“The garden is hardly a garden, it is so barren.
Sometimes monsters come there, and the ground is so dry and barren that nothing can be grown.
The pond has been dry for a long time, and the flowers have not bloomed.”
“I just need a big plot of land.
This is the largest plot of land available here, isn't it?”
“What will you use it for, Miss Anne?”
“I will grow herbs, because I will need them a lot in the future.”
Yorta seemed delighted at the mention of planting herbs and then made another offer.
“If you grow herbs, I will give you a small vegetable garden next to it.”
"with you?"
“I'll include it in the price you pay for the garden, and since we can't pay you for the holy water, consider it an alternative.”
In the end, I succeeded in purchasing the huge garden and the small vegetable garden.
It was a better result than getting a large sum of money.
“Dale, what's that look on your face?”
I turned to see Dale sitting, his face somber.
“I'm sorry.
It's my fault for not giving Enya a generous living allowance.”
When she looked at Dale, his expression grew darker.
“Are you sure you're not overexerting yourself?”
“No, not at all.”
"truly?"
Dale's expression softened immediately.
He sighed and looked at me with soft eyes.
“Are you sure you're not?”
“Yes, I decided to work in the Lord’s Castle because I wanted to.”
“But from what I understand from Enya’s situation, frequent visits to the Lord’s Castle may not be beneficial.”
Dale said carefully and carefully.
“If Enya helps the Lord and this story spreads, the Emperor might be interested in you.
Is that okay with you?”
“Oh, that.”
“It seems that Enya's intentions go beyond simply restoring the Lord's health.”
Dale was surprisingly perceptive.
“The Lord will get better, and then everyone will wonder who suddenly healed the dying Lord.”
“…….”
"It wouldn't be attributed to the lord who has been ill for months.
So who could it be?"
“…….”
“Eventually, a stranger will be reported.”
“In other words, would this arouse the Emperor’s curiosity?”
"Yes, this is correct."
Dale was right.
The Emperor was focused on strengthening the inner circle of his empire.
He was a man who built his own support base by promoting talent regardless of their origin.
It was he who legally abolished discrimination against foreign races, and restored honor to families who had been unjustly executed by the previous emperor as traitors without solid evidence.
He also took the unusual step of selecting his advisors directly from those families and placing them in his inner circle.
In addition, he abolished the corrupt practice of appointing people based on connections and bribes in the imperial palace and restored the examination system, implementing a strictly merit-based appointment system.
Thanks to these efforts, during the first days of his reign, the old nobles who had been waiting to lend their power to an emperor who did not have a solid base of support were removed from the center of power.
The emperor seized power.
Besides, the achievements he achieved after ascending the throne were many.
However, there were still many things that needed to be cleaned, and the Emperor remained busy for a long time after ascending the throne, without resting a single moment.
“The Emperor is a human too.”
As Dale said, this could actually attract the Emperor's attention.
It was a problem I thought about a lot.
And finally
I found the answer.
“Even if the Emperor has great stamina, as a human, there is a limit to the amount of work he can do.”
“…….”
“Work is overshadowed by bigger, more important things.”
Dale looked at me unsure.
“It has been three years since the Emperor issued the Imperial Decree to make me Empress.
I am a princess of a ducal family, and my father is Duke Lockhart, who is known as the Emperor’s right-hand man.”
"Understood."
“If the Empire’s only two dukedoms and the Emperor had united, they would have been able to find me easily.
So why haven’t they found me yet?”
Dale began to think seriously.
He tapped his hand on the table as if trying to come up with an answer.
“Because it's exhausting.”
“……?”
“This is because the Emperor is overworked.”
For a moment, Dale's eyes widened.
He stared at me in confusion.
"exhausted……."
Dale's voice slowed.
“I don't quite understand.”
“Why do you think the Emperor will be busy?”
“Because he must reform the empire, which is still in chaos and turmoil due to the sins of the previous emperor.”
“That's right, there are many places that need repair.”
"This is correct."
“But how can these sins be discovered?”
Dale narrowed his eyes at me.
He gave me a look that showed he didn't quite understand what I was saying.
"The atrocities committed by the ancient nobles are enormous.
It may only take decades to uncover all their deeds, given the size of the empire."
“…….”
“Under normal circumstances.”
Dale's eyes widened.
“But the Emperor quickly discovered their crimes and punished them.”
“You don't mean…….”
"This is correct."
I patted my chest proudly.
“I have been urging the Imperial Palace.”
“……!”
The Emperor should not take a break from work.
never.
He had to be on such a tight schedule that the thought of finding me would never occur to him.
Of course, he couldn't die while working.
If he died, Duke Hexagon and his men would seize the opportunity and rise like zombies to take over the empire.
Then our family will be on the sidelines.
So, the Emperor had to work non-stop, just enough to not die.
So he can't even think about me.
He can't even pay attention to little things!
I knew the original novel, so I wrote down the main villain episodes in the original novel and went looking for clues.
“I planted everything I found in the Imperial Palace.”
Very discreetly.
Through someone.
So, the emperor was constantly busy with work.
His quick and precise handling of corruption throughout society erased the stain of his blood-stained throne.
Now, he was beloved by most of the empire, praised as a strict but fair ruler, and recognized as one of the greatest emperors of all time, charismatic and powerful.
It was a brutal process, I admit.
In the end, it was good for him.
“It's a good idea, isn't it?
The Emperor likes to work, and I like to keep him busy.”
“…….”
“Dale, what's wrong?”
“I think it's a good idea...”
He struggled to finish the sentence.
“Isn't it?”
The Emperor was terrifyingly quick and accurate in dealing with everything I reported to him.
That was almost enough for me to feel a sense of camaraderie.
‘If the Imperial Decree had not been issued, we might have become good partners.’
The Emperor now did not look like the crazy ruler he was going to be.
But this was also true in the original novel.
Safety comes first.
I must not forget that.
Most of the secret messages she sent to the Emperor were related to very important matters that also appeared in the original novel.
Especially about Duke Hexagon.
Duke Hexagon was called an angel.
Unusually for a nobleman, he devoted himself to helping the poor and became a role model for all.
The empire generally lacked good soil for growing herbs.
As a result, herbs were expensive, and people had to pay a high price for treatment.
One day, the Hexagon family appeared and distributed a special medicine.
A medicine that eliminates all pain with just one dose.
Everyone was grateful, praised Duke Hexagon, and took the medicine for decades, but it was a dark medicine that should never be consumed.
It did not cure all diseases, but it numbed the feeling of pain.
A drug that is so addictive that it can never be quit.
Duke Hexagon used the poor and weak to his advantage, turning them into Hexagon slaves.
The former emperor tolerated this.
Duke Hexagon's end was house arrest.
Duke Hexagon is now confined to his palace in the north.
The Dark Experiment had been going on for so long that when the current Emperor came to power, he lacked the evidence to overthrow the Duke of Hexagon.
However, restraining the Duke of Hexagon, who had more power than the Emperor, was an achievement in itself.
No one believed that the current emperor could overthrow the previous emperor.
Hexagon fell with the former Emperor.
Then, as you saw in the original novel, I secretly lured Hexagon's followers little by little.
Hexagon was not the type to sit still even when cornered.
He continued to manipulate the outside world through his subordinates, and I remembered who Hexagon's minions were, so I anonymously called out to the Emperor.
“It seems that His Majesty the Emperor is doing a really good job.”
With the collapse of the Hexagon, the people of the Hexagon fled like the tide to other regions.
The Emperor granted tax exemptions to the properties that received them.
The neighboring provinces, which enjoyed the favor of the Emperor, received and settled the immigrants, and most of the neighboring provinces that relied on the Hexagon turned their backs on the ducal house.
As a result, Hexagon became geographically isolated and lost its power more quickly.
“It's tax collection season in the Imperial Palace now, so it must be busy… ah!
But there should be some breathing time before the knights' winter training, so it's time to introduce more tasks.”
She smiled and took out the notepad.
“Thank you!
Now that I think about it, I should write it down.”
“In advance.”
bump.
A large hand covered the notebook.
Before I knew it, I had scratched the back of Dale's hand with my pen.
"Dale, are you okay?
Clean it up."
I wiped the back of his hand with a damp tissue.
"I can't remove the ink.
Does it hurt?
What should I do about this?"
"Understood……."
Dale's sigh filled the room.
“You're the one who did this all this time.”