Free Web NovelChapter 45: The Bride and the Crown
"Elena White, step forward and accept your duty!"
Elena stepped forward, lifted her dress slightly with both hands, and ascended the steps. When she reached the throne, she knelt and lowered her head.
"As you command, my liege."
Rios rose from his throne and took the crown that one of the maids beside him was holding atop a piece of red cloth, then looked at Elena.
The crown was crafted from the branches of the immortal Tree of Cradle, adorned with countless rare jewels and shimmering golden strands.
"Elena White, are you prepared to become my Queen and my wife from this day forward?" Rios declared in a loud voice.
"It would be my honor, my liege. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your generosity!" Elena tried to suppress her smile and hide her embarrassment beneath her white veil, but she couldn’t.
"Mm."
Rios nodded with a satisfied smile, placed the crown upon Elena’s head, then turned his gaze toward the nobles throughout the hall.
"From this day onward, Elena White is the One Hundredth Queen of the Elves and my wife. She shall be responsible for governing all affairs in my absence!"
Rios’s voice echoed throughout the entire throne hall and through the broadcast screens across the entire city. Then he extended his hand toward Elena, guided her to the throne beside his, and seated her upon it.
"Long live the One Hundredth Queen of the Elves! Please accept our loyalty. May the One True God, Creator of the Universe, bless your reign, your life, and your descendants. May the One True God, Creator of the Universe, bless you wherever you go, and may the sacred trees forever protect you!"
Every noble in the throne hall and every Elf throughout the city watching the live broadcast knelt and recited the coronation hymn together in perfect unison.
Inside the throne hall, Queen Elena sat beside King Rios in a magnificent scene, heralding a new era for the Elf race and the entire world.
The celebrations throughout the city continued, while the nobles danced inside the hall until sunset. Only then did they depart, leaving behind just one hundred Elves inside the throne hall.
These were the hundred highest-ranking individuals in the City of Light.
Rios swept his gaze across them, nodded, and declared in a tone that allowed no argument,
"From this day onward, the entire system of the City of Light will change. The Council of Advisors shall no longer exist, and the noble ranking system shall also be abolished."
"From this day forward, a new administrative system shall be established—one based entirely on merit rather than status, and one that supports talent rather than noble blood."
Having announced his new system, Rios continued in a cold voice,
"I shall grant you nobles only ten years to reach the level of competence worthy of your positions if you wish to keep them. After ten years, anyone who fails to reach the required standard will have both their title and status revoked, and will be assigned a position befitting their strength, talent, and ability. This is my final mercy toward you."
The nobles exchanged uneasy and confused glances before looking toward Queen Elena, only to find her staring back at them expressionlessly.
Then they turned toward Advisor Thandria and Advisor Etham, but the only thing they found was contempt in their eyes.
At that moment, they realized they were completely on their own.
King Rios’s decree would be carried out without fail, and if they failed to improve within the allotted time, they would lose everything they possessed.
Whispers spread among them as each noble struggled to balance their responsibilities and future decisions.
Rios’s decree would not merely change the order of the nobles and their families—it would change everything they had ever known in the City of Light.
With this decree, talented commoners would become nobles, while talentless nobles would become commoners, bringing about a radical transformation of the city’s entire social hierarchy.
Naturally, many nobles disliked this decision, especially those whose status depended solely upon the prestige built by their ancestors while they themselves were utterly useless.
Yet not a single person dared object.
Before the nobles could even process the flood of information and orders King Rios had given them, they found themselves already outside the throne hall.
Inside the hall, only Rios, Elena, Thandria, and Etham remained.
"I’ll be entering seclusion once again. It may last anywhere from a single day to roughly a month. During that time, maintain the city’s security, focus entirely on defense, and do not allow anyone to stray too far beyond the city walls."
After giving his instructions to the other three, Rios added in a cold voice filled with killing intent,
"If anyone dares stir up trouble... kill them immediately."
"As you command, my liege."
Both Etham and Thandria bowed simultaneously, their voices filled with excitement.
Elena nodded with a smile.
"Don’t worry. Everything will be perfectly fine while you’re away."
"Mm."
Rios nodded in approval as his gaze swept over Etham and Thandria.
"Did you bring the map I asked for?"
"Yes, my liege."
Etham nodded, took out a spatial bag, and retrieved an enormous map roughly the size of a medium-sized room. Using Wind Magic, he made it float horizontally a short distance above the ground.
Rios was stunned by the sheer size of the map. Rising from his throne, he walked toward it, with Elena following closely behind.
Standing before the map, which floated about a meter above the floor, Rios studied it carefully, astonished by the continent’s immense size.
The continent was unimaginably vast.
Its landscape was dominated by forests and plains, with scattered mountain ranges stretching across its entirety, along with a small desert at the southernmost edge. freeweɓnovel.cøm
Even that so-called small desert wasn’t small at all.
It was only described as small compared to the continent itself. In reality, although it occupied merely five percent of the continent’s total area, it was nearly thirty times larger than the Forest of Light.
Rios turned toward Etham and asked in a slightly trembling voice,
"Etham... can you tell me the size of the Forest of Light?"
Etham nodded, pointed toward a region near the center of the continent, and calmly replied,
"The Forest of Light, my liege, is one of the few regions the seven races were able to settle and bring under their control. Its total area is approximately fifty million square kilometers."
Rios was stunned by such an enormous figure.
If Etham was correct, and judging by the Forest of Light’s size relative to the continent, then this continent’s total area would be one hundred times larger than the home planet of Rios the human, whose total surface area had been 500 million square kilometers.
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Author’s Note: Earth’s total surface area = 510 million km².
