The Villainess Lives Twice

For a time after that, the Emperor’s investigators did not touch Grand Duke Roygar.

A secret organization was working undercover to investigate the attendees of the special envoy. Before that, some who were in charge of Grand Duke Roygar’s key duties returned to their hometown or went missing with their family.

Such a battle under the water was fierce, but at least in the state of public affairs, there was no formal discussion of Grand Duke Roygar as a criminal.

The press was also quiet. Artizea suggested through Hazel that it would be best not to touch this as much as possible.

“Even on the Harvest Festival, they say that a miracle has been revealed to Leticia, but it’s a baby who was just an infant.”

“Is Her Grace joyful?”

“It’s not like there is an oracle that Leticia would become an Emperor? If such an oracle had come down, I wouldn’t have been very pleased.”

“Is it just openly stimulating Grand Duke Roygar?”

“Right. Although the Belmond magazine has a fairly high level of authority in the salon and in the universities, there is nothing good about being the object of Grand Duke Roygar’s hate.”

At Hazel’s question, Artizea smiled and nodded, as if seeing a student who answered well.

If you are a pious person, the shock of seeing the miracle for the first time has come to pass.

Grand Duke Roygar now gathers all his forces to stand up against the Emperor.

If they hastily investigate and try to punish him as an accomplice in the smuggling incident, the nobles will rise up.

Even if they supported Leticia, there were many who sided with Grand Duke Roygar on this issue.

At best, he didn’t take a bribe.

That kind of bribe, that kind of preferential treatment, and that kind of closed-room contract were granted to them as a matter of course.

He had a weakness held by the Emperor, so he kept his mouth shut.

But Grand Duke Roygar stepped forward. They could do anything behind it.

No matter how much the bureaucracy is made up of emerging aristocrats and commoners, if the aristocrats fight altogether at once, state affairs will not work properly.

Even if they finished their studies by the Emperor’s scholarship and became a bureaucrat, there is no one who did not form a relationship with the nobles in some way.

In the case of a low-ranking official, they could not dare to confront the nobles without being entangled with the connection.

Paralyzing state affairs was itself undermining the authority of the Emperor.

Even so, the military force could not be used to deal with it. There was no justification.

Hazel asked.

“Until now, Grand Duke Roygar has never faced His Majesty head-on, has he ? Does he have the confidence to win this time?”

“That is the wrong word choice.”

Artizea put her index finger to her lips and signaled to be careful with her words.

“His Majesty is never defeated.”

Hezel couldn’t quite figure out whether it was justified or if it really meant that the Emperor would win.

“Your Majesty must be very troubled. The cause that can wipe out the great nobility must be at least a treason or internal treason.”

Artizea smiled.

* * *

A few weeks later, Duke Riagan’s family was finally escorted.

The charges had already been confirmed. Evidence was piling up.

It must have been that the Treasury’s books had been tampered with, at least, for the last five years.

Investigators confirmed that salt was produced continuously at dozens of salt factories that had been officially closed. Every time new news arrived, the amount of salt embezzled increased tremendously.

Even if Duke Riagan was the main line of descendant of the Duchy family, it was impossible to compromise at a reasonable level.

The Emperor faced Duke Riagan. He didn’t have to be, but it was so astounding that he couldn’t help but meet.

“Did I treat you that badly?”

The kneeling Duke Riagan was terrified.

When things were going well, it felt like everything was going to go well.

He didn’t even think he would go downhill when he did the expansion, and even when he joined hands with Queen Eimmel.

The influence of the salt business was enormous. Anyone interested in commerce treated him well.

He reigned supreme in the southern social circles, and when he came to the Capital, he took the seat next in the rankings of Grand Duke Roygar and Grand Duke Evron.

He had some who despised him. Duke Riagan believed that they were not only old-fashioned and stupid, but that they also had a grudge against his predecessor, the Riagan ducal couple.

Or believe that they are jealous of the wealthy Duchy of Riagan.

In fact, he was often caught up in a sense of inferiority. As such, he acted like he was the real Duke Riagan.

Glory seemed to be upon him.

But when he faced the Emperor’s angry face, from the bottom of his unconsciousness the appearance of himself from 18 years ago suddenly resurfaced.

He also remembered things he had forgotten.

[“I chose you because you are ambitious, yet you know fear.”]

The Emperor looked down at him and said so. He had a face too cold to be a young father who had just lost his child.

[“What I want from you is the loyalty the throne deserves. If you are faithful to me, I will reward you accordingly. Do you understand?”]

Duke Riagan’s fingertips trembled.

He thought he never knew until now. Who in the world assassinated Queen Eimmel?

Had it not been for that, the incident would not have happened so suddenly.

Those around him said that there was no way the Duchy of Riagan would commit such a horrific assassination of the Queen. It is said that it is the result of an overlapping unfortunate coincidence.

But Duke Riagan knew one person who could devise such a scheme.

It was Emperor Gregor.

From the beginning, the Emperor was a person who did not discriminate against the weight of means in order to achieve his goals.

He must have known everything from the beginning. When did he start preparing?

As if by squeezing his neck, the Emperor conspires from all directions and uses himself as bait to catch the real target.

It was not a judgement made with a sane mind.

This was not in a time when there were rivals, nor was it a time when he was purging political enemies to secure imperial power.

The Emperor now had no reason to conspire like that. But Duke Riagan still thought so.

A tremor ran through his veins, and his whole body trembled.

“I’m, I’m sorry. Forgive me.”

“Hmm.”

“I, I was blinded by greed, so I dared to touch Your Majesty’s belongings. Please, please forgive me just once.”

“Fernando.”

“I, I don’t think this, this is your purpose, right? I, I was disloyal, but you have already taken away everything you were going to take away, so please forgive me now.”

The Emperor looked at him with a dismayed face.

It would not have been so surprising if Duke Riagan had even openly shown his ambitions.

The Emperor gestured as if he did not want to speak.

The investigators who had escorted Duke Riagan pulled him back out again.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I was wrong! Your Majesty!”

The cries of Duke Riagan was cut off as they moved farther across the hallway.

The Emperor buried himself in the armchair and touched his forehead.

“I chose him because he was a small boat, so there is no need to be disappointed that he was a small boat.”

But the Emperor was very disappointed.

Rather, if Duke Riagan had been properly ambitious and prepared to risk his life, the betrayal would not have been so disappointing, though still painful.

“I knew he couldn’t see far, but I thought he was a guy who could calculate the level of danger that could be inflicted on him.”

He was nothing more than an idiot who mistook the light reflected by the salt crystals for glory.

And he had trusted the idiot and entrusted him with an important business, and he was stabbed in the back of the head.

Ferguson, who was standing, asked,

“How do I dispose of him?”

“Behead him for deceit and internal treason of the monarch. The family is…….”

The Emperor thought for a moment.

Cedric would still be standing in the hallway, even now.

A ten-year-old child can remember his parents. If he’s a five-year-old, he’ll most likely not remember his roots if the name was changed and was sent to an institution, but if he’s ten, he’ll definitely have a grudge.

But the Emperor closed his eyes and waved his hand.

“Keep them alive unless they are over ten years old, but have them change their names and surnames, and send them to the monasteries in the West to disperse them.”

After all, it is not him who will bear the resentment that those children will have when they grow up.

“Can we hang him without extracting further information from Duke Riagan?”

“Do it. Didn’t everyone say it was a person named Boertz?”

“However, that alone cannot reliably implicate Grand Duke Roygar.”

The Emperor tapped his armrest with his fingernail.

As Artizea said, he was struggling.

In the hands of the Emperor was the testimony of Boertz, and a copy of the pact between Roygar-Iantz-Eimmel sent by Prince Cadriol.

But that alone was not enough evidence.

Grand Duke Roygar included in his official report the pact originally intended to be kept secret.

This was to assert that he was merely negotiating trade with the two kingdoms as the Emperor’s envoy.

In fact, in preparation for such a case, it was taken care of to not leave any nuances in the agreement itself that it would be the trade policy after the accession of Grand Duke Roygar.

It was only natural that there was not a single word written about the promise of support or salt from the Kingdom of Iantz.

The Emperor knew he took a bribe from the Kingdom of Iantz, but that too was nothing more than a bribe for the Emperor’s envoy.

The Emperor thought carefully about these things and said,

“It’s something Fernando doesn’t even know about anyway.”

“Yes.”

Ferguson bowed his head.

The Emperor beckoned him to leave. And he fell into thought again.

Should Grand Duke Roygar be considered as involved and get purged in the first place?

Had Lawrence been there, he would have never thought twice. But now, there was no need to do so.

Of course, it was unacceptable to gather forces and dare to face him.

Therefore, it would not be a bad choice to stop at simply moderately weakening the power and keep Grand Duke Roygar alive.

Now, they are united to survive. But if the pressure is released, internal strife is inevitable.

Now that Marquis Luden is dead, there was no one to stop the infighting. Grand Duke Roygar himself could do it, but by personally doing so it is impossible to move forward with the power of the supporters.

If the Emperor chooses Leticia as his heir, he needs someone to check Cedric’s power so that it doesn’t grow too much.

‘There’s also my brother.’

Without thinking about it, the Emperor smirked. He never thought he had done anything wrong, but neither was he unaware of what he had done.

Knock, knock.

A knock sounded.

“Come in.”

It was the chief attendant.

“Your Majesty, it’s about time.”

“Already.”

The Emperor raised his body, which had been buried in his chair.

The medicine was taken for minor illness and health. It didn’t seem to be very effective, but as he got older and his energy wasn’t what it used to be, he was trying not to skip it.

The chief attendant himself tested for poison.

The Emperor drank the bitter medicine and received the honey water from the chief attendant.

“Did Charlotte send it?”

“Yes. It is said that she and Fiona made it with herbs.”

“I see. Why so little?”

“Did you forget the doctor told you to watch out for sweets?”

“Nevertheless. It’s a granddaughter’s sincerity.”

The Emperor grunted and emptied his small cup.