The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 212

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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 212

Even after hearing Artizea’s explanation, Albert couldn’t fully understand.

“Didn’t Your Highness worry that Prince Cadriole might not move according to your thoughts? You have no acquaintance with him at present.”

“Predicting and guiding a rational person’s actions isn’t that difficult. It’s the same as how the treatise I gave you moved the Ientz Association.”

“Even so, I think it’s too risky. Even if Prince Cadriole was determined to overthrow the government, he could have failed.”

“That’s possible.”

Artizea replied like that. Albert made a puzzled face.

It seemed like Artizea wasn’t considering such a situation at all, contrary to her words.

“…May I think about it and ask again later?”

“Do that.”

Artizea accepted Albert’s two demands in exchange for spreading the treatise to the Kingdom of Ientz.

One was that he wanted to become Artizea’s close associate, and the other was to not consider his questions rude and to answer them.

Those two things had the same purpose. He wanted to know about the secrets underlying the conspiracies.

Albert’s recruitment into Artizea’s information organization happened last year.

At that time, he was merely at the bottom. He couldn’t even know whose pocket the silver coins given to him really came from.

However, he noticed that the southern organization was expanding at an unbelievably fast pace.

The compensation offered to informants was always accurate. They seemed to already know about the other party’s identity, family circumstances, and what they wanted.

Which direction to expand and where to stop. The organization never hesitated and never failed.

There were no trial and error, as if they were doing something they had done before.

Noticing this was very strange. Because it was something Albert shouldn’t have been able to know from his position.

Albert became anxious. He felt like the sequel of a novel whose plot he already knew was unfolding similarly yet differently.

He dug into the organization.

In fact, there were holes in the organization Artizea created. It was inevitable as it expanded rapidly in a short time.

However, it was impossible for an individual like Albert to track the upper levels of the organization while erasing his own traces for a long time.

He was dragged before Artizea in the summer of this year.

Artizea wore a veil and had her hair color hidden with a brown net. But Albert recognized her immediately.

“Marquess Rosan.”

His breath was taken away.

He didn’t know why the name Marquess Rosan came to mind first instead of Duchess Evron.

And he didn’t know how he had recognized her either.

But there was no way she wasn’t Marquess Rosan. Albert felt that way.

Artizea seemed surprised. Albert was panting.

This was an opportunity. Even without knowing exactly what kind of opportunity it was, Albert knew that a great opportunity he could stake his life on had come.

“My family has worked for the Hussey Trading Company since my great-grandmother’s time. Two of my cousins are officials. Among the commoners of the Kingdom of Ientz, there aren’t many cases where identity is as certain as our family’s.”

“Do you know who I am and why I called you here to say such things?”

“You’re the one who made the Emperor.”

Albert was surprised at himself even as he spoke. He knew how dangerous and absurd those words were.

But instead of scolding and driving him away, Artizea observed him with a scrutinizing gaze.

Artizea said.

“Withdraw. I’ll call for you again.”

Albert returned to his boarding house in a daze that day. He knew he was being watched, but he had no leisure to care.

However, he hadn’t spoken wrongly. He was certain of it.

While tracking the organization, he had once had a dream.

It was a dream where he threw away the one chance given to him and returned to the Kingdom of Ientz according to his parents’ wishes to live a boring life.

The family had good relationships. The parents thought it was best for their sons to stay nearby and live together harmoniously.

They considered becoming a shop manager level at the Hussey Trading Company as their life goal. The parents didn’t envy their nephews who became officials and were succeeding, but were happy as if their own children had succeeded.

Albert was tired of such a family. He had loved them once, but after decades of friction, only the feeling that he was done with this kind of life had grown stronger.

But an opportunity once missed never came back twice.

He couldn’t even break away from the life he was settling into.

And when he woke from that dream, youth and opportunity had suddenly returned before his eyes.

This time, he wanted to forge himself as sharp as a blue blade.

The second time he was called was two weeks later. Artizea wasn’t wearing a veil.

That face was exactly the same as what Albert remembered. Albert was convinced that his dream had meaning.

How could someone of Albert’s status have ever seen Artizea?

Unlike royalty whose portraits circulated or nobles frequently featured in newspapers, Duchess Evron’s face was known through illustrations only around the time of her wedding.

Yet Albert could clearly recognize her face.

Artizea made several proposals to him while saying.

“I can’t promise to protect your family. Your family needs to stay in their position in the Kingdom of Ientz to have meaning as spies.”

“I understand. But I also know that you’ll compensate me beyond that after achieving success.”

Artizea looked at him with a subtle expression.

For three reasons, Artizea decided to keep him by her side.

First was the possibility that he was a ‘returned one’. Albert hadn’t mentioned the dream story, but Artizea suspected it.

It was clear that old memories were influencing him in some way. It would be safer to keep him right beside her and observe him.

Second was because of the treatise. Artizea had originally planned to publish the treatise under a fake name.

The Kingdom of Ientz spares no effort in monitoring trends of how the Empire thinks about Ientz.

Even if she printed only about twenty copies through Belmond Magazine and circulated them in salons, they would immediately reach the hands of the Kingdom of Ientz.

However, it was better to have it secretly enter through a person from the Kingdom of Ientz rather than increasing readers that way.

She knew there was a great risk of the source being suspected. But she thought it was safer than the treatise causing variables within the Empire.

And lastly, it was because Albert was truly a useful person.

In the past, Albert had also stepped on the edges of Artizea’s information organization. Artizea had directly called and met Albert, and had tried to recruit him.

He was someone who wanted power more than money, and wanted to know the secrets that move the world more than power. He was also quite intelligent.

Such people are difficult to handle, but once you gain their loyalty, they are very capable and know how to work independently.

But he had refused Artizea’s proposal and returned to his hometown. Because what Artizea proposed was a position in the western organization. Going there would make returning to the south distant.

And as far as Artizea knew, he kept the secret to the end and never opened his mouth once.

‘Going to the south was rather fortunate for him.’

If he had accepted the recruitment proposal, he would have become Lawrence’s target.

Now it was an irrelevant matter. Whether a few more charges were added or subtracted to that time’s Artizea, the ending would have been the same.

Of course, she had no intention of sharing truly important secrets now.

If Albert wanted to approach the core of the Empire, he would have to reach the precise questions that Artizea couldn’t help but answer through his own deduction.

31.

Prince Cadriole’s second state letter departed on the day Eimel’s royal palace was turned upside down and arrived in the Empire’s capital in two weeks.

The first state letter had barely arrived after more than a month had passed since occupying several ports and surrounding House Riagan.

Considering this arrival speed, it was clear that the previous time he had strategically sent the state letter late.

However, the Emperor didn’t say a word about the timing of the state letter’s arrival.

Not because he didn’t know Cadriole had played tricks. It was because he was angry enough that it wasn’t the problem.

“Tell Lord Boyden to immediately escort Duke Riagan’s family! Strip away the positions of all the relatives, friends, and protégés that bastard installed, without exception!”

“Please calm down, Your Majesty. It’s harmful to your health.”

The chamberlain knelt and advised, but instead of calming his anger, the Emperor threw documents at him.

Thwack!

A fairly thick bundle of documents hit a servant’s forehead and scattered on the floor.

Several officials present shrank their heads.

Only Prime Minister Lin asked with a calm attitude.

“What will you do about the fact-finding mission?”

“What do you mean what? Call them back immediately!”

Cadriole didn’t write a single word about Duke Loigar’s name in the state letter.

However, the state letter even included the ledgers of the salt smuggling business.

Having this level of material, there was no way he wouldn’t have used it as negotiation material.

Sending that meant that consensus had not been reached in the Southern Region.

Soon, it meant that Duke Loigar was also playing a part in this matter.

“Ha.”

The Emperor felt his head throbbing and leaned back, resting his head against the backrest.

He had already suspected that House Riagan would siphon off salt. He had been turning a blind eye, thinking they would handle it moderately on their own.

But shouldn’t there be limits to everything?

Turning a blind eye meant doing it secretly and gradually while reading the situation.

It didn’t mean dragging in foreign countries to conduct business internationally.

“This is outrageous. They said they would do business with Queen Eimel, but it wasn’t textile or sericulture business, nor grain business, but salt.”

Duke Loigar was the same.

When appointing him as imperial envoy, he had tolerated that a considerable portion would be for private gain.

Things like the massive bribes he would receive from the Southern Region, expanding influence over southern merchant guilds, and the commercial profits he would gain by using his authority as imperial envoy to conduct trade negotiations when contacting southern kingdoms.

He knew that bribes had been received from House Riagan. He could easily guess that salt would be included among them.

But rather than just obtaining and selling finished salt products, wasn’t he trying to acquire the entire illegal salt business?

“How dare they lay hands on salt and try to interfere with Eimel’s royal succession?”

It was then.

Bellon, a Ministry of Finance official who had been crouching behind Prime Minister Lin, spoke cautiously.

“I am deeply ashamed to speak of such matters at this time, but Your Majesty…”

“What now? Are you planning to disturb my mood with trivial matters at a time like this?”

“How could I dare think such thoughts? It’s just… I was going to report this anyway, but it’s about Duke Riagan…”

Bellon muttered as he spoke.

“The salt tax he pays was the correct amount, but actually the books were adjusted… I am deeply ashamed!”

The Emperor shot up from his seat.

Not only the servants but even the officials all knelt in unison.

The teacup on the desk spilled over. The state letter became soaked with tea.

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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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