Ruri returned to the Nation of the Dragon King, back to the castle she had missed so much, which filled her with a sense of nostalgia.
“It feels like I’ve been away for a whole year. Don’t you feel the same, Jade-sama?” she asked.
“Yes. Quite a lot happened in the Imperial Nation,” Jade started, looking somewhat pensive. “I can only assume the nation will fall into disarray.”
“Over who will become the emperor out of the first and third prince?”
“Indeed. For Adularia’s sake, I hope they figure out a successor without conflict, but if the nobles are butting heads with one another already, then I’m afraid not even the imperial princes can stop them.”
While Jade was in the empire, he had asked Kotaro to keep him informed about the Imperial Nation’s nobles. They had formed two opposing factions, and one wrong move could spark a civil war.
“Adularia should have named her successor earlier. That point alone may tarnish her legacy, putting her in the history books as a foolish emperor whose actions sparked a war. That would be dreadful,” Jade lamented, knowing how good of a ruler Adularia was.
As Jade sadly reflected on recent events, Ruri held his hand, unsure of what else she could do in this situation.
“The Imperial Nation’s future does fill me with concern,” Jade continued, “but as the Dragon King, I can’t interfere in the matter. If I did, it would only lead to unnecessary strife. I’ll just place my faith in Corundum and the imperial princes. They are Adularia’s sons. I want to believe they’ll handle this in a civil manner.”
“Yes, me too,” Ruri agreed.
✦ ✦ ✦
As Jade predicted, the war for succession intensified. Deciding who would be the next emperor was not an easy process, but after dragging many nobles into the conflict, the first prince’s faction stood victorious, giving rise to Emperor Roy.
It took many years for this to happen, though, which left the empire’s government in shambles. The new emperor began his reign by attempting to rebuild it, but he favored the old nobles and their ways and often ignored the burgeoning nobles. The third prince acted as a go-between for the emperor and those nobles, and while they repeated a few past mistakes along the way, the two brothers managed to rebuild the empire. Unfortunately, some distance developed between them and the nobles as a result, and as time passed and Emperor Roy passed the throne to the next generation, the barely functioning semblance of balance ended up collapsing.
Roy’s son, now the new emperor, lacked the power needed to coordinate and lead the nobles. The government became corrupt, and the people’s sentiments deteriorated. After that, the imperial prince, Roy’s grandson, became the next emperor, saving the nation. Also a Beloved, he purged the corrupt nobles from the government and brought the nation back to its rightful status—but that is a story for another time.