The heavy, reinforced iron vault doors of the cathedral inner treasury lay entirely in pieces, their shattered hinges smoking from the raw kinetic impact of Caelum’s shadow mana.
Inside the cavernous subterranean room, twenty heavy stone vaults sat burst open, revealing mountains of glittering, pristine Solarian gold dragons—wealth the corrupt Holy See had systematically hoarded for decades while the lower districts starved.
Vivienne stood at the lip of the vault, her midnight silk gown brushing against the loose gold coins scattered across the obsidian floorboards.
Her dark eyes, clear and swirling with a faint, bottomless black void, tracked the shimmering reflections of the treasure.
“Come join me,” Vivienne said, her melodic voice echoing cleanly through the metallic stone cavern.
She turned her head slightly, her gaze locking onto the massive figure walking up behind her.
“Let us put all this gold to an important use.”
Caelum stopped half a step behind her, his arms folded slowly over the heavy silver embroidery of his military coat, his piercing crimson eyes shifting from the mountains of treasure back to the pale contour of her neck.
A dark, curious intensity pulled across his sculpted features.
“What do you intend to do with it, Grand Duchess?” Caelum asked, his deep baritone carrying a rough, growling frequency that vibrated through the stone floorboards.
“This is enough wealth to buy three foreign navies or construct an entirely new fortress wall along our northern borders.”
“I am giving it to the commoners,” Vivienne stated flatly, her voice completely devoid of hesitation.
Caelum’s crimson eyes narrowed by a fraction of a millimeter, his predatory focus tracking the absolute, unyielding stillness of her face.
Vivienne did not offer a complex political explanation, but deep within her chest, her heart throbbed with a raw, hidden memory.
She possessed a deep, profound soft spot for the lower-class commoners—a vulnerability she had never shared with a single living soul in the capital.
Her own mother had been a commoner, a woman of simple blood who had been thoroughly despised, insulted, and cast aside by the arrogant high nobility of the Abernathy estate.
Vivienne had spent her entire childhood watching the elite lords treat common blood like dirt beneath their satin slippers, and she refused to let the people of this conquered capital suffer the same fate under her crown.
Caelum stared down at her for several silent seconds, the heavy, suffocating pressure of his aura slowly simmering down into a cool, manageable stream.
A slow, genuinely admiring smile pulled across his lips.
He didn’t care about the gold, and he didn’t care about the commoners, but he cared intensely about the desires of his dark queen.
If she wanted to reshape the continent, he would act as her unbreakable anchor.
“A masterfully executed charity, Vivienne,” Caelum murmured, his deep voice carrying a low, growling certainty that promised absolute compliance.
“If the Empress wishes to feed her wolves, the North will not hold back the meat. Let us go show them your grace.” The source of this chapter is g.com.
With a sharp, loud snap of his fingers, Caelum signaled the waiting battalions.
General Freya stepped into the treasury entryway, her silver plate armor clanking sharply as she offered a deep, respectful military bow.
“Freya,” Caelum barked, his crimson eyes flaring with a dangerous red light.
“Break the remaining seals on every papal vault in this sector. Drag the entire treasury out into the grand plaza. If a single noble tries to intercept a coin, execute them on the spot.”
“By your imperial command, Sire!” Freya declared, a dangerous, eager light flaring in her golden eyes as she spun around to execute the orders.
~♡~
~♡~
The massive ivory doors of the grand cathedral balcony swung outward with a resonant, heavy groan, letting in the biting mountain air and the deafening, chaotic murmur of the crowded plaza below.
Thousands of Solarian citizens, merchants, and low-tier priests stood packed together in the square.
They were pale, shivering, and staring up at the cathedral with hollow eyes—their lifeforce had only just rushed back into their bodies after Vivienne had shattered the countdown of the Shattered Dawn array inside the vault.
They were waiting for their final judgment, bracing themselves for a total, bloody slaughter by the northern conquerors.
When Vivienne stepped onto the marble ledge of the balcony, the entire crowd fell into a dead, terrified silence.
She looked down at them like a dark deity descending from the heavens.
Her midnight silk gown billowed around her ankles, and her void-like eyes caught the gray light of the sky.
Beside her, Caelum stepped into view, his massive frame radiating an oppressive, suffocating heat that instantly melted the thick frost on the balcony railing.
“The Pope is dead,” Vivienne’s voice echoed across the vast plaza, amplified by her advanced High-Tier Master core.
“The Holy Council is dissolved. As of this moment, the Holy Kingdom of Solaria is no more.”
A collective, terrified gasp rippled through the thousands of citizens.
Duke Valois and the remaining high nobility, who were waiting at the base of the balcony stairs, dropped heavily to their knees in the mud, their expensive velvet cloaks dragging through the dirt.
“Your Imperial Majesty!” Duke Valois cried out, his voice cracking with pure desperation.
“I do not slaughter tools, Duke Valois,” Vivienne replied, her voice a freezing melody that cut through the howling wind.
She gestured sharply toward the lower courtyard stairs.
“Open the vaults.”
Right on cue, fifty heavily armored northern ironclad soldiers marched into the plaza, dragging twenty heavy iron vaults bursting with millions of glittering Solarian gold dragons.
The iron lids were violently thrown back, exposing the endless sea of wealth to the frozen, starving crowd.
“This gold belongs to the blood that built these walls,” Vivienne commanded, her gaze tracking the wide, disbelieving eyes of the lower-class commoners standing in the front ranks.
“Distribute it freely to every family. The Era of the Sun is finished. Today, you bow to the Sovereign Abyss, and the Abyss does not let its subjects starve.”
The silence in the square broke.
But it wasn’t a roar of anger; it was a sudden, thunderous wave of weeping, shouting, and fanatical cheers from the lower-class citizens.
They threw themselves to the earth, screaming her name until their throats were hoarse, their hands trembling as the northern soldiers began tossing handfuls of glittering gold directly into their ragged cloaks.
The commoners who had been oppressed by the fanatical priests for three generations had suddenly found their salvation in the hands of a dark Empress.
Vivienne stood at the edge of the balcony, her expression remaining completely deadpan, but a deep, quiet satisfaction settled into her soul as she watched the lower districts unite beneath her name.
She had not just conquered their city; she had completely bought their hearts with the very gold their executioners had hoarded.
Caelum stepped closer behind her, his massive, leather-gloved hand wrapping firmly around her narrow waist.
He pulled her body flush against his hard, broad chest, his lips pressing a fierce, possessive kiss against the small line of red on her neck.
His dark, terrifyingly proud laughter echoed over the roaring sounds of the cheering crowd.
“A flawless display, my queen,” Caelum growled softly, his deep baritone dripping with an absolute, unyielding pride.
“You bought their loyalty with gold and crushed their old masters in a single morning. The entire continent is officially yours.”
Vivienne rested her head against his shoulder, her breathing steady as her dark eyes flashed with a ruthless, final brilliance in the gray light.