Chapter 16 - The Submission of the Lords
For three seconds, no one breathed. Then, slowly, the realization of what had just happened washed over the crowd. The scullery maid had not just survived; she had utterly humiliated the northern champion without taking a single serious scratch.
Valeria stood over the fallen giant, her breathing steady, her sapphire eyes blazing with quiet fire. She turned her gaze slowly toward Duke Caelen, who had gone completely pale, his smug grin wiped entirely from his face.
She walked toward him, her boots crunching softly on the sand, the glowing crown casting long, majestic shadows behind her.
Caelen swallowed hard, his hand trembling slightly as he instinctively reached for his sword hilt, but the sheer, oppressive weight of the royal aura bearing down on him froze his fingers.
"Still have doubts about the bloodline, Duke Caelen?" Valeria asked, her voice carrying easily across the silent arena.
Caelen looked at the unconscious mercenary, then up at the queen's glowing eyes. He dropped slowly to one knee, bowing his head until his forehead nearly touched the dust.
"The... the bloodline is true," Caelen choked out, his voice tight with reluctant submission. "Long live Queen Valeria."
One by one, the other northern lords in the balcony and around the arena followed his lead, dropping to their knees in a synchronized wave of surrender. The last pocket of internal resistance had been broken not by brute tyranny, but by undeniable strength and divine right.
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Captain Marcus smiled broadly, raising his sword into the air and shouting, "Long live the Queen!"
The crowd erupted into deafening cheers, their voices shaking the very stones of the capital.
