?Empress Carolina listened to her brother''s idea and the tinge of excitement rose from her heart.


    It would have been better if they could use the curse to force Valentin to surrender and make Kazimir the next emperor!


    Too bad they couldn''t. That was because the siblings managed to get a highly ssified information - Only the legitimate appointed sessor of the Empire would obtain the power to control the Seirende Central Bank!


    The most notable legacy of thete Emperor Idelfonso was the establishment of the Seirende Central Bank.


    Through this bank, the wealth and control of the nobles in the economy was halved. They could no longer freely dictate the movement of the Empire''smerce because it was the Emperor who would dere and hold the value of the Shinies inside the empire.


    It was also harder for the nobles to seize riches of the fallen aristocrats and themon people without going through the legal process of withdrawing through the bank.


    They also no longer hold any power on imposing high lending rates as themon folks would always prefer loaning from the bank with reasonable interest rates and payment schemes.


    With that, the Ves siblings understood that even if Kazimir would be crowned as Emperor through rebellion, he would never have the power to control the central bank.


    The moment an uprising happened, the Seirende Central Bank would automatically freeze through an unknown mechanism which only thete emperor and the legitimate sessors had the right to know.


    The moment the bank freezes, all of the stakeholders who had ounts inside the banks would have to hold the leader ountable - that would be the current emperor.


    This move would make the ascending emperor the enemy of the entire empire, all of the allied nations and kingdoms who deposited their wealth in the bank!


    At that time, probably even their aristocratic backers would point their swords towards the perpetrators.


    As for the Seirendes during that time?


    Most probably they would be all wiped out or hiding in the dark, watching the rebels clean up the mess of thest bomb they installed inside the Empire - the Central Bank!


    This was also the reason why Empress Carolina and Duke Ves did not move to directly rebel against the Empire but instead put their efforts in raising Kazimir and their underground forces.


    Although, it was not as if they totally took the idea of rebelling out of their options. It was just that they had to be rich and strong enough to resist the uprising of the citizens and the rest of the stakeholders of the bank.


    They put up underground auction houses, ck markets and mysterious informationworks to function as their cash cows. However, due to the recent clean up operation and the painful sanction, their cash cows have been disrupted!


    The gaze on Duke Maxim''s eyes deepened as he remembered the mess created by Valentin on his businesses.


    ''Well, it would not be bad to use this time to get back to the enemies!'' He sneered while secretly scheming in his heart.


    He left Carolina after assuring her for a few more times. Upon arriving at the estate he called on Visam, Das and Orel.


    "Assemble your respective toons and wait for my instruction. The next few days, you will all go around the capital to harvest!" He ordered in a sinister tone, a great wave of excitement shed in his amethyst eyes.


    He had long been itching to finally use his hidden army for years! Now is the sweetest time to do that!


    "Milord, how about the investigations?" Visam trembled while asking the Duke about Hasta and Igor.


    Whenever the Duke called for them, they would punish them for not bringing any useful news about the two missing dark knights.


    Fortunately Duke Ves was in an extremely good mood from the thought of exacting revenge on the people who gave him a hard time today.


    "Unn? Now that you reminded me, divide their toon among yours. I want this to be done as soon as possible. I will soon give you a list of who among the capital you would target." Duke Ves simply waved his hand and gestured to them to immediately disperse.


    The dark knights had no choice but to leave wordlessly. They left the study with the Duke happily asking the butler to open the most aged wine in the cer to celebrate, much to the servant''s confusion.


    ''Isn''t the Duke under pressure these days? Howe he suddenly wanted to drink and celebrate?''


    At the moment, only Duke Ves knows what kind of chaos he would bring forth in the empire and how painful the headache he would give to Valentin!


    Just that thought made Duke Maxim''s blood boil in excitement!


    –


    Underground Temple Dungeon<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The investigation team and the High Priest were phasing back and forth in front of the door to the training ground.


    It has been three days since Eli and Leon attempted to open the paths, however the two didn''t show any signs of stopping.


    "What should we do? We don''t know if forcefully opening the paths is dangerous…" The High Priest, for the first time, showed a trace of uncertainty and fear in his ever calm eyes.


    He didn''t possess the open paths and was not an expert either. But he knew that Eli would need every power she had in order to stand firmly on her ground.


    He was starting to waver from the decision he made for Eli a few days ago about letting her open the paths.


    "While it''s true that the kneading process is extremely painful, I do not think that Leon would allow young Eli to get hurt." General Farauld was also anxious.


    It was evident on how he had dropped addressing Leon as the prince, but rather as his student.


    In that room, one is his student and the other is his daughter, how can he not be anxious?


    Besides, he personally witnessed how thete emperor helped Leon go through the same phase, he knows how hard the process was.


    "But Father, this is not good... There were already signs of movement within the Capital. There were already ten people killed mysteriously with an ''unknown'' weapon, which we all know was a cursed weapon!" Nathan, reminded his father and everyone in the room.


    The other reason why they were restless was because of this.


    Two days ago, there were five cases of murder around the capital.


    The initial investigations indicated that these people were repeatedly stabbed by a mysterious weapon. The bizzare thing was that, while they were stabbed multiple times, they were not stabbed on any vital points, yet they were killed!


    Infact, the stab wounds indicated that the perpetrator tortured the victims first but they never delivered the fatal blow. Most importantly, there were no traces of poison in the body.


    The coroners and even the doctors dered that the victims died even before they bleed to death!


    How mysterious would the case be?!


    Today, there were another five deaths reported.


    But unlike the first five victims, the next five were found in a horrifying state. Their bodies were sucked of flesh and blood, leaving only a shriveled pungent skin and bones, clothed with the attire they werest seen in.


    If not for the eyewitnesses saying that these victims were still alive during daytime and had even managed to interact with people, the investigators would think that these victims were already dead for a good few years.


    The officials were starting to be confused as it would be impossible that the perpetrator would only be a single person. Even a serial killer would not kill so mysteriously ten times in a row for two days!


    Moreover, the time of deaths of the victims were close to each other and the ces they were discovered were randomly scattered around the capital, leaving the investigators unsure if there was a pattern in the killings.


    While the doctors, the patrol knights and the officials were puzzled by this case, the investigator team totally knew what was going on!


    Their interrogation with Hasta has already confirmed that the Vess had secret forces which could use cursed weapons to hurt people!


    For the interrogation team, they named the abominable group as the cursed army. They were the Ves''s hidden cursed army!!!


    How could they just stand and wait to let things happen the way the Vess wanted!


    The most stifling thing is the fear that there would be another batch of deaths the next day!


    "I know… But can we retaliate with the cursed army now? The only way we can do it is to kill them even before they move against us, but do you know what level should our forces be to be able to do that???"


    General Farauld sternly exined, but he addressed his words not only to his son but to the rest of the team.


    Everyone was silent for a moment because they knew the answers to their hearts.


    "They should at least be at the lowest of A ss! And everyone of you knows that only us in the room, a few people and some from Leon''s des could reach that level. In short, we are totally outnumbered!"