Not long after that, a man appeared before her. He was a man with brown hair and brown eyes. He was from her mother’s fiancé, Marquis McPauline.
“What kind of man is Marquis McPauline?”
“He’s a very nice, open-minded person. Come to think of it, he has brown hair and brown eyes like me. Of course, it’s a glossy color unlike me.”
Arya was filled with hope. Marquis McPauline still hasn’t let go of her mother, who was his former mistress. So he offered to help her blood, Arya. Arya was so happy every day when she was preparing to leave the Panacio family.
Stories spread throughout the territory that she had an affair with a wandering minstrel. Others seemed to have considered the man from Castro a minstrel. The story also went into the ears of her brother, Depine.
The day he heard the rumor, he came into Arya’s bedroom.
“A b*tch worth less than a whore in a brothel. You’ve been playing dirty under your own father, and now you’re lying with a man you don’t even know. I’ll educate you properly.”
Depine whispered in the ear of a troubled Arya who was in tears of shame.
“The man you want can’t come here. Do you know why? His torn body must have already gone into a pig’s belly.”
He said, looking at the face of aghast Arya.
“If you don’t believe it, why don’t you run to the pigsty now? Who knows? Maybe there’s a chunk of his flesh left that the pigs haven’t eaten.”
The cry of Arya’s despair covered the land of the House of Panacio.
She was fed up with the Panacio family. No, she couldn’t even express all that resentful feeling she had towards them. For her, the members of the Panacio family were like demons who gave up being human beings.
What was even more disgusting was the child of Depine Panacio that was growing in her stomach. She wanted to kill herself after taking poison. But still, on the one hand, she had a desire to live.
Why did she have to die? Arya just wanted to live her life completely without being trampled on by someone.
Then she got a chance. It was a visit by Emperor Rodbius.
Her father, who coveted the supreme power, put Arya into the room of the drunken emperor. She was also an active participant. This was because she saw her father, whom to her was like a demon she could not defeat, shaking his tail in front of the emperor.
In the end, she was able to make the child in her belly an emperor’s child.
After receiving the Emperor’s favor, she was contacted by the Marquis McPauline of the Castro Empire. She had thought Depine had killed the Marquis McPauline’s man, but fortunately, he seemed to have used his wit and returned to Castro. McPauline told him to come to the Castro Empire because he had prepared everything for her, but Arya refused.
She wasn’t sure what kind of life she would live if she went to the Castro Empire. Although Marquis McPauline was said to have loved his mother, he was already married and had his own children. There was a high probability that he could not take responsibility for her life until the end.
By comparison, being an emperor’s woman in the Leipsden Empire was a thing of supreme authority. She would no longer have to stoop and be trampled on. She had no intention of letting go of her hard-won prize.
Sienna frowned as she looked at Arya’s past activities sent by her aunt. As expected, Arya had ties to the Castro Empire.
“Why so serious?”
“Whoa!”
Sienna grabbed her chest as she was surprised by Carl who approached without any noise.
“When did you come in? Isn’t it time for a political meeting?”
“I just got here. The meeting ended early.”
Carl looked satisfied. He seemed to have obtained positive results on the issue of the central military’s planned deployment to the local territories. Her advice that it would be better to pressure Count Ferrer to deal with political issues opposed by the nobles, rather than punish Bluebell and Count Ferrer, seemed to have worked quite well.
Sienna was in a good mood and smiled. She then gave him the documents he was looking at.
“What is this?”
“I asked Aunt Kelly to look into the past of Empress Arya. It must have taken a while to figure out what happened in the past, so it just arrived.”
“Arya’s past?”
“I thought that Empress Arya had a connection with the Castro Empire. Castro had provoked at a time that she wanted, and the reduction of the Central Army she recently pushed through Count Ferrer is a policy that is too favorable for the Castro Empire.”
“That’s true.”
“So I did some research just in case, and I think I’m right.”
Carl looked at the papers she gave him interestingly.
“I already knew that Arya’s mother is from the Castro aristocracy.”
“Yes, but all the minstrels she’s been with for a long time are from Castro. It also says that although Panacio’s territory is quite far from the Castro Empire, it was frequented by people from Castro.”
“It must have been a fairly precise investigation. I can’t believe it’s accompanied by analytical statistics.”
Carl was in admiration. He had also been constantly investigating Arya. Nevertheless, the relationship between her and Castro was not known.
“I think my aunt stepped up and found out for me.”
“According to this investigation, she is connected to Castro through mother?”
“The empress’ mother died early, but it must be related. It’s hard to see the details… It’s hard to find evidence that Arya is in direct contact with the Castro Empire, but at least we need to pay attention.”
At Sienna’s words, Carl nodded with a serious face.
“That’s right. If she had ties to the Castro Empire since she started out, her spies would have taken root all over the city. Let’s get Kissinger and Pavenik to get a closer look at the members of the castle.”
“And also…”
As Sienna hesitated to continue, Carl asked her what is on her mind.
“I heard there are many street orphans these days. The children in the capital city are fine thanks to the Goddess of the Land temple, but children in other parts of the country are often starved to death.”
People gave out food to children when they had enough money, but now it was hard to find such charity because of the harsh public sentiment after the drop in wheat prices.
It would be good for each territory to take action, but the territorial lords were not pleased with orphans who did not pay taxes and negatively affected the street atmosphere. On the contrary, they were lucky if the knights didn’t kick them out.
“Yes, I’ll make a budget.”
Said Carl, nodding his head.
“No, you don’t have to. There will be a lot of talk about budgeting, so I’d rather cut down on the amount spent in the castle. Please just make this agenda public.
It seemed that Sienna was trying to do something to establish herself as the empress, so Carl nodded with a pleased face.
“To be honest, I think it’s as important as the orphan problem. Just to put economic pressure on Arya.”
Sienna explained to Carl.
“The cost of luxurious maintenance assigned to the dowager empress’ castle has been ridiculously high. She’s right to be extravagant, but I’m sure a large portion of this money came from the nobility or gained with illegalities. Until now, there has been no excuse to put a brake on the dowager empress’s budget, but I will try to reduce the amount and pressure Arya, using the project to rescue orphans as the excuse.”
Carl agreed with Sienna.
“That sounds great. I’ll also give you the authority to access and inspect all the books used in the castle, so check where and how the Empress’s money has been going. I’ve been keeping a close eye on her, too, but since you’ve been in charge of my accounting, you’ll have a different perspective. Maybe we can check the merchant organization close to Arya, or the source of the funds she’s hiding.”
Sienna had long wanted to prevent Arya from extorting huge costs in luxury and exploiting them for political funds, but she couldn’t.
Within the Imperial Palace, Arya was solid, and Sienna’s power was insignificant in comparison. Moreover, it was seen as quite rude for the empress to request books or reduce the amount already set aside.
But now she was determined to leave her honor behind and proceed with the work. She was scared, but she was motivated when Carl declared he would give her strength.
The two earnestly discussed how to proceed.
*
The woman looked in the mirror with an expressionless face. In the past, there would be a nanny who would say she was the most beautiful woman in the world, but now she was not here.
“It’s all because of Sienna. If she hadn’t changed the cups.”
Sienna ruined everything. A little action by Sienna ruined everything. Or at least Bluebell thought so.
Putting aside the fact that she planned a self-poison plan to put Sienna at risk, she focused only on the fact that all her plans had been ruined because of Sienna.
‘Would you like to join hands with me?’
Arya’s suggestion was answered yet.
‘Don’t trust Empress Arya too much. I think she’s a suspicious woman.’
Bluebell couldn’t accept Arya’s offer easily because of the words her nanny said before she died.
The nanny disapproved of Bluebell’s reliance on Arya after she came into the palace. She warned Bluebell not to be too trusting, saying that Arya looks like a smiling person on the outside but it’s because she wants something from Bluebell.
Now Bluebell knew that the nanny was not wrong. Bluebell knew well that Arya was a woman who made a false smile if needed.
“But there’s no nanny anymore. There’s no one on my side.”
Bluebell said, swallowing bitter tears. She really didn’t have anyone to reach out to now.
Bluebell couldn’t tell the truth to her father Kenyon Ferrer, who was always asking if the baby was growing up well, and that everything would be okay if she had a baby.
Kenyon always spoiled Bluebell, but she knew how cold he would turn if he found out the truth. Bluebell even wondered if he raised her nicely to use her politically.
Besides, Bluebell didn’t even feel like she had a choice now. Arya knew her biggest secret.
‘Empress Bluebell, you lied to me that you were pregnant, right?’
Arya’s words echoed again.
‘It’s not really important whether you’re pregnant or not. A baby, you can make it. The child who will be the emperor does not have to be the blood of the emperor. A boy with golden hair and olive eyes is rare, but not impossible to find.’
Bluebell never thought Arya would say such a scary thing as lightly as if she was talking about the weather.
‘Before that, I’ll give you a present. I’m sure you’ll be happy.’
Arya had never visited her since that day. And the gift didn’t arrive either.
It was obvious by the tone of her speech that it was not a common gift. Bluebell was anxious and excited about what it would be. Hoping that it could be something she can hold on to…