In less than five minutes, this gang of self-proclaimed elite bandits had been trussed up like rice dumplings with thick hemp ropes and stacked neatly in the open ground before the Main Palace.
At this moment, Sophia was draped in a thick black cloak, sitting expressionless on a chair.
She had actually just been startled awake by that gunshot, and she was feeling extremely irritable inside.
What the hell? I was just dreaming of eating cream puffs, why is there the sound of explosions again?
What is Chancellor Valery doing? Can't he let people sleep in the middle of the night?
Sophia rubbed the corners of her slightly sour eyes. Her pale golden pupils revealed a heart-palpitating, eerie glint under the night sky.
She walked slowly down the steps. Because she was really too sleepy, her movements appeared somewhat sluggish and heavy.
But in the eyes of the bandits kneeling on the ground, shaking like sieves, this young Queen was simply the God of Judgment descending from the darkness.
"Your Majesty, it is a few blind rogue bandits who wanted to climb the wall to steal things."
A soldier Captain knelt on one knee, his tone fanatical and worshipful.
"Thanks to Your Majesty adding meals for us night patrols, the brothers are full of energy tonight. These flies were taken down by us the moment they showed their heads."
Sophia stopped in front of the One-Eyed Dragon, lowering her eyelids, her tone as cold as ice:
"Stealing things?"
Stealing my cows? Or stealing my leather? Or Irene's soap that hasn't dried yet?
The more Sophia thought about it, the angrier she got, and her gaze became increasingly chilly.
The One-Eyed Dragon looked at Sophia's face, which was expressionless yet carried a pressure that overrode all living beings, and his psychological defenses collapsed instantly.
"Spare me, Your Majesty! Spare me!
"We... we just listened to rumors from Leighton. We deserve to die! We were blinded by greed!"
The One-Eyed Dragon screamed frantically in his heart while crying.
Damn it, who said this was a weak country?
The guards here have eyes full of divine light, the air here is filled with a smell that makes one afraid to breathe deeply, and this Queen is simply an unfathomable demon!
A group of ignorant bandits who only knew how to rob naturally didn't know that was the smell of black gunpowder.
"Take them away."
Sophia turned around, the hem of her black skirt sketching a cold arc. She just wanted to go back to sleep right now.
"Go interrogate them. If they aren't honest, just shoot them dead.
"As for the rest... since they like my Palace so much, then let them go to Kree Village and make some contributions to Mason's vitality alongside the dependents of those old nobles."
Which basically means carrying manure and turning the soil; we happen to be short on labor anyway.
"As you command! Let them use the rest of their lives to redeem their violation of the sacred domain!"
The soldiers held their heads high, their eyes filled with killing intent.
When Delilah and Irene arrived in a hurry, they only saw Sophia's aloof and profound retreating figure.
Early the next morning, at the city gate of the Mason Royal City.
The thin mist had not yet completely dispersed, but the soldiers guarding the city skillfully hung several bloody heads on the row of iron hooks that were nearly full.
These were the bandits who tried to resist or spoke rudely last night. At this moment, they were staring with eyes that could not close in death, swaying slightly in the cold wind.
The residents passing by here, having experienced the Tyrant's great purges a few times, actually didn't have the initial soul-scattering terror anymore.
"Sigh, just a few more who couldn't think it through."
A peasant woman carrying a vegetable basket just glanced at them faintly, then withdrew her gaze, even spitting on the ground.
"Divine Miracles live in Her Majesty's Palace now. These filthy things dared to disturb them? They deserve to be chopped."
"Exactly. I heard that thunderous sound rang out several times last night. I reckon Her Majesty used Divine Punishment again."
The merchant beside her lowered his voice to join the conversation, his tone unexpectedly carrying an inexplicable sense of pride.
"Our Mason isn't a mud pit anyone can step on anymore."
When the Tyrant's iron blood was no longer directed at law-abiding commoners but became a sharp blade guarding the national wealth, fear quietly transformed into a twisted, solid reverence.
Meanwhile, at the side gate of the Palace, the dozen or so surviving bandits led by the One-Eyed Dragon were kneeling in a row in despair.
Chancellor Valery was wrapped in thick fur, holding an exquisite walking stick in his hand. His fox-like eyes appeared exceptionally sinister in the cold wind.
Behind him, two soldiers were guarding a basin of red-hot charcoal fire, in which several specially made branding irons were inserted.
"Her Majesty is benevolent. She has given you a chance to atone for your sins with sweat."
Valery sneered. That was the cruelty of an old fox facing its prey.
"But this chance is extremely rare.
"Her Majesty said this is called labor reform. If you don't work well or have crooked thoughts again, your heads will also be hung up very quickly."
Valery ordered people to put specially made handcuffs and leg irons on these surviving bandits. They wouldn't hinder work, but wouldn't give them a chance to escape either.
"Take them away."
Valery waved his hand in disgust.
"Send them to Kree Village.
"Tell the overseers there that these are livestock with 'strength'. No need to treat them as humans.
"Let them do the heaviest work and eat the least coarse grain. Just don't let them die in the fields."
Afternoon, by the fields of Kree Village.
The One-Eyed Dragon stumbled along, carrying a shockingly heavy bucket of excrement on his shoulder, ankle-deep in mud.
Beside him, the dependents of the old nobles who were once insufferably arrogant were also lowering their heads, swinging hoes with numb expressions.
The level of supervision here exceeded the One-Eyed Dragon's imagination.
The stationed soldiers not only possessed that terrifying weapon called the musket, but everyone also looked like they were full of manic energy, with good spirits.
After all, these soldiers could receive solid Black Bread every day. Captains who performed well could even eat wheat cakes and salted meat jerky bestowed by Your Majesty.
Under the dual stimulation of high pay and high pressure, the soldiers had no psychological burden regarding beating and scolding these laborers.
"Hurry up! Don't dawdle!"
A soldier roughly rammed the One-Eyed Dragon's back with the gunstock.
"If the ridges in this field aren't straight, you'll only be drinking muddy water tonight!
"Work hard! You have a chance to turn over a new leaf! Our Majesty is truly very benevolent."
The One-Eyed Dragon looked at the green wheat fields stretching endlessly into the distance, and the last thought of escaping in his heart was completely extinguished.
These people are all crazy.
On this land ruled by the Tyrant, escaping is useless.
Because apart from this Queen, there is no other place in this world that can grow such crazy grain, nor is there any place that possesses that kind of divine power that can shatter a skull from dozens of steps away.
And inside the Bedchamber of the Main Palace, Sophia was flipping through Irene's design blueprints.
"Where is Irene?
"Tell her to make that 'shock-absorbing carriage cushion' she mentioned yesterday. I don't want my waist to be broken by the bumps again the next time I go to Kree Village for inspection."
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 10 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉