Volume II
Chapter 2. The Wedding
A man was lying prostrate at the emperor’s feet.
He was trembling all over, feeling a chill in his neck. Behind the man, the ministers were bowing their heads deeply, barely managing to keep their feet on the ground, quivering with anxiety.
“I knocked twice.”
Adelia narrowed her eyes sharply and boldly stepped into the study.
She trampled on the scattered papers and shards of glass on the floor.
The grating sound of the glass shards crunching under her heels perfectly matched the gruesome scene in the study.
“There’s never a peaceful day. What’s the issue this time?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Oh, allocating the imperial palace budget is my job. The repair costs for the study and the treatment costs for the ministers add up to the value of two palaces every year. I have to intervene.”
Adelia walked around the study, clicking her heels as she spoke.
Despite the emperor’s curt response, she continued her nagging uninterruptedly.
“Of course, that amount of money is just a tiny speck in the imperial finances, but it would be so much better to spend it elsewhere besides repairs and treatments. Wouldn’t it be great to use that money to increase the ministers’ salaries so they work harder?”
Adelia turned and smiled at the trembling ministers.
They nodded their heads frantically, as if they had encountered an angel.
They looked like prey that had just been freed from a trap.
Unfortunately, she was not a benevolent being, but a hunting trap.
“As for the repairs, that’s fine, but the treatment costs are too high. In fact, the treatment costs are perfect for embezzlement. If you collude with the doctors and fabricate medical certificates, the costs can skyrocket.”
“Ha. That’s an interesting suggestion.”
“Oh, of course, I’m not implying that the ministers have done such a thing. Surely the talented individuals who have entered the imperial palace would not stoop to such deeds. If caught, their heads would fly off immediately.”
Adelia gestured across her neck with her thumb.
Her eyes were sweetly crinkled in a smile, but there was an unsettling aspect to it.
The ministers involuntarily grabbed their own necks.
“Right?”
Adelia gave a serene smile to the frozen ministers, as if asking, ‘Surely you haven’t done anything like that?’
Only two ministers nodded along with her innocent and bright smile.
The rest had their bodies frozen, their eyes darting about, searching for a way to escape.
‘So, what if you bring me such sloppy account books?’
Adelia lightly shook the papers in her hand, hiding the large title written on them.
Adelia placed the documents in front of Lucian with a thud and plumped down next to him.
“So, which area has the emperor’s nerves been struck today? Economy? Society? Or diplomacy?”
She leaned in and asked gently, and Lucian shook his head.
“No, it’s not the ministers, but that noble with his head buried there who’s the problem.”
Adelia turned her head. There was one more person than usual.
“Why?”
“He made an unwise statement.”
“He said something about you being an inadequate crown princess.”
The emperor interjected, still with his curt tone.
Adelia’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“Oh, really? I didn’t know there were still people that brave left.”
Her piercing gaze through her slanted eyes fixed on the aristocrat.
He suddenly trembled. The clothes tightly clinging to his bulky body became damp with cold sweat.
“Whose family is he from?”
“The Marquis of Latte. He’s a representative of the noble faction.”
“The Marquis of Latte, huh…”
Adelia mulled over his family, recalling the businesses associated with him and the evidence of corruption she had collected.
Just the ones that immediately came to mind were more than she could count on her fingers.
Adelia smiled brightly at the emperor.
“Father, isn’t this enough? The Marquis will now know how wrongly he spoke.”
“Th-that’s right! I misspoke!”
He bowed his head profusely, begging with his two hands, as if he had been waiting for this.
His vile eyes flashed between the strands of his disheveled hair.
The emperor looked down at the Marquis with a cold expression.
He had no intention of sparing this fool.
Adelia couldn’t bring herself to tell the emperor, but this idiot had crossed the line.
— I have a friendship with Count Vita, and a few years ago I heard him say drunkenly that his eldest daughter is unfit to be a woman. How can such a person be the crown princess? It’s unacceptable.
Not only was he insulting Adelia, but he was also disregarding the emperor’s proclamation.
And the noble faction had been growing bolder, which had already irked the emperor.
It didn’t take long for him to decide to kill the man.
But Adelia had rushed in and interfered with that.
Outwardly, she seemed to be showing mercy to the Marquis. However, the emperor saw through her hidden intent.
The emperor clicked his tongue, looking at the man like trash, and plunged the sword he was holding into the floor.
“Eek!”
“Get out.”
At the emperor’s words, the people hurriedly fled the study.
The Marquis crawled miserably on the floor, his legs giving way.
Adelia stifled a chuckle at the pitiful sight.
Once the hesitant attendant had also left the room, the study door slammed shut.
“How troublesome.”
The emperor ruffled his hair and trudged over, throwing his back against the chair at the head of the table.
He crossed his long legs and looked at Adelia with a tilted expression.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“If someone hears, they’ll think I’m always plotting schemes.”
Adelia laughed craftily, gesturing vaguely into the air.
“Isn’t that right?”
“That’s right.”
The father and daughter spoke almost simultaneously.
As the people Adelia had dealt with one by one accumulated, the emperor had also become accustomed to her methods.
She would act sweetly and innocently upfront, but then use that image as a shield to back people into a corner. It was quite different from the direct execution style of the imperial family.
Haha. Adelia gave an awkward laugh and lowered her hand.
“Hmm. I just had an idea. I didn’t realize it would turn out this way.”
“Tell me.”
“That person is mentioned quite a bit in the documents I brought today. Looking at the details, stripping him of his title would be easy. Don’t get your hands dirty by killing him and raising your notoriety. Group him with the other nobles and punish them as an example.”
Adelia tapped the documents on the table as she spoke.
The emperor picked them up. Seeing the large title, his brow twitched.
[Discrepancies and Corruption in the Account Books over the Past Year]
“That was quick. You’ve already compiled it.”
“It was a predictable trick. They just incrementally inflated the amounts in the records. Someone who’s unfamiliar with it wouldn’t even notice.”
A month ago, the emperor had asked Adelia to review the account book discrepancies.
Most of the goods entering the imperial palace came from Eileen Merchant Guild, and no one was more accurate than the company’s owner, Adelia.
As expected, someone had been tampering with the account books.
Adelia spread out the documents and explained step-by-step.
“Here, it says 6 gold, but they’re actually selling it for 5 gold.”
“How dare they do this to the imperial property?”
The emperor scowled in anger. The armrest he was gripping crumbled into wooden shards in his hand.
He brushed off the wood chips on his hand.
Adelia shrugged.
“This method is common. The prices vary at different places, and they can just claim it’s a high-end item. But since I know the market prices of my own company’s goods, I can catch them.”
“Good work. I’ll send the promised reward soon.”
“Shall we also go through the tax documents the nobles submitted? There won’t be a single one who didn’t try to cheat.”
“Not a bad idea.”
The emperor placed the documents on his desk.
They were filled with the names of numerous nobles. Brazen culprits who had dared to touch the imperial funds.
The documents were as terrifying as a death sentence list.
“Usually I come to find people, but today I’m going to send people plummeting into the abyss.”
Originally, the purpose of her visit was to save the innocent ministers.
If the punishment was justified, she would have accepted it, but often the penalty exceeded the crime.
The princess was not important enough to interfere in such matters, and the prince would surely only exacerbate the situation. Lucian shared the emperor’s views, so he saw no need to intervene.
In the end, she was the only one who could talk the emperor out of it.
After Adelia pestered him with nagging, the emperor would end up dismissing the ministers with a weary expression.
“Useless nonsense. It’s only natural that those who did wrong receive their due punishment.”
“If you punish them only as much as their crimes, I won’t have to come here every day.”
Adelia added a plea for him to show a little more mercy.
* * *
After returning to her room, Adelia immersed herself in work again.
As dinner time approached, she hurried to the dining hall.
“Sister!”
“Your Highness!”
Ariana, who had arrived earlier, came dashing over as soon as Adelia entered.
Her small figure was swallowed up in the blue skirt.
She tightly wrapped her arms around Adelia’s waist and nuzzled her face.
Adelia smiled and stroked the princess’s hair.
“I missed you!”
“Haha, I missed you too.”
They greeted each other as if they hadn’t seen each other in a very long time.
“I heard you had tea time today as well.”
- ianthe
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