The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 36

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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 36】

Vanessa finally fell asleep in the late dawn hours.

It was because she had cried too much at the hearing and was completely drained.

‘Let’s just sleep for now.’

Most problems in the world get solved after sleeping on them.

Vanessa ignored both the incident of Royhum collapsing at the hearing hall and her cousin Evan’s persistent questioning about what had happened, and finally managed to close her eyes.

“…!”

She opened her eyes to chaotic noise.

“What do you think you’re doing!”

Seeing the maid opening her jewelry box and dumping the ‘Arsaju Collection’ into her apron, Vanessa’s eyes flipped with rage.

How dare she carelessly stuff items that even I handle with washed hands and utmost care into that dirty apron!

Despite being caught red-handed, the maid casually said “Oh, you’re awake?” and then put a pair of earrings into her apron.

“You shameless thing, how dare you steal right in front of me?”

Vanessa raised her hand in anger, but the maid avoided the slap by slightly turning her body.

“Stealing? I’m just following the master’s words to ‘take household items in place of overdue wages.'”

“What? How could someone who should be in prison give such orders?”

“Didn’t you know? The master came by at dawn.”

“What?”

The maid continued while organizing her apron.

Royhum had stopped by at dawn, gathered some clothes and hidden emergency funds, then woke only his son and took him away.

“He said we could take valuable things from the mansion for our overdue wages, or ask you for them.”

Normally, Royhum would have been cornered by the servants about unpaid wages as soon as he entered the mansion, but he wisely managed to appease them and escape successfully.

He chose to preserve himself by abandoning the mansion’s household items and Vanessa that he couldn’t take anyway.

For Vanessa who was left behind, this was like a bolt from the blue.

“Why should I pay your wages? Uncle hired you, not me!”

“But you’ve been sleeping in rooms we cleaned and eating meals we prepared, haven’t you?”

“What, what?”

“Since you’ve enjoyed the fruits of our labor, shouldn’t you pay for it?”

Even the blanket you slept under last night was washed by me.

Vanessa was speechless for a few seconds before screaming desperately.

“Even so, does that make it okay to steal my things? You should have at least consulted with me!”

Only then did the maid stop rummaging through the jewelry box.

“Then will you pay in money?”

“Huh?”

“That would be more convenient for me too. I wouldn’t have to go to a jeweler to bargain.”

The maid held out her palm. Vanessa barely suppressed her rising anger at the sight.

A mere maid’s salary couldn’t possibly be worth more than one of her necklaces.

It would be better to pay what was owed and keep her belongings.

“Fine. Tell me. How much do you need?”

Vanessa asked nonchalantly, but was shocked as soon as she heard the amount.

“Twelve hundred gold? Why is it so much?”

“Because I’m owed four months’ wages.”

“You’re the idiot for working until it got that overdue! Why should I pay for your stupidity?”

There’s a limit to taking someone for a fool. Isn’t this too much?

“Then I can’t give you these items.”

“What? Hey, won’t you come here?”

Just as Vanessa reached out to grab the maid’s arm.

The door burst open and other servants came crowding in.

They surrounded her, filling the empty space in the room, and though Vanessa instinctively stepped back, her escape route was blocked.

“Have you all gone mad? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“Please pay our wages, Miss.”

“I’m owed six months’ worth.”

“I’m owed three months.”

“If I don’t pay tuition by this month, my daughter will be expelled. She worked so hard to get into that academy…”

“I don’t even have money to buy bread, so I’m only feeding my children one meal a day.”

The voices cracked with desperation and resentment were nothing but unpleasant, disgusting noise to Vanessa.

Vanessa twisted her body to escape from the crowd and screamed.

“Why are you telling me this? Go tell your master!”

“But you’re the master’s blood relative.”

“And you’re wealthy enough to adorn yourself with different jewelry every day.”

“That’s right, if you don’t have money, at least give us jewelry.”

Royhum had told them to take anything valuable from the mansion, but this was sweet deception and shallow trickery.

There wasn’t a single valuable item left in the mansion.

All the artworks on the walls were replicas, and Royhum had taken all the gold-like items. Vanessa was their only hope.

“I see your sleeve buttons are jeweled. Could you give me those?”

“I’ll take the ring. Even a gold ring without gems would be fine.”

“Miss!”

“Miss, please!”

Dozens of hands reached out.

The same hands that had combed Vanessa’s hair and served her tea now wanted to tear flesh from her bones.

The fact that those hands were so utterly ordinary was terrifying.

“Get away! All of you back off!”

Vanessa pushed away an approaching maid and reached toward the door.

“Rupert!”

To call for her last hope, the one person who was absolutely on her side.

“Come quickly! Come and—”

Save me. I’m your lover. You love me. You were made to do so.

So save me. Get me out of here.

“….”

However, when Rupert arrived, he only looked at Vanessa from a distance, not moving a single step.

It was natural since he hadn’t received proper orders.

“Miss!”

“Please have mercy…!”

“…!”

Meanwhile, other servants pushed through the gap and ransacked her wardrobe, and not satisfied with that, they even tore off the accessories attached to the dresses they pulled out.

“What are you doing! Quickly, I… Aaaahhh!”

Vanessa’s screams grew shorter and sharper before being swallowed into the void.

“….”

In the place where everything had collapsed, Rupert stood in silence.

* * *

Torban always arrived at work at the last minute.

He was late several times but didn’t care.

After all, subordinates handled the actual work, and no one scolded him for being late.

“….”

But today, he had something to do.

In the dawn before darkness lifted.

He stepped into the government building for the first time when no one else was there.

The stale air mixed with the dawn breeze created an atmosphere that was both cool and strange.

“Hmm….”

As he sat with his back straight, trying to erase the awkwardness, he was reminded of the time when he had just passed the administrative examination.

[Hello! I’m Torban Jansen, starting work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today. Please take good care of me!]

“That was already 11 years ago, wasn’t it.”

A faint smile crossed his lips.

‘My civil service career has been quite long.’

He let out a heavy sigh and organized his desk.

He wiped down the dusty document files and took out old household items.

Then he gathered useless materials separately for disposal.

As he was carefully organizing the years he had accumulated,

a shadow fell behind him.

“What brings the Bureau Director here at this hour?”

“I came at this hour thinking someone might be here. But….”

Asil, holding his work bag, gestured toward the empty seat next to Torban.

“May I sit next to you?”

“There’s no reason you can’t. That’s not my seat anyway.”

So Asil sat in Til’s seat.

The unfamiliar chair held a strange sense of alienation along with its coldness.

After creating an awkward silence for a while, Asil suddenly blurted out as if something had occurred to him.

“Didn’t you feel regretful?”

It was a somewhat disjointed question, but Torban caught on to what he was asking.

‘He must be asking if I regret rejecting Royhum’s proposal.’

“Of course I feel regretful. It’s frustrating.”

So much so that he couldn’t sleep after the interrogation ended.

He wondered if he had kicked away with his own feet the great fortune that rarely comes in life.

“But I think the position of vice-minister is too much for someone like me.”

The same goes for the position of team leader.

‘It was only possible because this was the Special Tax Bureau.’

“You know this too, Bureau Director.”

Torban was like a textbook example of an incompetent and negligent administrator.

Still, if there was one thing he could boast about compared to other department members, it was that he had been at the Special Tax Bureau the second longest after Asil, so he remembered all of this place’s short history.

He clearly remembered how Asil had cleaned up the Special Tax Bureau and brought in new department members.

‘First, the selfish opportunists were eliminated.’

Instead, he filled the Agency Bureau with people who had capabilities but didn’t know how to properly utilize them, and people who weren’t greedy but worked diligently.

The people currently remaining at the Special Tax Bureau could be called Asil’s collection.

“That’s right.”

Asil didn’t deny it.

“All members of the Special Tax Bureau are in their positions because I permitted and accepted them.”

At the same time, he shifted his gaze to look at Torban.

“And you too.”

“…!”

“You were a team leader I selected.”

While there are many incompetent people, those who properly recognize their own incompetence are rare.

Torban could be called a talent who was good at self-objectification.

“This is quite touching. Should I shed tears?”

“Then you should just be moved. What are those hands busily moving around on your desk?”

“Ah.”

Torban looked embarrassed.

“Are you leaving?”

Asil wasn’t a fool. There was no way he wouldn’t know why Torban had come to work early in the dawn to organize his desk and pack things from his drawer.

“Being moved and making decisions are separate things.”

And.

“I don’t have confidence I could endure it a second time.”

During his civil service career, he would inevitably meet people like Royhum again.

They would present sweet proposals and try to tempt him once more.

‘Would I be able to endure it then too?’

Could he reject the second and third offers and choose his conscience?

Torban wasn’t confident.

‘Since I myself am an extremely powerless and weak individual.’

“I’m planning to leave this place.”

Still, shouldn’t one remain human in the end?

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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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