Dragon Monarch System
chapter-776

"Your recent actions have been too centered around the Istarin Empire. You cannot keep being this obsessed." Hearing this, Garrick felt very angry. 'I am obsessed with the Istarin Empire?' 'I am doing this for the greater good of our Empire. Yet my intentions are being judged.' At this moment, Garrick felt very frustrated, unwilling, and even disappointed towards his own father. 'Was Emma right?' [His Majesty is not fit to be the Emperor anymore]

He felt as if he was hearing Emma's words in his mind. Somehow, he felt her words were very true. "But, Your Majesty, information is never useless. Maybe what we are seeing to be useless now will be useful in the future." Garrick still tried to pursue Charles. This was the first time Garrick had tried to pursue Charles. Before this, Garrick always accepted whatever Charles ordered him. Hearing his son's words, Charles stopped chewing. "Are you doubting my judgment?" He asked in a very cold tone. "I dare not!!" Garrick quickly responded. "Then why are you questioning my decision?" Garrick did not respond. He kept his head lowered and waited for Charles to continue. Charles stared at Garrick for a few minutes in silence before he sighed out loud. "Garrick, your recent actions have deeply disappointed me." Garrick felt his body shake. His body wasn't shaking from fear, which Charles had assumed. Rather, his body was shaking from anger.

"Even now, you're too obsessed with the Istarin Empire. If you can't see any faults with your actions, then I won't be able to help you either." 'Help me? By doing what?'

'By putting me after the Prime Minister?' "Garrick, I will give you some time to cool off. Take some break." Garrick opened his mouth to persuade the Emperor not to do this, but Charles spoke first. "Eldric and I will handle everything without you." But to Garrick, it felt as if after centuries of being used, he was being pushed to the sidelines now. [His Majesty has no intention of stepping down. If he had, then he would have given Your Highness more responsibilities.]

Again, Garrick felt Emma's words playing in his mind. He felt that everything was finally starting to make sense. Everything that Emma said to him was finally starting to make sense. 'I see!!'

'In the end, I was nothing but a puppet that was meant to be used.'

'Now that I have started having independent thoughts and actions, I am being sidelined.' 'And who I was replaced with? The Prime Minister.' At this moment, Charles was also very disappointed in his own son. Only if Garrick looked at Charles's face, he would have seen his disappointed face. 'My son, I thought you were ready, but this whole situation has shown me that you're not. This may have happened because I have been too soft with you.' Charles felt that he no longer had the appetite to continue eating. "Your Majesty, what about you suppressing the rebels at the northern border?" Garrick was still worried about the affairs of the Empire. Despite how he felt towards Charles, he still asked the question. "You don't have to worry about such matters for now. Eldric and I have spoken of this and have agreed to use force to eliminate all the protestors." Charles saw using Brutal force as the right action. Never in the history of the Empire has there been such a large-scale protest? Every day, the protests were getting worse. Since too many people were protesting, arresting all of them and putting them in jail wasn't really an option. In this situation, the best choice would be to respond to violence with violence. If one died, ten will be too afraid to continue the protest. That's how Charles saw things. Meanwhile, Garrick again felt hurt because he had been excluded from such an important meeting. Before, Garrick had always been present at meetings. "But Your Majesty, this action might also do the opposite. This action might cause even more people to join the protest." "The longer this protest goes on, the more afraid traders and merchants will be to go to that region and do business. This whole thing will affect our economy and also the Empire's reputation." Garrick felt that aside from using force, there should be other ways to calm the protestors. Also, if a large number of people were killed, then it would be a huge loss for the Empire. This might even trigger tens of thousands of families to forever leave the Empire knowing that the Emperor cared so little about its citizens. After all, from what Garrick heard from Emma and others, the main reason the protest became so violent was because the public in that region had been very fed up with the policies and laws of the Empire. They wanted a change, even if it meant giving their lives for it. In such a case, it was very possible that with the actions of the Emperor, huge numbers of families might start migrating to another continent. With the growing popularity of the Istarin Empire, Garrick did not doubt that these families might head to the Istarin Empire and settle there. Losing families would mean losing taxpayers. They would lose manpower. They would lose talented individuals. This would be a huge loss for the Empire. In Garrick's view, this would be a bigger loss than losing a war. Although Garrick was arrogant, but that didn't mean he was stupid. He never let his arrogance blind him. As the Crown Prince, he was very dissatisfied that the citizens of this Empire dared to rebel against its Emperor. But he also understood why the public was so outraged. Garrick in no way supported the public, but the public was undeniably the backbone of their Empire. He understood its importance. Unfortunately, Charles did not share his views. "Garrick, we stand above everyone else," Charles said after deep breathing.

"As the Emperor, I have given them enough chances to redeem themselves. Yet, they ignored my mercy and continued rebelling." "As the Emperor, I have been lenient towards them for long enough. But now it's time for them to know the wrath of the Emperor." 'Besides, I am strongly suspicious that someone intentionally provokes the public against us. There might be a hidden enemy here.' Given Garrick's obsession with the Istarin Empire, Charles did not share his suspicion with Garrick for now. The reason Charles felt this way was because he had made several attempts to calm things. But each time he tried something, his actions would only strengthen the protest. After discussing all the pros and cons with Prime Minister Eldric, they came to the conclusion that using violence to respond to this protest might be the right choice. Neither Charles nor Garrick's opinions were correct. Both of them felt that they were correct since both of them had different goals.

Charles, being the Emperor, always wanted to keep his position above everyone. The recent large-scale protests against him made him feel somewhat threatened even though the public could do nothing about it. It kind of hurt his ego that his own people were protesting against him. Now, he wanted to punish them and make an example out of this. This would end any doubts or whispers among the common people. Garrick also wanted to use this opportunity to find this hidden enemy. He wanted to see what this hidden enemy would do if he used violence to fight violence (the protests). Charles was thinking from the position of the Emperor. While Garrick considered the Empire as a whole, he always prioritized the Empire's interests. Unlike Charles, who thought more about himself, Garrick was worried about how this would affect the economy and military strength of the Empire. He was worried that this whole matter was taking more time and resources than necessary. Not to mention, now that the Empire was entirely focused on dealing with the protests all around the Empire, they had lost their golden opportunity of dealing a big blow to the Istarin Empire. Charles wanted his Empire to be above the Istarin Empire in all aspects. In terms of economy, neither Empire is that far behind. Or that's how it looked on the surface. But from Charles's report, he knew the Istarin Empire's economy was only getting better. But this whole incident has caused their Empire's economy to slow down. This was unacceptable to Garrick. The Dune Sovereignty must always stay at the top in all aspects. Charles felt their discussion would no longer be necessary. With a napkin, he wiped his mouth and then stood up. "Our meeting ends here." He said in a very calm tone. When Garrick looked at Charles, he only saw coldness. "I hope you will reflect on my words and change your actions."

But unknown to Charles, he had only pushed Garrick to change even more. The crack in their relationship was only widening and getting larger. Garrick continued sitting on his chair. He hadn't touched his food. He was in no mood to have anything. If there is one thing that Garrick understood from this whole meeting, it is that, to battle the Istarin Empire, the Due Sovereignty needs changes. As much as he hated to admit it, the current Empire wasn't capable enough to compete against an Empire that attained the status of an Empire not more than a year. 'Change is necessary.' 'But The Emperor is too stubborn.'

'Perhaps, Emma was right.'

Now that Garrick was relieved of his duties, he suddenly had a lot of free time on his hands. •••

Scene Change_______

Later in the evening, The Crown Prince and his subordinate Emma were in a private room in the Capital. Since Charles was banned from bringing any women to the Royal Palace, he decided to spend the night outside of the Royal Palace. After all, he was never forbidden from leaving or spending the night outside of the Royal Palace.

"Your Royal Highness, I believe that you're the chosen one." "Everyone will agree that you're destined to lead us to a New Era." Hearing this, Garrick's breath quickened. His heart was pounding from excitement. "I firmly believe that the Dune Sovereignty needs a fresh Ruler. Someone from the younger age." "Yes, you're correct."

"His Majesty is no longer competent. Recently, His Majesty has been making too many mistakes." "The time has come for me to take what is rightfully mine." "I have waited more than 500 years for this. Now the wait is finally over." Saying that he had finished the rest of the wine in his glass. •••

Scene Change___

In another part of the Capital, Soraya stood in her bedroom and looked out the window. She could see a big part of the capital from her window. Due to how busy Charles had been with all the recent things, he did not have time to see Soraya. This meant that Soraya won't need to see that man and could just live her life in peace. What was even more satisfying was the fact these days, her brother did not disturb her either. After such a long time, she was in peace. "I have a feeling that this peace will become permanent."

"Big changes are coming to the Capital. We must be ready."