I Became the Master of the Empress

88 – Episode 88

Alexander opens the door and comes in, pretending to be surprised.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke. “Are you awake?”

– Each

“Yes. “I just woke up.”

Alexander slightly bows his head at my words.

“It is a blessing for the empire that Your Majesty has awakened.”

“hahahaha. Thank you for saying that. “Please sit down here.”

I offer him a seat across from me, and he sits down on the sofa.

A boring time passes as we briefly exchange stories about the current situation.

My feet started to feel numb.

Alexander says.

“But you were looking for me in a hurry, right?”

I smile and nod at those words.

“Yes. I heard that His Majesty Ioanes and the National Assembly members were worried because of me. “Furthermore, I will think carefully about your suggestion and give you an answer.”

-Gulp.

Alexander swallows softly.

He will feel it too. From now on, it’s a fight between you and me.

“hehehe… We are satisfied that His Majesty the Archduke is conscious.”

I laugh inside at those words, but I don’t show it.

Where are you trying to get rid of?

I feel like I’ve given up on making an impossible request, but…

I have no intention of letting go easily.

“First of all, we fully understand that you are concerned about your sister-in-law’s safety due to my injury. “If I were in the same situation as His Highness Ioannis, I would have acted the same way.”

hehehe. How do you feel? You must be nervous because you don’t know what I’m going to say, right?

In the worst case scenario, even if I lose a little prestige by ending the alliance, I might spill the fact that I have taken advantage of Epirus and Ejip with the emperor faction.

But I have no intention of doing so.

There is no need to create uncertain risks.

“hehehe… No. Still, I see you are so fine. Perhaps His Majesty Ioanes, your close friend, will understand.”

As expected, Alexander, who is very cautious, does not take the bait I prepared.

I was going to change my mind if he said it was okay here and asked me to send him to Nicaea for an engagement with Princess Joy.

“Thank you for saying that, but…”

I gesture to Agrippa and say,

“According to this friend, I heard that he was very demanding.”

He shakes his head at my words.

“hehehe… I guess General Agrippa doesn’t know much about diplomatic investigation.”

His words make me laugh.

It is laughable that they are trying to resolve this situation under the pretext of a diplomatic investigation.

“Is that possible? Even though he serves me as an ugly person, Agrippa is a genius who can be counted on one hand as a hero of this era.”

He answers my words by rolling his eyes.

“But you don’t have any expertise in diplomacy yet…”

I’m starting to get annoyed by the rather boring Zen questions, so I get to the point.

“Senator Alexander.”

What the heck, I say, interrupting the conversation.

“Yes?”

“I now believe that Nicaea is behind this incident.”

If I say this, you can’t help but get angry.

The reason why Ioannes and Alexander came to Agrippa…

They must have come to Agrippa to appeal that they did not do it.

And he also takes advantage of it.

But what if I tell you right here that I am doubting them?

“Grand Duke… Your Highness? “Do you really believe the assassins’ absurd claims?”

I smile as I see Alexander speaking loudly as if he is slightly angry.

“Yes. “I have a suspicion?”

As I spoke leisurely, Alexander spoke with his eyes focused.

“Grand Duke! What are you talking about? “Are you really doubting us innocent people?”

I laugh inwardly as I see Alexander, whose face turns red and shouts as if he is saying no.

It is noticeable.

It is truly shocking to see him get angry as if he is being wronged.

Well, it’s okay to be angry.

We must somehow avoid rumors that they were trying to assassinate the emperor.

“Grand Duke! This is a hostile act that disrespects our Kingdom of Nicaea! “Do you suspect us, our allies, without any evidence?”

-Pisik.

Even if there really was evidence, would they admit it?

I don’t know if this is conclusive evidence that anti-counterfeiting magic has been applied. There is no such evidence anyway.

So they won’t admit it.

But will I be able to persuade other nobles?

The answer is no.

No doubt the nobles will support Ioannes, who has a higher reputation than me.

They may claim that I am fabricating evidence or fabricating a play to eliminate a rival and persecute the emperor.

My current image within the empire is that of a power that rules the empire with the emperor hostage.

So, I take out the secret weapon I prepared a long time ago.

“I heard from Agrippa that you claimed that there is a force trying to disrupt the relationship between us and the Kingdom of Nicaea, right?”

Alexander, who was furious at my words with a bright red face, spoke.

“Yes! “I said so.”

-Pisik.

Now, I’ll give you back exactly what you said.

I speak calmly, hiding my sinister thoughts like that.

“I also agree with that. “There is no reason for His Highness Ioanes, who is brilliant, to betray us.”

There is no reason to betray…

It’s funny to say this when we’re all trying to betray each other, but… Politics is inherently shameless.

“But why are you doubting us?!”

I say that with a smile.

“Your Highness Ioanes can be trusted, but he seems to be not good at managing his subordinates. “Isn’t it hard to believe?”

Alexander’s eyes tremble as he pretends to be angry at my Zen question.

It is natural that it will probably be difficult to understand the point of what I am saying.

-Ugh…

“Do you know what this is?”

I hold out six pieces of paper the size of my palm.

There are 5 of them, 2 of which are remittance statements sent by Epirus Bank, and 3 are bills issued by Epirus Bank’s account.

An expensive theft and forgery prevention spell is placed on large bills and remittance statements issued by banks.

Bank-related documents have been widely used in fraud since ancient times, so this is natural here.

If you try to arbitrarily change the numbers, letters, or seal on a document issued by a bank, the ink color of the letters will turn red.

Alexander’s expression hardens as he accepts what I offer him.

“This is evidence that funds were sent to opposing principality forces from the Epirus bank account. If you look closely, you can see that it even has Epirus’ bank account number on it.”

In the past, when Ioanes signed a truce with the opposing principality, thinking that he would have provided financial support to the opposing principality.

I asked for this.

These are the documents.

Thanks to this, the mandate period, which was originally thought to be 99 years, was shortened to 90 years, but the facts proven by this document are so important.

I readily agreed.

“Uh… Um…”

Alexander rolls his eyes and does his best to get out of this situation.

But I have no intention of leaving him obediently.

“Now, what do you think? Representative Alexander?”

That piece of paper is conclusive evidence that Johannes’ funds were flowing to the opposite principality.

It was sent to the bank of Epirus by the opposing principality, and the bank of Epirus has already confirmed the account information.

And of course, the account was an Epirus treasury account, but I deliberately did not include that information there.

We need to provide a suitable escape hole so they can make lame excuses.

Well, if you were Alexander, unless I was an idiot, you would think I would have checked the account information.

I open my mouth as I look at Alexander, who tries to ask for an answer again but cannot speak.

“I think His Highness Ioanes probably didn’t know either. “But it is proof that there are forces in Nicaea who are trying to divide us.”

I also have no intention of fighting them right now.

Even though the Grand Duchy is currently powerful, it is still less than a month since the war ended…

Because we can’t afford to go to war again.

“hehehe… This… I really want this…”

Alexander’s eyes are rolling.

He must be doing some calculations.

It will be complicated, of course it will inevitably be complicated.

Are you obediently accepting the favor I am offering you here, or are you claiming it is manipulation?

You can claim that it is manipulation.

Rather, it would be better to submit this to the National Assembly for an official audit.

Then, the audit will most likely focus on Epirus…

It will inevitably be revealed that Ioanes stole Epirus and then tried to harm me for handing Epirus over to him.

Even if the audit is canceled due to the imperial faction’s opposition…

As long as I joined the National Assembly.

The imperial faction will probably notice that Ioannes took Epirus by storm.

The imperialist members of the National Assembly are not fools, and they will have no choice but to strongly suspect the connection between Ioannes, who intervened in the civil war of the opposing principality, and the Bank of Epirus.

“Heh heh… I am once again amazed by His Majesty the Archduke’s brilliance. “I had no idea that such a subversive force would exist in our country.”

Alexander pretends like nothing is wrong.

I expected that he would readily admit it.

Neither Ioanes nor I have any intention of fighting right now.

Ioannes… He wants to swallow up the empire, and I don’t want his land torn apart right now.

What I hope for is when Ioannes and the emperor faction fight each other and become weak.

I will destroy them both in one fell swoop.

That’s how I hide my thoughts and speak with a smile.

“So, for the time being… Or at least until it can be proven that there are no seditious forces in Nicaea, it seems that the engagement and marriage will have to be delayed. “I can’t send my sister-in-law to a place where her safety is not guaranteed, right?”

Alexander rolls his eyes.

You need to think about it, right? How do you feel?

From Noble mtl dot com

Do you feel like I have to accept your logic as is?

“Yes… According to the peace agreement…”

I nod my head at those words.

“I also have no intention of breaking my promise. However, there are seditious forces in Nicaea, and they are trying to assassinate me and the emperor in faraway Rome. “How can I convince my family?”

Alexander nods his head at my words.

“I understand. It’s a natural thing to say. It’s a natural thing to say. hehehe… Thank you so much for this information.”

I say this with a smile as I see Alexander bowing his head to me several times and saying thank you.

“Thank you for your understanding. As expected, I felt like I could communicate with Representative Alexander.”

“I also felt that I had a common understanding with His Highness the Archduke.”

-Pisik.

Is that really all there is?

“But that’s it. In the end, we suffered great damage due to seditious forces. In the end, the interior of the Grand Duchy was ravaged by the enemies.”

Alexander looks sad at my words.

“I am very sorry. “We should have done a better job of controlling internally… But we feel shameful because something like this happened.”

That’s not the end, right?

“In addition, didn’t they kidnap the current emperor and Princess Joy to provoke a fight between our two forces? “In fact, I was seriously injured.”

Alexander sighs at my words.

“Ugh… I really have no shame.”

“I want to be compensated.”

Alexander, who was worried about something about my words, opens his mouth.

“It’s natural. We will also report this to His Majesty Ioanes and request permission to provide appropriate compensation.”

I nod my head at those words.

“Thank you at least for your words. “First of all, we need to put an end to this matter, so please report it to your home country and contact us.”

Alexander wipes his cold sweat with a handkerchief and says.

“hahahaha… I’ll stop now… I have to report this important matter to His Highness Ioanes as soon as possible.”

I smile at those words.

“Yes, please take a look.”

After confirming that he had retreated, I turned my head to Agrippa and smiled brightly.

“What do you think? “Have you seen or felt anything?”

Agripa nods slightly at my words.

“I think His Highness would have become very successful if he had become a conman.”