The Rise of the Black Plain

"Minos!" Isabella shouted as she saw her beloved walking up the stairs of the imperial palace, relieved to see him well.

This woman was restricted by the supreme elder and confined to the imperial palace premises. Because of this, she only knew the latest news and could not go out to confirm Minos' status or what the imperial regent was doing.

She was obviously against any action by her family against Minos, although she favored at least that organization investigating the recent incident at the headquarters of the Saints Killing Sect. After all, an imperial family needed to appear to follow specific standards and could not simply close its eyes to such an alarming event.

But she would not allow Minos to be punished in the way that perhaps her elders seemed to want.

Obviously, she wanted to be the mother of Minos' children, so she held this man in a high position in her heart, as high as the local throne itself.

For all that, after days of not being able to leave the house, she breathed a sigh of relief to see that her man was alive and well.

"Minos, you don't know how scared I was!" She said as she hugged him and smelled the masculine scent of this brown-haired person.

In doing so, she immediately made the level 79 elders in Minos' surroundings look at them strangely while some clenched their fists mournfully.

Isabella had already confirmed Minos' earlier words after that group had notified the Edwardstone family command center. So everyone there was already aware that Emperor Stuart's relationship with this level 71 redheaded woman was not only in his mind.

But still, seeing and hearing something were completely different things!

"Tsk!"

'The wretch is lucky!' The individual who had led the group that faced Minos in the vicinity of the Saints Killing Sect headquarters thought of this as he turned around, not wanting to see more of that.

The imperial regent frowned his eyebrows and lamented for Harold.

'This young man not only ruined your future but also stole your daughter's innocence, Your Majesty...' He lamented the emperor's losses to this shameless young man, full of mysteries.

Minos caressed Isabella's red hair and said. "Hmm, now you can rest assured. These wild people will no longer stop you from coming and going..."

Oswald heard here and laughed, noticing how Minos made those old people he himself had to respect, swallowing their losses dryly in silence.

"I hope so..."

They continued talking, soon afterward walking into the interior of that palace, heading to the area where Minos would live temporarily.

Minos would not be arrested since everyone there had already learned that it was useless to restrain this fellow. He would come and go as he pleased.

And even if he was not faster and more skilled than high-level Spiritual Saints, with his Black Hole Bombs, he could disrupt them quite a bit.

They knew that Minos would not use such a thing easily against them. But those people knew that if they crossed the line, they could force him to use one of those weapons.

As such, if he wanted to leave, they would have a hard time stopping him anyway. So the regent just designated an official place for Minos to stay temporarily in custody, but without restricting him too much.

At the end of the day, this was more to show the organizations in this state that they were taking the situation of the Saints Killing Sect seriously and would investigate and judge the matter as they should.

Some wanted to punish Minos for everything negative he had ever caused to this imperial family. But no one else would go to the ultimate consequences after they found out about Isabella's relationship with him.

Harold had no other children, and those behind Isabella in the line of succession were people with much less support and power than she. Thus, even if these elders wanted to, they had no alternative to her as future empress, which prevented them from acting vigorously against Minos.

In this way, Minos was much more a guest of this organization than a prisoner waiting for his trial.

But for all intents and purposes, he would spend the next few weeks at the imperial palace in Payton. He would cultivate and see Isabella when he had time, awaiting the resolution of the situation.

...

Two weeks later...

Minos was at this very moment in a courtyard of one of the many resistances in the imperial palace alongside his wives and grandfather.

After the battles against the Saints Killing Sect ended, Minos notified his wives, calling them to come to this place together with Sarah.

After a few days of travel escorted by Patience, the four women Minos loved most arrived at this place and had been living there with him ever since.

In those days, Abby and Ruth had advanced in level, with the black-haired woman reaching level 67 before the end of the war and the blue-haired beauty reaching the same level three days ago.

Minos and Sarah were pleased with the advancements of those two, along with Gloria, who was not far from reaching level 72. This Matriarch was also happy because she had taken advantage of the last few days to make more friends in local Church posts.

Anyway, Minos had been leading his organizations from this location, constantly sending letters to the northern region to calm his state about its present problems. At the same time, he was dealing with the post-war affairs of the Gray Clouds Sect, working out what would make it difficult to bring that organization to the northern region.

Since he was being 'forced' to stay in the empire longer than he wished, he took advantage of the situation to get on with these matters.

But while he was doing that, Minos' wait had finally ended this afternoon, when the imperial family would announce the results of the investigations regarding the previous incident and hold his trial.

"Minos, are you ready?" Isabella asked as she stood in front of this man and Sarah, who was on her father's lap at the moment.

Minos continued swinging one of his legs, playing with his daughter, and said. "Hmm, come on. I'm already looking forward to returning to Dry City."

Isabella did not feel bad hearing that since Minos was not saying he did not like to be around her. But he wanted to return to his state and watch his business, which was natural for a leader to seek.

So, she soon left that place beside him and his wives, not taking long to move on to her area, separating from them before entering the imperial throne hall.

As Harold's representative, even though she was not yet the leader of this state, nor the regent, she had to host all sorts of events relevant to her family and the state. Therefore, this woman was soon seated on her father's throne while the women of Minos had settled in the bleachers for the trial audience.

There in that place were also the leaders of the organizations of the empire, as well as some members of the imperial family.

On the other hand, Minos was in the center of the area, with his back to the audience and facing where the court of this trial was standing next to Isabella.

He stood quietly in his seat and listened to the supreme elder starting the trial after asking the people in the surrounding area to be quiet.

"Well, let's get down to business. We are here to hear the witnesses and the pronouncement of Minos Stuart regarding the incident weeks ago at the headquarters of the Saints Killing Sect. After that, we will declare the punishments for the respective culprits." He said before slamming a gavel on the table in front of him.

"On behalf of Emperor Harold Edwardstone, I announce the beginning of this imperial trial!" Isabella said after hearing the supreme elder's signal.

...