The New Year’s banquet continued smoothly. The high-ranking nobles came out one after another to greet the royal family. Each time they did, the nobles gave the royal family small gifts until they began to pile up behind Milton and Leila, as well as Violet, Sophia, and young Elizabeth. When she saw that the gifts were towering high above her, Elizabeth smiled brightly.

Once the formalities were over, everyone started to enjoy the banquet in earnest. The young men and women either danced in the hall or went out to the balcony to enjoy their time together. The nobles who were on the older side were busy mingling and making connections with each other. As the nobles began to gather in groups, it was easy to see at a glance that the nobles were gathering in distinct factions. 

‘Broadly put, there are two factions.’

The original Lester Kingdom’s nobles called themselves the Orthodox faction, while the nobles who joined after the western part of the Strabus Kingdom was merged called themselves the Progressives. But truthfully, the nobles’ powers were so weak compared to the royal power that it wasn’t enough for them to get into a fight between themselves.

However, since there were factions, extreme differences in opinions existed. The Orthodox faction argued that the country should develop only through a central government, while the Progressives argued that a country would prosper only if they had the autonomy to encourage commerce and local productions. In fact, regardless of whether their argument was right or wrong, both sides were arguing for a side that most benefited them.  

Most of the Orthodox nobles had risen to power in the central government after Queen Leila had reconstructed...