The next day, Selena slowly stepped out of the gate,early in the morning,. She mixed in with the crowd as she continued at her slow pace.
Her eyes were hollow, as if she had lost her soul and her mouth was stiff and seemed as if it could not even let out a breath.
She had been like this ever since she found Celestine’s letter last night.
Things had to be like this.
Celestine running away is an immature act that would sentence everyone in the family to death.
According to the imperial law, men aged 18 years or older must enlist.
If someone broke this, not only the person involved, all the family members are subject to immediate execution.
“You son of a bitch” Selena ground her teeth.
She had raised Celestine even better than she had thought.
Abandoning his family for love. What kind of drama was this?
Selena mentally shot angry arrows at her twin brother and let out a harsh breath.
There were three ways in which this situation could be remedied.
First, was to pay a fine of 300,000 gold coins.
The annual expenditure of the capital itself was 1.2 million gold coins, making the fine absurd and horrendously high. In addition it was too big a fine, to be paid by the poor Evans family.
It would have been possible if her mother hadn’t gambled away her pension, Selena imagined hazily as she frowned.
Second, another male relative enlisted in their place instead.
After her mother’s debt, her mother’s maiden house split with them. To an extent that they spat on them when they met each other on the streets, in spite of their relationship. In this situation, if they knew that Celestine had run away, they would be the first people to take up arms and report him.
Third, immediate family, her father re-enlists.
Although this method was the most commonly used…. Selena swept her face with her dry palms with an unpleasant expression.
Her father, Simon Evans was a dementia patient.
It had happened 5 years ago. Even though an Imperial doctor was called to treat the disease, it was still in vain and now he had become so seriously ill that he couldn’t even recognize Selena most of the time.
How can such a father re-enlist? It was ridiculous and impossible.
There was no other way left. To be more precise, this situation couldn’t be overcome with the methods known to the public.
“Think carefully” Selena mumbled as she took a deep breath. She can’t die like this. Even though it was not a prosperous life it didn’t lack anything. This was the first time she had the love of a family in both her lives.
She could neither give up this life nor the happiness she got from her family.
In the distance, she could see the training ground of the 3rd division of the Imperial Knights and all the people milling around it.
Selena turned towards it and took a quick step.
Selena and Celestine were twins who resembled each other quite closely. From the face to the body, the way of speaking, the tone everything was the same.
When they were kids even her father said that it was difficult to tell them apart. Others found it even more difficult to tell them apart.
Selena straightened her shoulders and bolstered her steps as she walked
There was a clatter of shoes as the line at the reception desk shrank rapidly.
Selena, whose turn it was next stood stiffly in front of the assistant who was checking the papers.
“What’s your name?”
Selena took a deep breath. Her shoulder length hair made her feel awkward, but she couldn’t back down.
“Celestine Evans,” she looked at the ID she brought she laid it on the table. “I am the eldest of the Evans family.”
Selena became Celestine just like that.
***
After more than 200 years of war on the continent, the country that was victorious was the Hilton Kingdom.
The Hilton Kingdom became the Patus Empire and Knox de Hilton became Knox le Patus, calling himself the first emperor.
The Patus Empire was able to become a powerful imperial power because it was founded after a long war, but that power was not long lasting.
This was because the Crown Prince, who was to inherit the throne, was weak, the nobles were not loyal enough to support him and there were many rebellious forces dreaming of reviving the fallen kingdom.
In order for the prince to ascend the throne, he needed a strong force.
And that force was an army that could move only under the jurisdiction of the emperor.
In order to achieve that, the compulsory conscription was mandated.
Though the nobles protested fiercely the emperor carried out his will by executing all those who opposed it.
As a result, the second emperor, Gross le Patus, was able to maintain his imperial power because of the conscripted army.
So, the compulsory conscription continued, even though now it was more than 100 years later.