The doctor suffers from amnesia, but not complete amnesia.

The judge countered with a question.

Uh, actually I'm here.

"Your Excellency Qiao Yelan, I admire your courage and sense of justice at the meeting, but this is not something that can be accomplished simply by courage!"

"You left by car with Alexander, so you must have met Speaker Witte, right? Then please tell me, does His Excellency the Speaker intend to stop this?"

Oleg asked loudly, completely ignoring his old man's restless right hand.

"No, Your Excellency Speaker. In fact, it can be said that His Majesty the Emperor and others are all happy to see this happen."

Qiao Yelan said calmly.

"Isn't that enough proof?"

"Prove what?"

"—This proves that the push for this matter can no longer be stopped!"

"Then why did I come to see you?"

Oleg was taken aback by the question.

"His Majesty and the Speaker's idea is to let things go first, and then oppose them, to mourn and exonerate the innocent victims, and to use them as ammunition to launch a counterattack against the military and Nicholas."

"I ask you, Your Honor, Judge Oleg—do you also think this approach is correct?"

Qiao Yelan countered with a question.

Oleg slumped onto the sofa, clutching his head in his hands, looking pained.

"Of course...that's not right."

"So if you think it's wrong, but feel you can't stop it, then what do you want to do?"

The man's questions were aggressive.

"Will you carry this guilt and regret for the rest of your life?"

"Or do you think this is a necessary sacrifice, a way to finally seek justice for those innocent civilians of the empire who died unjustly, just to comfort yourself?"

Yevgeny shifted his gaze from his son to Qiao Yelan, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

I'm not trying to comfort myself—

"What is that? As a judge, you actually believe that justice delayed is justice denied?"

"If justice does not prevail when injustice occurs, then there is no justice at all—any subsequent actions are nothing more than revenge disguised in the name of 'justice'."

Qiao Yelan's words were like poison, splashed into Oleg's heart, scorching his soul.

"The so-called 'lateness' is nothing more than a way for those who were standing there but chose to stand by and do nothing to soothe their guilt, because that way they can talk about it with a straight face from now on—"

"It's as if the evil corresponding to this 'justice' has nothing to do with them."

“Tell me, Judge Oleg, how many identities can we, as those present, have while a crime is taking place?”

"two."

The answer came not from Oleg, but from Yevgeny.

"Obstructors—or accomplices."

These words were like a heavy hammer, shattering all the defenses and pretenses, exposing the truth nakedly to the scorching sun.

“I was right there.”

"And what about you, Judge Oleg—"

Are you there too?

Chapter Forty-Nine: The Most Upright Backbone

The man suddenly slapped himself across the face without any mercy.

Now he has bright red handprints on both sides of his face.

"Yes—I was there too."

He straightened his back and met Qiao Yelan's gaze.

"I was bewitched. I am a judge, so I am just a judge. I only need to consider the law. Those bullshit political considerations have nothing to do with me."

"That's more like my son."

The old man laughed heartily, patted his son on the shoulder, and then looked past Oleg and turned his gaze to Qiao Yelan.

"Well then, tell me your plan, Mr. Administrator—you didn't just bring your mouth with you, did you?"

"Of course not. Before seeking Judge Oleg's help, I went to the home of Yegor Terekin, the Minister of Labor, who was willing to stand with us."

Department of Labor...

Yevgeny's eyes narrowed slightly. Every word and action of Qiao Yelan showed that he was actually very familiar with His Majesty Vladimir's past governing philosophy and methods.

Given Qiao Yelan's age, he should have worked with the other person's father or even grandfather, but he really couldn't recall anyone he knew who had such a junior.

“Yegor has enough channels of communication to let us convey our voices to those who really need to know the truth, but he needs evidence and credibility.”

"We have both."

Oleg has fully recovered.

"Whether it's Saint Eagle Castle University or Imperial University, the essential internship experience for law students before graduation is to popularize the law in various regions of the Empire. Within Saint Eagle Castle, the number of judges a commoner knows is even more than the number of noble lords he knows."

“Oleg will mobilize the other judges in the Department of Justice, and I will be responsible for gathering the old guys. When we stand up, I believe those students will also step forward—the blood of the Ursus lads hasn’t cooled yet, and so have the old folks.”

Yevgeny's imposing presence was as sharp as the longsword he held in his hand.

“If His Majesty the Emperor wants to hold out for a higher price, then we will have no choice but to force him to step down early—if His Majesty Vladimir’s son is so weak and only knows how to manipulate power, then that would be the greatest disgrace to the late Emperor!”

Are all the guys in the Department of Justice like this?

Kosichello was clearly not used to the way these guys were behaving; the judges and nobles she had in mind seemed completely different from the two in front of her.

"You haven't returned to Ursus for far too long, Your Excellency. I suggest that while you're expanding Ursus's territory, you occasionally look back at the reforms within the Empire—in fact, if Vladimir had your support back then, Ursus wouldn't be in such an embarrassing situation now."

[...I admit this is my problem. I really didn't expect that an emperor would actually have the ability to change the empire's predicament, but there's one thing that I find very strange—]

The black snake's voice carried obvious confusion.

[Given Oleg and Yevgeny's ages, and considering their years of accumulated power, Vladimir could easily reshuffle the entire official class with just these judges, not to mention the nobles and the military. Given that, Nicholas and the nobles shouldn't possess such immense power.]

Qiao Yelan remained silent.

He knew the answer, but he couldn't show that he knew.

Because these passionate young people, who almost revered Vladimir as a faith, all fell in that war that was originally "unbeatable".

The university students of the Empire were not lazy, ignorant noble pigs. The two months of military training every winter honed their physique and organizational skills. Although they had never been on the battlefield, they were undoubtedly the best candidates for junior officers.

With just a few months of intensive military training, they can be competent for their positions in the army.

The Ursus Empire's problems were deeply entrenched and intractable, and Vladimir only had a few decades to live—so he chose to gamble everything.

Unfortunately, this time, the bookmaker did not side with him.

The price was that an entire generation of Ursus died.

These were the most outstanding members of the progressive noble and commoner classes, and Vladimir had placed all his hopes and dreams on them—and naturally, they reciprocated with their loyalty to their emperor.

Even when the emperor least needed their loyalty.

No one knows what Vladimir felt as he stood there, watching his proud young army fall in the path of their charge.

Qiao Yelan didn't know either, but he knew what the price would be.

Now, Ursus no longer has enough fresh blood for dialysis, so it can only rely on patching and mending to maintain its huge and decaying body.

“Your Excellency Qiao Yelan, mere show of force is not enough. I hope you can urgently contact His Excellency Kosiché and ask her to mobilize a contingent of troops to make it appear as if we are supporting His Majesty the Emperor—we need to create a situation where he is caught in a dilemma.”

"No problem. I used emergency measures to contact Grand Duke Cosice right after the meeting ended at noon today. I expect to get results soon."

Qiao Yelan said calmly.

blacksnake:......

Everyone here is decisive and efficient. Once the plan is finalized, they naturally go their separate ways to carry out their respective responsibilities.

"Without delay, Oleg and I will visit the officials of the Ministry of Justice tonight—you must also be careful not to let the news leak out in advance."

Yevgeny gave his instructions.

"Please rest assured, but you and Judge Oleg should also be careful. It's hard to say whether the nobles and Anatoli might use some underhanded methods."

"Don't worry, I've been fighting them since I was young. In terms of tactics, you may not have as much experience as I do."

Qiao Yelan nodded and said no more. He was pushed by Oleg and left the mansion.

Just as I was getting into the car, ACE reminded me to look at a car on the street corner.

"Doctor, that car arrived after us, and it stopped in the best spot on the street."

The man reminded him softly.

"I expected that if there hadn't been a response by now, Anatoli wouldn't have been able to push the plan to this stage."