I think Sir Hart (the Salvatore army chief) will be important in the upcoming chapters. Th...

I think Sir Hart (the Salvatore army chief) will be important in the upcoming chapters. The empress dowager mentioned how she is the only one who knows the horrors of the disease (elpeltis). Empress dowager said that Acela doesn't know much about elpeltis because she isn't of Artvana Royalty and that all the records were burned the day she escaped. However, it was never mentioned who Sir Hart was before he was saved by Acela and became the chief of their guard team. But if you think of it, he didn't need to mention which kingdom he came from before being saved unless it would foreshadow something. When I read it the first time I was wondering why he mentioned it. But it was understandable because he was giving Leslie good advice and nice outlook, but he could have just said he was from foreign soils. But he goes to say he came from the ruined kingdom Artvana, that used to oppose the Empire they're in now. Once the Empress dowager had that little flashback about how she was originally from Artvana, was when I remembered Sir Hart. I'm not saying he's going to be a main character, but I do speculate that he's going to be a big factor or at least offer some information crucial to the Salvatores.

But on another note, the whole Royal family is confusing to me tbh. The empress dowager is not the empress. She's the empress dowager. She also mentioned when talking to Eli that after herself, the empress, archduchess Altera, and duchess Salvatore, she could be the 5th ranked woman in the empire (considering she could beat Leslie lol). But I think they mentioned that dowager was a young wife to the previous emperor(?). So the current emperor is still married to his wife, the empress, and they have a son: Arlendo. What confuses me is how absent the empress is throughout this whole ordeal. There is no possible way for the entire royal family to be oblivious to what the dowager is doing. I'm sure Arlendo knows he has the dowager as his backing so he's irrelevant. But as the emperor, although letting the empress dowager have some power is normal, its also unrealistic when you think about it. The previous emperor may have given her a title to ensure that she has power over some things, but she should no longer be powerful. I mean, if there was no current empress, then she as the empress dowager would have entire control as acting empress, but the current empress is still alive (I'm assuming). Another weird thing is her support for Arlendo. Idk if its because she wants to use him to keep herself in power, but idk how their relationship came to be. Another confusing point was when she mentioned how the emperor is keeping his decision for his heir on hold at the moment. On that part, it shows a picture of the emperor with Arlendo and another boy with his back turned. I haven't heard of the emperor having any other kids besides Arlendo, and its pretty obvious that the other boy was Konrad. But he's just a nephew. Why would he be an option for the throne? Is it because his grandfather was in the running to be the emperor but made a mistake and so they were originally the ones in line for the throne (considering the whole conversation between Archduke Altera and Empress dowager)? Then theres also the archduchess Altera (Konrad's mom) who left to help save people from a disease. I'm just trying to figure out what is going on with their family situation lol. But I think Leslie is going to be involved with the whole disease thing with the priest stuff. Tbh I'm just waiting for this to be complete already and get my answers (〜￣△￣)〜