Authority

Ophelia couldn't help but smile once more. 

"ACCORDING TO THE HOLY EMPIRE BOOK OF LAWS! CLAUSE 7! ALL SOURCES OF INFORMATION SHALL BE SILENCED IF THEY REVEAL ANY INFORMATION TO ANYBODY OR ANYTHING BUT THE ROYAL INVESTIGATORS! NO MATTER IT BE THE EMPEROR OR EMPRESS THEMSELVES! THEY WILL HAVE ABSOLUTE PROTECTION FROM THE ROYAL GUARD UNTIL THE INVESTIGATION IS DONE!" Ophelia declared, her words growing stronger with an even stronger output of [Silver Tongue]. 

The guards froze and turned towards the Duchess who was biting down on her lip from so much stress that it began to bleed. 

The Duchess instantly fired back. "ACCORDING TO THE HOLY EMPIRE BOOK OF LAWS! CLAUSE 7! EXTENDED FINE PRINT! SECTION 2! IF THE ACCUSED FEEL AS IF THEY HAVE BEEN WRONGLY ACCUSED AND THEY HAVE STRONG EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THE ACCUSING STATEMENT! THEY MAY INVESTIGATE THE MATTERS THEMSELVES!

The guards instantly started walking back towards the door, but just before they placed their hands on the handles of said doors, Ophelia spoke once more, her presence still as unwavering as a solitary mountain. 

"Before you decide where your loyalty lies, consider this carefully," she spoke, her gaze piercing each guard like a blade. "These walls have ears, and I assure you, so does the royal court. Ask yourselves—what will befall you if you are seen as accomplices to traitors?"

The guards hesitated, glancing nervously at each other.

Ophelia took a step forward. "When the Royal Investigators arrive tomorrow, anyone who has stood in their way will be recorded in their ledgers. Would you risk your lives, your careers, and your families to protect those who have been forsaken by the Empire itself? Remember, loyalty is fleeting, and history will only remember you as part of a fallen house."

One guard's face turned pale, his hand loosening on the door handle as doubt crept in.

"Consider," she pressed on, her voice like dark velvet, "the Royal Guard's protection extends only to those who serve the Empire faithfully. Should you choose the side of a condemned house, the consequences will be not only yours to bear, but your families as well. Don't you have children you want to protect? Wives you still want to cherish?"

The guards froze, their hands dropping to their sides, eyes flickering uncertainly toward the Duke and Duchess. The Duchess's expression twisted into one of desperation, but she found no comfort in the guards' loyalty, now splintered by Ophelia's poisonous words.

"Y-You are essentially announcing you are lying," The Duchess grits her teeth. 

"Am I? Or is that all in your mind? You are still trying to gaslight yourself, Duchess. The Duke to your side… your husband… He has already realized I am not lying. It is just you within this room who still dares to think that I am lying." 

"D-Don't try and gaslight me into thinking I'm gaslighting myself-" 

"Me? Gaslighting you?" Her words passed through the room like liquid silver, Ophelia's skill, [Silver Tongue] now in full force. "I speak nothing but the truth. If I truly was as evil as you make me out to be, then why did I bother saving this wretched, corrupted dukedom? Why did I bother saving all these people? All your subjects?" She took in a deep breath, placing her hand across her chest. "It is because I am still loyal to the empire. To this dukedom. This is the land where I grew up. The land where I intend to raise a family. I want it to prosper. I want it to survive. I want it to be something more than just a dukedom." 

"Y-You…" The Duchess, admitting defeat, lowered her head, releasing all tension in her body as if she had died upright on that high-backed chair. "You say that, but you have already given information to the news sources. This dukedom is doomed." 

"If it truly was, then I wouldn't have even bothered having this conversation in the first place. I have convinced them, as the hero of this fortress, that I would be able to change you all for the better. They respect me and are waiting for me to return for permission to release the information." 

'Not,' She thought to herself.

Suddenly, all the nobles within the room glanced at each other, an aura of malice lingering around them. 

"I know what you all are thinking. Kill her now and cover up her death to prevent her from giving the information away, however…" Ophelia rolled up the sleeve of her baggy white button-up blouse, revealing six magic circles engraved onto her arm, ranging from her wrist to the top of her thin pale bicep. "If you kill me now, these magic circles, bounded by the contracts I and the new sources made will set off, signaling to them to release the information. And as you all know, I do not know magic so I could not have forged these myself. If you must, you can confirm that none of the mages I know forged these as well. In fact, you can even confirm with the news sources themselves. But, I'm sure you all know I am only speaking the truth now." 

The air within the room turned gloomy and depressing as everybody had admitted defeat. Right now, they were completely under the control of Ophelia. Completely at her mercy. 

"Fine. What do you want?" The Duke spoke up. They had been cornered and he needed to save his skin and pride, not just in front of the nobles and his wife, but the entire dukedom he ruled over.

Ophelia grinned from ear to ear. "I have three conditions. First, all of the nobles within this room, Duke, Duchess, Barons, and Baronesses, shall give me the highest degree of referral to the Emperor to grant me the title of Duchess. Secondly, all of the nobles within this room, Duke, Duchess, Barons, and Baronesses, shall give me the highest degree of referral to the Archbishop to grant me a permanent seal of the Authority: Supreme Command. Third, every single person within this room will form a magical contract with me. Everybody here will become my servants. I will add as much as I see fit. If anybody dares to disagree I will immediately ask the elven scholar behind me to break the respective parts of each magic circle on me containing conditions on the information of each noble within here. Is that clear? Are there any objections?" 

Everybody glanced at the elven scholar, hoping he would have some kind of fear of betraying the people above him, however… his face was stone cold. 

"Now. Let us proceed with the contracts." 

Colonel Kaden stood like a granite statue, his expression unreadable beneath the hardened lines of his weathered face. As he watched Ophelia create the one-sided, binding contracts with each noble, there was a glint of horror in his sharp, amber eyes.

He was a soldier through and through, accustomed to brutality on the battlefield, yet this methodical destruction of a person's will—ensuring their submission without a drop of blood spilled—was unlike anything he'd ever witnessed. His jaw clenched, but he did not intervene as he knew, like every other soul in the room, that Ophelia held complete control. If any one of them faltered, she could end them and everything they held dear with a single command.

Beside him kneeled the elven scholar. The scholar's delicate, ethereal features were inscrutable, his silver eyes calm yet also holding back a tinge of rage. Not towards Ophelia, but towards the nobles.

'I guess he is still upset about what happened…' Colonel Kaden thought to himself

As the elven scholar watched each blue sphere of magic—Ophelia's contracts—drift towards her chest and dissolve into her heart, a flicker of something bizarre crossed his face. Perhaps it was fascination, perhaps worry, or perhaps… no, not perhaps. He was utterly enthralled by her intelligence.

When Ophelia stepped back to the center of the room, a hush fell over the assembly. She looked each of her new subjects in the eye, her expression still cold and calculating, as if she was still planning at this very moment. 

Ophelia proceeded to spread her arms wide once more, her gaze sweeping across the room, meeting each noble's eyes with an intensity that sent chills down their spines. She was not asking for permission. No. She was demanding allegiance.

Ophelia went one by one. Noble by noble. Demanding their allegiance and forcing them to bow their head towards her. Finally, Ophelia turned and settled her gaze upon the Duke and Duchess seated at the head of the hall. 

Unlike, the forced authority of the lower nobles, she wanted a bit more of a genuine loyalty with the Duke and Duchess, so she proceeded with…

"My Duke, my Duchess. You have ruled with wisdom and grace, but what I am offering… what I am proposing… will take us BEYOND anything our line has EVER achieved!" She took a bold step forward, her voice swelling as she addressed them directly. "I am not talking about merely expanding our influence. I am talking about UNYIELDING DOMINANCE—about creating a LEGACY that will be UNMATCHED, UNBREAKABLE, and UNFORGETTABLE!"

The Duke, with his cold, discerning eyes, sat back in his seat, clearly intrigued but guarded. His fingers drummed on the armrest as he met Ophelia's unwavering gaze.

"YOU, my Duke," she said, pointing with conviction, "will not simply be remembered as the ruler of these lands. You will be known as the founder of the MOST POWERFUL DUKEDOM ACROSS VELLEITY—A FORCE THAT RESHAPED HISTORY! THE LEADER WHO DARED TO TAKE WHAT OTHERS FEARED TO GRASP! WILL YOU STAND BESIDE ME AND CLAIM IT?!"

The Duke's stern face softened, a flicker of excitement creeping into his hardened gaze as he considered the vision she laid before him.

Then, Ophelia's gaze shifted to the Duchess, her tone softening ever so slightly. "And YOU, my Duchess," she continued, her voice almost a whisper before it rose once more, "will become the HEART and SOUL of this empire, a beacon of power and grace, known and revered in lands FAR AND WIDE. You could inspire countless generations, remembered not just as a Duchess, but as the mother of nations, the very soul of our conquest!"

The Duchess's eyes narrowed, but a faint smile curled on her lips as Ophelia's words sank in. She leaned forward, captivated, her mind envisioning the legacy she could leave, before quickly returning to her arrogant expression. 

'That is right. You both may be arrogant, but you have done all of these horrible things for power. Your instincts are screaming to follow me,' Ophelia thought.

Ophelia raised her voice again, her words reverberating through the hall with a resounding echo. "Together, we will make our name FEARED and ADORED across every border. OUR BANNERS WILL FLY OVER LANDS UNKNOWN! OUR ENEMIES WILL TREMBLE AT OUR MIGHT! AND OUR ALLIES WILL BOW BEFORE OUR STRENGTH!"

She turned to Colonel Kaden and the elven scholar, her gaze flicking over them as if weighing their loyalty. Without breaking stride, she moved towards the doors, her presence casting a shadow that seemed to grow as she walked past the trembling knights stationed there. 

Almost instinctively, they swung the doors open, granting her passage. But Ophelia paused, her voice soft yet laced with authority. "I trust, Colonel, scholar, and you, my dear knights, that none of you will whisper a word of this. I'd hate to remind you," she added with a dangerous smile, "that I now hold the power to twist the lives of you and your loved ones into misery should you dare disobey."

And with that, it was done.