The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 118

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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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【Chapter 118】

“Family is a relationship that creates legal responsibilities, accompanied by obligations of support and inheritance rights. The burdens that come with this are also inherited as duties. Therefore, a convenient relationship that is denied when not needed is closer to a contractual relationship rather than family.”

Kairen stood there with his mouth agape before finally coming to his senses.

“Even if we’re not family, isn’t it natural to help innocent people when they’re in trouble?”

“There is a major flaw in that statement. A tax evader refers to someone who deliberately concealed the taxable scope determined by law and illegally omitted taxes, so at this point, you can no longer be classified as an innocent person.”

The logic that came back was even more stern.

“No, that’s how…”

Unable to refute Rianel’s words, he fumbled for a long time without being able to continue speaking.

Kairen, who had been making sounds that lingered in his mouth like exclamations for a while.

“What kind of person is this?”

He spat out his irritation and left the scene.

He also felt fear that if he stayed here, his assets would be seized.

Wilbrin remained in that spot.

Crouched over, she couldn’t move for a long time and blinked several times.

With each repeated blink, her tension eased and she could finally breathe again.

“Uh, um… Team Leader, you seem completely unfazed.”

Usually, wouldn’t people be surprised to learn that someone they know has a famous relative?

“Are you planning to make a request to invite that person to an event?”

“No?”

Why would I?

“Then are you thinking of asking me to overlook the tax evasion charges?”

“That’s also no?”

“Then I care even less about it.”

For a moment, Wilbrin was at a loss for words.

‘Is… is that so?’

Rianel was consistent. With her attitude of stating only facts without emotion, Wilbrin’s heart also became peaceful.

It was truly remarkable.

Wilbrin felt this entire situation was like a ridiculous comedy. She laughed and hugged her knees.

“Team Leader, you know your personality is strange, right?”

“That’s a subjective claim. I don’t agree with it.”

“You must have heard it from many people.”

“As I said before, the opinion of the majority doesn’t speak the truth.”

“No, so you’re saying you have heard it multiple times.”

Wilbrin burst into laughter.

“To be honest, I envy you, Team Leader.”

If it were an ordinary person, they would have been obsessed with or tried to hide the fact that their family situation wasn’t normal.

It was both amazing and somewhat admirable how Rianel revealed the truth so nonchalantly.

“As an additional fact, I recently learned that I wasn’t even an illegitimate child.”

“Yes, that kind of thing! Normally people don’t go around talking about such things?!”

Wilbrin had intentionally kept her distance from people.

Former Team Leader Torban had seen Wilbrin accurately.

‘He told me not to say things I don’t mean.’

It wasn’t that she wanted to become a hypocritical person.

She just didn’t want to get unnecessarily close to people.

‘If we became close enough to share personal stories, I felt like I’d have to tell my story too.’

So she was secretly curious.

“Team Leader, aren’t you curious?”

All the people Wilbrin had met so far were like that.

“Why I hid having a celebrity among my family.”

Why you don’t resemble that person at all, and why you don’t have any particularly outstanding qualities. Why you cut ties with such a remarkable person, and so on.

“That is a matter I have not inquired about.”

Didn’t ask, don’t care.

Wilbrin’s lips trembled slightly.

‘Ah, this is really annoying?’

But she realized that this was Rianel’s consideration.

‘You won’t ask anything until the very end.’

She wouldn’t tell people about what she saw today either.

That might be because you’re indifferent, but it also means your world is solid enough that you don’t need to be curious about other people’s affairs.

‘I really envy you.’

Even now.

When the tax evader disappeared, Rianel left as if she had finished her business.

After playing all the cool roles by herself, she showed no signs of being elated or excited about it.

‘I wanted to become someone like that too.’

Not an adult with many secrets, but someone who receives support even with weaknesses.

[If my biological father truly committed tax evasion, he should receive appropriate punishment.]

Rianel’s words suddenly came to mind.

It’s natural that someone with secrets cannot be confident.

The difference between Rianel and herself might lie in fundamental aspects.

Therefore, the next day.

“What is this?”

“I organized and submitted the case that Team Leader detected yesterday.”

Mel looked up after skimming through the report.

“Are you trying to report your family member’s tax evasion?”

“Don’t you see that person is a famous actor?”

Usually people would be curious about that first.

“Our department has a Team Leader who’s a former Princess, so.”

She’s even the State Minister’s daughter.

Compared to that, having an actor in the family isn’t that big a deal, is it?

‘Ah, is that so?’

Thinking about it that way, this matter felt like a trivial issue.

“But is it really okay?”

Rianel would be fine since she has no affection for her family, but there’s no guarantee Wilbrin would be the same.

Wilbrin smiled brightly.

“Well… actually, I decided to start living carelessly from today.”

An answer befitting the Tax Bureau.

“What did you eat for breakfast to reach such a conclusion?”

Mel was shocked.

* * *

Charity events have two main purposes.

The first is to publicly announce the existence of charitable activities, and the second is to raise donations through them.

No matter how well planned, planning is just planning, and actual results can vary depending on variables.

However, Rianel prepared a proposal that carefully considered various issues and showed excellent results.

“Much more donations were collected than expected, Your Majesty.”

Most of the people who gathered at the event expressed their intention to donate, and a large sum was raised.

The Empress Dowager slowly nodded while listening to the Head Maid’s report.

“Yes, it’s all that child’s achievement.”

The costs used for the event were executed from the Empress’s private funds, and the host was a veteran actor famous for volunteer work.

The actor smoothly facilitated the proceedings and softened the atmosphere, and everything from food and alcohol to the venue decorations had class, receiving positive reactions from attendees.

The Emperor packaged this as a dedication event for his mother and acted pompously as if he had handled all the practical work himself.

But those who knew the inside story knew who the real contributor to the event was.

“Moreover, they made the donations transparently public?”

During the event, they refrained from disclosure to avoid ranking based on donation amounts, but immediately announced the total fundraising amount as soon as the event ended.

This might have been a mechanism to prevent her son from secretly siphoning off funds.

‘How truly wise and meticulous.’

The way she handled one matter while simultaneously considering multiple factors reminded her of her daughter-in-law, filling her with admiration.

However, since there weren’t only pleasant things about this event, the Empress Dowager furrowed her brow.

“I heard a Cardinal also attended this event.”

“Yes.”

Since Cardinal Oven was in self-reflection due to recent incidents, a different Cardinal attended the event.

Saint Yuna’s donation was also delivered through his hands.

It was probably intended to recover their recently fallen image. They were likely trying to give the impression of reflecting by getting involved in the Imperial Family’s business.

Since their ulterior motives were so transparent, she couldn’t contain her displeasure.

‘How utterly ridiculous.’

She would have liked to prevent those Temple bastards from even setting foot in the Imperial Palace, but she couldn’t stop them since her son had permitted their entry.

The Temple wasn’t the only thing that displeased her. The Empress Dowager also hadn’t forgotten those who vehemently opposed the Empress’s policies and spread rumors about her.

‘Those bastards definitely received bribes from the Temple.’

In principle, clergy were not supposed to interfere in Imperial politics.

However, when the Empress tried to eliminate the Temple’s tax exemption privileges and demanded they disclose how donations were used, the Temple provided funds to high-ranking officials who could interfere in government affairs to prevent this.

‘Otherwise, there’s no way the nobles would have opposed so persistently in matters that brought them no benefit.’

The problem was the route of the funds.

She had strong suspicions, but couldn’t figure out what form the bribes took.

‘Then it’s likely that goods rather than cash changed hands.’

In this case, tracking becomes very difficult.

‘But my son isn’t providing any cooperation in uncovering the case.’

The Empress Dowager let out a sigh.

However, what had really been getting on the Empress Dowager’s nerves lately was something else.

“I heard my son has been approaching that child recently?”

“Yes, that’s what I heard from the maids.”

Wasn’t his behavior of abandoning the Saint and pursuing Rianel too blatant?

Even though he was her son, his attitude of trying to enjoy without taking responsibility was irritating.

‘But there’s no other alternative.’

She was old, and conversely, the Princess was too young.

The position of Emperor wasn’t simply a title, but a position that demonstrated the Empire’s stability and continuity.

Since it was a symbol showing that the Empire remained solid, it couldn’t be left vacant just because there was no suitable person.

The Empress Dowager’s best option was to prevent her son from approaching Rianel and remove unnecessary obstacles so she could work as she intended.

‘It would be good if we could secure evidence that the nobles received bribes from the Temple.’

However.

“Cases of market manipulation through self-dealing have been confirmed among some of the donated art objects.”

The answer revealed itself in an unexpected way.

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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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