ITIF Chapter 108

The Empress Must Step Forward Herself

“The Empress gave Marchioness Latse a vacation?”

When Giselle Grante asked, Lady Howard also responded with a puzzled expression.

“Yes. It’s so sudden, isn’t it? To give a vacation to her most trusted aide when Marquis Antares has been captured… What could she be thinking?”

“Where did she say she was going for the vacation?”

“She only briefly greeted the maids and left in a hurry, so they didn’t hear where she was going. I suppose where she’s going is what’s important, right?”

Lady Howard asked back with a slight furrow of her elegant brow.

“I think we need to look into this.”

Giselle Grante hurriedly stood up from her seat.

Just then, Lady Greykin walked into the drawing room.

The moment she saw Lady Greykin’s face, a question mark appeared on Lady Howard’s face.

“……Huh?”

Lady Greykin also seemed unaware that there were prior guests and looked at Giselle Grante with a bewildered expression.

Giselle Grante, who had been looking back and forth between the two, pressed her forehead.

‘I thought I gave advance notice that she would be with Lady Howard……’

It seemed someone in the middle hadn’t properly conveyed the message.

It was an awkward situation, but Giselle Grante extended her hand toward Lady Greykin and said.

“It’s late, but let me introduce you. This is…….”

Lady Howard suddenly jumped to her feet.

Then she pointed at Lady Greykin and exclaimed.

“Lady Greykin, a maid to Her Imperial Highness Princess Trinity, who was recently reported missing!”

Lady Greykin tried to control one corner of her mouth that involuntarily twitched as she said.

“……That’s right. I’m that person who was supposedly missing.”

“What happened?”

Lady Howard turned her head sharply toward Giselle Grante and asked.

It was an urgent situation. To figure out the Empress’s intention of suddenly sending Marchioness Latse somewhere.

‘Where should I even start explaining?’

When Giselle Grante slightly frowned, Lady Greykin spoke first.

“It seems like you were urgently going somewhere. I’ll explain to her, so please go ahead. My business isn’t that urgent.”

Saying this, Lady Greykin gently pushed Giselle Grante’s back.

“I’ll leave it to you.”

After giving Lady Greykin a brief nod, Giselle Grante immediately turned around.

“Wow……. I was completely fooled again! Was this all part of Lady Amaterasu’s scheme too? I got goosebumps. Look at this.”

“Um…… So…….”

Leaving behind Lady Greykin trying to calm the excited Lady Howard, Giselle Grante hurriedly left the drawing room and headed to Kavelaseth’s office.

Knock knock.

When she knocked carefully, Kavelaseth’s voice came from beyond the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Giselle Grante. I have something to discuss with you. Do you have a moment?”

There was no response from inside.

Instead, through the approaching footsteps, she could read Kavelaseth’s urgent state of mind.

The office door opened, and she faced Kavelaseth, who wore a slightly surprised expression.

“I know you’re busy, but could we go inside and talk for a moment?”

“Of course.”

Only then did Kavelaseth step aside.

Was it because of Giselle Grante’s rather quick pace as she headed toward the sofa?

Seeming to grasp her state of mind from that alone, Kavelaseth murmured softly.

“It seems you didn’t come simply because you wanted to see me.”

Since his voice seemed to drip with disappointment, Giselle Grante deliberately played along.

“While I’m at it……should I say?”

“So you came to see me for business, but you’d also look at my face while you’re here. Is that what you mean?”

Giselle Grante blinked rapidly and then nodded her head vigorously.

Only then did Kavelaseth sit down facing her with a satisfied expression.

“The Empress gave Marchioness Latse a vacation.”

“The timing is quite coincidental.”

“I think so too. She seems to be leaving in a hurry, and I want to look into the situation. I was hoping to get help from Your Grace in terms of manpower.”

“You want to have Marchioness Latse tailed?”

When Giselle Grante nodded, a faint smile played around Kavelaseth’s lips.

“If that’s what you want, by all means.”

When his gaze somehow became more intense and Giselle Grante swallowed dryly, it happened.

The footsteps heard in the corridor grew closer, and soon the office door burst open.

“Your Grace! You need to go to the Imperial Palace!”

****

The Emperor declared that he would entrust the salt business to another family.

It wasn’t mentioned at an official gathering of nobles or in a palace meeting.

Nevertheless, the impact was tremendous.

It had been about twenty years since the Antares family had taken over the salt business.

It was around the time he learned that Joshua was growing in the Empress’s belly.

Since then, the salt business had been monopolized by the Antares family.

“But now he’s saying he’ll revoke the monopoly? His Imperial Majesty the Emperor said that?”

At the Empress’s words, the chamberlain nodded.

“Yes. He hasn’t announced a specific family to take over the salt business following the Antares family, but when this news spreads…….”

“……Right. When the news spreads, the nobles within the Empire will be in an uproar.”

“Your Imperial Majesty the Empress, so what do we do now?”

The chamberlain cautiously asked for the Empress’s opinion.

‘What do we do now?’

The Empress’s brow furrowed deeply.

It was undoubtedly a familiar question, but for some reason, those words sounded especially irritating today.

The reason was probably because the person who had always asked the same question had changed.

Whenever a problem arose, the Empress always asked how to handle the matter well.

Then either the Antares family or the Latse Marquisate would provide a solution.

In other words, her role was not to devise solutions to problems.

But now there was no one by her side.

Marquis Antares was confined somewhere by the Emperor, and she had sent Marchioness Latse away just moments ago.

Right now, only the chamberlain was before her eyes. Utterly incompetent…….

Realizing that there was no one else to resolve the matter, the Empress immediately stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“I must meet His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.”

The Empress immediately headed to the Emperor’s office. And she asked the knights standing in front of the office.

“I need to see His Imperial Majesty the Emperor. Where is he now?”

“His Majesty has entered a meeting.”

“……A meeting?”

“Yes.”

“Where is that?”

When the Empress asked again, the knight shut his mouth tight. It was a silent expression that he had no intention of revealing the Emperor’s whereabouts.

After glaring at the knight, the Empress immediately turned around.

There weren’t many places where the Emperor held meetings.

‘If they won’t tell me, I’ll have to search each place one by one.’

She visited several places that immediately came to mind, but the Emperor was nowhere to be seen.

‘Then, that’s the only place left.’

The Empress headed to the last remaining conference room.

Fortunately, knights were standing guard in front of it. The knights stopped the Empress as she tried to enter without warning.

“His Imperial Majesty the Emperor is currently in a meeting.”

“Move aside.”

To the Empress who ordered while glaring as if she would kill them, the knight only repeated the same words like a parrot.

“His Imperial Majesty the Emperor is currently in a meeting. He commanded that no one be allowed inside.”

****

At the hastily convened meeting, the Emperor announced the news that the salt business monopoly had been nullified.

That wasn’t all.

The Emperor asked the nobles for their opinions on the salt business going forward.

As a result, opinions converged toward the direction of dividing salt distribution rights among several families through bidding in the future.

This was proposed by Kavelaseth, and Count Preston and Count Frederick were the first to express their agreement.

Emboldened by this, young nobles added their own opinions of agreement.

This was a major event that could change the existing power structure.

Not a few nobles understood this to mean that the Emperor was taking this matter seriously and would no longer tolerate the tyranny of the Empress’s family.

“So what happens to His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince now?”

“The situation isn’t good, but if not him, there really isn’t anyone suitable to inherit the throne, is there?”

“That’s true. Young Master Tarel is still young…….”

The nobles leaving the conference room were busy sharing their opinions with each other in lowered voices.

Just then, Kavelaseth walked forward past the nobles who were conversing.

The gazes of the nobles who had just been discussing the Empire’s future all landed on Kavelaseth’s reliable back.

“Come to think of it, doesn’t Duke Cardia also have succession rights to the throne?”

As soon as someone raised the question, the murmuring voices quickly diminished.

This was because the Emperor’s chief chamberlain was walking toward Kavelaseth.

The perceptive nobles quickly changed the subject and began conversing.

“Duke Cardia.”

The chamberlain who had approached Kavelaseth called to him softly. When he turned around, the chamberlain added.

“His Imperial Majesty the Emperor requests a private audience.”

“His Majesty?”

Kavelaseth asked back with one eyebrow raised, and the chamberlain continued.

“Yes. He said he has something important to discuss with you.”

Kavelaseth swept his gaze over a group of nobles walking this way.

The nobles who had been repeatedly glancing at Kavelaseth were startled when their eyes met his, but soon offered a nod of greeting.

After exchanging light nods with them, Kavelaseth soon nodded.

“Let’s go.”