episode_0159

When I left my grandfather’s mansion in a carriage.

-The Grand Duke, step down! Give power back to His Majesty the Good Emperor!

“Huh?”

I am puzzled by the voices of the crowd that come out of nowhere.

A loud noise comes from outside the carriage and pushes the window slightly to the side.

“Um… what is that?”

Hundreds… maybe even thousands of people march and shout, holding large banners and carrying the Emperor’s banner.

-The grand duke who arbitrarily tyrannizes, step down! Return the throne to His Majesty the Emperor!

-Only the Augustus family can become emperor! Strike the archduke who arbitrarily ignores the law!

The sight makes me frown.

Even though he and I have become political enemies and I hate him, apart from that, he has not done anything wrong to them.

Watching what he did made me realize how lacking I was.

The politics of the empire are so cold and cold that it is hard to imagine how many mistakes I would have made if I had run the government from the beginning.

“Your Majesty. Are you okay? My complexion is not good.”

I reply to Ifa’s words.

“Ifa. What’s going on?”

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to go outside, so I can’t easily understand their actions.

And it is even more difficult to understand when you look at the guards who guard them.

Even arresting shameless people like that isn’t enough, so escorting them?

I don’t understand.

“Well… ever since Sir William was arrested, the people of the Roman Empire have been marching through the streets.”

I frown at those words.

“Then you should have told me in advance. Why didn’t you tell me until now?”

Ifa hesitates at my words and speaks.

“Well… I thought His Majesty would be disturbed.”

I keep my mouth shut at Ipa’s words.

As Ipa said, I am honestly distraught.

It breaks my heart to see someone insulting him and not recognizing his efforts.

Because I still have a lot of regrets towards him.

“Ha… Really. What on earth is he thinking?”

There’s probably no way that Debian doesn’t know that they’re protesting like that.

I don’t know about anything else, but I’m quick-witted only when it comes to politics.

But when I see them being left like this, I can’t understand it at all.

I sigh as I think about Debian, which sometimes seems like a genius and other times doesn’t make sense.

***

Late at night.

After finishing the Grand Duke’s work, he heads to the newlyweds’ room.

-Squeak.

“came out.”

As I open the door and go in, Theodore gently turns his head to the bed.

“You came early today?”

“Yes, the war is almost over.”

If we just take out Savinelli’s troops hidden somewhere, Nicaea will be completely under our control.

As I said that and loosened the tie around my neck, Theodora gently got up from the bed and spoke.

“Do you… know what I saw outside today?”

I reply, not thinking much of what she said.

“What did you see?”

Theodora is looking at me intently.

She frowns and opens her mouth.

“The people of the empire are protesting outside to condemn you.”

“Ah… that?”

When I try to explain further.

Theodora raises her eyebrows and speaks as if she has no intention of hiding her anger.

“You know how dangerous it is, so why do you let it happen? Rather, wouldn’t it be enough to catch the leaders of the protests and throw them in jail to create such wrong thoughts?”

Maybe that kind of thinking is natural here.

It’s me, no, when history was suppressed. I know how much of a headache it would be if it spread across the country.

They are controlling it using the Ministry of Information to prevent it from spreading nationwide in the first place.

“The instigators are intelligence agents.”

Was it because I heard something unexpected?

Theodora’s face was a little mesmerized.

Should I say that I look a little stupid?

It’s quite rare to see her, who usually seems intelligent, gape and gape slightly when she hears something unexpected.

“What… what?! No, why would the Ministry of Intelligence do such a thing?! What are you doing again?!”

I tell her to calm down as her voice rises, perhaps because she is embarrassed.

“Calm down. What are you doing? Just trying to control the dissatisfaction of the people of the empire.”

“Control?”

She asks back as if she doesn’t understand.

“Do you remember the case of William’s arrest earlier?”

She nods her head at my words.

“Yes, there was an uproar when he was arrested, right?”

I nod my head at those words.

“That’s right. The public opinion of the people of the empire was not good for treating a war hero like that. So, since protests are likely to occur, we first control the protests and manage them so that they do not become violent.”

He frowns at my words and looks down on me.

“So. Are you saying that you started the protest to control the anger of the people of the empire?”

“Yes. Don’t worry, you think…”

But she must have been very angry and cut me off.

“You indifferent human being! Stop playing with people’s hearts!”

And then he runs to the bed, grabs the pillow, and runs

-puck! puck!

He hits me with a pillow.

“Ugh! Why… why are you like this?!”

“Die! Die! Always playing with people’s hearts! This is trash!”

He grabs her beating wrist and calms her down.

Today… why are you doing this?

However, the girl who was hitting me with the pillow is still upset and shouts loudly.

“You always say you love me or like me, but you play with people’s hearts! You really are the worst.”

It’s glaring at me with its red eyes as if it’s going to kill me.

A distorted pretty face, two beautiful eyes filled with moisture.

It breaks my heart to see her face, where tears seem to flow from her eyes when I touch her.

Maybe she loved me?

No… even if you say that now, it’s already too late.

Even if she loved me in the past, she hates me now.

What I am doing is definitely right. But that doesn’t mean I’m proud of myself to Theodora.

So to her… I apologize sincerely.

“I’m sorry.”

She huffs at my words, then roughly shakes off my hand, picks up a pillow, and heads to the bed.

“Hmph! They tell me to go somewhere and die.”

Looking at her like that, I can only smile bitterly.

***

The office the next morning.

I can’t get the image of her crying face that I saw yesterday out of my mind.

“Phew… But I still have to do what I have to do.”

I look over the report neatly placed on my desk.

Intelligence report that Theodora met with members of the imperial faction and the Duke of Jans.

In order to monitor the movements of Theodora and the Emperor’s faction, he had agents cast wiretapping spells on each location where the Emperor’s faction gathered.

Throughout the imperial palace and the carriage used by Theodora.

Eavesdropping magic placed along Theodora’s movement lines, various places in the mansions of the imperialists, Duke Jans’s mansion, etc.

A situation where eavesdropping magic is installed in less than 100 places and monitored by the Ministry of Intelligence.

Therefore, the important content discussed therein is summarized and delivered in a daily report.

I see something unusual inside that catches my eye.

“Truly, now you are trying to assassinate the emperor?”

It certainly seems like assassination is a common conspiracy in this world.

For example, there are many cases of emperor assassination.

Among the emperors of past empires, quite a few people died due to assassination.

Died from an assassin’s attack outside the imperial palace, assassinated by poisoning his favorite food, killed by a magic attack while traveling in a carriage, died after being ambushed by a maid, suffocated under a pillow after doing something like that with the person he was having an affair with, and other star assassinations. I was hit.

They even sawed the railings of the imperial palace so finely that they would fall if they leaned on them, and the emperor fell to his death while leaning on them.

This is the official level of assassination, and I think it would be more if we also include unofficial poisoning disguised as natural death.

This is limited to the emperor, and if high-ranking nobles are included, the number is expected to be very large.

Didn’t I just assassinate Valorant and take his place?

“Ha… ”

As long as they succeed, it’s not a bad thing to deal with them.

My political foundation comes from the condition of being the husband of an emperor.

If she dies here, it will be difficult for me to rule like I do now unless I marry Joey.

It’s such a dream-like story to get married as easily as when I and Theodora got married at the Imperial Diet.

In particular, it is obvious that people from the imperial faction will strongly oppose it, and most neutral factions will also oppose it.

With the number of votes of the anti-emperor faction, it would never be able to get past the National Assembly.

But eventually they get caught and their plan will not succeed.

“First of all, I’ll have to keep watching closely.”

After writing the order, I think about what happens next.

Hmm… it was a plot to commit murder… I caught the count.

If you use this, it’s probably a good way to create a situation that is favorable to Theodora.

The problem is how to secure evidence and hint it to Theodora.

I must submit evidence that they attempted to assassinate the emperor without my involvement as much as possible.

“I guess the fastest way would be to ask my mother-in-law?”

***

A few days after that.

It was reported that the Babylonian mercenaries would be massacred, several of them would be sacrificed in Byzantine Square as an example, and some of the instigators would be sent here for a triumphal ceremony.

But where did Savinelli go?

There is no news of someone who can free me from my life of slavery.

There is no news from Alexander either.

I am also greedy for Alexander because I have seen many outstanding aspects of him as a diplomat.

But when Ioannes died. Are we going to die together?

Given the circumstances, there is no word on what happened, so he must have died.

My mouth feels bitter at the thought that he might be dead.

Wow… his talent is a waste.

But I can’t help it. How can you abuse someone who is already dead?

So I get up and get ready to go out.

“Huh? Where are you going, His Highness?”

It’s been a while since I saw Müller.

“Oh, I have an important appointment today.”

Today is a really important day.

I believe it was the day that anti-government protesters and Amon and his colleagues decided to meet at a nearby restaurant.

According to reports, Amon and his group strongly advocate for firebombing and sabotage.

Because it’s the first day I meet them.

Would you like to see the faces of those who want to destroy humanity?