January 13, 1704

The fast-running Daily Valstad Principality caused a sensation, with an explosive long headline on its front page:

"Heinous! Moral decay! The Murderer Strikes Again! ”

The subheadings read:

"The illegitimate daughter used the secret passage to infiltrate the Jinhu Palace and kill her father!"

The newspaper reporter interviewed eyewitnesses in the Jinhu Palace and asked them to describe the shocking story in detail.

An interview with a court attendant, who refused to be named, confessed:

"People say that the princess is extraordinarily beautiful, that she is a hero on the battlefield, that she is a jewel of the Duchy of Valstad, and I used to think so.

When I heard that she had staged a coup d'état and was a murderer, I, like most people, thought it was an indiscriminate slander, and even argued and fought with others about it.

It wasn't until yesterday that I saw with my own eyes the true face of this bastard daughter's cruelty and evil!

I was about to enter the ward to serve His Majesty the Duke, and as soon as I pushed the door open, I was shocked by what I saw.

This femme fatale was holding a sharp knife and stabbing her mortally wounded and dying duke father in succession, her white and slender hands stained with blood, and when she succeeded, her face became evil, like a bloodthirsty demon!

Then, she spotted me and immediately pounced on me, trying to kill me, the witness, but luckily the guards showed up in time, and I was able to save my life and have a chance to confess the truth to you! “

A few days later, a new cabinet led by Prince West was announced, and the new spokesman quickly confirmed the authenticity of the media information:

"His Majesty the Duke has indeed been killed, and the murderer was arrested on the spot, it is none other than Princess Salantos Midknight, who should have died long ago."

Due to the sudden death of the Duke, Prince West-Midnet, who was temporarily acting as the administrative officer, quickly assumed office without a coronation ceremony and became the new Duke of Valstad as the fourth heir.

The new government posted official announcements with the royal seal on bulletin boards everywhere:

"In order to prevent the princess's henchmen from coming to the rescue, martial law will be imposed nationwide from now on, and the wanted princess will be hunted down for betrayal, and the whistleblower will be rewarded heavily. The murderer has been detained in a secret dungeon, and this time she will not be able to escape, and the people are assured that a fair and severe trial awaits her. ”

Despite the control of the mainstream newspapers and the voices of the authorities themselves, lies are lies, and they are too lame to deceive millions of Valstads.

Soon, many newspapers began to question the veracity of the official information.

Pravda, for example, has always been known for its bold writings, often exposing scandals involving aristocratic celebrities, and as a result of which it has won the trust of the general public and has a huge circulation.

Pravda editor-in-chief, Mr. Rhodes, risked arrest by publishing an article: "Heroes become scapegoats!" Someone is deceiving us! 》

The article questioned the suspicions of the new government, the authorities' systematic cover-up of the coup, the true cause of the Duke's death, and the secret support of Prince Westknight to power by external forces.

One of the passages reads:

"It has been a long time since the coup d'état, and the authorities have not yet produced strong evidence to prove the crime of the "princess in disguise", but only blindly emphasized the princess's illegitimate daughter.

Concubines or concubines? Is this important? Although this "princess in military costume" has an eccentric personality, there is no doubt that she has already proved her patriotism with her actions.

Why would a hero on the battlefield suddenly betray his country and his loved ones? Does that make sense?

The princess in military costume is willing to dedicate herself to political marriage, sacrifice her freedom of love in exchange for the support of the southern part of the peninsula, she has made great contributions to the country, and she has sacrificed everything for the Midnight family, why did she suddenly become a "traitor" and "family killer"?

We have every reason to question the veracity of the statements of the Principality authorities, some of whom are blinding the public!

Why did Prince West come to power as regent just half a day after the coup?

Why were hundreds of parliamentarians and officers who defended the princess suddenly convicted as traitors?

It all looks like a plan that the enemy has been planning for a long time!

The enemy killed our great Duke of Easter and his sons, framed our hero for injustice, and took control of most of the media opinion in our country.

I am afraid that our beloved motherland has fallen into the hands of the enemy! “

After the article was published, it quickly caused an uproar, and many newspapers began to raise the same doubts.

In the cafes and taverns of the Duchy of Valstad, orators ascended to the heights in an attempt to wake up the populace.

"Prince Westknight is a puppet of the enemy! He's a good dog in captivity for the Four-Nation Alliance! A drunken man stood on a table and shouted so loudly that he was beaten by the gendarmes who arrived.

Waves of skepticism about the authorities have been raised, but they are far from enough to shake the position of Duke West.

A few days later, the new government of Duke West released a huge and lengthy list of tens of thousands of people convicted of the princess in uniform for treason, and the purge began.

Newspaper editors, parliamentarians, military officers, and civilians who had voiced skepticism were arrested and imprisoned, and mass demonstrations broke out in the streets of the major cities of the Principality.

The marchers, holding huge portraits of Princess Salantos Midnet, demanded the immediate release of the Valstad national hero and cleared her name, and the authorities immediately began a crackdown, and bloody clashes between the marchers and the gendarmes spread to the streets of every town, resulting in hundreds of deaths.

Some criminals began to take advantage of the chaos and looting, the shops on the streets were burning, the roads were full of rubble, and many functional institutions such as hospitals and fire brigades could no longer function, and the situation began to spiral out of control.

On January 20, 1704, the chaos reached its climax, when Langford Onassis, Earl of Santa Casrella, husband of the Princess, gathered more than 100,000 mercenaries in the southern part of the peninsula, and the powerful Free Trade Alliance fleet began to attack the major ports in the north.

The king of merchants wanted to save his pregnant wife, and he vowed to scatter all his fortunes, hire pirates and mercenaries from all over the continent, and make enemies of the whole world for his wife's sake.

On 21 January, an all-out exchange of fire began between the regular forces of the Principality and the Free Trade Alliance, with casualties on both sides.

Scattered small groups of troops began to revolt in other parts of the Principality, pledging their allegiance to the princess's camp against the new government, and the fighting became more and more intense, gradually spreading throughout the Principality.

At this point, chaos reached its peak, and the Duchy of Valstad descended into a full-scale civil war. Just a few months ago, the country was stable and wealthy, facing successive victories in the face of the Four-Nation Alliance.

On January 24, the Four-Nation Coalition gathered about 200,000 troops to attack westward, and the Duchy of Valstad, which was in a state of chaotic civil war, was completely unable to resist, and lost a large area of land in an instant, and the fruits of the previous victory were recovered and taken over by the noble allies.

At this point, the Duchy of Valstad, which was suffering from internal and external troubles, fell into a huge crisis of national destruction.