The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 53
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
【Chapter 53】
It wasn’t just a simple fire, but a major disaster with casualties.
“The accident occurred during work hours… so many workers were on duty inside the factory.”
The ignition point was an iron cauldron filled with boiling oil.
According to witness testimonies, oil splashed up from the cauldron and caught fire on a pillar, which was the start of the blaze.
“Oh, no…”
Yuna trembled with her hands shaking, her face pale.
The accident itself was frightening, but what hurt most was the loss.
‘My money…!’
This was a business guaranteed to succeed even in the modern world.
Naturally believing it would do well, she had boldly invested early to capture the market.
‘You have to dominate the market from the beginning so latecomers won’t dare to challenge you.’
Having seen countless similar businesses compete and all fail in the original world, Yuna didn’t spare any expense.
She bought the finest iron cauldrons, contracted land for factory expansion, and hired workers in large numbers.
But to fail completely before even properly starting!
‘This should have been a successful business…’
How could a disaster happen right after she took over?
When people experience incomprehensible misfortune, they tend to blame others.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
Yuna pointed to the Princess and Rianel as those ‘others.’
“You must have harbored resentment thinking your thriving business was stolen, so you set the fire. Right?”
Rianel, standing behind the Princess, sneered inwardly.
‘So she was aware she was stealing it?’
She kept saying ‘I’m doing this for you’ without batting an eye, so Rianel thought her conscience was completely dead, but apparently a hair’s worth remained. How surprising.
The Princess asked back with an innocent face.
“What do you mean? I only handed it over because His Majesty said converting it to a state enterprise would be better both for achievement and for the Empire’s people.”
The logic that she harbored no resentment because she thought the Emperor’s opinion was valid!
The Emperor chimed in.
“That’s right. I also agreed when the Saint presented her opinion.”
‘Su-surely you’re not trying to shift responsibility to me now?’
Yuna was flustered by the Emperor’s words, but tried to pull herself together.
‘Th-that’s right. We did it with good intentions. Absolutely not for money or greed.’
Yuna trembled her lips and forced a smile.
“Then… then, why did a fire suddenly break out in a factory that was running well? It’s strange for a factory to catch fire just ten days after taking over the business!”
“A fire?”
The Princess, who knew there was a problem at the factory but didn’t know exactly what, widened her eyes.
“That’s right!”
And the Saint explained the whole story.
She was so excited that she spoke quickly, and got tangled up a few times, but the gist was understandable.
“Unless you pulled some tricks, there’s no way that could have happened—”
“The fire was probably because of the oil.”
Rianel said.
“It’s natural for oil to splash up when you add water to oil, isn’t it?”
“What…! I know that much too!”
Yuna bristled.
She had completed higher education in her original world, after all.
But to treat her like a fool without basic common sense.
“The problem was frying fresh noodles directly. Fresh noodles are made from flour dough, and dough is made by mixing flour with water. In other words, fresh noodles are full of moisture, so you should have gone through a process to remove the moisture before frying.”
“!”
“Moreover, did you use the wooden building we established as is?”
Rianel rarely showed mockery.
Because the more she thought about it, the more absurd it became.
‘Setting up oil cauldrons in a building made entirely of wood, and when a fire breaks out, blaming us for it?’
If a ritual to bring rain is called a rain ceremony, this was no different from performing a fire ceremony to summon the fire demon.
“That, that’s…”
Yuna was at a loss for words.
Because listening to Rianel’s words made her own mistakes too clearly apparent.
“Still…”
That’s when it happened.
“This is terrible, Saint!”
“What now!”
Yuna almost cried out.
“The, the Factory Manager is outside. He says he wants to ask about victim countermeasures and compensation plans for the deaths and injuries caused by this accident…”
“Aaaaah—!”
The Saint clutched her head.
Victim countermeasures? Compensation? Accountability?
Her mind went blank as words she thought had nothing to do with her poured into her ears.
‘I only saw such things on the news…’
When major disasters occur, the person responsible or their representative bows their head, and people shout like this in front of them.
“Apologize.”
“Is that a proper apology?”
“There’s no sincerity in the apology. Your attitude of trying to avoid responsibility is clear.”
After endless criticism, voices demanding apology after apology follow.
Plus comments from people saying ‘I was bored, you’re in trouble now’ tearing into them.
She had been one of those people typing on keyboards while watching such things. But thinking of it as something she was immediately facing made her blood run cold.
“A-anyway, I don’t know anything about this!”
Yuna trembled all over, then looked at the Princess and Rianel still standing there and her eyes flashed.
“Right! This was originally your business. It was a factory you established in the first place!”
“What—”
Before the Princess could object, Yuna spoke toward the outside.
“Tell him to come in!”
As soon as the Factory Manager came, she pushed him toward the Princess.
She pushed so hard that the tall Factory Manager staggered.
“There! These people are responsible. I have nothing to do with this incident, so from now on, talk to those people. Understand?”
“No, how can that be? The one who installed the oil cauldrons in the factory in the first place was…”
But before the Princess could finish speaking, the Saint was already leaving the audience chamber.
The Emperor?
He had disappeared even earlier than the Saint.
“Hey!”
In the now cold audience chamber, only the Princess’s shout echoed.
* * *
Factory Manager Filson, who witnessed the Saint’s abandonment before his eyes, hung his head.
‘This is hopeless.’
The fire demon devoured the wooden building in an instant. The people inside couldn’t escape in time and died or were seriously injured.
Among them was his son.
His son who had lost his tenant farm and been pushed into the city, but couldn’t find proper work and was barely surviving on odd jobs.
Then, when she finally got a job and I thought she could at least put food on the table.
‘She came back as a charred black corpse with not a single part intact.’
But what was even more horrifying was the fact that there wasn’t a single person to take responsibility for this disaster.
‘Even the Saint, who claims to embrace the Empire with divine love, avoided responsibility—what more is there to say?’
Injustice always sinks to the bottom.
Just as he squeezed his eyes shut, thinking his son’s death would become a meaningless death that no one would remember.
“Let’s go.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m the one who established that factory. So I can’t say I’m completely without fault.”
“No, wait, hold on.”
Tiren grabbed Rianel’s arm.
“This isn’t right, is it?”
Why should we clean up the mess the Saint made?
“If everyone makes excuses saying ‘it’s not my responsibility,’ who are those left behind supposed to turn to?”
“!”
Tiren froze in silence.
Because it reminded her of the past.
Before, Tiren had once confronted her sister-in-law who was bearing criticism alone while cleaning up the Emperor’s messes.
She had asked why she was foolishly just taking all the blame.
The answer that came back then was this:
‘A ruler is someone who takes responsibility.’
So.
‘This person really is…’
Thinking the same way as her sister-in-law.
Tiren lowered her head to hide her reddening eyes.
“The cause of the accident hasn’t been clearly identified yet, and the list of victims and extent of damage are also unclear. A site investigation is necessary to clarify these matters.”
“…”
“Will you cooperate with us?”
The Factory Manager blinked in surprise.
A calm but responsible gaze was looking at him.
Rianel had her own intentions.
‘The accident has already happened anyway.’
Right now was a time when people were swept up in emotions, shooting arrows at each other.
Running away at times like this might help with immediate self-preservation, but it doesn’t help solve the problem.
Most importantly, as time passes, only the fact that those responsible fled would remain in memory.
Rather than that, she needed to give those left behind the belief that ‘we haven’t been abandoned’ to stabilize them.
‘That way, when the truth of the incident is revealed later, they’ll be able to accept it more easily.’
‘Ah…’
Filson’s chest swelled with emotion as his shoulders trembled.
‘Us, whom even the Saint turned away from.’
Us, whom even the Emperor, supposedly the father of all people, tried to distance himself from—you’re saying you’ll take responsibility for us.
You’re not even royalty or a high-ranking official.
Just a low-level civil servant, someone not much different from himself.
But right now, this small hope was desperately needed.
Most importantly.
‘Truth-finding is necessary.’
If only to reveal that all of this originated from that foolish Saint’s hands.
Of course, what was more important than that would be leaving proof to the world that the lives of the dead were not in vain.
“Yes, yes. This way.”
* * *
And the next day.
Seeing Rianel’s empty desk, Wilbrin said.
“I had my suspicions, but.”
She immediately kicked open the Bureau Director’s office door and burst out with all her pent-up anxiety at once.
“Did you launch a confession attack on the Team Leader?”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
