfaced from her expression.
For a brief moment, Elara even doubted whether she had misheard.
A few months ago, she had led her forces in a powerful counterattack that crushed the old corrupt system of the Plumera Kingdom and replaced it with a new regime.
But it had only been a few months, and now she was the one facing rebellion from the refugees?
Just because of a few disgusting rats, had everything she worked hard for become a ridiculous lie in the eyes of the city's people, as if she were just covering up for corruption?
Elara's heart sank again, she took a deep breath and looked at Kristof coldly. "Were there any deaths?"
Kristof paused, then lowered his gaze and answered, "When the Ministry of Justice officials went to investigate, the local people had no food or medicine to survive. The rebels broke into the city hall and caused... one hundred and thirty-seven deaths and more than eighty serious injuries. The public anger in Xunding City grew worse, and the rebel forces became larger. Many of the desperate refugees joined the rebellion shouting they would overthrow the city office, overthrow... the Plumera Dynasty."
Overthrow... the Plumera Dynasty...
If it had been any ordinary official, they would never dare speak such treasonous words from the rebels directly in the imperial hall in front of Elara and all the civil and military officials.
But Kristof dared.
Not only did he dare, but he also kept his head high, staring directly at Elara without blinking, watching every small change in her expression.
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire court went silent, you could hear a pin drop. A suffocating pressure filled the grand hall, and some timid officials held their breath. A few even felt their legs go weak and nearly dropped to their knees.
Elara sat high on the throne. The veins on her arm resting on the armrest bulged slightly.
She took another deep breath, trying to suppress the fury burning inside.
But even though in her past life she had learned to control her emotions, this time the anger in her heart was impossible to hold back.
In her past life, she had lived in a lawful and peaceful society.
Although she had contributed a lot to the Xia Corporation, she never had to risk her life in dangerous situations. The worst she suffered was losing some money from her bank account.
But in this life, ever since arriving here, she had faced life and death countless times. Each time, she used every method she could to survive. Then step by step, she built her power to reach where she is today.
And now, after risking her life and putting in all her effort to create what she had, someone dared to secretly leech off her, commit corruption behind her back, and oppress the people?
How could Elara not be furious?
"I truly didn't expect that after being on the throne for only a few months, I've already become a tyrant in the people's eyes, someone they need to overthrow to survive!" Elara spoke through clenched teeth, her voice cold with rage. Her eyes slowly locked on the back of the hall.
At the back of the hall stood Hu Chen, the governor of Lupine County. His face had gone pale with fear. He trembled, his legs almost giving out.
In this ancient world, a prefecture governor was equal to the leader of a province and had the right to attend court sessions.
He stood among the other governors at the rear of the hall. From the moment Kristof revealed his crimes, he had been frozen in fear and panic.
In a flash, Elara moved. The next moment, she appeared in front of the governor, her cold eyes fixed on him as she said every word slowly:
"One hundred and thirty-seven people, already dead... Governor Hu, how many people do you have in your family?"
Hu Chen was not one of the new officials appointed after Elara's reforms through national exams. He was one of the old officials left behind from the time of Lord Gregory.
Back when Lord Gregory was in power, Hu Chen had already been the governor of Lupine County. But he was timid and cautious. In the records Kristof investigated, Hu Chen and Lord Gregory had little direct interaction. He usually avoided Lord Gregory and rarely accepted anything from him. However, he also didn't oppose him, making him part of the former neutral faction in the Plumera court.
When Kristof investigated him in the past, he really didn't find any major faults. The man acted obediently and was average but honest, so he remained among the old officials in court.
After Elara took the throne, she was constantly busy with other matters and often led battles abroad.
The main officials in the country also had endless work every day, helping build the new infrastructure of Plumera Kingdom.
There were already too many empty positions in court, and everyone was caught up in their complicated duties. Except for the Ministry of Justice, which served as the main supervisory body, no one had the energy to watch over others.
After placing those old ministers in their roles, Elara didn't have time to keep watching them, including the governor of Lupine County, Hu Chen. She didn't plan to move them unless someone more suitable appeared.
But she didn't expect that this man, who used to be cautious and average, had changed so much in the past few months.
What? Did he think she was easier to fool than Lord Gregory? That even cowards could now grow bold?
Or did he assume that because she was always away fighting wars, she couldn't keep an eye on internal affairs?
"Mi... my lady... my empress..."
Hu Chen's voice trembled with fear.
He had been a high official for years, and his body had grown fat and luxurious from his wealthy lifestyle.
Elara's intimidating presence was already pushing his nerves to the edge. When she suddenly appeared right in front of him like a ghost, in the blink of an eye, Hu Chen's legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor, unable to say a full sentence.
Looking at how weak and terrified he looked, Elara's anger burned even hotter. Her face grew colder.
"Since 137 people died in Xunding City because of you, Governor Hu, I'll take 137 people from your family to die with them."
Hu Chen froze, his eyes widening in shock like he had just heard something terrifying. He cried out in panic, begging for mercy.
"No! No, no! Your Majesty! It was my fault! I lost my mind! I was blinded by greed! But... but my family is innocent, they... ah!!"
He crawled on the ground, trying to grab Elara's leg to beg for mercy, but she kicked him hard in the chest. His fat body slammed into the door and slumped down helplessly.
"Innocent?" Elara sneered, walking slowly toward him. She looked down at him from above. "Then tell me, not a single person in your family ate the food you stole? Or used the money you made selling it to black merchants?"
"If you can promise that no one in your family ever touched the things you stole, I'll spare them. How about that?"
"Oh, now that I think about it..." Elara bent down and grabbed his throat, forcing him to look into her eyes.
"Governor Hu, I suddenly remember, back when you worked under Lord Gregory, even though you were too timid to accept large bribes directly, Lord Gregory gave you all huge monthly salaries to keep you loyal, right? So even without stealing, you could live richly, dress in gold, and enjoy life."
"Now that I've taken over, I don't use Lord Gregory's methods. In fact, the new salaries under my system are tiny compared to what you used to get. Probably not even enough to fill the gaps in your teeth. So even someone like you, who used to be careful and cowardly, finally showed your true colors and started preying on your people. Am I right?"
Every time Elara said something, Hu Chen trembled harder.
His face was full of fear and guilt, like every word was hitting his conscience.
He... he had always been the careful, cautious type. He never dared to take bribes directly from Lord Gregory's men in the past, fearing it would get him into trouble.
But Lord Gregory had increased their official salaries by tens of times to keep them loyal. That had fully satisfied their spending habits.
So over the years, even though they didn't openly commit crimes or accept bribes, they lived in luxury. Their wealth was something common people could never dream of earning even in several lifetimes.
But after Elara removed Lord Gregory and his circle, cleaning up the old corrupt court, she established a new system. From then on, they could no longer live like kings.
The shift from extravagance to plain soup and vegetables was too hard. Not just for Hu Chen, but also for his wives, concubines, and relatives, all of whom had gotten used to lavish spending. How could they possibly go back?
So after a few months of patience, once he saw that Elara was always out fighting wars, and key officials like General Qi, Francis, and Sylvan also left the court to follow her, and the rest were too busy to pay attention...
He slowly got bolder. Driven by desire and constant nagging from his household, he decided to first test things out in the small and unnoticed Xunding City.
But he never imagined that this test would end with him being caught directly by Kristof, the head of the Ministry of Justice, and his crimes being exposed in front of the empress in court today.
Hu Chen collapsed completely. His whole body trembled uncontrollably with fear. He wanted to speak but couldn't form full sentences, only sobbing and begging repeatedly, "It's all my fault! I deserve to die! I deserve to die!!"
Seeing this, Elara knew her guess was right.
She threw him aside and coldly turned to the group of old ministers behind her. "So, all of you think the same way? That my salaries are too little? Not enough to feed you?"