Chapter 5

The current Emperor had three children.

The youngest had severe mental disabilities and was sent early for adoption to a branch imperial family, leaving two remaining.

One of them was Crown Prince ‘Vincent Kauling’, who had bad blood with Rose.

As evident from how the Emperor sent away his youngest for adoption almost like abandoning it to another family despite opposition from his ministers solely due to its mental disabilities, he was obsessed with imperial authority and dignity, and had a personality of accomplishing whatever he deemed right. He was extremely stubborn.

“…It’s been a while.”

And before her was another imperial family member different from those two. It was Imperial Princess ‘Greta Kauling’. The woman with black hair braided and draped over one shoulder and wearing glasses looked somewhat tired but had a solemn impression. She was exactly seven years older than Rose and also the Crown Prince’s older sister.

In other words, despite being the eldest daughter, she couldn’t have the position of successor. This was unprecedented in the Empire where the firstborn became the successor regardless of gender.

Moreover, it could be considered even more unfair and unusual given that all nobles in the Empire knew the Imperial Princess was capable.

Rose had grown up with her cousins the Crown Prince and Imperial Princess since childhood. It was inevitable. The current Emperor had almost no close relatives, and the Clematis ducal family was among his closest relations.

Because of this, despite their age differences, the three had watched each other’s growth processes.

Rose smiled brightly and innocently, a smile she rarely showed.

“Hi, sister!”

Greta’s eyes lingered briefly on Rose’s bright red hair. Though Greta, who couldn’t become Crown Princess, strongly disliked the red color possessed by the Emperor and Crown Prince who created this unfair situation, strangely, she didn’t dislike this bright-faced cousin. Rose had known about Greta’s feelings for a long time.

“Yes. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“This is the first time since you said goodbye a few years ago saying you didn’t want to be politically entangled.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Rose just kept smiling brightly despite the subtle sarcasm. Greta watched that pretty face while resting her chin, then gave a small laugh. As in childhood, the Imperial Princess was particularly weak to this pretty child.

“You know. If I had decided to become your enemy, I would have sided with that f*cking trash bastard.”

Rose raised both hands in surrender. ‘F*cking trash bastard’ must refer to her younger brother, Crown Prince Vincent. Greta was somewhat surprised.

She had long known Rose hated Crown Prince Vincent, but since she had declared neutrality following her father, she had never openly shown it before.

“Though it’s true, it feels different hearing it from your mouth.”

“Feels good to hear, right? I know.”

“……”

Still smiling, Rose continued.

“That bastard took that position with no ability, just the support of the Emperor and nobles who follow him. That’s why he’s always busy taking things from wealthy nobles, right? Oh, or was he just a playboy pretending to be busy.”

Greta burst out laughing at Rose’s frank words. Because they were exactly right. Vincent was what you’d call ‘pretty trash’ with no ability. Though the Emperor tried to create an image of a capable successor by attributing Greta’s achievements to Vincent, the person himself repeatedly rejected them.

“My, speaking ill of the Emperor in the Imperial Princess’s room, what impiety.”

“Ah, then would you like to balance it out by badmouthing your dad too?”

Despite this, thanks to the Emperor’s infinite trust that kept covering for him, the image-making worked well, though he was a man with no substance. This was all misfortune and tragedy created by the Emperor’s preference for sons. The current Emperor extremely despised daughters.

“You didn’t come during this leisure time just to badmouth my incompetent brother, what brings you here?”

Greta’s tone became noticeably softer. It seemed she was quite pleased with the criticism of Vincent that was practically flattery. Just as Rose had thought.

“To be direct.”

Sister Greta doesn’t particularly like beating around the bush.

“I know you’re not someone who would just quietly take this. Though I’m ignorant, you must be preparing something, right?”

This was something she knew even before her regression. Currently, though Greta was publicly known to do nothing while in the position of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rose truly didn’t think Greta was someone who would do nothing.

“Do you still want to become Emperor?”

She must have done something before her regression too, which is why the Crown Prince needed to urgently take their family’s wealth even if it meant beheading their house. It wasn’t difficult to reason backwards.

“That’s dangerous talk. His Majesty has designated Vincent as successor.”

“I guarantee, if that bastard becomes Emperor, the country will collapse within 30 years or war will break out within 10 years.”

In fact, looking at the current situation, the Empire was at the center of competing for hegemony on the continent. With capable successors from other kingdoms making names for themselves now, the next generation successor was also extremely important for the Empire. If looked down upon, it means war.

“My lovely cousin doesn’t seem to be planning to get arrested for blasphemy. What’s this about?”

“Sister, don’t you know what ‘to be direct’ means? I came to ask if I can grasp the hand you extended 4 years ago again.”

“……”

Though Rose was overflowing with possessiveness and greed, she surprisingly wasn’t very ambitious. Meaning, even if she became duke later, she had no thoughts of making a name in politics. Rather, she was more interested in becoming a merchant prince dominating commerce and trade.

But it became a problem that her imperial succession rank was higher than expected, and after realizing her merchant group could get entangled in politics here and there, she early on declared neutrality like her father. She wouldn’t support any successor’s side.

“…What a sudden change of heart. The you I know isn’t one to reverse decisions.”

“People can change with certain triggers, right?”

“You’re also the one who said people don’t change without catastrophic triggers.”

I experienced that catastrophe, sister.

Only now did Rose realize her past choice was wrong. This was a game of chicken. It was a game that wouldn’t end unless one side completely died, and Rose herself was already deeply involved.

“Sister, what do you think will happen if Clematis falls?”

Though looking dubious, Greta answered readily.

“The balance would be shaken.”

“Right? And imagine if our ducal family is ruined with just people dying and all assets going to that trash’s hands?”

“……”

Greta knew her young cousin didn’t speak empty words.

“Did something happen?”

“Something might happen.”

Rose calmly began telling what she had seen and heard since childhood. What kind of words Vincent had said to her with dirty eyes during puberty, what kind of talk he had recently about Rose’s trading ports and mines.

“It’s truly surprising that he tried to take your trading ports by changing laws to marry you.”

“Right?”

Moreover, this was during puberty. A story from when Vincent was an adult but Rose was still a minor.

“When I looked into it, ships from Kalmaris have been frequently entering my trading ports over the past three months.”

She hadn’t been doing nothing while she’s busily following Maverick around. After all, Maverick didn’t deal with her 24 hours a day. In between seducing Maverick and scheming well, she investigated various things.

“Something seemed strange. So I used some irregular methods to conduct full inspections of those ships.”

Kalmaris is a kingdom located near the Empire. Without special cause, fully inspecting ships from another country would have caused diplomatic issues, but Rose overcame this by appropriately creating ‘problems’.

“And tada. Guess what was found?”

“Opium.”

It was an addictive substance that devastated the entire Western Continent a hundred years ago. The Emperor who barely drove opium out of the country at the time subsequently made a law that just possessing opium in the Empire would be considered treason, allowing for immediate execution.

That reason made it possible to arrest Lady Clematis so quickly before her regression. The investigation must have been conducted by the imperial family then.

Clematis fell to an absurdly simple scheme. Probably the result of collusion between the Emperor and nobles who coveted the Emperor and Clematis’s wealth.

Though immediate execution was possible, originally, dozens of verification processes were needed to consider opium possession as treason. Clematis fell quickly without even going through this process. In fact, if her father hadn’t been poisoned, it wouldn’t have fallen so easily.

“…Vincent’s doing?”

“The circumstances suggest so. But could that stupid head really manage this?”

The two were silent. The wise Greta would easily know that in reality this was led by the Emperor, and if Vincent took everything from fallen Clematis, it would not be difficult to figure out what would happen next.

“Sister, if we fall you’re next. So isn’t it clear why I would come to you before reaching this state?”

“In other words, you wouldn’t have taken my hand if it wasn’t this serious.”