The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 35

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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 35】

Til wasn’t the only one cursing.

“Seriously, why do those guys always have the same repertoire? Whenever something happens, they say it wasn’t them!”

“Even a flower song gets tiresome after three verses, you know? Aren’t they sick of it themselves?”

“I don’t understand why they’re so desperately looking for the newcomer they drove out. If they were going to exploit her so thoroughly, they should have kept her around instead of letting her go.”

However, Royhum remained steadfast.

“Think about it. Princess Vincenheim, who instantly found the key to the Ministry of Finance back door.”

Since there was nowhere left to retreat anyway, he willingly revealed his despicable nature.

“How often must she have frequented the Ministry of Finance to know where that key was? She must have tampered with internal documents and equipment too.”

“Wow, damn, he’s really connecting it like that?”

“Your Ministry of Finance is the one that’s sloppy for leaving a key in such a place, okay?”

This time the Head Maid added her words.

“If you doubt our words, please check Princess Vincenheim’s drawer. There will be definitive evidence there.”

The Minister of Administrative Affairs felt his head throbbing.

Even to him, it seemed like the Minister of Finance and Head Maid were being unreasonable, but he was concerned about being accused of “only siding with the Special Tax Bureau” if he just covered it up and moved on.

He sighed while massaging his temples.

“…May we check the drawer?”

“No way, what the hell could possibly come out of there…”

“It’s fine.”

The Tax Bureau people grumbled, but when the person in question, Rianel, agreed, they had no choice but to step back.

The knights immediately departed, and a subtle tension filled the conference hall.

The Tax Bureau people were needlessly nervous.

It wasn’t that they suspected Rianel, but a “just in case” anxiety clung coldly to their backs.

Those bastards were the type to find fault based on the strangest things.

‘Please let there be nothing there.’

‘Our newcomer has a strange personality but lived honestly…’

“We’ve brought it.”

Shortly after, the knights returned carrying the drawer.

They began taking out the items from inside the drawer one by one.

Report. Report. Document files. Report. Pen. Ink. Another report…

Since there were quite a lot of items inside, it took time to remove them all, but.

‘…Huh?’

“This is everything.”

There was nothing particularly noteworthy.

The interrogation chamber was enveloped in subtle silence.

People were stunned by the items that were more barren and dry than expected.

Some felt a sense of kinship. Their own drawer contents weren’t much different from this.

‘Isn’t that just a typical civil servant’s drawer?’

The documents that came out were mostly pre-revision versions of unsubmitted reports, or drafts scribbled to determine the writing direction.

The small memos were things written down for schedule management or instructions from upper management.

You could say it was like a ‘Drawer_Final_Really_Last_Final’ version.

Mel muttered.

“Something did come out of the drawer.”

“What, our newcomer’s blood, sweat, and tears?”

“Ah, why am I getting teary-eyed.”

“Now senior’s tears will be mixed in a little too.”

However, that comedic atmosphere didn’t last long either.

“Not yet!”

Royhum, who had jumped up, shouted.

He couldn’t collapse here.

It wasn’t simply about falling to become an ’embezzler’ – his entire reputation built up until now, his position as minister, his whole life was about to be shaken.

“There’s still a witness, so please let us continue the interrogation!”

Before the presiding judge could even respond, he rushed to the interrogation stand and grabbed Vanessa, who had been avoiding his gaze, dragging her out.

“My beloved niece, come stand closer.”

“What…! Why are you doing this, uncle? Are you crazy?”

Vanessa tried to shake him off, but Royhum forcibly dragged her to the front of the witness stand.

“Hurry up and speak! What you saw, what you promised to say!”

“I, I have nothing to say! What should I say! What am I supposed to say in this situation!”

Vanessa was on the verge of bursting into tears.

The tide had already turned.

Royhum was a sinking ship, and going along with him meant boarding a vessel headed for the bottom.

Moreover, in this place was Duke Vincenheim, Vanessa’s prospective father-in-law.

He was sending cold glances as if he would remember everything.

“I, I have something to say! I was forced to commit perjury! All the embezzlement was done by my uncle! I’m innocent, I didn’t know anything from the beginning-“

“You damn bitch!”

When Vanessa said something different, Royhum shoved her away.

“Ahhh!”

Vanessa tumbled to the floor with a scream.

However, Royhum didn’t look back at her.

Right now there was only one important thing – his own survival.

“Get out of the way!”

Royhum pushed aside the knights guarding beside the drawer and burrowed inside.

He pulled out all the drawer compartments and laid the main body on its side, scraping even the bottom as he searched.

To overturn this situation, that was the only way.

Evidence that Rianel was the culprit had to come out.

‘Where the hell did you hide it…!’

That’s when it happened.

“What are you searching for so desperately?”

A familiar voice rang out, cutting through the hall.

The door opened, and a man’s silhouette was revealed against the backlight.

Special Tax Bureau Director Asil.

He walked in slowly, meeting Royhum’s gaze.

His straight nose bridge caught the light, creating sharp contours.

His hands, which had been clasped behind his back, moved forward.

Thud.

A small object rolled across the floor and stopped at Royhum’s feet.

It was a seal about two finger joints long.

“Could it be… this?”

It was also evidence that crudely replicated Royhum’s seal.

It was supposed to come out of Rianel’s drawer and function as ‘decisive evidence’ that she had forged the seal.

‘Why is this coming out here?’

Royhum stared wide-eyed up at Asil.

Then he saw another person standing behind him.

Torban, standing with both hands clasped behind his back, head bowed.

Instantly, Royhum’s face contorted.

“You… why are you…!”

Why are you coming out from there?!

* * *

Money, status, fame, future.

Royhum had promised conditions that would be difficult for Torban to refuse.

Having a sick family member was like having a bottomless pit that required endless pouring of money.

A pit where you never knew how much you needed to fill it.

Moreover, what Royhum asked him to do was simple.

[All you have to do is one thing. Just hide this. Just put it in that newcomer’s drawer.]

Naturally, he was tempted and wavered, but.

“A person should have some sense of shame, shouldn’t they?”

He had envied Rianel. He was jealous of her brilliant talent and suffered anticipating the gap that would emerge.

But that was all.

‘Still, it can’t be helped.’

He acknowledged that he wasn’t a star meant to illuminate the world, but just a common pebble scattered everywhere.

That way, he could at least remain human.

“Ah, I’ll return this as well.”

Torban pulled out a check from his chest.

The paper fluttering in the air slowly fell in front of Royhum.

Written on it was an amount that Torban could never touch in his lifetime.

Perhaps he would never have the chance to handle such money again, but.

‘This too can’t be helped.’

If you eat what isn’t yours, your stomach will burst.

“You don’t need to keep your promise to appoint me as vice-minister either.”

This time people stirred greatly.

The severity of the crime differed between simple bribery and proposing the buying and selling of government positions.

“When did I ever…!”

Royhum tried to scratch his throat to make a sound, but Torban’s words were faster.

“I’m not sure if someone who’s about to be dismissed has that kind of power though.”

Torban sharply scratched at his insides until the very end.

-Now you’re lower than me.

Torban’s muttering hit exactly one person – Royhum.

“You damn bas…!”

Royhum’s face turned red, then he foamed at the mouth and fainted.

It was a fitting end for a villain.

* * *

A large-scale embezzlement case that occurred after a long time.

This case, with many people involved and considerable aftermath, became a topic of conversation on many people’s lips.

“So what happened in the end?”

The same was true at a shabby tavern on the Imperial Palace outskirts.

A man who had boasted about being in the interrogation chamber gulped down the beer he received as payment for his story.

“The minister bastard just fainted, and the priest didn’t say anything until the end. The head maid cried and wailed while clinging to the Princess…”

The man shook his head, recalling the farce from that time.

“She absolutely didn’t show mercy, no.”

Though she was a young Princess, she clearly had a ruthless side. Or perhaps her sense of betrayal was that great.

The Princess didn’t blink an eye until the head maid was dragged away by the knights.

“But what’s this about the minister fleeing in the night?”

“What, you mean the bastard who should be in prison for embezzlement is walking around outside?”

“Ah, that?”

The man laughed heartily.

“They definitely put him in prison, but he disappeared during the night. Whether he bribed the guards or the prison was poorly secured, I don’t know.”

“Even so, he’s a noble – did he really run away without any sense of dignity?”

“He probably didn’t have the luxury to worry about such things.”

The man giggled.

“Recently, he’d been trying so hard to keep his minister position by offering bribes to the Emperor that he couldn’t even pay his servants’ wages.”

But this time, not only would all his assets be confiscated, but he’d be left with a mountain of debt.

Royhum had disappeared with only some hidden gold and his son.

“But wasn’t there also a bad-tempered woman staying at that house? His niece or something? What happened to her?”

“What do you think happened?”

At the same time.

“Are you people crazy? Get out of the way!”

“If you can’t pay us money to feed our children, you can’t leave!”

Vanessa was surrounded by servants in the mansion’s entrance hall.

“She’s ruined.”

The man added with a mocking tone.

Well, it was someone else’s business after all.

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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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