The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 119

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

【Chapter 119】

The charitable foundation was operated under the Empress Dowager’s name, so the decision of how to execute the collected donations was entirely in the Empress Dowager’s hands.

“However, I trust that you will gladly lend your strength to help this aged body. Isn’t that right?”

The Empress Dowager summoned the Princess.

Assigning work was the surface justification, but it meant telling the Princess to build up her achievements.

“If, if I can be of help… I will do my best to contribute my modest strength.”

The Princess nodded shyly.

Incidentally, Rianel was also present at that gathering.

She had been involved in both the beginning and end of the event, and having overseen the entire event, she was the most suitable person to understand the donation details and inventory of goods.

Then Rianel reported to the Empress Dowager while inspecting the goods that came in as donations.

“Among the donated art objects, cases of price manipulation through wash trading have been confirmed.”

The maids who heard the unfamiliar term looked at each other and blinked.

‘Wash trading? What’s that?’

Most of the maids serving the Imperial Family were from fallen noble families.

They were skilled in basic noble refinement, etiquette, and conduct that wouldn’t displease their superiors, but they didn’t know such terms.

However, showing their ignorance would be embarrassing, so they remained silent and watched for cues.

“What is wash trading?”

Fortunately, the Princess asked.

‘Ah, thank goodness.’

‘I thought I was the only fool.’

The maids breathed sighs of relief and listened carefully.

“Wash trading refers to the act of the same person or specific group repeatedly buying and selling the same item to manipulate its market price.”

“Uh… what’s good about doing that?”

“It allows bribes to be delivered without leaving records.”

The temple’s method was roughly like this.

“First, the noble who will receive the bribe purchases the problematic art object at a low price.”

Then the operation group repeatedly buys and sells the item to drive up the price.

“Since this entire process consists of internal transactions, only ownership transfers on paper.”

In this case, a religious painting was used, and the actual painting would have remained in that noble’s possession until the end.

“Later, when the price has been sufficiently inflated, with that noble as the owner of the art object, they purchase the item at a high price and transfer a large sum.”

Or.

“The noble holding the price-inflated art object secures cash by selling it through auction at an appropriate time.”

Quite a meticulous method.

Not only the maids but also the Princess listened intently to the truth contained within the calm explanation.

“In this case, the possibility of detection is much lower than directly handing over cash, and even if the bribe recipient acquired a large amount, they can cover up the source of the money by saying they ‘succeeded in art investment.'”

Thus, bribes using art objects were preferred as a safe method.

“They exploited the fact that it’s difficult to question art prices even when they rise significantly.”

Because art doesn’t have a fixed price.

Even if someone nitpicks by saying “Didn’t you buy that painting too expensively?”, they can just say “I purchased it because I thought that price was reasonable.”

“There’s one thing I’m curious about.”

The Princess continued cautiously.

“The evidence of artificial price manipulation is clear, so why didn’t everyone notice this until now?”

There would be various reasons, but.

“It’s because capital gains tax isn’t imposed when transferring art objects.”

The Princess also knew this concept since she had been studying recently to become Emperor.

Transfer tax is the tax imposed on profits gained from selling assets like real estate.

“They don’t pay any of that?”

“Only when it’s a domestic artist’s work and the artist is currently alive.”

Even when paintings are traded at high prices, if the above conditions are met, the ‘miracle’ of no transfer tax occurs. No matter how many times they bought and sold, there was no tax burden.

“Uh… then what about the artist who painted it?”

“In the artist’s case, income tax is imposed.”

The Princess’s face became puzzled.

“The artist pays taxes, but people who buy and sell paintings don’t?”

“That’s how it is under current law.”

It sounds unfair, but it can’t be helped.

“This is a system to activate the art market.”

Cases of giving and receiving paintings as bribes or manipulating market prices are very unusual examples.

Most artists are in economically poor environments, and it was a law created because cases where works don’t sell are common.

Anyway, returning to the original topic.

“When purchasing art objects, acquisition tax and holding tax are also not imposed.”

There’s no acquisition tax paid when acquiring assets, nor holding tax paid while possessing them.

“Moreover, unlike buildings, art objects don’t publicly announce their owners.”

Buildings must report ownership transfers to relevant agencies when sold, but paintings don’t. So it was impossible to know who owned them.

That’s why unexpected people sometimes appeared as owners, and various art objects were discovered in storage after wealthy people died.

Anyway, art objects are small and easy to conceal, making them very suitable assets for those wanting secret transactions.

“Anyway, this is bribery, right?”

The Princess asked as if confirming her knowledge, while tilting her head.

“But can these people be punished for bribery? I heard that it’s difficult to prove quid pro quo for bribes.”

“That’s correct.”

Bribery refers to the act of buying off someone to gain illegal benefits.

The problem is that proving that causal relationship is extremely difficult.

While circumstances suggest illegal transactions occurred between the temple and nobles.

The parties involved could claim they purchased that painting because it had that much value, and opposed the Former Empress’s policies based on personal beliefs.

Still, punishment is possible because.

“Even if bribery isn’t established, it corresponds to gift tax evasion.”

Since they raised the painting’s price through wash trading, in reality only ownership would have transferred without actual money movement.

This amounts to receiving the increased amount as a benefit without compensation, corresponding to gratuitous gift.

In addition to that.

“It also violates the Criminal Proceeds Concealment Regulation Act.”

Because disguising illegally acquired funds as art investment profits constitutes money laundering.

Low murmurs arose among the maids.

‘It’s a bit difficult, but I roughly understand.’

It was a complex story, but the conclusion was clear.

‘We can legally crush the temple and those who received bribes from them, right?’

“Besides that, evidence of providing bribes through various other methods has been confirmed, so a comprehensive investigation will be necessary.”

Rianel knew from her time as Empress how secretly the temple delivered bribes.

They would invite specific nobles as lecturers and pay large lecture fees, or invite them to the temple several times to give nominal consulting fees.

“The problem is that the source of the bribes is the believers’ offerings.”

The Donation Goods Act exists, but doesn’t apply to offerings. Because religious offerings can be collected without specifying their purpose.

“The temple has no financial disclosure obligation, making it difficult to track fund usage and money flow.”

That’s why such incidents often occurred.

“Then it would be good to abolish the privileges granted to the temple.”

The Empress Dowager slowly nodded, and the maids exchanged glances.

Because the logic that temple privileges should be abolished was remarkably similar to someone else’s.

‘Her Majesty the Former Empress?’

There were those like maid Lina who disliked the Former Empress, but there were also maids who admired her fair and principled work style.

‘Quite similar, isn’t she?’

‘Yes. I thought it was just her way of speaking, but other aspects are similar too.’

‘That’s probably why Her Majesty the Empress Dowager cherishes her so specially.’

The murmurs contained longing mixed with strange complexity.

This applied to her as well.

The abolition of temple privileges was the policy that had brought her the harshest backlash, and ultimately the policy that had forced her to break her stubbornness.

Even now, she thought the system needed improvement.

‘But why should I go through such trouble?’

She didn’t want to lend her strength to that cause.

Legislation was tedious and troublesome work. You had to fight the opposition, and it drained your energy accordingly. It wasn’t suitable work for someone like her who just wanted to live comfortably.

“In the current situation, I believe it would be appropriate to arrest those who profited from illegal transactions.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Elder maid Linda glanced sideways at Rianel.

The extreme pursuit of efficiency, the method of minimizing work while drawing out maximum results—it was all too familiar.

As someone who had directly served Ensilen, she knew her methods well.

‘Could it be?’

That’s why suspicion arose.

This person who reminded her of her former mistress in so many ways might actually be the person she dared to suspect.

But Linda was someone who had directly witnessed the death of head maid Susan. It was also the fate of someone who had spoken carelessly.

‘Even if my suspicion is true, there’s no need to voice it.’

That was the way to survive for a long time.

She bowed her head and chose silence.

* * *

The comprehensive investigation of temple forces came under the State Minister’s supervision.

The Empress Dowager delegated full authority to the State Minister, considering the possibility that the temple had been deeply involved in imperial politics. Unlike with the Ministry of Finance, the Imperial Knight Order was also mobilized.

“Just the fact that the Knight Order, a paramilitary organization, has been deployed shows how seriously the Empress Dowager views this matter.”

Now that the general direction had been set.

Rianel was sitting on a bench behind the Special Tax Bureau building with Asil.

Since no one except Tax Bureau people came to this place hidden behind the building, Asil could act comfortably too.

“Isn’t this an opportunity to deal with all those who troubled Master at once?”

Asil seemed excited.

This matter had been decided quickly because Asil had lent his strength, and Rianel hadn’t turned away from the opportunity to pressure her opponents through legal procedures.

‘Adding my spoon to others’ exercise of power is quite efficient.’

“Please drink this.”

Asil handed over a fatigue recovery potion, both to celebrate the matter being settled and as consolation for the workload that would come rushing in. Rianel accepted the bottle without even asking about the price anymore.

“But you know.”

While Asil felt satisfaction with the situation, he expressed one concern.

“When they investigate the temple, won’t the State Minister also learn your secret?”

If no one else, Duke Vincenheim possessed a lot of information related to his wife.

With the information he had, plus just a few clues obtained from the temple, he would reach the conclusion that the biological child he’d been searching for was Ensilen.

‘That’s right, isn’t it?’

The hand that had been bringing the fatigue recovery potion to her lips stopped in mid-air.

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