The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 176

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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 176

26.

At last, the Emperor made his decision.

“The Kingdom of Eimel declared war first. We cannot fail to defend ourselves when invaded.”

The Emperor declared.

“If the Kingdom of Eimel truly wished to uncover the truth behind the Queen’s assassination, they should have politely requested cooperation in the investigation instead of rashly raising an army to invade.”

And he also said this.

“The act of condemning an Imperial citizen as an assassin without certainty of the truth and resorting to violence is unacceptable. Prince Cadriole does not seek to uncover the truth but blindly raises an army, making his true intentions highly suspicious. As the protector who must defend the citizens and honor of the Cratese Empire, I intend to clearly reveal the truth of this matter and hold the Kingdom of Eimel accountable.”

In addition to the Emperor’s will, the ministers added their own points.

The main content was raising suspicions about whether the assassination of Queen Eimel was related to Prince Cadriole.

What ability and power could a woman running a fabric business have to commit such a grave crime? Rather, wasn’t it possible that they framed and killed Countess Rexen to prevent the truth from being revealed?

One more condemnation was added to this.

“By what right does a prince, not the king, dare to send a state letter? This merely proves that the Kingdom of Eimel’s national order has collapsed.”

This also contained the intention to sow discord between the King of Eimel and the Prince.

Government newspapers and intellectuals shaped public opinion. Duke Loigar thoroughly kept pace with this.

All newspapers unanimously criticized the Kingdom of Eimel. Whether in salons, coffeehouses, or anywhere people gathered, the atmosphere became one of praising the Emperor’s bold decision.

It wasn’t a difficult task. Many had their pride wounded by the fact that they were losing, even locally, to a small country like the Kingdom of Eimel.

“We should have done this from the start. Since when has the Empire been concerned about the likes of Eimel?”

“It’s a country crawling with pirates anyway. I hope we sweep them away completely and refreshingly with this opportunity.”

As time passes, people forget pain.

This is true even for personal pain directly experienced by an individual. Moreover, the war in the central region had occurred more than two or three generations ago.

It wasn’t strange that many were calling for total war. After all, it would be others’ blood that flowed.

And when those numbers gathered and a bit of incitement was added, voices calling for all-out war swept through public opinion.

Inside the Evron Ducal Residence, an anxious and worried atmosphere flowed.

In the Evron Ducal Residence, there were few who didn’t know what war was.

Even though the south and north were so far away that the war’s effects wouldn’t directly reach them, it wasn’t something they could pretend not to know.

Hailey also asked Artizea, unable to completely hide her worry.

“Will there be an all-out war?”

“No.”

Artizea replied.

“Creating public opinion calling for war is to threaten the Kingdom of Eimel. Right now, the Kingdom of Eimel is also doing everything they can to gauge the Imperial government’s mood.”

“You mean they won’t actually send troops?”

“They will send them. After all, threats are truly frightening only when accompanied by actual action, right?”

“I heard that the supply plans for the Southern Subjugation Army have already completely collapsed. Connecting supply lines from the central region would be an enormous undertaking.”

“Nevertheless, being able to accomplish that is what makes it an Empire.”

Artizea said while comfortably leaning back on the sofa.

“Whether the people fall into misery, whether monsters constantly sweep through and destroy farms, whether thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers shed blood… if they squeeze hard enough, they can continue mobilizing troops and supplies will come out.”

When it came to numbers, the Empire was truly an enormous country.

Even if the Kingdom of Eimel with its elite soldiers and the wealthy Kingdom of Ients joined forces to raise an army, it would be impossible to mobilize more troops and supplies than what the Empire could squeeze out from just a portion of itself.

No matter how meager and miserable the supplies allocated to each individual person might be.

“But it’s fine. What constitutes the Southern Subjugation Army is His Majesty’s elite forces. Even though he intended to use them to support Brother Lawrence, he wouldn’t want to waste them on such an unexpected matter.”

“Even so, it doesn’t seem like the Kingdom of Eimel, which is riding high on momentum, will easily submit… Are they planning to send an investigation team?”

Hailey asked. Artizea nodded while fidgeting with the corner of a cushion.

“Probably so.”

And that investigation team’s purpose would be to sow discord between the King of Eimel and Prince Cadriole.

Artizea said.

“Three months have passed since the Queen died. By now, the King of Eimel’s grief should have somewhat subsided.”

And he would gradually start having other thoughts.

Such as having given too much authority to his eldest son, whom he should rightfully be wary of.

“It’s only been three months. Didn’t you say the King of Eimel loved the Queen tremendously?”

Sophie, who had been picking up many stories lately while staying by Artizea’s side, interjected.

Hailey replied.

“While it’s common for an old man in power to fall for a young wife young enough to be his daughter, how much of that can truly be called genuine love?”

“At that moment, it might have been sincere, but…”

Artizea murmured.

“Anyway, from the King’s perspective, while he might have initially entrusted Prince Cadriole with full authority out of grief without thinking, he should have come to his senses somewhat by now. The King knows well what the relationship between the Queen and Prince Cadriole was like.”

“Yes…”

“With the added excuse of doing it for the Queen, it becomes easier for the King to change his mind.”

And the head of the investigation team would be Duke Loigar.

To have conversations on equal terms with the King of Eimel, bypassing Prince Cadriole, it was necessary to provide someone with appropriate status.

Artizea was hearing more detailed stories from her information network within the palace.

Duke Loigar had argued to the Emperor that he felt responsible for the Ford family’s affairs.

“Deary Ford’s misunderstanding was absurd. However, Lady Ford ultimately died because of that misunderstanding. I too feel responsible for not actively clearing up the misunderstanding.”

Of course, his saying such things was ostensibly to strongly assert that he had no relationship with Deary Ford.

But in reality, he subtly revealed that this matter was related to his own shameful secrets, letting it be known that his and the Emperor’s goals were the same.

That goal was to make Deary Ford a meaningless existence.

Anyway, only a very few within the Empire knew about the grudge between Deary Ford, the Camellia Marquess family, and Duke Loigar.

So that matter could be buried. If they dug into Deary Ford’s background, they would inevitably bear responsibility for involving a foreign queen in the Empire’s internal political situation.

Now was the time to focus attention not on Deary Ford, but on Queen Eimel.

Duke Loigar persuaded the Emperor to attack first by claiming that Prince Cadriole was the assassin of Queen Eimel.

“The one who benefits most from this assassination is Prince Cadriole. Even if that’s not the case, it must ultimately be someone from the south.”

Duke Loigar argued.

In the first place, there was no one in the Empire’s central region who had a grudge against Queen Eimel, nor anyone who had been in a cooperative relationship with her.

There was no motive to kill her.

The claim that House Riagan had a falling out with Queen Eimel and assassinated her also lacked persuasiveness.

For what reason would the Duchess Riagan consume the carefully crafted false identity in a way that would expose everything?

“Most importantly, the wealth that made Deary Ford into Countess Rexen came from the Kingdom of Ients.”

“I understand what you mean.”

The Emperor immediately nodded at Duke Loigar’s words.

The truth didn’t matter.

They could drag the Kingdom of Ients into this.

The Kingdom of Ients was small but wealthy. Most of the luxury goods used within the Empire were products from Ients.

If they could gain diplomatic advantage through pressure, they could obtain enormous benefits.

Raise an army to threaten the Kingdoms of Eimel and Ients. Simultaneously demand cooperation.

The Kingdom of Ients would know that cooperation was better. The existence of a belligerent, strong neighboring prince who controlled an army would not be welcome.

The odds of success were sufficient.

Thus, the Emperor accepted Duke Loigar’s proposal.

Hailey said.

“Duke Loigar is quite capable… You don’t seem very worried.”

“Because it’s not that important a matter. Anyway, real power in the Kingdom of Eimel has already passed to Prince Cadriole. Even if Duke Loigar goes, he can’t completely overturn the situation. The real purpose wasn’t a truth investigation from the beginning.”

“…”

Hailey vividly remembered when Artizea had been kidnapped by the Southern Sea people.

How could she forget that incident?

Cedric had buried that matter. He concluded by saying the Southern Sea people were pirate-turned-mercenaries, and the mastermind was someone who had a grudge against the Rosan Marquess family.

Since Cedric said it was a finished matter, all the people of Evron accepted it as finished.

There must have been some who felt doubts. Hailey was one of them.

However, the Prince’s Consort was an outsider and had been Marquess Rosan. It wouldn’t be strange if there were those who held grudges against the Rosan Marquess family.

There was no way to find out even if they tried.

But thinking about it now, those people from the Southern Sea who came at that time must have been from the Kingdom of Eimel.

Hailey never imagined that Cadriole himself might have been among them.

However, it was clear that some kind of agreement had been made between Artizea and Cadriole at that time.

What was happening in the south now was something that had passed through Artizea’s hands.

Hailey was certain of it.

Otherwise, there was no way Artizea would be leisurely chatting like this in the face of such a major incident.

Whether Artizea knew Hailey’s thoughts or not, she spoke gently as if teaching her.

“Hailey, keep one thing in mind. Whether waging war or conducting diplomatic negotiations, politics in the capital has only one purpose.”

The same was true for Artizea herself.

“The Imperial Court and power.”

“The Imperial Court and power…”

“What happens in the south is naturally important national affairs, but it’s not important in politics. Think about what’s most important in the Empire’s Imperial Court and politics right now.”

“…Is it Lord Lawrence?”

“That’s right. The most important thing for His Majesty is to bury the fact that Brother Lawrence was involved.”

The fear and excitement that the word ‘war’ evoked, and the hostility toward Eimel, swept away all suspicions about Lawrence.

That was what the Emperor had wanted most.

“By proposing to His Majesty that they shift the blame for Queen Eimel’s assassination elsewhere, Duke Loigar made it clear that he would not attack Brother Lawrence.”

That was the most important aspect of the negotiations between the Emperor and Duke Loigar.

In exchange, the Emperor agreed to allow Duke Loigar to achieve merit and exercise some influence in the Southern Region.

That was all that mattered.

* * *

And three weeks later, Cedric returned after being relieved by the new commander of the Southern Subjugation Army.

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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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