episode_0162

Imperial Parliament.

Currently, votes are being counted here for the tax reform bill and the bill to disband the Emperor faction.

[Then, I declare that the tax reform bill and the imperial faction disbandment bill were passed with 170 votes in favor and 120 votes against.]

And Chairman Charles declared that the two bills were passed by an overwhelming margin.

That moment.

A guard hurriedly opens the door to the main conference hall.

“Woe… His Majesty the Emperor has come to visit!”

[Your Majesty?]

Theodora’s visit to the Council.

Originally, it was customary for the emperor not to visit parliament.

The National Assembly is a place where the people of the empire can freely discuss pending issues or make laws, so it is not good for the emperor to visit and exercise influence, so he does not visit unless it is a special day.

However, now that the Emperor faction is about to disband, I can’t help but visit at this moment.

No, when I leaked about the right to veto in advance, I gave him a hint to do this together.

At the guard’s words, Chairman Charles gets down from the chairman’s chair and walks to the main conference room.

The imperialist lawmakers and Chairman Charles appear calm.

On the other hand, I can see the bewilderment on the faces of the anti-imperialist and neutral faction members who did not receive advice from me.

Therefore, it was ideally prepared for what I wanted.

The stage is the main conference hall.

The main characters are me and Theodora.

“Hurry and open the door!”

As Chairman Charles adjusts his attire and speaks, the door to the huge plenary hall opens and Theodora in a beige dress appears.

“Your Majesty the Emperor!”

Chairman Charles bows his head 90 degrees in a restrained manner.

Then he gets down on one knee and swears the oath of allegiance.

“May peace reign with the Empire and Your Majesty.”

At those words, Theodora held out her left hand.

-side

Charles comes out and kisses Theodora’s wedding ring to show respect.

“Thank you for such hospitality. Just wake up.”

Charles stands up at Theodora’s words.

“What are you doing here?”

Theodora smiles brightly and speaks at Charles’ words.

“I came here today because I heard there was an important bill in the empire.”

Theodora looks around for a moment.

When her eyes meet mine, she smiles brightly like a mischievous child.

“Was the bill passed?”

Charles speaks in Theodora’s sweet voice.

“Yes, we just declared approval.”

“Good, I will now veto the bill.”

-Roaring!

At those words, the anti-emperor faction and the neutral faction are in an uproar.

[Ah… what is this?]

[Uh… you mean that?]

[Your Majesty is exercising the right of veto?]

Lawmakers with perplexed expressions.

Perhaps this situation was unexpected in their eyes.

Except for me and the Emperor faction.

“I understand. Then, we will treat it as if you are exercising your right to veto. The Grand Duke’s bill will not be passed on to the Grand Duke’s Ministry due to His Majesty’s veto.”

As Chairman Charles spoke, I took a deep breath.

You can’t let it come across as acting.

He speaks with his expression distorted as if he is angry.

“Please wait a moment, Chairman Charles.”

I get up from my seat and head to Charles and Theodora.

[It seems like something even the Grand Duke of the world could not have predicted.]

[It looks bad. A topic that has been boasted about so far.]

Ignoring the lawmakers who were deliberately speaking through the loudspeaker so they could be heard, I opened my mouth in front of them.

“May I speak with Your Majesty alone for a moment before exercising the right of veto?”

I intentionally shake my hands as if I can’t control my anger, but I feel like shaking my hands naturally is harder than I thought.

The actors are amazing.

But did my clumsy acting work?

A soft smile appears on the lips of Charles and Theodora.

“Hehe, my friend, I will grant you the private treat you requested.”

***

Since the matter was serious, it was decided to have a private meeting with Theodora in the emperor’s carriage.

She gets on the carriage and I get on the carriage too.

-widely.

He opens his mouth with a distorted expression as if he is angry.

“What are you doing?”

However, Theodora, who is completely relaxed and smiles softly, speaks while gently covering her lips with her hand.

“What is it?”

I say that as if to tell him not to talk nonsense.

“Why are you exercising your veto on the disbandment of the Emperor faction?”

good! Both the tone of voice and pronunciation are correct!

When you feel proud of yourself for doing a good job of acting with an appropriately angry voice.

Theodora speaks, staring at me with a chilling voice and scary-looking red eyes.

“Didn’t I tell you this before? I’m going to take you out of office.”

He speaks with a suitably embarrassed expression on his face.

“That… what is that?”

I stutter as if I am embarrassed and am satisfied with my embarrassed performance.

“Did you think you would see the imperial faction opposing you disintegrate smoothly?”

I grit my teeth like a villain at her cold expression and tone of voice.

“So? What is the reason for keeping the Emperor faction alive now? Do you really not know why I want to disband the Emperor faction?”

“I know, it’s to build your own absolute power.”

Theodora gently makes eye contact with me.

“But I can’t just watch that.”

I sigh and say, seeing how determined he looks.

“Good. Because I don’t think it can be resolved with words anyway. The emperor faction said yes and passed the tax reform bill.”

If it’s not going to work out anyway, let’s change our behavior and pretend to give up quickly…

“That won’t work either.”

uh? Are you going to veto the tax reform bill? Isn’t this unexpected?

“For tax reform, the expenditures of the Kingdoms of Eren and Bohemi, which participated in this war not long after the end of the war, are too large. I think it’s something I have to do someday, but not now.”

I know what she’s talking about.

Of course, in preparation for that, we are setting up a separate territory development fund from the technology investment fund, so I shake my head.

“That will already be covered by territory development funds. So the tax reform bill must be passed unconditionally.”

It is time to fix the current unreasonable tax structure.

The great nobles are weak since the war ended not long ago, and I have to deal with them while I have command in wartime.

“But it doesn’t work.”

I tell her that the reason she puts her arms around her when she smiles softly is because I feel like she wants something else.

“Looking at the smile on your lips, it seems like you want something else. What do you want?”

Theodora’s smile becomes brighter at my words.

“Wow, you’re really quick-witted when it comes to things like this. I hope the other one is faster too.”

He gets irritated by those words and speaks as if urging him on.

“Speak quickly and don’t talk back.”

“Place the Golden Knights in the capital now.”

I shake my head and say to her words.

“No.”

A word not worth responding to.

Based on what I felt during this civil war, I deeply felt that the Golden Knights should not be placed in the capital.

Why was Valorant so afraid of the Golden Knights and why they were the guardian gods of the empire?

The idea of deploying them in the capital, each armed with ridiculous levels of military force and fraudulent equipment, combined with William’s excellent command, leads to a loss of control on my part.

“I’d rather exercise my veto. I will withdraw both bills because you recklessly exercised your veto first. I will also exercise my veto. I will paralyze the empire by exercising my veto in all government offices, all public institutions, and even the National Assembly.”

The right to veto is not simply the right to ‘reject’ a bill or the authority of Congress.

As such, they can literally veto everything political and administrative.

For example, you can refuse to open a night market or even allow government offices to start working tomorrow.

In fact, when several emperors encountered strong friction with the parliament.

Congress has been tamed in this way.

“Are you really going to come out looking like a moth like that?”

Mothsaeng?

No, I’m handing over the Emperor’s faction, but they’re a zombie… It feels a little unfair.

“They suffered so much on the battlefield for you and me, but you’re not letting them go home again?”

“That’s…”

It is extremely common sense and I am momentarily speechless due to its correctness.

To tell you the truth…

I am afraid that the Golden Knights will receive orders from Theodora and a street fight will break out in Rome.

No, even if it’s not that worst…

It makes no sense to deploy a capital when such a threatening armed group does not follow my orders.

It would be accurate to say that they were unable to deploy because they did not trust Theodora.

“My request is for the Golden Knights to return to Roman.”

“No.”

I get lost in thought as I see Theodora biting her lip at my words.

From Theodora’s perspective, she can’t help but think of William and the Golden Knights, who would risk their lives for her.

I understand how she feels.

Since they are loyal followers of her, it is natural to feel sorry for them who cannot return to Roman.

At that thought, I sigh.

“Phew… not now.”

I gave her a hint that she could call me when I left in the future.

Theodora becomes angry at my words.

She asks again in a bright voice.

“If it doesn’t work now, will you call me later?”

I say that with a small nod.

“2 years. After two years, I won’t care whether you call me or not. So stop being stubborn.”

I won’t be here in two years anyway.

Whether Theodora calls me or not at that time is of no concern to me.

He hesitates and nods his head with a skeptical expression on my face.

“2 years later… I keep my promise.”

I nod my head at those words.

“Yes. I will protect it. Then, let’s know that and talk to Chairman Charles about exercising the veto.”

Saying that, he gets off the carriage.