Since It's My First Time Being a Lady, I'll Cause Some Trouble - Chapter 25

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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’s First Time Causing Trouble – Episode 025
“Gordon tried to kill Lady Ulfina?”
I nodded toward the ladies, whose faces had gone pale.
“That’s what it looked like. He came at me trying to strangle her.”
“But why? He’s the one who committed Treason.”
I shrugged.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. He messes up, flees in the dead of night, and then attacks his own fifth-cousin niece? What’s his excuse?
He must be addled in the head—which would explain why he agreed to marry a concubine and got swept up in a rebellion.
“So what happened after that?”
“Soldiers came bursting in not long after. I was so startled I froze, but the officer said the Gordon Clan had been implicated in the Treason and they’d come to make an arrest.”
The ladies showered me with sympathy, relieved I hadn’t been dragged into it.
Honestly, I’d already known Gordon was involved in the Treason. His signature had been on the Covenant Document, after all.
When I handed the Covenant Document over to Calderon, I’d thought he’d be arrested soon enough, but I hadn’t expected soldiers to come to the Baron’s estate.
And right after that, a messenger from the Imperial Palace arrived, saying an emergency council was being convened, and took the Baron away.
According to the Baron when he returned later, the Imperial Capital had been sealed off overnight to catch the Treason conspirators.
That’s why it took so long for the lords of territories outside Araph, the Imperial Capital, to attend the council.
“Still, it’s fortunate they caught everyone involved.”
“Indeed. If the Second Prince hadn’t noticed the Treason, I don’t know what would have happened.”
“Was that why he never attended social gatherings? He must have been busy monitoring traitors instead of attending balls.”
“Now that he’s stopped the rebellion, he’ll finally make public appearances at official events, won’t he? I’m really curious what he’s like.”
“Exactly. Since he’s the Crown Prince’s brother, do you suppose he looks like him?”
At that, I blinked blankly.
“…Has no one actually seen the Second Prince’s face?”
I worried it was a foolish question, but fortunately the ladies confirmed they hadn’t seen him either.
“Men from the same club or Imperial relatives might know, but I doubt anyone else would.”
“Besides, only portraits of the Emperor, the Empress, and the Crown Prince are distributed among the Imperial Family.”
“And until just recently, the Second Prince had a terrible reputation anyway. Even if portraits existed, who would have paid attention?”
That was unexpected. I’d thought all nobles knew the Imperial Family’s faces.
I’d assumed he’d been hitting on women while playing the wastrel, but it seems he’d kept his behavior toward them at least decent.
‘Or maybe he was hitting on men instead?’
Whatever. Probably not.
“Even so, people remember roughly what he looks like. They say he has messy red hair, is quite tall, and extremely handsome.”
“I heard he has red hair just like the Empress. They say they’re practically identical.”
Red hair?
‘…Surely not.’
That man said he was a court official. Besides, what kind of prince borrows other people’s carriages without permission, gets cursed at, and gets beaten repeatedly?
‘No, wait—I hit him on the night of the ball, but that was self-defense.’
Even if I did drive my knee into his abdomen, it was an act of defense.
Besides, he helped me find evidence of Treason!
Even if I did speak casually to him, curse at him, and hit him…
‘Damn it!’
Cold dread crawled up my spine. My palms began to sweat where I held my cup.
“My, Netzer, are you all right? You don’t look well.”
“What color are his eyes?”
“Pardon? His eyes?”
“Surely…they’re not silver, are they?”
Merien made a thoughtful sound. While she deliberated, my heart raced like water droplets hitting hot oil.
“Ah, I believe I heard they were black.”
I exhaled in relief internally. Thank goodness—that wasn’t him. I’d almost committed regicide.
“Black, you say?”
At Veronica’s tone, I swayed like a small boat caught in sudden waves.
‘No! No follow-ups allowed! Stop it! Just say they’re black!’
Oblivious to my inner turmoil, she furrowed her brow, searching her memory.
“Weren’t they purple? The Empress has purple eyes too, so I thought that’s what they were.”
“My grandmother said they were green…”
“Obviously they’d be grayish-white! He’s the Emperor’s son, so he must take after him!”
“He must have crimson eyes. That color suits his image perfectly!”
The table, which had been buzzing with talk of rebellion, had somehow shifted to debating the Second Prince’s eye color.
It was the kind of argument no one could settle without actually seeing him, yet the dispute raged fiercely until the tea gathering ended.
In the end, everyone concluded that responsibility for the Second Prince’s mysterious appearance lay with the Imperial Family and the Prince himself, and they all agreed his eye color was blue.
Yes, it was all the Imperial Family’s fault.
* * *
The Empress was in a good mood for the first time in a while.
The public sentiment in Rodinia had been unsettled for months. Riots and similar disturbances were breaking out one after another across the realm. As abandoned farmland multiplied, so too did banditry.
All of it stemmed from taxation.
The Imperial Family recognized that the high tax rate was a direct consequence of the Tax Exemption Privileges granted to noble houses.
They had spent considerable time deliberating how to eliminate the exemptions the Former Emperor had bestowed upon the aristocracy.
But each attempt by the Imperial Family had been thwarted by noble resistance.
Then they uncovered a conspiracy of Treason.
Among the conspirators were several wealthy and influential nobles who held Tax Exemption Privileges. Confiscating their assets would substantially reduce the national debt.
Yet the Empress believed that alone was insufficient.
With resentment toward the Imperial Family already running high due to the steep tax burden, this problem had to be decisively eliminated.
‘Now, while Treason dominates the discourse—this is the moment.’
Seizing the momentum, she presented her argument to the Imperial Council in measured, unflinching tones.
“They walk upon the soil of the empire yet refuse the Duty of Subject, hoarding their accumulated wealth to privately recruit followers and stockpile weapons. In the end, these Tax Exemption Privileges have done nothing but arm and empower them to threaten both the Imperial Family and the realm itself.”
The privileges granted to nobles were the principal cause of elevated taxes on ordinary subjects. Eliminating the nobles’ exemption would actually increase tax revenue substantially.
The councilors agreed enthusiastically with the Empress.
“Your Majesty speaks truly. These privileges breed a second rebellion, a third—and will lead Rodinia to ruin.”
Swayed by their ardent support, the Emperor decided to revoke the Tax Exemption Privileges for the nobility and lower tax rates accordingly.
The Empress recorded in the Imperial Edict that all these troubles had been resolved thanks to the Second Prince, Jereon.
Indeed, her son had uncovered not only the Treason but also the crimes on Toglo Street. Through his efforts, the Imperial Family was able to strip additional nobles of their titles and confiscate their assets and lands, filling the imperial coffers.
‘I once took him for a reckless wastrel who thought of nothing but revelry…….’
Her lips curved upward of their own accord. Her son was so endearing and made her so proud she could hardly contain herself.
As the Empress stopped before Jereon’s chamber door, her attendant raised her hand to knock.
“Wait, just a moment!”
The sound of something clattering and Jereon’s urgent voice came from within. Sensing something amiss, the Empress pushed the door open without ceremony.
Books lay scattered across the floor, and Jereon was hastily shoving them into the shelves.
“Mother, is something the matter? Had I known you were coming, I’d have tidied up.”
The Empress said nothing and picked up one of the books from the floor.
<Ahhh! Miss Maid, that spot’s no good! ~A Young Lady’s Edition~>
Her eyes narrowed dangerously in an instant.
The last time she’d found such a book, the title featured a young lord. Now it was a young lady. How exactly did this household operate that a maidservant had no regard for the gender of the master’s children?
And her own son—reading such filth!
“Leave us. I wish to speak with him alone.”
At the Empress’s command, the attendants hurried from the room.
Moments before, the Empress had been floating on air at her son’s brilliant accomplishments. Now disappointment crashed down upon her like a stone.
“I know better than anyone that you have won commendations. But precisely because you have, you must set an example and improve yourself—not waste your time wallowing in such garbage.”
“Mother—”
“You are a prince of Rodinia. You carry the blood of Cardia!”
Jereon swallowed a sigh. Her words were unassailably correct, yet he could not simply accept every reproach she hurled at him.
“I understand that.”
He answered deliberately in a flat tone to avoid provoking her, but it backfired. Fury flashed in the Empress’s eyes.
“Then why!”
All restraint abandoned, she cried out.
“Why do you sit idle while Arka seizes the throne!”

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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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