The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 219

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 219

After that, the Emperor’s investigators didn’t touch Duke Loigar for quite some time.

Secret organizations were moving covertly to investigate the attendants of the special envoy. Before that, Duke Loigar had sent several key officials back to their hometowns or made them disappear along with their families.

Though the underground struggle was fierce, at least there was no formal discussion in the state council about treating Duke Loigar as a criminal.

The media was also quiet. Artizea advised through Hazel that it would be best not to touch on this matter as much as possible.

“Although they say Leticia manifested a miracle on the day of the Harvest Festival, she’s still a baby who hasn’t even had measles yet.”

“Aren’t you excited, Your Highness?”

“It’s not like an oracle came down saying Leticia would become Emperor, right? Even if such an oracle had come down, I wouldn’t have been particularly pleased.”

“It would only needlessly provoke Prince Loigar, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s right. And although Lord Belmond has quite high authority in salons and universities, it wouldn’t be good for him to get on Prince Loigar’s bad side.”

At Hazel’s question, Artizea smiled and nodded as if looking at a student who had answered well.

Unless one was deeply devout, it was about time for the initial shock of witnessing the miracle to fade.

Duke Loigar was now gathering all his forces to stand against the Emperor.

If they rashly tried to investigate and punish him as an accomplice in the salt smuggling incident, the nobles would rise up in revolt.

Even those who supported Leticia would side with Duke Loigar on this matter.

At most, hadn’t he just taken bribes?

That level of bribery, that level of special treatment, that level of backroom deals were naturally permitted to them.

They had kept their mouths shut until now because the Emperor had dirt on them.

But Duke Loigar had stepped forward. Standing behind him was something they could easily do.

No matter how much the bureaucracy was composed of new nobles and commoners, if the nobles confronted them en masse, state affairs couldn’t function properly.

Even those who had completed their studies with the Emperor’s scholarship and become officials had some connection with the nobles in one way or another.

In the case of lower-level administrators, even if they weren’t entangled in any networks, they couldn’t dare oppose the nobles.

The paralysis of state affairs itself was something that undermined the Emperor’s authority.

However, he couldn’t mobilize military force to crush them either. There wasn’t sufficient justification for that.

Hazel asked.

“Prince Loigar has never directly confronted His Majesty before, has he? Does he have confidence he can win this time?”

“That’s a poor choice of words.”

Artizea put her index finger to her lips, signaling to be careful with words.

“His Majesty never suffers defeat.”

Hazel couldn’t quite tell whether that was stating a principle or really meaning the Emperor would win.

“His Majesty must be deeply troubled too. The justification for sweeping away great nobles would be at most treason or conspiracy charges.”

Artizea smiled.

A few weeks later, the Liagan Duke’s family was finally escorted in.

The charges had already been confirmed. Evidence had also been accumulated.

It was certain that they had manipulated the Treasury’s ledgers for at least the past five years.

Investigators confirmed that salt had been continuously produced at dozens of salt manufacturing sites that were supposedly closed. With each new piece of information that arrived, the amount of diverted salt increased tremendously.

Even if Duke Riagan had been the legitimate heir of the ducal house, it was at a level where compromise was absolutely impossible.

The Emperor met with Duke Riagan face to face. There was no need to, but he was so astounded that he couldn’t help but meet him.

“Did I treat you so disappointingly?”

Duke Riagan, forced to his knees, was terrified.

When things were going well, it felt like they would go well forever.

Even when expanding and joining hands with Queen Eimel, he never thought he would enter a downward spiral.

The influence of the salt business was enormous. Anyone interested in commerce treated him favorably.

He wielded power in southern social circles, and when he occasionally came to the capital, he sat in the seat after the Loigar and Evron ducal houses.

There were those who looked down on him. Duke Riagan believed they were not only old-fashioned and foolish but also held grudges because they had been close to the late Duke and Duchess of Liagan.

If not that, he believed they were jealous of the wealthy House of Liagan.

In truth, he was often consumed by feelings of inferiority. All the more so, he acted as if he were the real Duke Riagan.

Glory seemed to be right before his eyes.

However, facing the Emperor’s angry expression like this, his self from 18 years ago suddenly emerged from the depths of his unconscious.

He remembered things he had forgotten.

“I chose you because you have ambition while also knowing fear.”

The Emperor had looked down at him and said that. For a young father who had lost his child not long ago, his face was too cold.

“What I want from you is loyalty worthy of being offered to the throne. If you are faithful to me, I too will give appropriate reward. Do you understand?”

Duke Riagan’s fingertips trembled violently.

Until now, he had thought it was completely unknowable. Who on earth had assassinated Queen Eimel?

If not for that incident, the case wouldn’t have suddenly erupted like this.

Those around him said there was no way someone would commit such an enormous act as assassinating the queen just to trap the House of Liagan. They said it was the result of unlucky coincidences piling up.

But Duke Riagan knew one person who could devise such schemes.

It was Emperor Gregor.

The Emperor had always been someone who didn’t discriminate between means when it came to achieving his goals.

He must have known everything from the beginning. When had he started preparing?

He would surely plot conspiracies from all directions like strangling a neck, using him as bait to catch the real target.

That wasn’t a judgment made with a sound mind.

It wasn’t the era when there were competitors, nor the era when political enemies were purged to consolidate imperial power.

The Emperor no longer had reason to devise such conspiracies. But Duke Riagan thought so.

The trembling spread through his blood vessels, making his whole body shake.

“I’m, I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

“Hah.”

“I, I was blinded by greed and dared to touch what belongs to Your Majesty. Please, please forgive me just once.”

“Fernando.”

“Someone like me isn’t your real target, is it? Though, though I was disloyal, you’ve already taken everything you were going to take, so please, please forgive me now.”

The Emperor looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.

If Duke Riagan had at least shown ambition, it wouldn’t have been this astounding.

The Emperor gestured as if he didn’t want to speak.

The investigators who had escorted Duke Riagan dragged him out again.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I was wrong! Your Majesty!”

Duke Riagan’s shouting voice faded toward the other end of the corridor and then cut off.

The Emperor sank deep into his armchair and pressed his forehead.

“I chose him because he was a petty man, so there’s no point in being disappointed that he’s petty now.”

However, the Emperor was deeply disappointed.

If Duke Riagan had properly harbored ambition and plotted with the resolve to throw away his life, the betrayal would have been painful but not this disappointing.

“I knew he couldn’t see far, but I thought he was at least capable of calculating the danger to himself.”

He was nothing more than a fool who mistook the light reflected by salt crystals for glory.

And he had trusted that fool and entrusted him with an important business, only to be stabbed in the back.

Ferguson, who had been standing at attention, asked.

“How shall we dispose of him?”

“Execute him for deceiving the monarch and conspiracy. As for his family…”

The Emperor thought for a moment.

Even now, Cedric would be standing in the corridor.

A ten-year-old child can remember his parents. A five-year-old child, if his name is changed and he’s sent to an institution, has a high probability of not remembering his roots, but a ten-year-old would definitely harbor resentment.

However, the Emperor waved his hand with his eyes closed.

“Spare those up to ten years old, but have their names and surnames changed, and send them scattered to monasteries in the western regions.”

Anyway, it wouldn’t be him who would bear the resentment those children would harbor when they grew up.

“Is it alright to execute Duke Riagan without extracting more information from him?”

“It’s fine. Didn’t that fellow Boerts already spill everything anyway?”

“However, that alone isn’t enough to definitively implicate Duke Loigar.”

The Emperor tapped the armrest with his fingernails.

As Artizea had said, he was deeply troubled.

The Emperor had Boerts’ testimony in his hands, and a copy of the Loigar-Ients-Eimel agreement sent by Prince Cadriole.

However, that alone was not sufficient evidence.

Duke Loigar had included the agreement, which he originally intended to keep secret, in his official report.

This was to claim that he had merely negotiated trade with the two kingdoms as the Emperor’s special envoy.

In fact, in preparation for such a case, he had been careful to leave no hint in the agreement itself that it would become trade policy after Duke Loigar’s ascension to the throne.

Naturally, not a single word like the Kingdom of Ients’ promise of support or salt was written in it.

Though it was known that he had received bribes from the Kingdom of Ients, that too was merely a matter of the Emperor’s special envoy taking bribes from a small nation.

The Emperor carefully reflected on these matters before speaking.

“Fernando probably doesn’t even know about this anyway.”

“Yes.”

Ferguson bowed his head.

The Emperor gestured for him to withdraw. Then he fell into thought again.

Should Duke Loigar be implicated and purged in the first place?

When he had decided to support Lawrence, it would have been a matter requiring no second thought. But now there was no need to force it.

Of course, gathering forces and daring to oppose him was unforgivable.

So it wouldn’t be a bad choice to merely weaken their power to an appropriate degree and keep Duke Loigar alive.

Right now they were united for survival. However, if pressure was relieved, internal strife would be inevitable.

With Marquess Luden dead, there was no one who could prevent internal conflict. Duke Loigar himself might be able to, but then he wouldn’t be able to advance with the power of his supporting forces.

If Leticia were to be made heir, someone would also be needed to check Cedric’s power from growing too large.

‘He is my brother, after all.’

Stopping mid-thought, the Emperor let out a hollow laugh. Though he had never thought he was wrong, he was not unaware of what he had done.

Knock knock.

There was a knocking sound.

“Come in.”

It was the chamberlain.

“Your Majesty, it’s time for your medicine.”

“Already.”

The Emperor raised his body that had been buried in the chair.

The medicine was for minor ailments and health. It didn’t seem particularly effective, but as he aged and his energy wasn’t what it used to be, he tried not to skip it.

The chamberlain personally tested it for poison.

The Emperor drank the bitter medicine and received the honey water the chamberlain handed him.

“Did Charlotte send this?”

“Yes. She made it with medicinal herbs together with Lady Fiona.”

“I see. Why is there so little?”

“Have you forgotten that the doctor told you to be careful with sweets?”

“Even so. It’s my granddaughter’s devotion.”

The Emperor grumbled as he emptied the small cup.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————