Published at 20th of January 2023 5:00 pm

Chapter 224

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The aftermath of this treason case, which occurred before the coarse salt incident was over, was like a tsunami.

Grand Duke Roygar assumed the title of Emperor and communicated with other countries. Those who followed the envoy as entourage and were in charge of the work could not have not known about it.

So, all of the attendants were caught in the treason charge. The family to which the entourage belonged and the merchants were also implicated.

It was no exaggeration to say that these were all those who had the power to secure their share in the Grand Duke Roygar’s faction.

In other words, they were those who increased their financial strength and power to the Emperor’s opposing factions to the extent that the Emperor felt burdened.

The Emperor did not want to purge Grand Duke Roygar. But he had no reason to let go of the nobles involved in this work.

Rebellion was almost always the report of imputation.

In the early days of the accession, even though the Empress Dowager was still alive, the Emperor, who killed his sister and her husband with treason charges in order to strengthen his power, wouldn’t have not known how to wield it.

However, it was done out of practical necessity at the time, this time the reason was for face and the displeasure was greater.

Aside from the actual decision to keep Grand Duke Roygar alive, others were made out of unpleasantness and disappointment.

He could see what Grand Duke Roygar had in mind when making such an agreement.

Although he had a lot of ups and downs, he lived for over 18 years as the legal first-ranked heir.

At first, he started his political life as a check against the Empress, and now he has gathered nobles and has grown to the point of publicly expressing his will of resistance to the Emperor.

If there was no big picture of how the Empire would be governed in the future, that would be the biggest problem.

‘I told Lawrence that.’

The Emperor thought bitterly.

But that’s it, he’s still alive with his eyes wide open, and the problem was that Grand Duke Roygar dared to do it.

He did not entrust a deputy for the cleanup, nor did he at all declare an heir.

It could be blasphemous to even say that one had a right to succession.

So, the Emperor did not dare to speak more publicly.

It was a time when he needed to be politically prudent.

If he revealed that he was angry, he would not be able to get the desired result.

He couldn’t even express his intention to cover it up, though. The incident itself was so big that it was not what the Emperor wanted.

The Emperor’s investigators and guards moved quickly.

On the way home from that night’s banquet, there were dozens of people arrested.

The envoys who followed the delegation were entangled and taken to the dungeons of the Imperial Palace.

Undercover investigators compiled and submitted a list of the missing attendants.

So far, even though they know that Grand Duke Roygar is hiding his attendants, they have not been able to openly find or arrest them.

But this accusation allowed them to catch them all at once.

The Emperor’s secret organization had long since had practically nothing to do.

The last big thing they did was 18 years ago. It was to investigate the deaths of the Prince and Princess, and to trap the then Duke Riagan.

Since then, they have continued to gather information and devise small plots.

However, the Emperor’s authority was already elevated. Even if there were people who internally opposed the Emperor, they gathered around Grand Duke Roygar at best.

Since the size of the imperial power and the secret organization was proportional, the organization continued to expand. Conversely, the enemy disappeared.

Minor conspiracies and plots were everywhere. However, they were unable to respond promptly. It was because the organization had grown too large, and the goals were unclear.

At one time, the members of the organization that the Emperor trusted also disappeared one by one.

Among subordinates of the Emperors who had such an organization, there were many people who obsessively struck out accusations and conspiracies against each other.

However, Emperor Gregor was proud of himself. He was not deceived by the existence of the enemy created by the secret organization.

He balances power and promotes checks between powers. He made all the judgments himself.

18 years in that condition. The organization has fallen into inertia.

They only reacted to treason and blasphemy against the Emperor.

No matter what other information came in, they looked at whether or not this existed according to the will of the Emperor.

As long as there was no silencing for the Emperor, the way to gain achievements was already blocked.

It was because they were reluctant to report it even though the Emperor already knew or had a purpose for it and left it behind.

It was thanks to this that Artizea was able to focus on size without being careful while creating an organization in the Capital and the South.

If the Emperor’s secret organization mechanically responds only to certain keywords, it is enough to avoid using those.

However, with Grand Duke Roygar’s treason, they had enough firepower to wipe them all away.

Once the organization began to move, its power was terrifying. Finance, scale, and manpower will be invested indefinitely.

It wasn’t just those who followed the delegation as attendants.

It was intended to overthrow all those who were close to the Grand Duke Roygar, those who were entangled in interests, blood ties of relatives, and the intellectuals and artists who visited the salon.

In that way, not only the noble families in the Capital, but also anyone with some degree of wealth could be said to be related.

Grand Duchy Evron was no exception.

Cobb, a servant of the Imperial Palace and a secret investigator, had previously considered Grand Duchy Evron to be suspicious.

Today’s incident must have continued from the treason of Bishop Akim.

There was no evidence. If they look at the objective facts, it is only the Grand Duke Roygar, who continued to eliminate other members of the imperial family and covet the throne.

But Cobb’s senses continued to tingle.

If he does his research, he will surely find something.

He had enough reasons.

Although Ian was in a detached house, he was staying in Grand Duchy Evron. Grand Duchess Evron was a friend of Skyla Camellia.

It was Ferguson who received the order to investigate this matter, but the investigation by the secret investigator was originally conducted at the same time as the overt investigation.

There has never been a second chance like this.

So, as soon as the incident broke out, he rushed to Grand Duke Evron’s residence. Because he saw this as an opportunity when the Grand Duke was still in the Imperial Palace.

However, he was blocked by the knights in front of the gate.

Since the birth of the Princess, the security of Grand Duchy Evron has never been relaxed.

Even if the other person came to investigate the treason case as an investigator of the Emperor, it was no exception.

Cobb said sharply,

“Do you know what this is? Not even Grand Duchess Evron could say that she has nothing to do with it.”

The knights didn’t even respond.

There wasn’t even a crack on their face.

There was no sign of fear even when he said that they might get caught up in treason. No, it was closer to the feeling that it didn’t matter anyway.

The answer came from behind.

“So, you are going to lead an unknown group into my house?”

Cedric spat coldly over his words.

Behind him were five more elite knights of Grand Duchy Evron.

Cobb first greeted Cedric politely. Cedric said without receiving the greeting,

“Did you receive an imperial order?”

“Grand Duke Roygar has been accused of treason. With such a serious situation, of course, the accuser should also be investigated.”

“I asked if His Majesty had issued an order for you directly. There must be evidence, whether it be an order or a token.”

Cedric said coldly.

Cobb, of course, had nothing to offer.

Knowing that the master had arrived, the gate was opened.

Cobb tried to follow Cedric, but the knights blocked him.

“This is going to get you in trouble, Grand Duke!”

“What right do you have to trouble me?”

Cedric looked back to the knights and said,

“Don’t let a single rat go in and out.”

It was clear who was the rat he was talking about. The knights answered in a loud voice,

“Yes!”

Cedric drove his horse inside.

* * *

Artizea was standing by the window on the highest floor of the mansion at that time.

Grand Duke Evron’s residence had a large lot, but the height was not very high.

But just by looking at the flashing torches, she could tell that things were getting bigger.

“Did you know that this was going to happen and told me to disband the intelligence organization?”

Freil asked.

“Once His Majesty’s organization begins to move, there is no organization that will not be caught. And there hasn’t been much work to be done for a long time.”

Artizea’s order to disband was just before the coarse salt incident.

It was an organization with a need-to-know basis from the beginning. Most informants didn’t know what they provided was meaningful and where the information was going.

Thanks to that, dissolution was easy. Most of the informants were scattered just by cutting off the funds.

Most of the people who were giving the money did not know who the real leader was.

It was an organization created to examine the target’s movement and lay the pavement. The risk was very low, as not many were actually used to conspire.

Artizea still did not know what evidence Ian had presented.

This is because she has been deliberately ignoring the evidence of his involvement in this kind of thing after the coarse salt incident happened.

“May I ask? I understand that Lady Skyla was the first to betray and try to survive by accusation of treason.”

Hayley said,

“It must have been Lady Skyla who came out with the evidence. If it’s Lady Skyla who can be said to be an insider among insiders, she might be able to steal key evidence.”

“Yes.”

“Your Grace told Lady Skyla to instill the idea of becoming an Empress to the Grand Duchess, which would lead to a mistake for her.”

“That’s right.”

It was also one of several paving stones laid by Artizea.

Grand Duchess Roygar is bound to make a mistake one day. Because she’s not the kind of person who thinks carefully politically and organizes things around her.

She just wanted to advance it a bit.

“But that wouldn’t have been a treason for that mistake alone. After all, isn’t the agreement the main problem?”

“That is an easy-to-understand story. Grand Duke Roygar headed south with a delegation of hundreds of members of his official supporters. As he went down, there’s no way he won’t do anything, right?”

So, the key was to send Grand Duke Roygar to the South itself.

After Lawrence’s dismissal, Grand Duke Roygar believed that his succession had become relatively stable.

He’s been patient and waited too long.

Now, even if he was anxious to portray his reign in reality, there was nothing strange about it.

Then, all that’s left is to figure out how to package his mistake and send it to the Emperor.

Artizea thought as she looked out the window. As Cedric returned, the layout of the knights moved, and the investigators turned around.

‘Leticia is a variable that no one could have thought of, but not thinking about the change in the Emperor’s emotions was the biggest mistake done by Grand Duke Roygar.’

Artizea thought so and looked down at Cedric.

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