Since It's My First Time Being a Lady, I'll Cause Some Trouble - Chapter 24

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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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A Lady Makes Her First Blunder — Episode 24
* * *
By morning light the next day, all of Rodinia was turned upside down.
“There was almost a rebellion?”
They’d arrested a band of traitors no one even knew existed.
Though the headlines plastered across every newspaper were impossible to dismiss, the citizens were shaken to their core by the revelation that the nation’s balance of power had nearly shifted overnight.
The Imperial Court moved swiftly to quell the spreading panic and distrust among the populace, issuing an Imperial Edict.
In summary, it read as follows.
[The Emperor’s illegitimate son, Marquis Penli, sought to place himself above the law by wielding his bloodline, trampling upon the honor of Rodinia’s citizens.
Not content with embezzling the imperial treasury, he orchestrated lobbying to impose higher taxation, deceiving the Imperial Court and draining the people.
However, the Emperor’s second son, Jereon Cardia, uncovered the full extent of their conspiracy.
With all evidence irrefutable, Marquis Penli and his conspirators shall be executed publicly.
Furthermore, all titles and fiefs held by the nobles who participated in the treason are hereby confiscated in their entirety.]
The passage from the Edict that drew the loudest cheers from citizens was this:
[All taxation increases are hereby rescinded, and existing tax rates shall be reduced.]
* * *
“Well, this actually happened?”
A few days later, reading the newspaper, an exclamation escaped my lips unbidden.
Not long after the Emperor’s Edict was released, the tax reduction had actually gone into effect.
I read the same passage twice, unable to believe it.
‘At least my lord won’t catch a beating from his own subjects now.’
The people of Batori Territory were probably raising a toast about now.
Then, two days later, crimes taking place at the social clubs throughout Toglo Street were laid bare for all to see.
The social clubs on Toglo Street had all been providing women illegally, and it was revealed that all victims were either human trafficking casualties or victims of employment fraud.
A considerable number of people were implicated in the crimes, and among them were members of noble families.
‘Cursed wretches, the lot of them!’
‘So much for their noble bearing—and yet look what they do.’
Even the servants of the Netzer Clan broke into heated discussion of rebellion, taxation, and crime whenever two or more gathered.
Extra editions were printed by every newspaper, morning and evening alike, while society columns spoke endlessly of engagements broken, marriages dissolved.
Not a few families cast out their own blood to preserve their honor. Wherever the male members of Toglo Social Club showed their faces, they met with cold stares.
Some men attempted to shift blame by dragging the second prince into the scandal.
‘The prince himself was a member of the Toglo Social Club! He even used an alias and joined every single one!’
But their words fell on deaf ears.
The Imperial Court announced that the second prince had voluntarily joined the Toglo clubs to monitor for any suspicious activity.
[The prince willingly sacrificed his own reputation for the good of the empire.]
Though it read like hollow self-congratulation, it was true that the second prince had prevented the rebellion and exposed numerous serious crimes.
Thanks to this, public sentiment toward him rose sharply, and citizens began defending him of their own accord.
My own impression of all this was thus:
“So the client was the second prince…?”
That must be why he told me to find him at the Imperial Palace, going through all that hide-and-seek business.
“Is he an idiot?”
Rebellion is urgent business—I genuinely couldn’t fathom why he’d insisted on some kind of ability test in the dead of winter.
If I’d shouted “Whoever put in the request to the Resolution Guild to stop the rebellion!” right there in the middle of the Imperial Palace, what would have happened?
He’s not a bad person, and he works hard, but something about him is… dim.
Like Tatio.
“At least I got the job done.”
I flipped through the newspaper. Among the flood of articles about rebellion and taxation, there was a piece about some baron who’d committed crimes, been stripped of his title, and received a massive fine and sentence.
‘Yesterday he was some duke, today he’s a baron.’
Wait.
“Come to think of it, nobody mentioned that the safe could explode, did they?”
…The guild probably explained it?
…They’re still alive, right?
So that’s why the crimes at the Omerta Club got exposed?
Is there some other mistake I made that I’m not remembering?
* * *
Veronica, the young lady of Baron Seya, asked gently as she stirred her teacup with a silver spoon.
“How has everyone been?”
The ladies giggled softly in response to her inquiry, offering the usual pleasantries about doing well.
Beneath the trivial chatter and feigned interest, the table was a battleground of subtle tension and reading of moods.
In high society, launching straight into serious matters is considered poor form.
If I were the emperor, I’d have made these pointless ceremonial protocols illegal. People with impatient temperaments just waste away waiting for them.
My lips itched.
That’s when Veronica spoke up.
“Has everyone seen the Imperial Edict that came down from the palace?”
The moment she opened her mouth, the refined atmosphere around the table shattered.
The leisurely pleasantries of moments before vanished entirely—now everyone spoke at double their usual speed, gesticulating wildly, voices thick with excitement as they unleashed their opinions.
“Marquis Penli… well, not a marquis anymore, is he? How could he forget the kindness he was shown and plot a rebellion?”
“Did he really believe he could match even half the Crown Prince’s abilities?”
“He was used. There were influential nobles among those who swore to raise him up. They meant to make him a puppet emperor so they could monopolize power for themselves.”
“Those people nearly destroyed Rodinia. Even the tax increases were part of the conspirators’ scheme!”
Everyone joined in, united in their contempt for the traitors.
As the fervor reached its peak, I arranged my face into an expression of pity and heaved a heavy sigh.
“Actually… the Gorden family came to our house last night.”
Every eye at the table swiveled toward me in an instant.
Well? Intriguing, isn’t it? This is exactly what I’ve been dying to say—why my lips have been itching all this time.
“The Gordens? That traitorous family betrothed to Penli?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night the conspirators were purged.”
“Why? Why would they…?”
“They asked us to hide them.”
My curt response only frayed Veronica’s nerves further, and she pressed on eagerly.
“And then? What happened?”
“Well, you see…”
* * *
The Gorden family arrived in the dead of night.
The banging on the door was so loud that even the young mistress’s room upstairs could hear it.
I came downstairs to the foyer in my nightgown with a robe thrown over it, and there stood the Gorden family, visibly frantic.
Their clothes looked hastily thrown on, and several travel bags lay scattered across the floor.
They shouted at our butler, demanding he call for the Baron and Baroness.
“What business brings you here without warning?”
The Baron appeared at the commotion, his tone sharp with displeasure as he demanded an explanation. Lady Gorden stepped forward.
“We have urgent circumstances. We’d like to stay in one of your rooms for a while. We’ll compensate you generously.”
Her manner wasn’t that of a relative making a request—it was as though she were addressing the concierge at a luxury hotel.
Rosemay, standing between her parents, seemed utterly bewildered by the situation.
She grumbled with a weary, irritated expression.
“Mother, let’s just go to a hotel. This place is smaller and shabbier than our own estate.”
“Be quiet.”
Lady Gorden snapped sharply at her daughter, then composed herself and turned back to the Baron.
“I apologize. She’s tired and not thinking straight. In any case, we’d like to stay in your annex for a while.”
“I need to know the reason first. Why can’t you go to a hotel? What’s driven you to ask to stay here?”
The Baroness folded her arms, her eyes boring into them.
Gorden answered with a dismissive tone.
“It’s men’s business. Women don’t need to know.”
“Then it’s something you can tell me.”
At the Baron’s words, Gorden’s teeth ground audibly. His face flushed with rage, then darkened to near black.
He whirled around and fixed me with a stare that could kill.
“You! This is your fault! All of this is because of you!”
He lunged forward with both arms outstretched, reaching for my throat.
At that moment, I didn’t have a gun on me, and the distance was too close to escape.
Just as I was about to strike at a vital point, there came a dull thud—and Gorden’s body crumpled forward.
The Baron had hurled a heavy travel bag at Gorden’s head, knocking him unconscious.
At the Baron’s violent response, both Rosemay and Lady Gorden huddled against each other, trembling, too frightened to approach the fallen man.
The Baron issued a cold command to the butler.
“Alert the patrol. Tell them there’s a criminal here who attempted to murder the heir of the Netzer Clan.”

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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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