The World Is Mine For The Taking-Chapter 1286 - 197 - The Fall Of Milham Kingdom - Part 2 (1)

We stepped into the chamber where the administrators were gathered, and the atmosphere immediately felt thick. Not physically thick, of course, but the kind of heavy silence that sits in the air the moment people know something unpleasant is about to happen. There were nine of them seated around the long table. Ten, technically, if you counted Gaspard, though the man himself was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

The room itself had that old, overly dignified look to it. Tall windows. Heavy wooden furniture. The sort of place that tried very hard to look important. And sitting in the middle of it all were the people responsible for maintaining that image.

Most of them were old. Very old.

Wrinkled faces, thin lips, tired eyes that had clearly spent decades staring down at paperwork and people alike. A few had the sort of posture that came from years of sitting in chairs that were probably more expensive than comfortable. It was honestly not that surprising when you looked at them closely. When someone reaches that age, stubbornness stops being a personality trait and starts being a permanent setting.

And it also explained why they clung to tradition so tightly. Modernization probably felt like a personal insult to them.

Still, I took a quick look around out of habit.

I mean, you never know.

If there had been a GILF sitting somewhere among them, I might have been at least a little interested. Sadly, though, none of the GILFs in this room were even remotely close to my type. Not even by a generous stretch of imagination. These were the kind of grandmas that scold you for breathing too loudly, not the kind that make you reconsider your life choices.

One of the old men leaned forward when we entered. He squinted hard, his eyes narrowing as if the effort alone might sharpen his vision. He was already wearing glasses, but judging from the way he was peering at us, those lenses were doing about as much good as decorative glass.

Either the prescription was wrong, or his eyesight had simply given up years ago.

"Princess," the man said slowly, his voice dry and slightly raspy with age. "It seems you've come here for another round of rejection."

He adjusted his glasses, which immediately slid a little down the bridge of his nose.

"I suppose you are once again planning to do something rather… unbecoming of a princess. Tell me, how long do you intend to keep this up before you finally accept reality?" His lips curled faintly. "No matter how many times you come here, the answer will always remain the same. No."

Myrcella did not even flinch.

"Well, I came here prepared today, Sir Honas," she replied with a pleasant smile, the kind that looked polite on the surface but carried a faint edge underneath. "Actually, I would say that what I'm about to do today is something I probably should have done the very first time I came here."

Honas leaned forward even more, clearly confused by her words. The motion made his glasses slide down further until they nearly tipped off his nose. He pushed them back up with a slow finger, still staring at her as though she had just started speaking in another language.

"What kind of preparation have you come here with?" he asked.

Around the table, the other administrators shifted slightly in their seats.

Their expressions were not exactly welcoming.

Suspicious would be the better word.

Considering that they worked alongside Gaspard, it was safe to assume they had already heard the rumors from him. More specifically, they had probably been informed that Myrcella and I had been digging around in their pasts.

And we had.

Quite successfully, actually.

Which explained why they looked like a group of people who had just realized someone had access to their old diaries.

"Well," Myrcella said calmly, clasping her hands in front of her, "it seems you already know the general situation, so I won't bother wasting time beating around the bush."

Her smile widened slightly.

"I have to admit, though, I was quite surprised when I learned about it. I never expected that all of you would have gone as far as organizing something like an orgy party back in the day."

The reaction was immediate.

Several of the administrators stiffened.

One of them nearly choked on whatever breath she had just taken.

"It really was a surprise," Myrcella continued casually. "People like you who constantly preach about dignity, honor, and moral standards. The same people who go to incredible lengths just to avoid even the smallest hint of scandal."

Her eyes swept slowly across the room.

"And yet, it turns out that many of you had… rather interesting proclivities back then."

Personally, I was not that shocked.

People like this always had skeletons in their closets. Sometimes entire graveyards, honestly.

Respectable figures were often the most enthusiastic participants when it came to questionable hobbies.

"W-What kind of nonsense are you spouting!?"

One of the elderly women suddenly shot to her feet. Her chair scraped loudly across the floor as she stood up and slammed both hands against the table with a sharp crack.

The sound echoed through the chamber.

"Do you truly believe you can walk in here and throw around such baseless accusations without any proof?" she demanded, her face flushed with anger. "You should have some shame!"

She pointed a trembling finger at Myrcella.

"Even for a princess, stooping to the level of blackmail is disgraceful. And blackmail based on lies that you have clearly invented yourself is completely unacceptable."

Another administrator leaned forward from her seat, her wrinkled hand rising to point accusingly at Myrcella as well.

"If you came here thinking you could intimidate us with fabricated stories," she said coldly, "then you have made a very foolish mistake. This little stunt of yours will end in failure."

Myrcella nodded slowly.

"I appreciate your honesty, Madam Vegra. Madam Coria," she said politely.

Then she tilted her head slightly.

"However, there is something I would like to point out."

Her voice remained calm, but the air in the room seemed to tighten just a little.

"These events occurred while each of you was married to your respective husbands, correct?" she continued. "Which means that your participation would technically fall under the definition of cheating."

A brief pause followed.

"Back during your time, society allowed men to take multiple women if they wished. That was considered acceptable." Her smile became faintly sharper. "But women were not granted the same privilege."

She tapped her finger lightly against the table.

"In fact, a married woman engaging in sex with another man was considered a serious crime. Adultery, to be precise."

The administrators' expressions were starting to stiffen.

"And as I'm sure all of you remember," Myrcella went on, "adultery was punishable by death in those days."

Of course, times had changed.

"That law no longer exists," she added calmly. "Modern society has moved in a different direction. Women can now maintain their own harems if they wish, just as men always have. Because of that, there is no current constitutional basis that would allow any of you to face legal punishment for those past actions."

It was true.

While rare, there were cases where women gathered multiple men around them. Sometimes they were lovers. Sometimes they were little more than sex slaves.

Back in the past, though, the situation had been very different.

A married woman having sex with another man, regardless of circumstances, had been considered a serious offense. Even if someone attempted to frame it as a harem arrangement, the law had been very clear about it.

Women were not allowed to have multiple partners while married.

And the punishment had been brutal.

Death.

Fortunately for the administrators sitting here today, that entire legal framework had been abolished long ago.

So technically speaking, they were safe.

Myrcella's smile returned.

"However," she said softly, "do you really believe that is the deepest part of your pasts that I uncovered?"

The room went completely silent.

She tilted her head again, her eyes glinting slightly.

"That little story I mentioned earlier?" she said.

"It was only a preface."

And that was the real point.

Myrcella had never intended to walk into this room relying on an old sin that no longer counted as a crime in the present day. That would have been far too shallow.

If she had come all this way, digging through years of secrets and buried history, then there was absolutely no way she had stopped at something so simple.