Cerdeauxia is a nation that is located east of Bagyarosia. It has numerous ports that give access to international trade routes.
Its port city became a location for tourism due to its incredibly beautiful view. The most famous one is Port City of Whitrere. Newlywed often choose to go to this place as their honeymoon destination.
Despite the romantic and cheerful atmosphere in Cerdeauxia, there are undercurrent events going on right now.
The rumors about the last royal family of Cerdeaux Dynasty still alive is a hot topic among the people of the republic.
Some people take this rumor as a hope to restore monarchy, some trying to redeem their mistakes, some try to take advantage to gain their power back and some try to retain their current power.
"Mr. President, according to our intelligence, many forces have started to move. They tried to identify the location of the last Cerdeaux", reported the secretary.
Matthew sighed, "That Nicholas sure plays one hell of a trick on me". He looked at Andrew and said, "You're pushing him too much!!"
"My apologies, Mr. President. I never thought he would do something like this". After he returned from Bagyarosia, he told everything that transpired to Matthew.
"He can be quite petty sometimes", Matthew knows Nicholas I character well. He has meet his in a lot of occasions.
"To think that they're not afraid of us blocking them from using our ports...", the secretary added.
"Since they're not afraid, then starts blocking them from using it", Matthew makes his decision. King Nicholas I has spread information that he tried to hide from the masses.
"Now let's wait for you to come and beg me, Nicholas", Matthew said while looking at the busy Cerdeaux City from his presidential office.
His power has been shaken by the rumors and if he didn't do something, he will lose everything he has now.
'I never thought that a pampered princess could survive and travel all the way to Bideford'. He was astonished after he received news that a killer he sent after the princess was killed.
Matthew shook his head, it's no use to regret the failure of killing the princess. There are a lot of things he needs to do.
"Cerdeauxia is in the mess right now and it's going to be even worse". He started reminiscing about a mess that started years ago.
More than a hundred years ago, the Kingdom of Cerdeauxia lost the north territory of Eikadir to Barlia.
The loss of Eikadir reduces the total land of the kingdom by twenty percent. This event marks the decline of Cerdeaux Dynasty.
Since then, many attempts have been made by the king to recover it but all end up in failure.
The cycle of hope and failure that were experienced by the people of Cerdeauxia make them completely give up on that endeavour.
However, there is a problem.
The campaign to recover Eikadir didn't come at no cost. It consumes an enormous amount of wealth for each campaign. Adding an inefficient feudal system as another factor, the cost swelled up even more.
The nobles then start to increase taxes to recover their lost wealth as quickly as possible. This put a lot of pressure on the commoners through taxes.
Eventually, the gap between the rich and the poor becomes clearer. The resentment toward the upper class starts to grow and keeps increasing year by year.
After sixty years or so, Riz's grandfather, King Cassin Cerdeaux came to power at the age of nineteen. Like every king who ascended to the throne, he also wanted the best for his country.
King Cassin Cerdeaux began to ease the taxes on people in royal territory, he urged the nobles to do the same.
He doesn't think that taxing people heavily will solve the problem. If the nobles could forfeit even a tiny bit of their wealth, it could solve the country's financial problems.
Unfortunately, a feudalistic system that has deep engraving in their bones sees the young king's decree as nothing but unrealistic.
After years of effort, King Cassin focused all his energy to reduce people's burden. Only upstart nobles heed his decree.
The king starts to stay away from old and powerful nobles.
Their relationship fractured.
Due to Cassin's effort, royal territory and upstart nobles prosper and people's lives become better.
The stubborn noble saw this grew jealous, they know that they're wrong but their pride won't allow them to admit it. People in their own fief start to flee to royal territory or upstart fief.
Not wanting this to continue, they decided to drag the king down.
Then, the rumors start to spread.
[The royal family lives a wealthy lifestyle]
[The king told the nobles not to decrease the taxes]
[The king deceived the people to create a good image for himself]
Rumors conquer the streets and spread faster than disease.
King Cassin was powerless against the coalition of old and powerful nobles. They spare no effort to disgrace the king.
These nobles conspired with the military to take the king down and install a puppet on the throne.
The army commander that they reach is Matthew Milan. A young poor nobleman that comes from a fallen noble family that formerly ruled a land in Eikadir.
Matthew ancestor has been a baron for hundreds of years. They didn't have a large land or live on luxury.
At least, their lives are better than commoners. When Barlia invades, Matthew's ancestor is one of many nobles in Eikadir that beg for help from the surrounding fief but none of them stand up, they just sit there and watch the show.
Shortly after Eikadir's conquest, Barlia starts to eliminate the nobles of Eikadir as to extinguish the possible threat to their rule in the region.
The nobles who surrendered were killed down to their last descendants. The Milan family barely escapes from the mass scale slaughter.
The Milan family lost everything they possess and was reduced to a beggar. The head of the Milan family at that time resented those nobles so much.
His hatred was passed down from one generation to another. Matthew was no exception.
Each of the Milan offspring climb up from one position to another. Those at the top will help their family members at the bottom to raise.
Their goal is to sit on many high ranks as much as possible. It is the goal set up by their ancestor the moment he vows to destroy this kingdom.
Of course, this goal will be hard and takes a lot of time but it is not impossible.
After generations of struggling, many of the Milan family members have infiltrated to many posts in every layer of government except military.
The wait is not long as Matthew finally succeeds in becoming an army commander.
Matthew agreed to join the course when the old nobles reached him. For him this is a golden opportunity that he can't miss.
He started to influence the soldiers and then it spread to their family, then their neighbors and then their city.
Not long after, the insurgent rose and stormed the palace. Cassin let his children and wives to escape through the secret tunnel.
The old noble family leaks the information about it. In the end, only one person managed to escape, Princess Evelynn.
At the same time, the old nobles strike the upstarts and destroy them leaving only a small number of them survive.
When all the royals except Evelynn were captured, the old nobles wanted to put one of the prince as a puppet but Matthew had another idea.
In front of the crowd, he delivered a speech about the idea of abolition of noble privileges, equal rights and freedom for all as well as the election of officials based on ability rather than birth.
The masses saw this as a hope, they were being sought to eliminate the entire nobles.
This caught the old nobles off guard. Before they could even escape, they were captured by the insurgents.
On August 284, all the nobles were executed starting with the royal family.
Cassin watches the head of his wives and children fall to the ground one by one.
They were executed by none other than the people who live in the royal territory.
The very same people he tries to help for years he is in power.
Cassin looked calm when he was escorted to the execution stage. There the guillotine that cut his family members is waiting for him.
The last word that he muttered, "What an ungrateful people"
Remembering that Evelynn successfully escaped, he smiled.
Since then, Cerdeauxia become a republic. A lot of people were happy with this change as it brings them new hope.
However, soon they realize the system is only good on paper. The president reigned the power like a monarch. The official post was filled with his family members.
Things that Matthew promised never happened. Their lives are getting harder and harder.
They start to feel guilty and regret for blindly believing in Matthew's word.
....
Port City Whitrere,
Lucas Peerton is a Bagyarosia merchant that trades with the Kingdom of Tormia in the northeast.
He has been selling food to Tormia for more than ten years now.
As usual, he's come to the port to transport his goods.
He goes to his usual renting company to rent a ship.
"I'm sorry, sir. We can't give you a ship to rent", said the clerk.
"What? Why?"
"It's the order from the government to not rent or sell ships to Bagyarosia merchants. The government also ordered to block Bagyarosia merchants from using the port".
"Then how about my good!?", Lucas slightly raises his voice. If he didn't sell his goods, the loss will be enormous.
"It's not my problem", the clerk said indifferently.
The same thing happened in the ports all over Cerdeauxia and this news will cause an uproar in Bagyarosia Kingdom.