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“Outrageous!”

Screaming at the top of his lungs, the envoy of the southern nobles was clearly having trouble breathing.

“I will not be advised as to what your silly self considers to be outrageous. Take this pest out of my sight.”

Watching over Venna’s baby steps as a ruler, Saulus stood beside her throne. There was absolutely no point in offering his own advice right now. Before the current status quo would be over, he had to make sure that Venna would become a capable leader. Only by turning her from the simple marionette that she was now into a proper ruler on her own could he make sure that even if the rebellion ultimately failed, she would still prevail.

“Yes, our queen!”

Saluting Saulus’ childhood friend, the guards near the lower steps before the throne rushed forward, grasping the man under his arms and gently guiding him away.

“Next!”

Not wasting any time, Venna instantly called for another meeting. Given the number of people interested in relaying their worries and problems to the queen, it would take a few days just to deal with the line that had already formed outside of the palace.

But there was a deeper meaning to this ritual. The one reason why currently all the emerging rulers of various factions held exactly the same kind of local court and dealt with the problems of insignificant serfs.

Because that was the time-honored tradition of instilling basic laws for a country where the old order had fallen apart.

“My queen!”

Watching as yet another lowly peasant dared to directly call at Venna, Saulus could feel his hands tighten up. As observant as he was, it didn’t escape his attention that this form of reaction occurred whenever a person meeting with Venna would turn out to be a man, no matter his social status.

If not for that damned tradition…Not bothering to even attempt dissecting what those feelings meant, Saulus allowed his thoughts to fly far away from the throne room of the palace.

Now that the three most important cities in the west were in the hands of the rebels, nothing could stop the insane flood of resources from both neighbors of the reemerging Burn Kingdom. Given how the price for all this help was paid way back during the fall of the kingdom, Saulus wasn’t going to be picky when it came to where more supplies would come from.

“I hereby sentence you to be a free man, unbound by the loyalty to your former lord. Next.”

Solving a matter that completely escaped Saulus attention, Venna swung her hand at the guards, showing an impenetrable and cold face to the crowd.

This was the role of the ruler. To rule. Not to be some kind of hero, a great general who would lead the troops to grand victories. Not a scientist or a mage that would bring forth innovations that would, in turn, change people’s lives for the better.

A ruler was someone who could make all of this happen by carefully picking the people that would serve him and enforce laws that everyone would abide by. And right now, Venna was setting the foundations of the so-called ‘law of commons’ where local, low-level tribunals would try to follow the way she was passing verdicts today.

And that explained the enormous amount of scribes, artists, painters and even roaming troubadours. They weren’t here to mark down this historic moment so that later generations would know of Venna’s importance. Their job was to ensure that once they left and spread across the entire country, the word of Venna’s just processes and decisions would spread as well.

“Sir, we have a delegation from the development area, waiting for a meeting with the queen.”

In theory, the ritual of judgments was unbreachable. For as long as it would last, everyone and anyone was bound to wait for its conclusion.

But that was the official side of things. Once Saulus received the report, his eyebrows rose for a bit, only for his expression to return to its usual the very next moment.

“Good. Push them in for the next spot.”

Sending the aide off, Saulus watched how the tiny female ran unnoticed through the side alleys of the throne hall. In just a few moments, the proceedings of the ongoing trial were already reaching their end, and Saulus had his doubts that Venna could even understand what was going on.

In a moment, the procedures that she had just learned to follow would be broken. But with how important the approaching meeting would be to the entire rebellion, Saulus couldn’t take any chances with making them wait.

“Hey, Venna…”

Tugging gently on the delicate cloth of her dress, Saulus brought Venna’s attention on himself.

“We will be having a very important meeting now. If I slide my finger down your palm, then go easy. If I press my finger against a single spot, press them harder. If you aren’t able to keep up…”

Taking a quick glance at the petrified face of his childhood friend, Saulus once again felt a painful sting on his soul. With everything he had done so far, he hoped that his eyes would never again be forced to see the terror on the face of this precious girl. But as it was now, he couldn’t do a single thing.

“If you need help, just grab my finger.”

There was absolutely nothing wrong protocol-wise for the highest general of the country to stand right beside his queen, especially during a potentially dangerous meeting. After all, through the ages, the position of chief in command would usually rest in the hands of the strongest warrior within the household, making Saulus nothing more but a glorified bodyguard of his queen for the duration of the meeting.

“Sure. Let’s bring them in.”

After shaking her head clear of all the doubts that appeared in it a moment before, Venna looked directly at the doors through which the next applicant was supposed to come.

And exactly against what the tradition would advise, once the doors of the hall opened up, a richly decorated diplomatic envoy from the development area of the south entered.

“Great General, Your Majesty, Queen of Burn Kingdom.”

Lowering his head whenever he mentioned someone’s name, the pretense of the envoy would most likely go unnoticed. If only Saulus wasn’t a veteran..not only on a true battlefield, but also its way worse counterpart; the court wars.

“You will address the queen first and foremost. If you think your barbaric lack of etiquette enforced by the former patriarch is still in use, then you better leave this place before I order my people to hack you down!”