Since It's My First Time Being a Lady, I'll Cause Some Trouble - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I’m New to Being a Lady, So I Might Cause Some Trouble — Episode 022
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“Money!”
The moment I arrived at the Resolution Guild, I shouted for it.
Despite this being the first time he’d laid eyes on me, Calderon recognized me without hesitation and grinned.
“I knew you’d pull through. Well done.”
“Ahem.”
I drew the Oath Document from my pocket and handed it over.
After reviewing the contents, Calderon clicked his tongue and passed it to one of the guild members beside him. The woman who took the paper rushed out of the building.
“Going to meet the client? Was today supposed to be when you saw them?”
“No. The commission succeeded, so she’s heading to the rendezvous point. Once we signal, they’ll appear.”
“What?”
I felt my indignation surge instantly.
What was all that about needing to go into the Imperial Palace? There had been a way to summon them from outside without searching that place — so you lied to me?
True, I needed to reach the Imperial Palace to find an accomplice who could get me into the Social Club, but still — you deceived me?
“If you had that method available, you could’ve called them in the middle of things! Do you have any idea how much I suffered just getting into the Social Club, not to mention while I was in there?”
I ground my teeth and vented my fury, and Calderon merely rolled his eyes over me from top to bottom.
“You seem to have enjoyed yourself well enough for someone under such hardship.”
My current appearance was that of a blue-eyed man. Long, black hair was tied back so neatly it suggested obsessive tendencies.
I’d gone through considerable effort straightening the young lady’s perpetually frizzy hair.
For reference, the concept was a handsome man with a cool demeanor, having lost his beloved wife early and suffered a wound to his heart — though he would be tender toward his four-year-old daughter who resembled her mother.
I’d considered bringing a Formal Cane too, but that was too expensive, so I passed on it.
“I had to look the part as a guest, so I dressed appropriately.”
“No one suspected you?”
“I knocked them out before they could. If they’re lucky, their colleagues found them. If not, they’re probably still stuck in a barrel somewhere, struggling desperately to escape.”
I debated whether to tell Calderon what Tatio had half-discovered, but he seemed too naive to pose any real danger.
Calderon pressed for more details.
“Did you get help from someone inside the Imperial Palace?”
“I did get in, but I just found some other fool…… an innocent type and dealt with it that way. No point wasting time hunting for the client when this worked.”
“Fair enough.”
Calderon nodded slowly.
“We wanted to help, but what could we do? Besides, the method to summon the client can only be used once, so we couldn’t assist.”
“What was that method?”
“Trade secret.”
“Tch.”
After all the years we’d known each other, and he wouldn’t share this one thing. But I hadn’t revealed my identity either, so I let it pass.
“Never mind. Just give me the money.”
As I demanded my rightful payment, the bartender brought over a purse.
“……This is all?”
The amount was absurdly small. It was a considerable sum in absolute terms, but mere pocket change compared to what the commission entailed.
“This really is everything?”
“Of course not. That’s the deposit. Once we confirm the commission succeeded, we’ll hand over the rest.”
“When was I supposed to receive it?”
“We confirmed it today, so if we’re fast, tomorrow. At most, within a week. If it takes longer than that, we’ll have to come find you.”
“But you said you don’t know who the client is.”
“We don’t now. But we’ll be going to hand over the evidence anyway.”
The man was thorough, I had to admit.
He respected the client’s privacy, yet when immediate payment wasn’t possible like this, he employed insurance measures.
For instance, he’d leave marks on the items or people being handed over.
Because of such methods, the Resolution Guild had never been cheated out of payment. How many clients had been identified this way over the years?
‘Doesn’t concern me, though.’
I thought nothing of it and pocketed the purse.
“I’ll come back in a week for the rest of the commission. Don’t even think about stiffing me.”
* * *
The moment Jereon returned to the Imperial Palace, he hurried to find Dante.
“Any word?”
“Yes! Yes, there is!”
An excited Dante rushed forward waving a piece of paper.
“The Oath Document! And it swears loyalty to Marquis Penri and pledges to place him upon the throne!”
Jereon’s hand trembled. The commission had succeeded. It was truly done.
At first, he resented the Resolution Guild for providing no interim reports.
They’d arranged to meet periodically in the Secondary Palace Garden, where security was lighter, but the guild member never showed.
He’d relied on nothing but rumor and reputation, entrusting the entire matter to the Resolution Guild—and had come to regret it deeply.
Yet today, even as his contact with the guild member fell through, fate delivered Lady Ulfina to him on the road back.
“He said the Duke has it.”
She couldn’t reveal what the object was, but her words—that it was “a dangerous thing if used for any purpose other than its intended one”—sent a chill through his chest.
Lady Ulfina seemed certain of what Duke Penri was plotting.
‘Then that stolen item from Count Netzer’s house must surely be evidence of Penri’s treason—or at the very least, a clue pointing toward it.’
So Jereon took Ulfina with him to Omerta.
But it turned out she wasn’t Lady Ulfina at all—she was a guild member.
‘If I’d refused her request…’
The thought alone made his skin crawl. Had he dismissed her as merely a naive noblewoman without knowing she was a guild member, disaster would have struck.
At last, with genuine evidence in hand, Jereon rushed to the Emperor’s bedchamber.
The Emperor grumbled that he was spouting more treason nonsense, but the moment Jereon produced the Oath Document as proof, the sovereign’s expression changed.
He had finally grasped that the plot was real. And that his other worthless son stood at its center.
Enraged, the Emperor summoned the commander of the Imperial Guard and ordered him to seal the capital and arrest everyone named in the document.
‘Is it finished now?’
Yet something nagged at Jereon, a detail that wouldn’t leave him.
As he reflected, words he’d overheard at Omerta suddenly surfaced in his mind.
‘So I told Goden: if he could lobby the councilmen to support the tax increase, I would persuade Your Majesty to grant him a title.’
‘Perhaps there’s information out there that could appease the people’s anger over the tax increase.’
Lothenia’s problems weren’t limited to treason alone.
Stopping the rebellion would mean nothing if the consequences of the tax increase went unresolved—the realm would simply stagnate.
The Emperor surely knew that the people’s mood had grown turbulent over the taxes. Most councilmen were openly opposing even this single increase.
Without addressing the root cause, subjects would flee abroad rather than endure the burden, and the empire’s labor force would inevitably shrink.
‘The lords will use the pretext of protecting their territories to build independent power bases.’
If the empire fractured into rival factions and central authority lost control, the collapse of both realm and dynasty was certain as fire.
Even Jereon, who had long abandoned ambitions for power, could not stand idle.
“Father, grant me full authority to search every Social Club in Togglo.”
“Why?”
“The Social Clubs in Togglo have committed illegal acts for years. This is no mere crime. Behind them lie funding networks and vast conspirators—they are nothing less than nests of treason threatening the entire empire, facilitating unlawful schemes.”
The word treason, surfacing once more, deepened the Emperor’s wrath.
“Furthermore, Omerta provided nobles with spaces to conspire and vaults to hide their evidence. Other clubs likely aided similar crimes in the same fashion.”
He didn’t know exactly what object lay hidden in the vault of Omerta’s manager—the guild member had only hinted at it.
She’d suggested it could serve as grounds to prevent the tax increase, but he couldn’t simply repeat an unconfirmed story to the Emperor.
‘So I need full authority to search.’
Silence fell.
Though time was precious, the Emperor delayed his answer. His cool, pale gray eyes seemed to weigh Jereon carefully.
Though the prince had delivered crucial evidence of treason, the sovereign still questioned his capabilities.
For a moment, Jereon braced himself—wondering if the response would be to withdraw now and leave matters to Crown Prince Arca instead.
Then the Emperor spoke.
“Very well. I grant you full authority.”
It was the first trust he had ever received.
“Thank you.”
“But do not shame me.”
The words were cold, yet they were still trust.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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