Chapter 147: Chapter-147

But handling a company and handling an empire were two completely different things.

Elara looked at the empire’s records—it took her three full days of non-stop examination to completely finish reviewing everything. When she looked at all the receipts, ledgers, tax records, military reports, and administrative documents, she found something that made even her emotionless assessment pause.

The empire was completely ruined from the inside.

From the older records and historical comparisons, it seemed like the Empire was like an old porcelain doll from the outside—it looked beautiful, prosperous, powerful. Gleaming white palaces, well-dressed nobles, impressive military parades.

But inside? Completely hollow. Rotten. Damp with corruption that had seeped into every crack and crevice of the governmental structure.

And with the Emperor’s fall into a coma, the nobles’ minds were drifting toward something else entirely. Everyone now wanted a piece of the empire. Everyone wanted control. Power. Influence. The carefully maintained balance that the Emperor had enforced through fear and blood magic was collapsing.

If not for the official decree they’d managed to produce—sealed with the Emperor’s own seal while he was in his coma, declaring that Elara would be the seat holder and acting regent—it would have caused immediate civil war.

But even that official declaration didn’t completely solve the problem.

Because now that Elara was the seat holder, people developed a different motive.

Marriage.

Elara was a woman. A royal woman. And despite her capabilities, despite everything she’d accomplished, the traditional noble mindset saw that as an opportunity, not a threat.

The marriage prospect letters started arriving.

Regularly.

Daily.

Multiple times per day.

From the palace gates all the way to the capital’s outer districts, the flow of proposals was relentless. And it wasn’t something small or ignorable—literally every noble family, every wealthy merchant, even some ambitious academic students were submitting marriage proposals to Elara.

Why?

Because the other princesses were hard to approach. Dangerous. Eleana had a reputation for political ruthlessness. The younger princesses were either too young or already engaged in their own power plays.

But Elara? In the public’s eyes, no matter how successful she’d been with Port Crestfall, no matter how efficiently she’d handled the succession crisis—she was still the unloved princess. The forgotten fourth daughter. The one without powerful backing or established faction.

Easy to marry. Easy to control through marriage. Easy to use as a stepping stone to imperial power.

At least, that’s what they thought.

And the problems didn’t stop there.

The entire team of secretaries that the Emperor had assembled to handle administrative functions? Completely useless.

Elara had spent six hours reviewing their work output and personnel files.

Half of them were corrupt—taking bribes to delay paperwork, selling administrative decisions to the highest bidder, embezzling funds through falsified expense reports.

The other half were just lazy—showing up late, leaving early, accomplishing maybe two hours of actual work during an eight-hour shift, delegating everything possible to subordinates who were equally incompetent.

It was like paying salary to donkeys. Totally useless.

—

Elara sat in what was now technically her office—the former Emperor’s primary administrative chamber—surrounded by stacks of documents that represented the empire’s actual condition.

Petra sat across from her, looking exhausted just from watching Elara work.

“So,” Petra said carefully. “How bad is it?”

Elara didn’t look up from the tax ledger she was reviewing. “On a scale of one to catastrophic? Seven point three.”

“That’s… specific.”

“The empire generates sufficient revenue to function. Infrastructure is aging but not yet critical. Military is adequately funded despite corruption in procurement. Civilian population is stable.” Elara made notes in the margin. “However, administrative efficiency is below forty percent. Corruption has reduced effective governance to approximately half of optimal capacity. And the noble families are positioning for internal conflict that could trigger civil war within six months if not managed.”

“So it’s bad.”

“It’s manageable. But requires immediate comprehensive reform.” Elara finally looked up. “The secretarial staff needs complete replacement. Half arrested for corruption, half terminated for incompetence. Entire administrative structure requires rebuilding.”

“You can’t just fire half the government!”

“Why not? They’re non-functional. Replacing them improves efficiency.” Elara’s tone was matter-of-fact. “I’ve already identified potential replacements from Port Crestfall operations, military administrative corps, and academic institutions. Can have new staff operational within two weeks.”

Petra rubbed her temples. “And the marriage proposals?”

“Annoying but irrelevant. I’m not accepting any of them.”

“You have to respond somehow. Ignoring noble marriage proposals is a political insult.”

“Then I’ll issue a blanket statement: No marriage proposals will be considered during the current administrative crisis. All proposals automatically rejected. Focus is on governance, not personal arrangements.” Elara made another note. “Efficient. Clear. Final.”

“That’s going to make a lot of powerful families angry.”

“They can be angry inefficiently or cooperate efficiently. Their choice.” Elara pulled out a different document. “More pressing issue is the financial situation. The empire’s treasury appears solvent in official records, but actual liquid assets are approximately thirty percent of reported amounts. Someone has been embezzling on a massive scale.”

“How massive?”

“Approximately forty million gold over the past fifteen years.” Elara showed Petra the calculations. “Systematic, sophisticated, involving multiple ministries and noble families. The Emperor either didn’t notice or didn’t care because he was using blood magic instead of proper financing.”

“Can you recover the funds?”

“Partially. Maybe twenty million if we move quickly before assets get hidden further. But recovery requires—” Elara paused, calculating. “—arrests of approximately thirty high-ranking officials and twelve noble families. That triggers the political crisis I mentioned earlier.”

Petra stared at her. “You’re planning to arrest twelve noble families while simultaneously firing half the government and rejecting every marriage proposal in the empire?”

“Yes.”

“That’s insane!”

“That’s necessary.” Elara’s voice stayed calm. “The alternative is slow systemic collapse over five to seven years as corruption continues unchecked. Fast comprehensive reform causes short-term chaos but long-term stability. I choose the efficient option.”

“The efficient option might get you killed!”

“Probability of assassination attempts: ninety-three percent within first month of reforms. I’ve already implemented security protocols.” Elara gestured to where ten beast knights now stood guard—rotating shifts, triple verification for anyone entering, magical detection wards at every entrance.

“You calculated your own assassination probability?”

“Of course. Risk assessment is standard procedure for high-stakes operations.” Elara returned to her documents. “Now, regarding the administrative restructuring—I need your help identifying which current staff members are salvageable versus complete replacement required.”

Petra looked at the mountain of paperwork, the impossible task ahead, and the completely emotionless princess who was planning to rebuild an empire in a few weeks.

“You really think you can do this? Fix everything the Emperor broke over forty years?”

Elara looked up, her expression unchanged. “No. I think I can build something better than what existed before he broke it. The Emperor maintained a functional empire through fear and blood magic. I’m going to build an efficient empire through competent administration and systemic reform.”

She paused.

“It’s not about fixing his mistakes. It’s about replacing his entire approach with something that actually works.”

“That’s ambitious.”

“That’s necessary,” Elara corrected. “And necessary actions don’t require ambition. Just execution.”

A knock at the door. One of the beast knights opened it cautiously.

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