Chapter 1768: Chapter 1004: I Have Served the Empire!
Holy Terra, Nest Capital Top Layer of Indinea.
Among thousands of nest capitals on this human capital planet, Indinea was not particularly extraordinary.
However, one family gained fame.
Its name is Kafiora.
Before the Great Cataclysm, they were not among the top, but they were at least one of the prominent noble families on Holy Terra. The family had produced three Empire Prime Ministers, and during the Great Cataclysm, a Deputy Secretary of the Imperial Taxation Department came from their family.
Besides high officials, this family, with thousands of core and peripheral members, wielded immense power and influence in their origin place, Indinea Nest Capital, leveraging their power and connections in the Imperial Central Government.
Then came the Terra Campaign.
This war was a huge disaster for any noble family on Holy Terra, and Kafiora was no exception.
A severe Chaos corruption also erupted within the Nest Capital of Indinea.
But they did one thing right that significantly changed the fate of the entire family, unlike those families utterly destroyed during the Terra Campaign.
They did not collude but decisively cut off the rotten parts of the family, executing those members corrupted by Slaanesh and took on the noble responsibility of leading the people of Indinea Nest Capital to resist Chaos.
Although they had to go underground due to their inability to curb the large-scale outbreak of Chaos corruption at the peak of the Siege of Terra, they did not abandon resistance. They continued purging corruption within their ranks, rescuing the populace, and succeeded in holding on until the counterattack phase, even providing some assistance to the Imperial Army entering Indinea.
Their efforts were rewarded after the war. Many family members sacrificed themselves during the Chaos War, but those who survived rose to high-ranking positions. They not only secured many positions locally in Indinea but also entered the Central Government, assuming high-level official roles.
When the Imperial Central Government and the Holy Terra Capital Government were established, to ensure a proportionate number of locals within the government, officials had to be selected from local noble families.
This was a necessary compromise for stable political transition.
If a compromise had to be made, why not use a family like Kafiora?
As a result, they were in high spirits for quite some time.
Though times had changed, great chaos brought great opportunities!
But just when the entire family was bustling with joy and eagerness, ill news arrived.
An entire team of elites from the Legal Department surrounded the Kafiora family estate without warning.
The family was incredulous at such an event—they were deeply rooted, if not local emperors, in Indinea, yet had received no prior word of the Legal Department’s action.
Moreover, they were puzzled as to why the Legal Department was troubling them.
They even suspected at one point that it was Chaos Traitors pretending to be from the Empire Legal Affairs Department, coming to harass them.
Of course, this possibility was soon ruled out. They quickly confirmed the identity of the visitors; they were indeed from the Legal Department, led by Angel Granier, a prominent figure. She came from the Alliance and became one of the special executive directors in the Empire Legal Affairs Department, stirring up several major cases within just a year. Many families barely surviving the disaster of the Terra War fell to this ’she-devil.’
But the Kafiora family never expected Angel to come for them.
By all rights, they had made the right bet! They had contributed to the Empire!
No matter how frightened, they could only maintain composure and engage with this ’she-devil.’
As expected, she opened with an intimidating power display.
One charge after another was laid before them.
The Kafiora family was profoundly aggrieved!
Were these charges true?
Indeed, they were true.
Regardless of what the previous Legal Department was like, the current one wouldn’t fabricate evidence.
It had that level of integrity.
However, stretching interpretations and flexible enforcement were not uncommon tactics.
Especially in politics, where most times it’s not about right or wrong, but about stance.
At the moment, they were encountering just such a thing.
They were being convicted for crimes committed by peripheral family members, even events from decades ago, before the Terra War, were being used to indict the entire family!
Many charges, under normal circumstances, were trivial matters for a family of their stature. Particularly the most core members who had attained positions as officials were always extremely scrupulous. The dirty work was done by others in the family, and at necessary times, like now, these individuals could be discarded as scapegoats.
But clearly, now it’s not enough to discard scapegoats; they must know what Angel wants.
Do they really intend to kill the donkey when the grinding is done, even slaughtering such a ’rooted’ Terra Noble?
Don’t they fear inciting opposition and anger from all local forces on Terra?!
The rebel forces underground are not completely annihilated, corner them and they’ll all fight to the death!
Despite their internal rage, they still had to bow and scrape when speaking with Angel.
Even when the highest-ranking official in the family had reached the level of Assistant Minister, a mere step away from Deputy Prime Minister, they had to humble themselves before Angel, who hadn’t even been promoted to Deputy Secretary.
In private solo meetings, they finally understood the conditions set by Angel.
The scapegoats definitely had to be handed over; otherwise, how could these charges be withdrawn once presented?
However, beyond the charges, the Kafiora family had to be dismantled, with all the resources, factories, and workers bound to their servitude... all productivity had to be ’liberated.’ A sum would be allocated by the capital government to purchase all these industries.
Though the price was somewhat below market value, it wasn’t outrageously low.
However, was the price the key issue?
This wasn’t about slaughtering the Kafiora family, but it was tantamount to eradicating them!
Family members split, all family assets acquired, what meaning did the family have left?
They could no longer sustain family members’ political futures through economic strength, nor develop family businesses through reciprocal political power. What difference did such a family have from death?