The streets of the Provarian capital were clear of any obstructions as the Rumasilian army managed to enter without much problems. Most of the city garrison dropped their weapons and surrendered at the sight of the fearsome invading army although some tried to put up a fight but were quickly dealt with. The citizens of the city were mostly pacified and offered little resistance. King Valasaire had ordered for no pillaging or looting to be done to the city as per the interests of King Esteban.

Valamar noticed that some of the buildings inside of the city showed signs of damage, with shattered window pieces, broken doors, and what looked like signs of minor fires on some buildings. It looked like a riot happened in that part of the city not too long ago.

What surprised Valamar even more was the sight of hanged corpses and severed heads at the front of otherwise beautiful manors, clearly home to the nobility.

"The corpses are most probably those of the noblemen that displeased my grandfather." Esteban explained as he saw them "He had always been ten times as ruthless as me."

"Well at least only the men were executed." Valantine said

"Do you honestly believe my grandfather cares what happens to the womenfolk of those he considers enemies?" Esteban retorted coldly which caused Valantine to shiver at the thought "They'd be lucky if they found themselves at work in a brothel."

"Well, at the very least he'll spare the children." Miguel said to lighten up the mood

"Yes, to be given to perverts and the likes to be playthings." Esteban scoffed "None of the orphanages in this city are out of the thumb of the Gissario. Well at least not until now."

As they made their way through the inner streets of the city, Valantine, under King Valasaire's orders, took a contingent of soldiers and split up with the main forces as he headed towards the seaside battlements in order to incapacitate the city's shoreline defenses. If the Aerlish Armada were going to provide support, the docks had to be secured. He was accompanied by Lord General Hesron to which he only donned his masked helm to hide his reaction.

The roads to the palace were mostly smooth sailing as only a few soldiers - mainly the Gissario veterans - offered any real resistance while the rest either immediately surrendered or fainted on the spot. After almost an hour, the Rumasilian force made it to the inner walls of the palace where the gates had been shut tightly. In front of the gates, they saw the last of the Gissario's forces rallying up to oppose them.

It was the standard pike and shot formation and so King Valasaire wasted little time to get his own men ready to engage the enemy. King Esteban recognised the man at the front of the formation who was none other than his distant cousin, a Lord Raymundo de Gissario, whom by all accounts considered to be quite a prick. Even so, Esteban gave formalities.

"Surrender now and you shall be given a fair trial! Resist and you'll be executed without due process!" Esteban said quickly and half-heartedly, clearly signifying that it was just a formality and he didn't really expect them to surrender.

As expected, Raymundo merely took out his pistol and shot at the young king with a listless look on his face as if he already accepted his death that day. Luckily, the pistol was a lousy weapon and instead managed to hit the thigh of a soldier standing a few feet away from him.

"I'll take that as a no." Esteban said before he eyed the King of Rumasil who had immediately ordered for the arquebusiers to open fire upon the Gissarios.

"Tembak!!" Valasaire shouted and was answered by the thunderous roars of his soldier's arquebuses

The Gissario line was utterly decimated, a lucky shot even managed to hit Lord Raymundo's forehead, immediately killing him, putting the last of the Gissario forces into a panic with only a few of the enemy gunners managing to return fire and kill a few of the Rumasilian soldiers in the frontlines. However, Valamar felt his heart almost jump out of his chest when a stray bullet managed its way to the tip of his officer's helm, destroying the top of it and giving his head a heavy shock. Luckily, he managed to hold onto the reins of his horse and stay mounted.

King Valasaire shouted in panic as he thought he was going to lose his heir in such a place but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that besides a little trauma and dizziness, the Crown Prince would live. Valasaire personally led the heavy cavalry charge against the disorderly enemy line and made quick work of them, breaking them easily and cutting them down.

After the last of the Gissario soldiers at the front had either been killed or surrendered, Valasaire quickly ordered for a couple of bombards to be taken to the front of the reinforced gates to the inner walls outside the palace. The gates were no match for the sheer kinetic force of the cannonballs from the old bombards. The only downside was people would have to steer clear of the weapons' firing range, even its crew, to avoid any potential casualties caused by the balls that may bounce off the iron gates.

After the gates fell open, the soldiers immediately started pouring in. There were no soldiers manning the battlements of the inner walls and this provided the Rumasilians peace of mind with them instead being the ones to man the walls.

Valasaire wasted no time in ordering the bombards to blow down the reinforced wooden gates of the palace. By this time, Valamar had mostly recovered from the trauma and ringing in his head and came back to the front-lines.

When the gates were brought down by the cannonballs, the heavy infantry immediately rushed in to engage any likely enemies that may be awaiting inside. As expected there were still some guards but their numbers were laughable and they were quickly eliminated.

"My mother would most likely be holed up in the throne room along with the rest of the nobility who have yet to surrender!" Esteban said "Have the palace escape routes been sealed yet?"

"I've already had my operatives keep watch over them." Valaron said as he nodded

They then quickly made their way to the throne room. The arquebusiers made quick work of the guards standing outside. This time, however, the Rumasilians opted to break down the door with a makeshift ram instead of the bombards in the hopes to minimize the casualties.

With each strike of the doors by the ram, the terrified cries of the noblewomen and children could be heard from the inside of the throne room. After about ten minutes of battering down the doors, they were finally forced open. Luckily, the Gissario didn't have any gunmen prepared to ambush the invading army. The women and children, even some of the noblemen, screamed frantically and huddled near the throne room. On the throne set the solemn beauty who was Esmeralda, Queen of Provaria. She had a listless and vacant look in her eyes.

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When Esteban entered the room, he was accompanied by the most elite of the Valamen royal guard as he walked besides King Valasaire and Prince Valamen. All of the sudden the room went silent when they realised the King they had deposed had returned with a powerful army at his back.

A few of the noblemen fainted while the rest had begun groveling at the feet of the invaders.

"Mercy, Your Majesty! Mercy!" A noblemen started crying and groveling at Esteban's feet "I was forced by my circumstances to serve the vile Gissario!!"

Esteban looked at the nobleman in disgust. Such craven people were even worse than traitors. Esteban was half a mind to just step on the coward's face but he forced a smile and motioned for the guards to take the man away from him by force. He caught a glimpse of his mother who was so vacant she didn't even look like she noticed he had entered the room. Seeing this, he felt complex feelings rising up within him.

He ignored all the nobles there as they parted ways for King Esteban to reach the throne. Esteban slowly made his way towards the throne. Queen Esmeralda had finally noticed his presence there but only gave a weak smile with a sorrowful look.

When Esteban had reached just a few feet away from the Queen, he pulled out his pistol and aimed towards her head. The people in the room were naturally shocked when they saw this spectacle. Even Valasaire and Valamar had widened their eyes. The Queen, on the other hand, merely continued to smile as she stood up and walked towards her son with open arms and a slightly resigned look.

Esteban still held the pistol towards her yet she still carried on. When the Queen stood in front of her son, she caressed his face with a smile as tears started welling up in her eyes. Esteban had flinched when his mother touched him as emotions started welling up as well within him, expressions of anger, sadness, as well as regret showed on his face. The soldiers and nobles in the room noticed this and were worried for the fate of their queen. Esteban could snap at any moment and pull the trigger.

After a few moments of struggling, Esteban lowered the pistol and put it back to its sheath. Everyone blew a sigh of relief as they saw Esteban merely put on a stoic face as he faced his mother.

"I'm so sorry..." Esmeralda said as she couldn't control her urge to embrace her son whom she hasn't seen for so long "Maybe you can't forgive me, but I've accepted that... If it could make you feel slightly better, the least I could do... is die..."

Esteban merely stayed quiet and looked absently at his mother before he finally spoke.

"Death is too easy a way out." Esteban said "The sins of the Gissario now fall upon you. Soldiers, escort the rebel queen to her chambers and make sure she does not come in or out without my hearsay. She is to stay there until the day of trial."

"..." Esmeralda merely accepted her fate as a small group of Provarian soldiers came to put her under house arrest. She smiled weakly as she kissed her son on his forehead and bowed before leaving with the soldiers and some of her handmaidens.

Valamar was glad that it could be taken care of without things getting too ugly.

After the Queen exited the room, Esteban made his way to the throne before him and after inspecting it closely, he turned and sat on it as was his birthright. When he sat there, the traitor nobles as well as the remaining soldiers of Provaria dropped to their knees and shouted, "Long live the King! Long live the King!"

The rightful King of Provaria was back in power. The Rumasilian and Aerlish soldiers clapped in respect for their new client-state. After a while, Esteban raised his hand and stood up from the throne.

"As King of Provaria I exercise my right to establish a war trial concerning the fate, punishment, and rewards regarding the coup and the resulting war. The trials will be held at the Great Court of the Isle of Romario in three days' time." Esteban said as he looked towards the traitor nobles "Until that time, I expect all supporters of the coup to be put safely under house arrest as they await the fair trials.. If there are no further questions, the noble courtiers may take their leave."

The nobles started murmuring and had obvious discontent expressions but not many wanted to openly protest the King as they knew of his reputation. They quietly bowed and left the court accompanied by a platoon of soldiers.

After most of the nobles and soldiers left the courtroom, only the high officials, ministers, generals, and Royals of the alliance were left. Esteban breathed a sigh of relief as he laid back on the throne from the tensity of the previous situation.

"Now all that's left is to figure out the transitions to the new order of government..." Esteban said as he looked up towards the air

"With the secession of most of Provaria's territories, I would think most of those nobles would be left landless or the vassals of others." King Valasaire said as he took a seat along with the rest of the Rumasilian generals

"That'll make my rule easier. The more useless limbs cut, the better. Now all that's left for me to think about is who I'll trust with the governance of this city when I move the capital..."

As King Esteban was pondering such a thing, the doors of the throne room opened once again. Prince Christopher had entered but behind him was a man and a woman dressed in simple clothing who King Valasaire and King John had never seen as well as most of the officials.

However, when King Esteban saw the young woman, he couldn't help but have a look of surprise on his face as he - as well as Miguel - rushed towards her and hugged her in relief. Some of the people who didn't know of the identity of the girl found it odd that the King and his brother would embrace such a woman who was also quite a beauty.

"I can't believe you're still alive!!" Esteban said in full relief "When I heard news of the slaughter that ensued I was assured you were dead..."

"Brother Esteban, Miguel... I'm so glad I could see you again..." The girl finally let out her tears as she was once again in the safety of family "I'm home... I'm safe..."

"How did you make it alive? Are you alright?" Miguel asked

"I am fine... for the most part. They weren't as rough with me as they were with my mother..." the girl said with a bitter smile to Esteban and Miguel's darkened expressions "But it's alright... I had a helper along the way." She looked to the man behind her who gave a slight bow to the king.

"Please tell us all that happened..."

"May I be informed as to who this girl is first?" King Valasaire asked with a raised eyebrow "I'm also dying to know who this beautiful young lady is."

"Allow me to introduce myself." The girl said as she bowed deeply "My name is Leonia de la Valamen, daughter of the Late Duke of Malurio. It is an honour, your majesty."

"Ah, a fellow Valamen. Such beauty could only be of this house I am proud of. And of that man over there? What is he called?"

"He is the one who's helped me this far and kept me safe... My knight."

King Esteban raised his eyebrow as he heard that. The man was wearing a hooded cloak and he couldn't tell who he was but somehow the man seemed familiar.

"I would like to thank you on behalf of the royal family for the service you have provided in caring for my dear cousin. May I ask you who you are?"

"Allow me to formally greet your majesty." The man said as he pulled down the hood of his cloak and revealed his face "I am Bernardo, expelled of the Gissario... I seek penance in not immediately joining your cause, Your Majesty, as when the coup happened, I had been stationed in Destairos and was unsure of the news and when I have reached the Isle of Valencei it was already passed and I was informed of the Queen-mother being crowned the new monarch. I ask only for your pardon, my liege."

Looking at the confused expressions of the people there, Leonia stepped in to explain what happened from start to end so as to get Bernardo's pardon. After finishing her story, she breathed out and awaited anxiously for her cousin's reaction. He seemed to be pondering before he opened his mouth to speak.