The Abandoned Empress Chapter 244

Chapter 244: Chapter 244

What the successor of the Duke Jena family wanted to do was three things. First, he wanted to get him the right to succeed his father’s title. Secondly, he wanted to make sure that his father would step down after giving up all power including his knighthood. Lastly, he wanted to make sure that he would inherit more than 70% of the duke family’s assets and status. What I wanted in return was for him to hand “it” over to .

But it was quite difficult for him to hand “it” over to . So, I was thinking of bargaining with him up to a certain point.

However, I could not go ahead with the deal recklessly because the emperor was poisoned and the Jena family was suspected of having masterminded the plot against him. So, I needed to check first whether he was involved in this plot or not. It is noteworthy that although he wanted to guarantee that he should inherit more than 90% of his family’s assets at first, he backed down later.

I told the baron waiting for my next instruction to leave, then I buried myself deep in the sofa, picking up the docunts he left behind.

I needed to make a little more efforts to get rid of the enemy who tried to kill and the emperor.

Was it because I slept fitfully due to complicated thoughts? I felt heavy in the morning. After taking the fork to my mouth a couple of tis, I put it down and grabbed the letters that the butler brought to . When I took out the letters and other small banquet invitations that the noble faction sent out of courtesy, there was only one invitation left, which asked whether I could attend the banquet to celebrate the engagent of the Whir family’s daughter and the Genoa family’s son.

Oops! I forgot to reply when Grace ca to see the other day. I thought of asking my father about it, but it slipped my mind.

“Daddy?”

“Why?”

“As for the banquet to celebrate the two families’ engagent, what should I do? I feel uncomfortable going there, given the bad relationship between our family and theirs, but at the sa ti I feel uneasy about not going there because it might create division within the pro-emperor faction.”

“Hmm. You don’t have to take it so seriously, Tia. If you want to go there for a chance, you can attend. If you don’t feel up to it, you don’t have to. Although our family’s relationship with them is bad recently, we were all in the sa boat for a long ti. So, our relationship won’t go sour even if you don’t attend just once.”

“Ah…I see. I’ll do so. Thank you, Daddy.”

I felt much more light-hearted. When I sorted out the invitations, he put down a letter he was holding, and said, “Tia, don’t you want to attend the political eting?”

“Cabinet eting? But I …Ah..”

Co to think of it, he was right. Unlike the big conference where any noble can attend, most of the political etings were open only to those nobles with the rank of earl and above and their official successors, as well as those with the rank of viscount and above who had also separate governnt positions. Therefore, I, who recently beca the official successor of my family, could attend the political eting.

I nodded after agonizing for a mont. As I had nothing special to do today, I thought it might not be a bad idea to attend today’s political eting.

“Sure, I’ll attend.”

“…Good. Co with in the afternoon. ”

Although he paused for a mont as if he had sothing more to say, he just stood up silently.

After giving a quick look at the plates that I hardly touched, I left the dining room with him.

“It’s been a long ti, Lady Monique.”

“Hello, Marquis of Enesil. It’s been a while.”

The blonde young man dressed in a dark gray uniform smiled up at . The three black strings on his shoulders shone under the chandelier.

Co to think of it, it was the first ti that I saw him since he beca the captain of the new knights division. I recently went through lots of things, so I felt I t him after a long ti even though he was inaugurated as the captain only recently.

When I was chatting with several nobles, including Marquis Enesil, the protocol officer announced the arrival of the emperor. When everyone was seated again after showing due manners to him, Duke Lars rose from his seat on behalf of Duke Verita, who was absent because of his son’ death.

“Today’s agenda is about this year’s tax revenues and the foreign delegations who will visit this year’s National Founding Day festival.”

“Tax revenues? I heard that the recovery work in the areas affected by the heat wave, droughts, and floods last year is almost done. Did sothing unusual happen?”

I was also puzzled, but my doubts quickly disappeared when Duke Lars explained it.

The revenues were almost the sa as last year, but the increase in the knights and the inflow of the displaced people due to the natural disaster led to deficits in the budget, he explained.

When the emperor tapped on the table with a pensive expression, Earl Hal said, “Your Majesty, I’m sorry to say this, but how about freeing up the imperial wealth a little? I heard that the imperial revenues increased a lot this year because there was little damage in the areas controlled by the imperial family.”

“What are you talking about, Earl Hal?”

“How dare you try to touch the wealth of the imperial family?”

Several nobles refuted his proposal, but Earl Hal was adamant about his position.

The emperor, who was looking at the earl while knocking on the desk, giggled at him.

Rather than being unpleasant or angry, he showed an expression welcoming his suggestion.

Why is he reacting like that? He must know that the earl’s suggestion was intended to weaken the imperial power.

“Good idea, Earl Hal. Let’s do that. I am willing to give away part of the imperial wealth.”

“Thanks for your wise decision, Your Majesty. The people will be deeply moved by your decision.”

A smile ca to the earl’s lips. At that mont, the emperor interrupted, “But there is one condition. I was going to raise the salary of the royal knights because of their hard work. If I make up for the deficits in the budget, I can’t increase the salary. So, let do this. Let select those who made a contribution and award them titles in return for donating the imperial inco. What do you think?”

Suddenly, everybody beca silent. I looked at him when I belatedly realized the emperor’s intention.

‘Is this what he aid for?’

I thought that he decided to expand the knights at this ti despite the weakening of his military authority because he wanted to increase the absolute number of the troops available, though it might expose him to so risk. He didn’t give much thought to the fact that the royal knights didn’t increase despite the recruiting of almost 200 knights. Did he really think of this terrific idea in advance when he pretended not to care about the status quo of the royal knights?

Unlike the governnt or other knights divisions that paid the knights’ salaries with the state funds, the imperial family paid all costs for the royal knights. As they escorted the emperor at close range from the mont he woke up until he went to sleep, he had to ensure they were the faithful servants of the imperial family. That’s why he chose the nobles without any right to succeed the knighthood of their families as royal knights. So, they were extrely loyal to the emperor to gain any title by making contributions.

Therefore, most of the royal knights belonged to the pro-emperor faction. And he made the remarks, with them in mind.

What was the reason the pro-emperor faction had to compete with the noble faction? It was because the forr was nurically inferior to the latter, so it was impossible to gain any military superiority. Even though the number of nobles fell sharply during the late emperor’s reign, the number of nobles didn’t increase a lot because the noble faction was desperately opposed as they were worried about the increase in the pro-emperor faction.

If the emperor could implent his plan, it could see the creation of at least dozens of new nobles favorable to the pro-emperor faction.

Once the dock is opened, it’s impossible to block the water. Even if the emperor’s action doesn’t have any big impact right now, it will clearly create a big disadvantage for the noble faction in the long run. I saw the facts of the noble faction mbers turning gloomy.

“Your Majesty, your proposal is…”