The Cooking Princess - Chapter 113

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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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Claude’s choice was reckless.

“The fact that he started a rebellion will surely cause others to feel resentful.”

However, the central nobility acted nonchalantly as if thinking ‘what was bound to come has come.’

Even though Claude’s offensive was fierce, they didn’t seem to feel any particular threat to their lives.

Chloe used her close associates to gather rumors circulating internally.

She also went out herself to secretly eavesdrop.

“With that fiery temper of his, could he have just stood by and watched himself being excluded?”

“Her Majesty the Empress has been acting as regent for decades already… To imprison her in an underground dungeon over unconfirmed information.”

Public opinion regarding the Emperor was not favorable.

It seemed the nobles thought it more credible that Claude had simply raised an army to save his own life, and that the Emperor had plotted to eliminate Claude.

‘The order of events is reversed. The Emperor appointed Shuel as Crown Prince because Duke Claude was showing signs of rebellion.’

But honestly, even Chloe herself couldn’t trust the capricious Emperor.

And the fact that Claude had started a rebellion at this point…

Also meant he intended to eliminate both the Emperor and Crown Prince at once.

Chloe racked her brains over how to navigate this situation, but conclusions that hadn’t emerged before weren’t going to appear now just because she worried about them again.

Even though Shuel was the original male protagonist and an unparalleled genius in strategy, being at a disadvantage was unavoidable.

‘As if the barbarians who can communicate with and control monsters weren’t enough, even foreign nobles are now lending their support to Claude.’

In fact, Chloe couldn’t understand why there was so much sympathetic public opinion toward Claude.

In the end, he was nothing but a traitor who had gone so far as to marry a foreign princess illegally, and was now invading the capital to kill the Emperor and Crown Prince.

If his usual conduct had been virtuous it might be different, but Claude’s actions were fundamentally very cruel.

Even though the Empress had been captured, it wouldn’t have happened if Claude hadn’t married without the Emperor’s approval in the first place.

‘Though if you say he started a rebellion because he hated being demoted, there’s nothing to argue about.’

Without power, even if righteousness was on their side, people would ultimately have no choice but to watch Claude’s mood.

Shuel grasped Chloe’s shoulders and told her to always stay by his side unless he was heading to the front lines.

He seemed worried about Chloe trembling alone in the Imperial Palace, separated from her parents.

Chloe accepted Shuel’s consideration and always lingered near Shuel and the Emperor.

They had been holding up well so far, but communication with the outside had been cut off.

‘This is why defense is difficult. I knew Claude would attack, but I didn’t know it would be now.’

With communication cut off, coordination with allies becomes difficult.

That was also why Shuel had become extremely sensitive.

They had anticipated that Claude would cut communications, but.

‘The problem is that anticipating it doesn’t mean you can prevent it.’

Without Eshir, the Merchant Prince, present, it was impossible to stop magical communication interference.

‘And the situation is taking a strange turn.’

Those supporting Chloe and Shuel were anxious about their isolated situation,

While the voices of nobles who had been secretly supporting the already pushed-out Claude grew louder.

It had turned out exactly as Chloe had worried about internal division.

‘This is really troublesome.’

And right then, an even more troublesome situation erupted.

“Duke Claude’s rebellion has finally become certain. There’s no point in dragging this out further. Bring the Empress before me in shackles.”

“We receive His Majesty the Emperor’s command!”

The Emperor’s guard knights remaining in the Imperial Palace personally brought the Empress out from the underground prison.

“Your Majesty. What on earth is this about?”

The Empress’s face was pale blue with fear.

“Your son has decided on rebellion.”

“…!”

“And conveniently, we have custody of your person.”

The Empress’s face turned even more deathly pale as she perfectly understood the Emperor’s words.

The Emperor provoked Claude by saying that since Claude’s rebellion was now certain, he would execute the Empress first to make an example.

Chloe couldn’t hide her bewilderment at this thoughtless and senseless behavior.

‘I’m going crazy. What the hell is he doing right now?’

It wasn’t just Chloe who found this troublesome, as Shuel was also holding his forehead and openly showing his irritation at the Emperor’s poor judgment.

‘Is the Emperor starting to go senile?’

The nobles’ support for the Emperor wasn’t overwhelming to begin with.

The nobles shouldn’t be saying ‘that’s understandable’ about someone who started a rebellion.

Knowing how sensitive an issue rebellion was, yet applying the same charges to the Empress and Claude so soon after framing the Garnet family with rebellion charges must have seemed ridiculous.

‘But it’s real!’

However, threatening with the Empress’s life in this situation was something that shouldn’t be done even for the Emperor’s own safety.

Moreover, the great nobles were currently stuck in the capital, feeling anxious and irritated in a situation where they could neither act nor retreat.

Still, since Felix III was nominally the current Emperor, they seemed to be keeping their complaints internal.

‘At this rate, you’re going to die, you incompetent Emperor! Get a grip on the situation!’

This Emperor apparently wasn’t thinking about assassination at all.

***

Claude learned from information brought by Northern Continent spies that the Emperor was threatening him with the Empress’s life.

‘If I leave this alone, mother will die.’

If the rebellion succeeded, he had intended to at least properly arrange his mother’s grave.

Since many people criticized Claude as an unfilial son for treating his mother as a hindrance and not caring about her, he would need to at least properly collect her remains to salvage his image.

Killing the mages and priests might have been a self-defeating move overall.

But it couldn’t be helped.

To attack the core without anyone knowing, it was necessary to silence the priests who were out investigating in remote areas.

The priests who returned alive wouldn’t keep their mouths shut, so there was no choice but to kill them.

‘Backlash is expected, but it’s an unavoidable sacrifice.’

Claude was cruel but not stupid.

Rather, he had already calculated that it would be more advantageous for him if the Emperor executed the Empress.

He had also sowed discord so that the Magic Tower and Temple couldn’t cooperate immediately.

As long as the Merchant Prince and Pope weren’t together right now, it would take time for them to confirm each other’s opinions and learn the truth.

‘What’s important is… Shuel and Chloe.’

Naturally, Shuel had to die.

He couldn’t let Shuel live after going through the trouble of starting a rebellion, especially when Shuel had even been appointed Crown Prince.

But Chloe was…

Claude deliberately withheld judgment about Chloe, clutched his throbbing head, and headed to the front lines.

He looked around the battlefield with cold eyes, then asked the Barbarian Leader.

“What’s the situation?”

“Ah, yes. We haven’t completely broken through the Imperial Palace, but a considerable number of noble families,”

“I told you to only moderately threaten the noble families, didn’t I? Our purpose is usurping the throne.”

Saying that this was what barbarians were like since their leader hadn’t even received proper education, Claude openly clicked his tongue, then threw a bag of gold coins and added:

“Deploy more monster-riding cavalry to the front lines breaking through the Imperial defense line.”

“But then my subordinates will die!”

Even at the desperate words, Claude showed no mercy.

“So?”

At the cold gaze that said ‘what’s that to me,’ the Barbarian Leader lost his words.

“I promised to give you the highest positions when I become Emperor.”

As he spoke, Claude firmly grasped the leader’s shoulder with his strong grip and added:

“Then until that happens, you must also do your best, right?”

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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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