"The imperial law does not explicitly define the conditions required to ascend to the throne. Determining the next Emperor is solely a matter for the imperial family to decide."

"That much is easy to understand. The same applies to Belvur."

The Empire was technically a constitutional monarchy. Emphasis on technically—in reality, the Parliament functioned as little more than a puppet of the Emperor. But because of that, at least on paper, the roles of the Parliament and the imperial family were clearly divided.

The Parliament governed the nation, while the imperial family preserved its legitimacy.

That was why choosing the next Emperor was entirely within the imperial family's jurisdiction. Of course, that didn’t mean the Emperor could appoint anyone at will—there were still internal traditions and rules to follow.

The problem was that, right now, the imperial family—the people with the actual right to determine the Empire’s future—consisted of only Alice and me.

Any other royals close enough in lineage to have a say had been removed by the Emperor himself or had been cast aside in the power struggles. Even Alice’s mother had been dead for years.