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| ← Ch.098 | Ch.100 → |
In Carl's reaction, Pavenik covered his eyes with his hands and said, "Hey! Don't glare at me like that. It's hard not to know since you made it so obvious."
"..."
Pavenik said with a playful smile.
"I've heard that there is quite a lot of paper sent to your barracks these days. If it's a war report, I was sure you would leave it to me, so it's definitely not about the report..."
He pointed with the tip of his chin the paper ash that remained on the brazier and said,
"And you're not burning paper because your barracks are short of firewood."
"..."
"What's good is what's good. I was worried about you two because it was a wedding without permission, but it must have been a needless worry. When I see you up in the air like this."
"If you're going to babble, get out!"
When Carl got angry, Pavenik burst into laughter. Seeing Carl angry, he seemed to have hit the bull's-eye. He managed to stop laughing and said, "I'm not here to play. I don't know how to play with you. I'm here to report."
Carl put his head up and signaled Pavenik to report.
"The troops that had been stationed in the Marel Mountains have joined us."
"That's good. Let them get some rest for a while. They must have had a hard time."
"I was thinking about it anyway. I gave them a lot of explosives to block the road if there was no heavy rain, but it was really hard for them because it rained heavily for a month. They almost died in a landslide, and they complained to me that they were isolated and ate only dirt for 15 days..."
"I told you not to dispatch troops urgently. The soldiers suffered for nothing."
Pavenik nodded his head at Carl's words.
"To be honest, I was surprised when I first heard about the plan to take away land in the southern part which is the empress Arya's sphere of influence. It sounded like a pretty good idea. But on second thought, it was a crazy plan."
Carl nodded at his words. Sienna's proposed plan looked plausible, but it had many weaknesses. It depended on the uncontrollable factor that there had to be heavy rain, and although Sienna said she knew where the money was good to buy wheat rights, that was only her one-sided story. If they trusted her and bought the wheat rights, it would only have been good for the Southern aristocrats in the absence of rain-induced avalanches.
Nevertheless, Carl followed Sienna's plan. This was because they judged that if they revised the plan a little bit, it would bring a huge profit. In particular, it was attractive that it would be able to pressure the Southern Chamber of Commerce, the source of funding for Arya's power, and take away the land of the Southern nobles.
"We've invested a lot here, so we planned to destroy the intact Marel Mountains with explosives, but it really rained as the Crown Princess said. It's been a month of heavy rain and landslides. But how did she know?"
"I know. How did she know?"
Carl answered with a grin. He seemed to have trusted her plan infinitely. Funny enough, she was all right.
Pavenik, who was looking at Carl's expression, said, pouting out his mouth.
"How on earth did you believe that? You are a doubtful person too..."
His words hardened Carl's face. He couldn't understand himself. It's too easy to believe when it comes to her. Carl felt scared of it.
"This plan turned out well. Not only have we bought the land in the south, but the restoration of the road will antagonize the supporters of Duke of Panacio and Empress Arya. They harvested but cannot sell it, so imagine how frustrating it must be."
"I didn't know they'd be so stupid. I was worried they'd recover quickly..."
"Yes, to be sure, I am continually contacting them to send armies and ration to the capital. They said they would send military supplies even if they couldn't send military personnel, so I was surprised because I thought the roads were restored, but fortunately, it doesn't seem to be. I think he didn't want to send the soldiers, so he tried to fill the responsibility with supplies."
"This will make it hard for the Southern Merchants to recover, right?"
Pavenik shrugged his shoulders at Carl's words.
"Would recovery be the only thing? The capital city sent too many troops, so wheat will soon run out at the capital. Then it will be difficult to fix it at the top. Then they might hold the Duke of Panacio responsible."
"Will it be so easy after Valore became the emperor?"
Pavenik took a hint at his words. It was because he felt like it was his fault that Carl was deprived of the throne without even starting the battle for the throne because he had to come down here.
"I'm sorry. I knew the Emperor's illness was deep, but I didn't do anything. We should have had a military presence in the capital and put you on the throne..."
Carl shook his hand at his apology and said, "Okay. What good is a blood-stained throne? Someone said that the Emperor's seat is chosen in heaven. Maybe heaven hasn't given me permission yet."
"That's a pretty plausible story. But who said that?"
"There is. Someone who said that."
Carl shook his hand, signaling Pavenik to leave. Then he took another piece of paper out of the drawer. To write a letter to her who said those words...
*
Arya was returning to the palace with a look of discontent after the political meeting.
She disapproved of her son for actively opposing the state projects that had been carried out under her leadership at a political meeting today. The majority of the aristocrats who supported her eventually proceeded in the direction she wanted, but she could not get rid of the annoyance.
"How dare he?! I put him in that position. His head is too big."
Valore, who was always obedient, has often expressed negative reactions to his work these days. Valore visited Sienna's palace every day, as Arya had been told. After the death of Rodbius, the late emperor, the girl was so quiet so Arya figured that she found her place, but the sudden change in Valore's attitude had to be because of the girl.
"This little rat!"
As she left the conference room, Arya gritted her teeth.
She acted as if she were an innocent girl who knew nothing before she married Carl, but after she got married, Sienna seemed like a completely different person. Arya was confident that she was pretty good at judging people, but this time, she seemed to have done something terribly wrong.
"Your Majesty the Empress."
Arya reacted nervously to the voice of Duke of Panacio Depine, who was also her brother.
"What is it?"
"I have something to tell you."
He looked up at Arya with a humble face.
'Ugh why is he making that disgusting face?!'
When Depine came in with a pathetic face like that to Arya, it usually meant that he made a big mistake or he wanted to ask for help regarding his personal matters. If he felt he had any advantage, he always dared to act like he was sitting on top of her head.
Whenever Depine came to her with that pathetic expression on his face, Arya suddenly felt disgusted even when she was feeling satisfied. She wanted to keep his face away from him forever.
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