“If there’s backlash from raising taxes, grab them on some crime and bring them to the capital. I’ll scrape even the oil from their stomach linings to squeeze them dry.”
“They won’t let themselves be squeezed easily. They’ve lived like that for quite a long time, so if you suddenly tell them to hand it over…”
To Isaac’s worry, Chesire didn’t even pretend to have heard it again. Of course, Isaac also thought this part was unnecessary worry, but it was a very cold reaction. It wasn’t that he had seen wrong, his mood was indeed foul.
“Will you send everything to Kuros after all?”
Kuros was the Western land that Chesire possessed. Though it was a somewhat remote place, it was a vast land like combining several kingdoms, and Chesire had been accumulating wealth in that land since he was very young.
Chesire had many talents in various fields. There were talents visible to the eye like his appearance, and talents that were innate but not very apparent, like swordsmanship.
And what such a he was best at was politics. Regarding intrigue, schemes, social navigation, isolating political enemies and striking them down, he had a heaven-sent talent.
The fact that he, who had lived his entire life as crown prince, possessed various talents was now quite a well-known fact, but there was little known about another talent.
It was that Chesire had exceptional talent in earning money. Of course, he was good at ‘earning’ it, but it was Chesire who had taught Isaac that ‘squeezing’ it also required technique. Of course, he was also outstanding at ‘rolling’ it.
“What on earth are you going to do with sooooo much money?”
Isaac couldn’t understand at all why he accumulated and rolled wealth like that when the entire empire would become Chesire’s anyway.
If Chesire weren’t the crown prince, he would have suspected him of plotting something like rebellion. Though the capital’s political strife was fierce, Chesire’s position was quite solid. It wasn’t strife to appoint another successor but to pick up the things that fell below.
Chloe had grown up so innocently that she couldn’t even get involved in political strife from the beginning, and Eric was ordinary. Not bad, but if there’s a genius next to him, he ends up looking dim-witted.
The only thing lacking for Chesire was that he hadn’t married yet and had no heir. It was a strange thing that he met ladies and noblewomen without discrimination like that, but anyway. —Unless Chesire was suddenly assassinated or something, there was no way another person would become the Emperor of the next generation.
To Isaac’s bland question, Chesire thudded the documents down.
“Well.”
He, with his arms propped on the desk, raised his eyes with an unpleasant gaze.
“I was trying to return what wasn’t mine in the first place.”
“Yes?”
What is he saying? Not understanding what it was, Isaac, who raised his head curiously, looked behind the back that Chesire was gazing at.
There was a visitor.
Prince Eric was standing at the door, huffing.
“Ah.”
Isaac, who seemed to know why he had come with such a flushed face, rolled his embarrassed eyes around.
“Get out.”
Chesire mercifully permitted the exit, and Isaac, whose butt was already about to sweat profusely, inwardly cheered and went outside.
As he came out passing by, the angry Eric’s fist was trembling.
Oh dear, he’s going to throw a punch. No, if throwing one punch would calm the anger, that would be good, but… Isaac thought that sibling fights were quite scary and quickly ran away.
Chesire looked at his younger brother who had come unannounced without much surprise. He had thought he would come soon. It was rather a bit late than expected. He had just given the order that if Eric came, not to block him unnecessarily and to let him in to avoid getting vented on for trying to stop him.
“What on earth have you done?”
To Eric’s words trembling with anger, Chesire, too lazy even to pretend not to know, leaned deeply into the backrest and asked.
“Did you come because you don’t know what I did?”
To the question implying whether he had to explain even such things one by one, Eric shouted “Brother!”
“What crime did Lucas commit to have to be hanged?”
“If there was no crime, it wouldn’t have been a big deal even if squeezed.”
Chesire spoke in a tone of regret, but it was a lie. Even if there was no crime, they would have pinned some false charge on him anyway. But evidence of embezzlement had come out a full stack without needing to lie.
The Lucas that Eric was talking about was Eric’s closest confidant and the one who worked in the imperial treasury managing the empire’s finances.
A few days ago, Chesire had rummaged through the imperial treasury a bit and found a suspicious point. It was a very minor task. When he subtly let his political enemy know about the hole, the next day Lucas was dragged away by the imperial knight order. Embezzling money from the treasury wasn’t simple theft but treason.
“It was just a calculation mistake. Embezzlement? It doesn’t make sense to do that for such a small amount of money. I’ll cover the shortfall.”
“You should have known that when working in the treasury, even that small amount can cost your life. —And it wasn’t me who hanged your friend on the gallows.”
“Brother!”
Chesire waved his hand at Eric who was shouting like an angry cat. He leaned deeply into the backrest and crossed his legs.
“Noisy. Acting like you didn’t expect such a thing to happen, it’s rather astonishing.”
Though he had been lenient to Chloe as well as Eric until now, there was no one who didn’t know what kind of person he was. Especially Eric had no way of not knowing.
“That, about that female Countess, if I apologize, no.”
Eric said, lowering his gaze as if humiliated. He couldn’t properly hide the ominous aura floating above his pupils.
“I will apologize. I didn’t know it was something that His Majesty had already confirmed, and I was just trying to check in case something unfortunate happened.”
“In case something unfortunate happens, trying to check.”
Chesire repeated his words flatly.
“You wrap it up so nicely, saying that with your shallow suspicion, you insulted the hero who ended the war, me, and His Imperial Majesty all at once.”
As Chesire sarcastically pointed out the core, Eric was busy making excuses.
“I, that’s not it…, that person named Sahara has an unclear identity…, if you had let me confirm something like Knut’s head from the beginning, this kind of thing wouldn’t have happened, right?”
To the words turning the arrow, Chesire chuckled, lowering his eyes.
“Why should I let you confirm it? What are you?”
To the blatant mockery implying whether he thought he was some important figure, Eric’s cheeks trembled with a sense of humiliation.
“There are many others who think that way besides me.”
“Still, none among them stepped forward in front of people to insult me, His Majesty, and her.”
To Eric’s attitude of biting his lips tightly, Chesire stared at him intently, then stood up from his seat and walked in front of him.
“Eric.”
Chesire looked down at his lacking younger brother with a tone of pity.
“You should have thought before acting.”
As Chesire patted his shoulder, Eric, thinking it was an opening to squeeze in, clung to Chesire.
“But how can it be just because of one mere girl…! Gah!”
Eric suddenly gagged, swallowing his breath. His breath was blocked by the hand choking his neck. His whole body stiffened at Chesire’s cold pupils holding his neck with one hand.
“For someone who came here begging because you couldn’t keep your tongue in check, don’t babble carelessly again.”
Eric gagged, gagged, swallowing his breaths. He wanted to show this eye to the people who said Chesire’s purple pupils were beautiful. How is this beautiful anywhere? It was hideous and chilling, akin to a snake’s eye.
“Wrong, wron, gah.”
With the momentum to really cut off his breath, Eric scratched at his own neck vigorously and begged. The fingers that had been gripping his neck loosened very slowly, as if regretfully, at a slow pace.
“Cough, hack, cough!”
As soon as his neck was freed, Eric shook off his hand, bent at the waist, and spat out coughs.
“…Anyway, your friend’s matter is already over, so go back and reflect. Convincing the accuser would give you a chance to see your friend even one more day than begging me.”
Chesire held Eric’s shoulder as if stroking it, who had collapsed on the floor.
“And if something like this happens next time,”
He waited until Eric’s coughing subsided completely and then said.
“If you’re curious what will happen, go ahead and do it.”
Chesire let him go and turned around to sit back in the chair. It would be beneficial for his well-being to obediently run away, but Eric glared at Chesire and ground his teeth. However, for a man to tuck tail and run away in such a moment would look too pathetic.
“No matter how much you act superior, Brother is just the product of an affair.”
Whether his eyes had turned red from being strangled or from that much anger, it was impossible to tell. Eric said with a face that bared his teeth, unclear if he was crying or laughing.
“You can never become the Emperor’s son, no matter what.”
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Eric looked as if he would stab a dagger into him, but in fact, Chesire wasn’t particularly hurt.
“You talk as if it’s some great secret.”
When Chesire was born, it was a story everyone in the world was buzzing about. The child born after 10 years of marriage between the Emperor and the Empress had sparkling platinum blonde hair and purple pupils, and even as a newborn, he was beautiful like a sculpture. Chesire resembled not the Emperor but his younger brother, Grand Duke Shurs.
Everyone thought the Empress had committed adultery. It was said to be the result after the long years of Grand Duke Shurs’ obsession with the Empress.
The Empress dismissed it as nonsense and kept her words brief, but no one believed the Empress’s words. Grand Duke Shurs boasted that Chesire was definitely his son and even stepped forward to take the Empress and Chesire away.
Everyone thought the Emperor would depose the Empress and kill Chesire, the evidence of adultery, but instead, the Emperor recognized Chesire as his eldest son and proclaimed him crown prince.
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