As soon as I spoke those words, the entire sanctuary erupted in talks. People were exclaiming in surprise, others were commenting on the situation, while the rest simply talked amongst themselves, trying to make a sense of the words that I just uttered.

"My lord… I really don't know what to say!"

Forced into a corner and already feeling the brunt of the people around him poking his sides as their wrath was awakened, the poor guy had nowhere to back off, so he could only shout even louder than those around him, in order to maintain the conversation with me. After all, no matter how hated he would be, while I was still talking with him, no one would dare to raise his hands against him!

"Well, as I said before, I don't really blame you. But there is a way to learn what really caused your group to split off from the rest. Princess, it's your time to shine!"

With my magic suddenly disappearing from around her neck, the first thing this spiteful girl did, was to attempt to raise to a standing position, only to fall down to her knees, with her body reacting violently to the sudden and unexpected increase of the air that was so sparse until just a moment ago.

While she was still fighting against her own body to regain her ability to breathe normally, I was already overloading my charm ability with energy, before unleashing it on her. At this point, i couldn't be bothered if her brain would get fried in the process, but without investing additional points in some kind of truth detection spell, just making sure she would be so charmed by me that she wouldn't dare to lie right in my face would be the easiest way of finding out the truth.

"Dear, are you okay?"

Winking to the people watching, I suddenly offered the princess my hand. Without even a moment of hesitation, she instantly latched on it, pressing my palm against her cheek, as if only my own bodily warmth was capable of dispelling the coldness of her incoming death from her mind.

"Yeash, my luve?"

With her face already melting under the simple touch of my hand, it became apparent to everyone that the princess they were seeing right now, was someone entirely different to who they used to know and listen to.

"Dear, I want to clarify something. Can you tell me what was going on with those people that left our city?"

While I could see Heila gritting her teeth at the sight of me acting so amiably towards this bitch, if I wanted to have true knowledge about the reason why those people left this city in the first place, I had to put up with the repulsive idea of being nice to someone like this power-hungry princess.

"Those idiots? They… tehehe… Thought they could do better than under your rule… darling!"

Oh? This was quite surprising! So far, I was sure that this entire migration was nothing else but a ploy from this princess to make sure that even if people from this place would somehow manage to overthrow her, she would still have a place to go back, yet it turned out that those people were indeed just worried about the future of their own kind, and decided to take this leap of faith, willing to even go against their saviour in order to prevent themselves from being enslaved by this bitch-princess policies!

"It seems that we have our answer then!"

With no more need to keep this princess free from her usual torture, I retracted the use of my charm, instantly throwing the girl back on her knees as the reality of the state of her body once again reached her brain. At this point, she was too weak to even throw up, constantly fighting against oxygen deprivation and the defensive mechanisms her body was activating to prevent her from choking on the damned air.

To make sure she wouldn't just kick the bucked before the real punishment would be delivered to her, I once again surrounded her neck with a cluster of my energy and tightened it to the point where only a hint of air could reach her lungs, throwing her once again back into the abyss of hellish suffering.

"To be honest, I'm quite surprised."

Taking the initiative to comment on the situation, I returned my attention to the guy at the tribunes, whose eyes were now filled with hope, now that he learned that his people were in fact, opposing the princess since the beginning.

"But the fact that they opposed what they believed to be my rule, remains."

While I already knew what the ultimate ending of this conversation, along with the answer for the very first question that this guy asked would be, I simply couldn't help myself from keeping him tense for just a little bit longer.

"My lord… No, if my elders went against what they believed to be your rule, oh hero, then I have no right to even call your greatness like that. At this point, I can only hope that your punishment will be swift and merciful towards those who couldn't possibly survive the rule of this despot."

Instead of trying to look for a way out for himself, this guy once again surprised me with his courage, stepping forward and falling to his knees, as if awaiting his own execution.

Well, in his mind, not only was he affiliated with a group that betrayed the expectations and directly opposed what they believed to be the divine ruling of a figure akin to a god of this place, in addition to that, he was a spy sent to the very place they deserted, aimed to keep them informed about the developments in here!

It would be only expected from me in his eyes to kill him right here and now!

"Well, to be honest, having the wits to oppose an unjust rule and strive for the peaceful life is not something that I should be punishing people, considering how this was the very idea that I tasked Gabriel with installing in everyone's souls before I left. As such, in consideration of how your people dared to bet it all when they were unjustly oppressed, I will let them live according to their own rules. If they want to come back to this city, they will be more than welcome, but unless they are ready to follow the laws I will set up today, they are better staying where they moved to, as my authority in this very land, will never again be challenged!"