The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 145

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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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145.

“Speculation…!”

The Fourth Consort, who was about to shout angrily, hesitated.

“…You know why I’m saying this, don’t you?”

Then she acted as if demanding a confession.

‘As expected.’

I understood why the Fourth Consort had come out so confidently.

She probably never thought that with the solid support of other Winter Palace advisors, she would be questioned like this.

‘It was good that I worked hard until yesterday.’

According to her original plan, when she and the Pope were working together, other nobles should have taken her side too.

Taking advantage of when we returned to the capital, the Fourth Consort frequently went to the Grand Cathedral to pray and often met nobles who would become her allies.

Not only that, there was also a group of nobles she had won over by moving Marquis Zamotti.

All their names were organized in an easy-to-read list format in the materials that our Wilma had diligently collected.

So I kindly.

‘Sent them the second-half audit list.’

Thankfully, it seemed the Fourth Consort could only recruit nobles similar to herself, as they were all people who would come crawling like dried fish on a string the moment an audit was announced.

Well, their methods were becoming more sophisticated by the day, but that was something I could handle by becoming more cunning.

Most fortunately, there was also the hard work of the other Dukes and the Sun Palace.

When I discovered something and documented it, they faithfully took legal measures to prevent such methods from being used again.

Of course, even with such work, some might have been swept away if Francis or Wilhelmina hadn’t stepped forward.

They were opportunists, and if they thought our power was in danger, they would bite without mercy.

Conversely, that meant the same would apply when the target was Scaletti Zamotti instead of me.

“Huh? The reason you’re saying that? I really don’t know at all!”

So I amplified Scaletti’s words and spoke as if cross-checking.

“So you mean there’s no evidence after all? Haven’t you worked with the Winter Palace several times now?”

“Salice Advisor!”

“We don’t accept anything without solid evidence and documents. I’ve told you several times that it’s troublesome when you ask us to do things based on words alone.”

At my words, faint murmuring began to spread among the nobles.

“…Isn’t the Fourth Consort just trying to railroad him?”

“I don’t particularly like the Clupea Margrave, but I feel sorry for him at this point. This is the third time!”

“Every time without evidence, and the times have changed.”

Someone even clicked their tongue.

Even if they criticized me and Casian for being harsh, after being subjected to us for several years, the nobles had all gotten used to it.

How important solid documents and evidence were.

If this was the influence I had on the Empire, no matter how I thought about it, I seemed to be doing good work.

‘Instead of being shattered, becoming complete through shattering – it could be something like that.’

Perhaps the original work that flows according to the predetermined ending and this world where I was born could only become happy by diverging from each other.

The moment I thought that, for some reason, Pea chuckled.

What’s with this reaction like someone who would only drink bottled water for life?

-You’re really too much.

Then why don’t you tell me the story?

This dragon had nothing to offer first but was reacting to my thoughts as he pleased.

So that was the right answer after all?

-…

Since Pea didn’t respond, I decided to arbitrarily consider it the correct answer.

Then the Temple folks were wrong from the beginning after all.

Since I had no desire whatsoever to be reborn as some grand person called a root or whatever, I decided to wrap up this matter.

“Your Majesty, as you heard, the Fourth Consort seems to have no basis for accusing me of being a root.”

At those words, the Fourth Consort bristled and shouted.

“I saw it!”

“Huh? Saw what?”

“You, what you’re looking at…! I saw it!”

At the Fourth Consort’s dramatic shout, the Winter Palace advisors all displayed question marks above their faces.

No, not just us, but all the other nobles watching this situation did the same.

“Shouldn’t you explain exactly what I was looking at?”

But she wouldn’t be able to say it.

I had some idea of what she saw that made her rage so frantically.

Because there was a day we couldn’t finish properly.

‘The day the worlds mixed.’

When I saw the original Casian, and Casian saw a different Rozelita.

We didn’t completely confirm the Rose Palace’s reaction at that time.

Probably she too had ‘something mixed’ at that time.

It might have been the past, or perhaps the future.

Or else-

‘It could be the original Scaletti’s memories.’

But so what?

Why did Casian and I dig through the scroll together alone?

Because no one else could prove the fact that the worlds had mixed.

Because no one except us had experienced the strange phenomenon.

Scaletti Zamotti was in the same position, wasn’t she?

If you’re going to be shameless, be properly shameless; if you’re going to recruit someone, do it right.

At the point where she had only come together through desire, running for each person’s benefit alone, her defeat was as good as predetermined.

The Fourth Consort’s lips trembled.

“If you can’t explain, this conversation seems to have no further value. Does anyone have any objections?”

I looked around at everyone including Scaletti, the Temple side, and the noble side.

Scaletti looked toward the nobles she had enticed, but they were busy covering their faces with sleeves and fans.

What good was charging in with such vigor?

When nothing was completed.

That way, she could never break my solidity.

‘She’s really no different from her original counterpart.’

But why was Scaletti Zamotti so formidable in the original?

Because the original Rozelita, unlike me, was kind and had tender spots, and was someone who couldn’t abandon her dignity.

Unlike me, who wasn’t particularly hurt by being called ‘just a baron’s daughter,’ she, who had been with Casian since childhood, always felt that label like a stumbling block.

So she tried harder.

Because she had to prove that it was okay for her to be by Casian’s side.

Because she had to show that even as a baron’s daughter, she was helpful enough to transcend that status, she couldn’t run forward without looking back like me.

Didn’t I keep saying that?

She didn’t trust the original Casian Artez.

If she had trusted him, she could have willingly abandoned her dignity.

But she lacked confidence.

She worried whether Casian would continue to look at her with passionate eyes even if she wasn’t the elegant and aristocratic Rozelita.

‘That’s why it was difficult – Scaletti Zamotti could be stronger than anyone in aristocratic fights.’

How could a baron’s daughter defeat an Empress from a marquis family unless she used methods that weren’t aristocratic like mine, breaking all the rules of social circles?

But I was different.

The original Rozelita only realized at the ending that Casian had simply liked ‘her’ since childhood.

But I…

‘I hadn’t done anything hoping for Casian’s love from the beginning.’

Because I acted for my own personal safety and happiness, I could be confident, and therefore aristocratic status didn’t matter much either.

After all, my parents were people who said happiness was more important than dignity and that it would be fine to abandon the title and go to the kingdom.

So I had to be different, but Scaletti, who glimpsed memories in the mixed world, had the wrong idea.

In that world, she had risen to the victor’s position multiple times.

Rozelita had always barely managed to endure in her struggles against her.

So she probably thought she could apply similar pressure to me.

‘So this time she brought in the temple, the nobility, and even foreign countries.’

I smiled lightly as I looked at the hall where no one had uttered a word of objection even after dozens of seconds had passed.

“Then this is also nothing more than baseless speculation without a shred of evidence. How truly disappointing, Your Highness the Fourth Consort.”

“Why, why…!”

Scaletti screamed.

Her memories must have been mixed up, making her even more confused.

In the ‘original story,’ there were many nobles and priests who would have taken her side in such situations.

I whispered to her in a low voice.

“Your Highness the Fourth Consort, if you’re going to win people over with lies, you should at least offer proper honey.”

Telling them to follow her because Charlie would become crown prince?

That might have worked in the original story, but this is a different world now.

Back then, Scaletti had a wide range of action because she had poisoned the Emperor, but not now.

“Now that you seem to have said everything you wanted to say, it’s my turn to accuse Your Highness the Fourth Consort.”

“Accuse…?”

“On charges of treason against the Empire.”

The Fourth Consort’s eyes widened.

“Treason! Why would I do such a thing!!”

“Are you really saying you didn’t?”

“I am a concubine of this Imperial Palace and the mother of First Prince Charlie! Why would I…!”

I straightened my back and spoke clearly to the Fourth Consort who was swaying as if about to collapse.

“The Empire has not even properly selected crown prince candidates yet. Your Highness the Fourth Consort must have been ignorant of such matters, having received the Emperor’s ‘love’ all this time.”

When I extended my hand, Francis Ashwood handed me a document.

“The method for selecting the crown prince is laid out in great detail by national law.”

I thrust the section of law I had copied from the legal code at her.

“Unlike scriptures that can be interpreted in multiple ways.”

“You, you insolent…!”

The Pope immediately reacted to my words.

He was truly a person with rich reactions.

I gave the Pope a grateful look for his perfectly timed response, then clearly pointed to a section of the document with the tip of my fountain pen so the Fourth Consort wouldn’t misread it.

“Can you see it clearly? The clause that states: ‘The selection of the crown prince must be conducted strictly according to national law, and those who act as if the crown prince has been predetermined in violation of this shall be punished with penalties equivalent to treason.'”

It was time to settle the score for her reckless actions while intoxicated by memories of victory.

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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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