Reincarnated with the Country System-Chapter 215: The Ashes of Sovereignty

The palace walls were already being stripped.

Eric stood by the cracked window of the hall—watching a team of Bernard engineers haul out centuries-old tapestries like they were sacks of potatoes. The glass panes rattled as another Imperial chopper descended onto the front lawn, flattening what remained of the royal garden.

A dull knock echoed at the door.

Edith entered with slow steps, her apron smudged with ash. Her hands were red from scrubbing, though no one had asked her to. She just needed something to do—anything to distract from the humiliation thick in the air.

"They want you to sign the papers, Your Majesty," she said softly.

"Don't call me that." Eric's voice scraped from his throat like rusted chain links. "There's no throne left."

Edith looked down. "I'm sorry."

Eric didn't say anything else. He turned back to the window, jaw clenched so tight it ached. The roar of a distant drill echoed through the ruined palace courtyard—his courtyard. Now crawling with Imperial bureaucrats and data officers, each one moving with arrogance, treating this place like some fucking storage depot.

"They're setting up the new command center right here," Edith said, her voice trembling. "They said the palace has 'ideal dimensions for strategic projection.'"

Eric barked out a humorless laugh. "Tch. All those old portraits of kings will look just lovely next to Bernard's fucking holograms."

He walked back to the table, where the documents lay—a thick sheaf of digital parchment, rimmed with golden sigils and official seals. At the top: "Imperial Decree of Territorial Reclassification – LATVIA."

His fingers trembled as he picked up the pen.

Then he slammed it down, the metal nib snapping in half.

"Fuck this!" he roared, sending the whole stack of documents flying across the room. "Fuck them! Fuck their Empire! Fuck Alberto Bernard and his plastic goddamned world!"

The outburst echoed through the palace.

Eric slumped into the chair—the same chair Caspian once cowered in during council sessions—and dropped his head into his hands.

"They gave me a bag of coins," he whispered. "A bag of fucking coins... like I'm some street whore who sold his body."

Edith knelt beside him, placing a hand on his knee. "You tried, my lord. You really—"

"I didn't just try, Edith. I believed."

His voice was raw now, cracking. "I believed if I came back, if I seized the throne, if I made peace with the Bernard Empire, we could rebuild Latvia. I thought I could leverage their strength—feed off the scraps of their power and use it to revive this kingdom."

He looked at her then—eyes rimmed red, face gaunt. "I thought I was clever. That all those years running from Caspian's dogs, hiding in gutters, begging mercenaries to fight for me, it would finally mean something. That I'd won."

Silence stretched long between them.

Then another voice cut through the quiet.

"Victory built on your knees was never victory at all."

It was Hannah.

Eric turned his head. "What do you want, Hannah? Come to scold me? Tell me I ruined everything?"

"No, my lord," she said, stepping closer. "I came to see if there was anything left of you. And if… if the man I followed all these years hasn't disappeared completely."

Edith flinched. "Hannah, that's cruel—"

"No." Eric raised a hand. "Let her speak."

Hannah's voice cracked. But she kept her spine straight. "I swore to serve you. Not because of your blood, or your name, but because I believed in you. The man who refused to bow, even when starving in exile."

She stepped forward again, fists clenched at her sides. "But now? You bow to them. You let them tear this place apart like it means nothing. You signed yourself away for a stipend and a place to hide."

Eric stood again, too fast. His chair skittered backward, slamming into the wall.

"You think I wanted this?" His voice was thunder now. "You think I haven't bled, haven't lost everything to keep this country breathing?"

"It wasn't supposed to end like this."

"No," Hannah whispered. "But it did."

A knock at the door broke the tension.

A Bernard official—sharp suit, no name tag—stepped in with two ISSD members. He held a steel briefcase and a leather folder.

"Lord Eric," he said, voice smooth as oiled glass. "We need your final signature to complete the transition. In exchange, you will receive an Imperial Residency Card, an annual stipend, and protection within occupied territories. You are also being generously asked to vacate the premises within the next 48 hours. This palace is now Imperial HQ."

Eric didn't move.

"Do you have a pen?" he asked dryly.

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The man smiled and offered a Bernard-issue stylus.

Eric took it.

He didn't read the documents. Just signed.

Page after page, signature after signature, like carving wounds into his own skin. It wasn't even rage anymore. Just numbness. A cold void where the fire used to be.

When he was done, the official snapped the folder shut and handed him a small metal case—inside, rows of gleaming Bernard coins.

"Your compensation," the man said.

"Buy yourself a spine with it," Eric muttered.

But the man had already turned to leave.

♦♦♦

Later, Eric stood in his old bedroom, stripped of tapestries and heirlooms, walls pale and naked. Edith folded what little clothing remained. Hannah stood by the hearth, burning personal letters with silent grace.

"I don't know where to go," Eric murmured.

Edith looked up. "We could go east… to the highlands."

Eric turned to the mirror.

Standing in a palace that no longer belonged to him.

"I thought I was rebuilding a kingdom," he whispered. "But all I built was a gallows. For myself."

Edith came and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.

"You're still alive," she said softly. "That means you can still fight."

Hannah joined them, quietly, standing just a pace behind. Her voice, when it came, was soft and aching.

"Let them have the stones, my lord. The titles, the banners, everything. But—They can't take us. We still believe in you. We still love you."

And for a moment, Eric let himself believe it too.