"It's over for Aetherion…"
The moment Vanitas Astrea crowned himself Emperor, everyone throughout the Empire understood the same horrifying truth.
This was the end.
While some people had long suspected that Franz Barielle Aetherion had been growing far too close to Vanitas, most had dismissed those concerns as little more than exaggerated political paranoia.
The Emperor had increasingly entrusted authority, military affairs, and national security to Vanitas to such an extent that many nobles quietly joked that the Empire already had two rulers.
And yet, even then, nobody truly believed it would ever reach this point.
No one had foreseen Vanitas personally murdering the Emperor in front of the entire nation before seating himself upon the Imperial Throne.
No one had imagined Aetherion would fall this abruptly.
The psychological impact alone was catastrophic.
