Chapter 23
Kim Hae-yoon went to the main palace to deal with the courtly affairs after finishing breakfast with Cho Shiye. She sat on top of her throne and was greeted by everyone who's waiting for her to come.
Her uncle, wearing her official robe, bowed as he reported his findings on his business trip, which, in truth, was actually just him visiting the outskirts of the empire and reporting his findings about the lack of duty that the people of nobility and the government displayed in their own respective lands.
"Sethen, which is located near the territory of Countess Choi, had shown great decrease in wields and…." Kim Dong-cheol explained, one of the ministers with the surname of Choi, listened tentatively and looked quite shaken as he looked back and forth between him and the empress.
Kim Hae-yoon looked at him and raised her hand, gesturing to Kim Dong-cheol to stop briefly.
"Do you have anything to say, minister Choi?" She asked with an icy stare as the minister in question bowed deeply.
"I apologize to your majesty for the lack of assistance of my family towards its people and territory!" Minister Choi proclaimed sincerely as Kim Hae-yoon scoffed.
"Then, be sure to do better." Kim Hae-yoon said that eased the minister as he sighed a breath of relief. "But, be sure that there will never be another time." She threatened sternly as minister Choi turned pale and bowed even deeper.
"Yes, your majesty!" Minister Choi shouted. "Thank you for your kindness, your majesty! May you live a long life!" He saluted as Kim Hae-yoon ordered Kim Dong-cheol to continue.
The report proceeded as always, Kim Hae-yoon would reprimand those whose territories were mentioned as they all bowed and apologize for their mistake. Kim Hae-yoon praised those whose family names weren't mentioned and reminded them to continue their exemplary performances.
And with that, the meeting ended with half of the ministers looking quite frail and wilted. As soon as they left the meeting hall, some ministers, especially minister Choi, opened his optical brain to give his niece, the current lord of their land, a piece of his mind.
"You bastard! The family heads didn't let you be the current lord for you to not do your duties!" He shouted as his niece squeaked and made excuses.
"But, uncle!" Countess Choi tried but was stopped by Minister Choi.
"No buts! You ungrateful brat!" He shouted as he went on to lecture his niece.
Many lords whose relatives were serving the government were reprimanded and were given an earful after that meeting.
*****
Kim Hae-yoon entered her office with Kim Dong-cheol in tow as she sat on her seat. Kim Dong-cheol stayed standing upright as he gave her a small chip that looks more like a coin.
Kim Hae-yoon took it and let her optical Brian scan it as the chip disappeared into thin air as it's content was transported inside the optical brain. She scanned the documents, pictures, and videos as she looked at Kim Dong-cheol.
"So, they're really making a move, huh?" Kim Hae-yoon spoke as she leaned against her chair.
"Yes." Kim Dong-cheol paused. "Thankfully, I managed to apprehend them before they were able to successfully smuggle them." Kim Dong-cheol replied.
The file he'd given was full of reports about the local rebellious groups smuggling firearms of the empire towards the kingdom.
Tanhung kingdom, the enemy kingdom that Kim Hae-yoon's ancestors have been fighting since ancient times. The two coexist together under a pretext of a peace treaty when in reality, they're at each other's throats.
The kingdom would force marriage on the empire's ruler or else a war would break loose. Her grandfather, Kim Gi-cheol, rejected the kingdom's 'tributes' which caused a great war between the empire and the kingdom.
Because of Kim Gi-cheol's unwise rule, corruption surrounded the empire which almost caused its downfall so, in the end, Kim Hae-yoon's grandfather ended up taking the tributes that the kingdom offered.
The war was halted and peace was brought to everyone but the royal family was in great turmoil. Even after Kim Hae-yoon's alpha mother, Kim Hyun-he, became the empress, the child of Tanhung blood would dare to take over the throne and caused quite a stir on the empire's affairs.
'Thankfully, my mother was quite smart and cunning. If not…' Kim Hae-yoon shook her head. She should've been more like her mother when 'that' happened. 'Why do they have to die so early?'
Kim Hae-yoon's parents died because of a spacecraft losing its control and bumped into a nearby space station which caused everyone to die. She's still quite young when that incident happened, she just turned 17 and was crowned the empress without even time to mourn her parents.
Her half siblings and relatives tried to cover her throne and with no one to support her beside her uncle, who's also quite a mess because of the incident, she ended up spilling blood.
The capital was smeared with the blood of her own blood relatives as rebellions after rebellions, which she quietly took care of, took place. Lives were lost and cries of pain were heard throughout the streets.
Kim Hae-yoon suppressed everyone who dared to take her place away, leaving everyone to call her a tyrant, a cold blooded killer, and a homicidal maniac yet, she didn't care.
She didn't let anyone speak of what transpired through those 3 painful years as she paved and solidified her reign with blood. Not one of her 20 half siblings were spared, her mother's concubines were slain, and her other relatives which were not fully blood related to her mother were assassinated.
"Your majesty?" Kim Dong-cheol spoke as Kim Hae-yoon came to her senses and smiled wryly. "Are you okay, little niece? You look quite pale.." Kim Dong-cheol dropped his professional attitude with worry stricken on his face.
"I'm fine." Kim Hae-yoon replied with a reassuring smile. "Anyways, those rebels don't seem like they could afford to smuggle high end and latest fire powers with just their strength alone." Kim Hae-yoon spoke as she leaned forward, her hand resting against the desk.
"Yes, it's quite worrisome how they managed to acquire those so, I decided to investigate but, I found nothing." Kim Dong-cheol replied. "But, I do have some suspects in mind." He gave another chip to Kim Hae-yoon which she scanned immediately.
As she opened the file, 5 profiles were presented on her screen with one of them looking very familiar.
'Kim Yun-hee.'