The Cooking Princess - Chapter 106

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Whether the Empress knew or didn’t know about Claude’s situation and thoughts, thinking she could unconditionally brush it off, he rubbed the back of his neck and declared in a cold tone.

“Bind the criminal and confine her underground.”

At the Emperor’s sudden declaration, the nobles gathered in the hall gaped open-mouthed, looking back and forth between the Emperor and Empress, unable to hide their bewilderment.

“The charge of treason would be fitting.”

The heavy charge that had been placed on the Garnet Family not long ago was now placed on the Empress.

Pope Shurya was also present at this gathering, maintaining her position with a cold expression.

Her eyes looking at the Empress, who had directly shattered the ‘peace’ she desired, were naturally not kind.

Shurya watched the conflict between the Emperor and Empress and thought coldly.

‘The Emperor isn’t particularly wise either.’

It seemed he hadn’t considered at all how the nobles would view him if he arrested the Empress on charges of treason right now.

After thinking this, she glanced around her surroundings.

‘As expected.’

The nobles were steeped in distrust as they watched the Emperor, who had said until recently that Chloe Garnet and her family had rebelled, now declaring that the Empress had rebelled.

“I thought it was strange, the Duchess was forced into an engagement with His Highness the Prince, wasn’t she?”

When one noble steeped in distrust spoke while covering her mouth with a fan, another noble quickly chimed in.

“That’s right. Originally, she would have planned to bring in a son-in-law to inherit the Garnet Estate, but to think she would try to rebel for His Highness the Prince seemed odd.”

“Exactly.”

The nobles seemed to accept that no rebellion plot had occurred in the first place, and that the action of disciplining Imperial family members who wouldn’t listen to the Emperor was precisely ‘framing with treason charges.’

‘It’s good that Chloe won’t need to go around explaining that it was all false accusations.’

Thinking that he was truly a small-minded person to rule the vast Empire of Luzhiere, Shurya continued to observe the situation.

“Since you framed the Garnet Family with rebellion charges, it’s no different from you committing rebellion, isn’t it.”

Indeed, the Empress was the one who had instigated framing the ducal house with false rebellion charges.

“Why are you asking me about the Garnet Family’s rebellion charges?”

However, the Empress, who thought her manipulation could never be discovered, brazenly responded to the Emperor’s words.

“In the first place, I’m only now learning that the Garnet Family’s rebellion charges were false accusations.”

Then the Emperor threw ‘evidence’ right in the Empress’s face.

The Empress’s face finally turned pale as she turned her head to avoid the documents flying toward her face.

“The date and time when the letter was sent from the Garnet Estate overlaps with the time when the Count and I had an audience.”

“What does that…”

Before the Empress, who thought that couldn’t be possible, could refute anything, the Emperor quickly listed the evidence.

“Of course, that alone can’t definitively prove you’re the culprit of the manipulation. I investigated everyone around, and during that time period, you were giving money to silence your subordinates.”

Do we need witnesses too? At the Emperor’s cold face asking this, the Empress became speechless.

When Claude and the Empress planned this affair, they had acted with the possibility of being caught in mind.

It would be better if the entire Garnet Family was executed on rebellion charges, but since Chloe Garnet wasn’t that easy to deal with, Claude and the Empress had anticipated that they would eventually clear their names.

But there was one thing they hadn’t expected.

‘It was discovered too quickly…!’

The Empress’s face turned pale as the action taken to buy time had instead tightened the noose around her neck.

Since it wouldn’t be good if it was quickly revealed that they were the ones who framed them, they had put considerable effort into framing the Garnet Family.

In other words, even if the Garnet Family proved their innocence, the physical ‘evidence’ that Claude and the Empress were behind it shouldn’t have been found this quickly.

The Emperor had certainly said that the time didn’t match since the Count was having an audience with him when he supposedly sent the rebellion plot letter.

They naturally hadn’t made such a basic timing mistake.

At that very point, the Empress realized this evidence was fabricated evidence, but she couldn’t say so.

The moment she spoke, it would be tantamount to confessing that she was the culprit.

The Empress’s lips trembled as she barely managed to speak.

“Someone has framed me, Your Majesty. You mustn’t believe this!”

The Emperor had ‘created’ evidence that the Empress was the culprit in that short time.

What he held was not legitimate evidence but fabricated material, but ironically, the only one who knew this fact in this place was the Empress herself, who had actually orchestrated the affair.

The Emperor didn’t actually know whether it was the Empress or Cloud, Duke who had framed the Garnet Family, nor was he curious.

He had simply made the Empress into a rebel by even fabricating materials, in order to somehow check Claude who was threateningly growing in power.

The Emperor who made the cold declaration raised his voice as if for everyone to hear and ‘deliberately’ called upon Shurya.

“Isn’t that right, Your Holiness the Pope.”

His intention was so obvious it was visible.

Since the picture wouldn’t look good if only he pressured the Empress here, he was trying to borrow divine authority.

If the target the Emperor was trying to condemn had been anyone other than the Empress, Shurya would have simply ignored the Emperor’s words.

But since the Empress had long since crossed the line and begun running wild, Shurya smiled sweetly and demurely affirmed the Emperor’s words.

“God too would support His Majesty the Emperor’s decision.”

No matter that Shurya had been revealed as a false saint, she had now recovered her reputation and was undeniably the Pope.

The Emperor, backed by the Pope’s support, looked down at the Empress with utmost coldness and commanded the knights.

“Drag her out.”

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty! You cannot do this!”

Though the Empress clung to the Emperor while wailing, he mercilessly handed her over to the knights.

Watching this scene, Shurya fell into thought again.

‘Claude probably didn’t expect the Emperor to move this quickly before he could reorganize his forces.’

According to Claude and the Empress’s original intentions, by now the Garnet Family should have been sluggishly making excuses that they hadn’t rebelled, dragging out time.

The Emperor’s attention would also be on the Garnet Family, so everyone would have relatively little capacity to worry about the ‘real’ rebellion that Claude and the Empress would cause.

Their downfall was underestimating Chloe’s ability to handle situations and the Emperor’s situational judgment.

‘So that’s why Cloud, Duke left his mother in the Imperial Palace without considering the possibility that she might be taken hostage.’

Even so, normally one wouldn’t leave their mother in enemy territory when planning a rebellion.

‘Usually one would try hard to get their mother out of a dangerous place.’

Claude before the regression had also caused rebellion without major warning signs and ruined everything.

Rather, unlike before the regression, Chloe had gained power through various cuisines and trade, and the Garnet Family’s influence had grown larger as well, so trying to check that had revealed signs of rebellion thoughts.

Of course, he might have sacrificed his mother to avoid suspicion.

Shurya, recalling memories from before the regression, remembered the cold face of the ‘previous’ Claude who hadn’t shown even a trace of disturbance despite the Empress’s execution, and gulped.

‘…Wait, surely not.’

Didn’t it matter whether the Empress was caught or not?

‘But Claude and the Empress are on the same side. That can’t be right.’

But Shurya’s instincts were ringing alarm bells that this was the truth.

Without feeling the need to reason further, she decided to visit the Empress who would have been imprisoned on treason charges.

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