The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 83

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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 83】

As the Duke’s silence prolonged, the Emperor examined his face.

Since winning over Rianel herself had become difficult, he thought to at least secure permission from her father, the Duke, in advance.

But the person in question remained frozen without the slightest movement.

Finally, the Emperor asked directly.

“So what do you think? About becoming in-laws with the Imperial Family.”

Deep down, he believed he wouldn’t be rejected.

The Duke was securely maintaining his position as State Minister. Though he didn’t crave power beyond that or accumulate wealth, the Emperor knew this was another manifestation of desire.

‘He must be that interested in honor and prestige.’

The Duke stared blankly at the Emperor before speaking.

“My daughter is hopeless.”

The Emperor was dumbfounded.

“Aren’t you underestimating your daughter too much?”

Or was he deliberately stalling to sell his capable daughter at a high price?

Having tried to sell off his own princess to a foreign country, the Emperor wasn’t entirely unable to understand the Duke.

‘Well, opportunities to exploit the wealthy Imperial Family don’t come often.’

“Tell me what you want. If you desire territory…”

The Duke cut him off sharply.

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Since the Emperor didn’t think there was anything wrong with himself, his eyes widened at the words that followed.

“…It’s because my daughter’s taste in men is deplorable.”

After the Duke left.

“Her type is cunning men with broad shoulders?”

The Emperor muttered in bewilderment while stroking his chin.

The unnecessarily specific ideal type seemed suspicious.

‘So who exactly is that supposed to be?’

It sounded like she had set an ideal type while describing someone’s specific characteristics.

The Emperor’s eyebrows trembled.

‘Surely it’s not that Desert Kingdom prince?’

* * *

After that, Zarban began frequenting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with suspicious regularity.

And he came with perfectly flawless justifications.

“If it weren’t for your advice, I wouldn’t have known I was being swindled. I would have bragged about those tea leaves to other Empire citizens and been humiliated.”

In the Empire, it was considered virtuous not to directly point out someone’s discourtesy.

However, mocking someone was a personal freedom. Moreover, since Zarban was a foreign prince, his worthlessness might have become gossip among the Empire’s nobles.

So it wasn’t strange for Zarban to come express his gratitude, but.

“That doesn’t justify such a busy person personally visiting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

The distance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the detached palace where the prince stayed was quite considerable. He could have sent an attendant, so why did he come personally every time?

“I have no choice. I’m the only one in my party who can speak the Imperial Language.”

Annoyingly, even his excuse sounded plausible.

If he were an influential prince whose name alone commanded respect in his kingdom, the situation would be different.

However, Zarban was merely one of the princes born to the seventh queen, and lacking warrior talent, he was in a situation where he had to turn to diplomacy for survival.

It was natural for royal support to become lax and attendants to be sparse for a prince who could disappear at any time.

‘Oh dear.’

Few people could speak harshly of someone who revealed their weaknesses without shame while smiling.

Excluding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff, there were also few who would speak comfortably with a foreigner of different skin color.

Dark skin and beast-like golden eyes.

Plus his imposing build.

Most people couldn’t withstand that intimidating presence and would step back.

‘Come to think of it, is our department the only one that properly converses with this person?’

Zarban scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“But I must have interfered with work by constantly coming and going. I’m sorry for the trouble.”

“No, that’s not what I meant!”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff panicked.

Even knowing it was an obvious ploy, when the prince acted like this, they began to wonder if they had committed some discourtesy.

After all, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ role was to host distinguished guests without discomfort.

Zarban smiled and waved his hands dismissively.

“Right, I know. Anyway, expressing gratitude with just words doesn’t seem appropriate, so I’ve prepared a small token of appreciation. Please accept it.”

The prince held out a box.

As if trying to follow Empire customs, it was a high-quality box neatly tied with a red ribbon.

Rianel hesitated for a moment, but since he was offering it, she opened it to see.

Inside was a ruby as deep red as blood.

“….”

Snap!

The box closed quickly.

“This is too excessive. I cannot accept it.”

Zarban clicked his tongue.

“There seems to be some misunderstanding – in our kingdom, rubies aren’t rare minerals.”

Anyway, as royalty, Zarban owned gem mines.

“In other words, this much doesn’t even qualify as a bribe.”

“Gift provision constitutes donation, so I cannot receive it in my capacity as a civil servant.”

Having rejected even the Emperor’s gift, she couldn’t accept this.

‘I can’t give cause for unnecessary misunderstandings and problems.’

“Then let’s say I’m giving it to you as the protocol assistant. Thanks to you, these past few days have been comfortable.”

If it was a gift to the ‘protocol assistant’ rather than ‘Rianel’ personally, this became a diplomatic gift between nations. Since refusing this would be a diplomatic discourtesy, Rianel accepted it.

“Then I’ll keep it in storage.”

Even after that, the prince continued visiting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs daily.

“The Empire is truly a wonderful place. Even more so because you’re here.”

His target was Rianel.

“Actually, I run a jewelry business in various countries. No one dislikes the brilliance from a gem’s cut facets. You seem sincere about solving the Empire’s problems, enough to do noodle business – would you consider partnering with me? I think establishing my company in the Empire could somewhat alleviate unemployment.”

“The ownership of the noodle business belongs to Her Highness the Princess, and I merely provided advice in my capacity as a civil servant.”

“That was advice? The Empire’s advisory group has high standards. Then can I also receive advice?”

Zarban’s visits were so frequent that even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff noticed.

“The prince is definitely hitting on our assistant, right?”

“Hit… that word choice borders on diplomatic incident, but I agree with the content.”

“Really, if only he weren’t a prince.”

If Zarban had been blatantly aggressive and acted disgustingly, it might be different.

But all he did was express interest in Rianel and show slight favor before leaving, making it difficult to say anything.

Moreover, Rianel herself was receiving the prince with her characteristic expressionless face.

‘Is she doing that because it’s tolerable?’

‘Or is she suffering inside but can’t express it outwardly because he’s a distinguished guest?’

They even suspected Rianel might be giving him the middle finger in her pocket.

Of course, that level of private revenge was a survival method for office workers, so they could pretend not to notice.

On the other hand, they became suspicious because Rianel seemed too calm.

‘She doesn’t have personal feelings for the prince, does she?’

However, they couldn’t just throw around such questions recklessly.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs people drew Rianel into a private setting.

“Would you like a sandwich?”

“If it’s under 10 gold, that’s fine.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. There’s a famous restaurant that opened near the Imperial Palace.”

They handed Rianel the food they had bought.

A full stomach makes a person generous. Even if they asked strange questions, there was a high chance she’d let it slide.

“Um… about the prince. Do you perhaps have personal feelings that made you accept him?”

Benny asked cautiously, and Rianel’s answer was this:

“No. I needed to gather information about Prince Zarban before entering the main negotiations.”

Knowing your enemy and knowing yourself was the foundation of tactics, and this truth applied to diplomacy as well.

Negotiations were ultimately information warfare.

“So what did you find out?”

“There are two things.”

Rianel said she had discovered one serious piece of information and one trivial piece of information.

“What’s the trivial information?”

“The prince is not a pedophile.”

“…?”

Is that really worth saying?

‘She sure catches on quickly.’

‘We’ve known that for over a week!’

“Then what’s the serious information?”

Thinking the serious information wouldn’t be much more significant than the ‘trivial information,’ people took big bites of their sandwiches.

“The prince appears to be a tax evader.”

“Cough, hack, cough cough.”

That day.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs people realized that a sandwich that had gone into a hole could be decomposed back into cabbage, cheese, and bread and come back out of their mouths.

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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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