Chapter 132: Chapter 132 Don’t come to the capital of the empire (4)
“If the emperor had been greatly shocked by some other stimulant, it would have quickened his death, according to the doctor. I think it was related to Duke Engre’s meeting with the late emperor. So, I’m currently interrogating the servant who kept watch outside the door at the time.”
“I think I have to make a drug that makes people tell the truth. If I mix some grass ingredients…”
“Are you sure there is such a drug?” Lard gladly responded to her joke and asked. She quickly waved her hand at that.
“I’m kidding. I heard some rumors about it in the past. It was just a fake recipe.”
Hearing her, he swallowed like a disappointed man. She tilted her head and looked up at him.
“Are you desperate enough to take that kind of drug?”
“Yes… If such a drug really exists, I want to use it for someone I know.”
As she was looking at him curiously, he frowned as if he was uneasy.
“… You. ”
“Not the attendants, but me?” She said, pointing at herself with her finger in embarrassment.
“Yes, because you won’t reveal your genuine heart to me ”
This man who revived her lost heart said he didn’t know her heart. She almost felt pitiable about this imperial knight who was talking nonsense.
“No matter how calm you appeared to be about your encounter with the Hazlet couple, you must still feel uneasy, but you haven’t expressed it to me at all. Even when I begged you to tell me several times, you haven’t shown me the truth.”
When he said that, she could no longer take his words lightly. He was concerned about her recent meeting with Earl Hazlet and his wife. His concern was like a balmy wind on a spring day when the dry trees were watered and began to shoot out buds. He was always like a balmy wind to her heart.
“But I don’t feel heartbroken at all… Since you were so blunt and condemning, I don’t have any reason to feel hurt. You really don’t know anything about me. ”
Looking at her calm expression, he tried to stay composed. He realized something and said with a smile, “It’s late at night. Please take a rest. I need to get some clothes. ”
“… Do you have to go back to the palace again? ”
He nodded. Her face quickly turned sullen. She felt lonely because she had to part with him as soon as she met him.
“It looks like you’re working too hard these days. Hope you will get paid for your extra work…”
As she spoke, turning back and pretending to look out the window, he came back to her.
Suddenly, she stopped while grumbling about his extra pay because he hugged her small shoulders quietly. As she was surprised and tried to turn back, he held her more tightly and said,
“I feel fine even if I don’t know your heart fully, but please don’t show me your back like this. I won’t complain again. ”
Her face became more sullen at his response. It’s too late for him to take back what he just said.
She cleared her throat without any reply and decided that she would turn sulky to him sometimes.
“I have always respected your moral repute highly.”
“Hahaha, I’m flattered. I don’t deserve such praise.”
“How humble you are, sir! Who doesn’ know Duke Engre’s high moral repute in the Benyahan empire? Hohohoho! ”
A roaring laughter came out of the parlor. When Mrs. Hazelet, who laughed happily, gently nudged Earl Hazlet in the ribs, he cleared his throat and said, “Duke Engre! I hope you can take care of my daughter Francis…”
“Oh, I understand how worried you are. If we achieve our great goal, I expect the injustices done to the Hazlet family will naturally be vindicated. Don’t worry too much. You will soon see Francis be freed,” said the duke with a smile.
He had some mysterious power to attract people. His soft and deft eloquence helped him widen his network of people, and his comfortable and strong impression helped him gain people’s trust.
Earl Hazlet nodded in satisfaction, looking into his trustworthy eyes, and said, “I’ll gather my personal militia for you in time.”
“Thank you for your decision. It will be a great help to us.”
“If all the noble families join hands with you in this coup against the emperor, it would be natural that my family participates in it. I trust you, Duke Engre.”
His voice was incredibly decisive for a person who had been hesitant to participate despite his wife’s persistent urging. Satisfied with his decision, he tried to shake off anxiety.
Earl Hazlet was scared, faced with a situation in which he would lose his right to succession and lose his chance to have his daughter married into a promising family because of her crime. When he saw Olivia Hazlet who inherited his last name, standing next to Lard Schroder, the strong man of the empire, his heart sunk.
Earl Hazlet comforted himself with the idea that if he could use the situation in his favor, he could turn the crisis into an opportunity, but Schroder was the type of man that could never be persuaded. He was horrified by Lard’s chilly and scary way of speaking. If he didn’t do anything to turn the tide, he felt that not only Francis, but none of his family would survive. Duke Engre was his benefactor in this tough situation.
“Let me leave now. I’d like to have a drink with you when we have a chance in the future. See you on the coup day,” said the duke, rising from the seat. Earl Hazlet bowed deeply to him.
Leaving the earl’s mansion in the dark, Duke Engre got in the wagon secretly. His right-hand man Viscount Bual stood waiting outside and rode with him.
“The situation has turned interesting.”
“Did your meeting go well?”
“Sure… There’s something you need to find out for me. I hear that Francis Hazlet was ordered to leave the capital on charges of threatening a commoner woman. Please find out about it. I can’t trust the Hazlet family completely, so I can only use him as a good card.”
“Yes, I will.”
The two-horse carriage they got in shook easily while crossing small stones. As if the vibrations served as a comfortable cradle, the duke leaned back in the stiff seat and smiled.
The shortage of soldiers caused by the arrest of Earl Scholters would be remedied by the soldiers sent by the Hazlet family.
“Any update on the status of Earl Scholters?”
“I hear that he has constantly argued that he has nothing to do with the explosion.”
“That sounds good,” Auguste replied, closing her eyes.
He felt it a pity that he would disappoint the investigators who expected to extract confession from Scholters that he was behind the explosion. Now, with the fate of Earl Scholters at stake, he would really hope that Duke Engre’s coup would succeed. The duke didn’t share the information about his coup date with Scholters for fear that Scholters might be arrested before the coup.
Even if Scholters confessed under intense pressure, the coup would be carried out before his confession. The duke felt as if his fatigue from lack of sleep was gone forever. He felt unusually good tonight.
A few days passed. Back at the palace, Lard went to see the new emperor. The emperor, who had been troubled all day long due to the steep increase in the prices of Montrapi, did not look very good. The Montrapi stockpiles that had been supplied to the people throughout the empire to stabilize the Montrapi prices were now almost out of stock.
The government cracked down on several Montrapi shops that monopolized Motrapi by arresting their owners and imposing heavy fines, but such measures didn’t help much. The real owners of the shops were in hiding, and those arrested were no more than puppet owners. As they made more money than the fines, they didn’t fear the government’s crackdown. When the government tried to change the relevant law, the nobles joined hands and opposed it, creating a vicious cycle of the Montrapi price hikes and a tighter control over the market. Emperor Isaac felt all the more uncomfortable because he was aware of the rebellious rumors surrounding him.
“Confiscate the property of Earl Scholters and strip him of his title. If he can’t confess who’s behind the explosion, I have no other choice but to punish him. Behead Derek Scholters this evening and hang his head on a pole. If anybody dares to touch it before it rots completely, he shall also be beheaded. Let me see if Earl Scholters can protect Duke Engre in the face of his son’s death,” said the emperor, looking at the violins in front of him. As if he didn’t like all of them, he put down the violins on the table in annoyance.
“Are you going to punish Mrs. Scholters and her daughter Altarin under the guilt-by-association system?”
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