The First Vampire

On the other side of the Central Plaza, the statue of the founding emperor of the Brilliant Empire, Emperor Gana St. Lorenzo, stood tall.

The statue, towering over twenty meters high, was carved from red sandstone. A glance at it, one could easily picture a fierce flame blazing on.

This statue of the legendary Holy Knight facing the imposing Senate felt like they were eternal comrades at arms who understood each other tacitly, yet also like adversaries intertwined by destiny.

At the inception of the Brilliant Empire, the founding emperor made an agreement with the first Pope — matters of the secular world were meant for the nobles, while those of faith belonged to the Deity.

Thus, though the church had control over the spiritual world of the entire human empire, it held no secular authority.

However, the first Pope was unwilling to pull out of control over the secular world just like that. He was even more reluctant to let the Lorenzo family monopolize power.

So, he rallied the lords throughout the empire, jointly pressurizing the royal family to limit the emperor’s power.

This led to the birth of the Constitution of Glory and the establishment of the Senate.

According to the Constitution of Glory, a series of significant administrative orders officially issued by the emperor, such as the War Order, enfeoffment of a duke, change of successors, required the Senate’s vote of approval in order to be implemented.

There were even orders opposed by the emperor, as long as they garnered more than two-thirds majority votes in the Senate, could still be carried out.

The previous proposal by Prince Lexie to wage war on Yevir was an attempt to circumvent this procedure, knowing well that Emperor Reinhardt would certainly veto it.

The Senate represents the will and interests of all lords within the empire, and it exists to limit the power of the emperor.

With the break of dawn, the large doors of the Senate open slowly, as a crowd of members who had arrived, walked in one after the other.

A splendid carriage came to a halt before the Senate’s doors, but the people inside did not get off.

“Are you nervous?” In the carriage, Colin looked at Vera, who was peeping at the Senate through the carriage curtain, and asked with a smile.

Neither of them were senators, of course they would be unable to enter the Senate. However, matters that were closely related to Vera were being discussed there at the moment. Therefore, Colin asked if she was nervous.

“Not really,” Vera turned back and held Colin’s big hand.

“Your palms are all sweaty, and yet you say you’re not nervous.” Colin teased, “Earlier, didn’t you say that you didn’t care about becoming the Duchess of the Northern Territory?”

Vera glared at her husband, not able to muster much of an oppressive force, just appearing endearingly petulant.

Raising her lips slightly, in a low voice she said, “Back then, I was still too naive to think that it didn’t matter who becomes the duke of the Northern Territory. Now, I think it might be best for the future of the North to be in our hands!”

Colin found Vera’s change of heart to be gratifying. He gave her cold, wet little hand a squeeze, and reassured her:

“Don’t worry, after Prince Lexi’s expulsion, what Emperor Reinhardt says goes in Dragon City. So long as he has accepted your inheritance, the Senate wouldn’t dare to oppose him at this stage.”

Vera nodded silently, still seeming somewhat nervous.

Observing her, Colin suggested, “Why don’t we go for a walk around the Central Plaza?”

“Okay.”

Just as the two of them got down from the carriage, they noticed that the Senate door was slowly closing.

The hushed conference hall was filled with the elders present at the meeting.

Bang~

Emoson St. Prowse, the presiding chair of the rotating Senate, struck the gavel and loudly declared:

“Time’s up. The meeting begins!

The meeting today has 116 elders present, which is up to the effective attendance. All resolutions made in this meeting are valid!”

Bang!

Emoson, the rotating chairman once again struck the gavel, continuing, “The first item on the agenda for this meeting is — declaration of war on Yevir! Now, I request the opinion of the five… four Governors upon this.”

Governor Lattom had passed away, but his successor had not yet been decided. Hence, there were only four governors left for the time being.

“I object!” The first one to express his stance was Governor Crete St. Gregan.

He didn’t continue to elaborate on his reasons as if they were no longer important.

In fact, after Prince Lexie’s expulsion, this point truly had no need for further discussion. Even a Holy Knight could not avoid the destiny of being forgotten once gone.

“I object!”

“I object!”

“I object!”

As expected, the next three governors all expressed their thoughts, unanimously opposing the proposal.

Emoson, the rotating chairman, struck the gavel again, announcing, “Fine, the Governors have finished expressing their opinions! Let’s begin voting, those who agree with this proposal, raise your right hand!”

There are three steps to a proper Senate meeting’s procedure. Firstly, the rotating chairman introduces the proposal to vote on. Then, five governors take turns to express their views. Finally, they proceed to vote by a raise of hands.

It can be seen that in the whole process, only the five governors have the right to speak.

Exactly for this reason, although, like the other elders, they also have one vote each, they could influence the subsequent voting through this process of stating their views.

This is the true underlying factor of governors’ leadership status in the Senate.

As all the Governors were unified in their opposition to the declaration of war, it was clear that, in the voting session, no one would, indeed, dare to cast an affirmative vote.

Bang!

“Voting ends. Zero votes in favour. One hundred and sixteen votes against. I declare that this proposal is… rejected!”

After announcing the voting result, Emoson, the rotating chairman, took a sip of water and continued again, “The next item — on Vera St. Hilde succeeding the Northern Territory Duke! I request that the four Governors express their opinions on this.”

“I agree.” Crete, the governor of the Westland, was the first one to speak, “Before Duke St. Hilde died, he left a will, nominating Vera to be Marquise of the Northern Territory. Hence, her succession to the position of Northern Duke is both logical and reasonable.”

“I agree too,” succinctly put was Durace, governor of the South Border.

Next, the Northern Duke, Sabast, was supposed to express his views.

But the elders were already certain. Two governors had already agreed, so this governor, who hailed from the St. Hilde family, couldn’t possibly oppose, right?

“I disagree.” Sabast gave a shocking statement.

All the elders stared at this Duke from the Northern Territory, waiting for his explanation.

Without uttering a single word, Sabast surveyed the room and in a grave voice said, “I don’t agree that a mage should become the ruler of the Northern Territory!”

After those words, he maintained his silence, unbothered by the complex looks from the elders.

Finally, the last one to express his views happened to be the last governor, also the rotating chairman, Emoson.

The Duke, hailing from the Eastland, first took a deep look at Sabast, then slowly looked around the entire place before finally speaking in a firm voice,

“I disagree!”

The entire hall was in an uproar.

The elders began to whisper among themselves, sending the room into buzz.

Out of the four governors, two agreed and two disagreed!

This surely meant a good show was awaiting!

Bang!

Emoson, rotating chairman of the Senate, struck the gavel, announcing loudly:

“Now, let’s begin with the vote!”