The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 87

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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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87.

The Second Empress then spoke the words that the Empress couldn’t bring herself to say.

“So now you must issue a confinement order, Empress. Why are you just sitting there?”

At those words, the Empress’s golden eyes sharply fixed on me.

She lightly ground her teeth, then opened her mouth with an air of complete composure.

“…Confine the Second Empress, the Head Maid, and the servants who were working in the Tea Room at that time.”

She seemed very displeased with the list of confinement targets.

‘If I can’t figure it out even after the Second Empress has spoon-fed me this much, I’d be an idiot.’

The Second Empress trusted me and willingly made herself a shield so I could move freely.

If I failed to meet these expectations, I would truly be nothing short of utterly incompetent.

*

After everyone who needed to be confined according to the Second Empress’s arrangement was confined, the Empress tried to say she would personally investigate this poisoning incident.

And it almost happened.

If Casian hadn’t brought the Imperial Guard Commander at just the right time.

“How could I not understand the Empress’s concern for the Emperor, but investigation and inquiry into incidents involving the Emperor’s safety are designated to be handled by the Imperial Guard Commander.”

“That’s…!”

Even the Empress, who had lived in the Imperial Palace for so long, seemed surprised, as if she didn’t know this law.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that until now, hasn’t one of the Imperial Family members taken overall responsibility for major incidents?”

“That is correct, but matters concerning the Emperor are separate. Of course, it’s a law that has faded considerably over hundreds of years, but when the Emperor ascended the throne, he emphasized it once again to our Imperial Guard. Of course…”

The Guard Commander spoke to the Empress with an apologetic tone.

“Among the current Imperial Family members, only Prince Casian holds a key position in the Imperial Guard, so except for the Emperor, it seems you were unaware…”

It was a very polite tone that was truly just conveying facts.

But the Empress couldn’t hide her humiliation at feeling disregarded.

‘Even among the noble families close to the Empress, there’s no one who holds a key position in the Imperial Guard…’

Though Casian and I often cursed about it internally, the Imperial Guard was the organization where the Emperor could exercise the greatest authority.

That’s why the Empress wanted to somehow push her own forces into it.

But the one who could actually wield power there was Casian.

He held the position of First Training Officer of the Imperial Guard.

So he oversaw training not only for the Winter Palace Knights, but also for other Imperial Guards.

‘Though the Winter Palace is actually a special case.’

Originally, the knights assigned to the Winter Palace and others also served the Emperor as their true master, not the master of each palace.

It’s just that the Winter Palace had developed an independent character because he had been running around battlefields with them since he was young.

Of course, Prince Charley also observed the training of the Summer Palace knights, but that was more like a ceremonial event.

Anyway, so it wasn’t surprising that the Empress didn’t know that law, which had existed since the founding of the Empire but had been passed down through many generations.

After being beaten down so much, there probably weren’t many people in the Empire who had memorized every tiny letter of the legal code.

‘However, our Emperor has a past, so he revived laws that were becoming obsolete.’

So the current Imperial Guard Commander drank poison for the first time in hundreds of years.

The poison that Guard Commanders were originally supposed to drink for generations.

“Please trust and leave it to me, for I am one whose heart stops the moment I cause harm to the Emperor.”

“What, did you say…?”

“I must now withdraw to begin the investigation, please understand, Empress. If you need an explanation, you can hear it from Prince Casian or Salice Advisor.”

After the Guard Commander hurriedly exited, the Empress glared at Casian and me.

We were ready to gladly explain for her sake, but she just tried to disguise her boiling anger as composure and withdrew.

She knew very well that if she continued to obstruct us, only she would become more suspicious.

*

“It’s been a very long time since I felt caught off guard.”

“Yes.”

I designated a female knight to thoroughly search me just in case.

Since my suspicion had been cleared thanks to the Second Empress’s clear explanation, the designated knight was a bit flustered but dutifully carried out the task and definitively proved my innocence.

No suspicious objects or poisons were found anywhere on my person or belongings.

“It feels like when I first came up to the Capital.”

“You mean before Rose memorized the entire legal code?”

I quietly nodded.

Honestly, the first three months after coming to the Capital were hellish in many ways.

Flipping through ledgers and basic document processing wasn’t a big problem.

The damn procedures and laws were the problem.

Being the Imperial Palace, they were incredibly complex, and there were things that didn’t match examples from my previous life or from the Salice Barony.

So before six months were up, I cut back on sleep and memorized everything needed for work – etiquette, administrative law, tax law, criminal law, Imperial law, you name it.

Fortunately, my memory wasn’t bad and I could memorize things after reading them a couple of times, plus the legal code wasn’t as detailed as the country from my previous life, so it was possible.

Among them, I read Imperial law even more thoroughly, so I knew even the obsolete laws that the Empress didn’t know.

“…Thank you for quickly bringing the Imperial Guard Commander, Ian.”

“I’m also grateful that you’re someone who doesn’t resent me for not immediately rushing to protect you when you were in trouble.”

“If you had just rushed over, you would have just gotten entangled with the Second Empress under the pretense of protecting me.”

That would have been exactly the picture the Empress wanted.

If Casian had lost his mind and rushed over without thinking of a plan, I would have suspected that the worlds had mixed and the original Casian had popped out.

“It’s because you’re that kind of person that I stay by your side, so don’t have any strange thoughts.”

“That was very comforting words, Rose.”

About what?

I wondered briefly, but whatever it was, I was glad it comforted him.

Both of us were people whose reason took over to find solutions when in crisis, so we were just calm, but it was actually a truly hopeless situation.

“What about Prince Joel?”

“He cried his heart out, then curled up and fell asleep next to Coco. I also brought the Seolkuk-born maids from the Lilac Palace to the Winter Palace, so don’t worry.”

I nodded to Casian and told him about the situation I experienced as organized as possible.

“So there are two things we need to do.”

“One is to prove the Second Empress’s innocence and find the real culprit, and we also need to find the hint she gave with hand signals.”

“That’s right, and the second is for the Emperor to safely open his eyes.”

With that, I took out the scroll.

This was definitely an incident that wasn’t in the original work.

So it might not be helpful at all.

On one hand, I also hoped it wouldn’t be helpful at all.

Because I felt like I was being manipulated, wondering if it had intentionally made me let my guard down.

But.

“…There are changes.”

Damn, what a disappointing original work.

*

The unconfirmed prophecy section had no changes this time either.

But the unrevealed section had as many as three places.

First was the story of the young days of First Empress Scaletti Zamotti and Second Empress Trisha Snick that we didn’t know about.

Settings about the Emperor that weren’t properly resolved in the original work were also neatly organized and written in the miscellaneous settings category.

And lastly.

As if making excuses for my complaint that I never solved this in the original work, there was a scene mentioned in an unpublished special side story.

Annoyingly.

While I was checking the scroll and feeling frustrated, Casian gently covered my entire forehead and eyes as if embracing them.

“Rose, this isn’t something you need to feel responsible for.”

“…But.”

“Do you think this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t received the scroll? I don’t think so.”

Casian’s tone wasn’t as gentle as usual.

Rather, it was stiff like when I first came to the Capital and was adapting.

But that made it more comforting.

Because it wasn’t words meant to comfort me.

“Rather, thanks to that, we were able to find the answer quickly. You don’t need to take responsibility for situations you couldn’t help.”

Casian slowly removed his hand from my face and met my eyes.

“It’s not something we could have known before it happened either.”

He knocked down the sense of debt that had been building up in my heart from the moment the Emperor collapsed.

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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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