﹡ ⊹ ⊰ Chapter 225 ⊱ ⊹ ﹡
Perez recalled as he looked at the steaming warm tea.
'Remember, Perez, it's the Emperor who chooses the Crown Prince. Be careful not to fall out of the eyes of the Emperor.'
In other words, he needed to stay back in this meeting.
Perez might take damage between the Angenas, who got the Emperor's favor, and Lombardy, who was at odds with them.
A quiet smile spread across Perez's face. It was a common occurrence whenever he thought of Tia.
'You're cruel.'
She said that they can't be together ever, get married and make a family, but she worries about him like this.
She told him not to love her when she's so lovely herself.
With gentleness in his eyes, Perez poured another warm tea into the half-empty teacup of the Emperor.
"Tell me now, Second Prince." Jovanes said over another sip of tea, getting familiar with him.
"I'm curious about what you are trying to say."
Perez looked at the Emperor.
His current situation in which the most detestable person trusts himself was ridiculous, and he couldn't believe it.
"Would you like to take a look at this for a moment, Your Majesty?
Perez pulled out a few folded sheets of paper from his coat and handed them to Jovanes.
The papers were old and faded.
"What's this?" Puzzled, Jovanes began to carefully read what Perez had given him.
There was a lot of stuff written on the paper.
It was not long before that creases appeared in between the Emperor's brows. Soon after reading, he asked Perez.
"Is this a request order for an item at the Lombardy merchant guild?"
"That's right." Perez nodded.
"Leather, wood, horses, grain, and iron."
In a low voice, Jovanes read down the items written on the document one by one.
The rest were things that anyone could simply order. However, one word caught Jovanes' attention.
"Iron."
After checking the amount of iron on the order sheet, the Emperor asked Perez.
"Who was going to wage a war?"
The Emperor asked in a half-joke tone but there were a lot of thorns in it.
However, Perez was calm in responding.
"Although the name written there is faded, you can still figure out who was the purchaser at the bottom."
"Gerard...Braun?"
It was the name of the predecessor of the Head of Braun.
Jovanes' eyes were wide open. Then he began to read the order again.
"Your Majesty is right. The Brauns were preparing for war." Perez said to the Emperor.
"These are the lists of items ordered by the previous Head of Braun from Lombardy merchant guild with the money borrowed from Angenas."
Perez looked coldly at Jovanes, who was reading the paper with a grimace.
"At that time, the Empire was preparing for war against the Kingdom of Ruman."
Jovanes' father, the previous Emperor, had a dream.
To win the war of conquest and expand the Empire's territory.
However, it wasn't the right time for the Empire to start a war of conquest. But the previous Emperor was determined.
Eventually, he began to open his hands to his subjects to start a war. Furthermore, Braun was the family that gave most of their supplies during that time.
"How can you..."
It was unlikely for Jovanes to not know. Therefore, he kept silent.
"The Braun family kept it confidential. But I was able to hear interesting things from them." Perez said, looking deeply at the unstable gaze of Jovanes.
"It is His Majesty that arranged for them to borrow money from Angenas, and that Angenas has granted early security rights to take the lands."
Jovanes' face was so red.
Perez said 'His Majesty' as if it were someone else. As a matter of fact, he was pertaining to Jovanes' father.
Jovanes had been silent for a moment before he asked Perez.
"Did the Head of Braun tell you this to threaten me? To change the representative of the West to Braun?"
Jovanes was so angry that he felt like he would cancel the Braun family's reinstatement right at that moment.
But Perez shook his head,
"The document is for you, Your Majesty."
"For me...?"
"If the Brauns knew how to intimidate you, things wouldn't have come this far. They are foolish people who have not told their unfair circumstances for a long time." Perez said, then continuing as if it wasn't a big deal.
"But it's obvious what will happen to the Imperial Family if this story goes out."
The previous Emperor waged war with the help of his loyalists and prompted their fall because of jealousy.
"That's why I asked for it. It's not good to just leave the Imperial court's disgrace in someone else's hand."
If this story goes outside...
Jovanes clenched his hands thinking about the situation that he didn't want to imagine.
"I don't think Your Majesty's judgment is wrong." Perez spoke to Jovanes in a relaxed tone.
"If the tool is used up, we have to throw it away and change it to something else."
At that time, a short knock came from outside the door to let them know that it was almost time for the meeting to start.
Perez got up from his seat, buttoning his coat.
"Today, the western representative changes."
It was like a prophecy.
Jovanes looked up at Perez with his eyes wide open.
"I am telling you in advance that you will not be humiliated by not keeping your promise to the Empress."
Having said that, Perez greeted briefly and walked out to the conference room.
Jovanes, who was left alone in the conference room, felt his throat burning and poured the remaining tea into his mouth.
***
After the opening of the meeting is announced.
Emperor Jovanes looked back at the crowd and asked.
"The Head of Braun, are you present?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Sitting next to me, Braun said as he bowed lightly in courtesy.
"What about Angenas?"
This time a loud voice answered.
"I'm here, Your Majesty!"
Isn't he too much?
Duigi Angenas jumped up from his seat and trembled. He must have already talked to Jovanes, and Clerivan was not even here.
I bet he's grinning inside.
"Today's meeting was held at the request of the chairman of the aristocratic council, to decide which of the two families would be the representative of the West."
As the Emperor explained the agenda of the meeting, tension rose in the crowd.
"And as a result of my own review."
Gulp.
I heard someone swallowing their saliva loudly.
"The difference in the size of the estates between the two families is very small."
That was all. Jovanes shut his mouth as if he had nothing more to say.
That's right.
I lowered my head slightly to suppress the smile that was about to come out.
However, the surrounding nobles began to murmur.
Because by now, the Emperor would have already chosen and decided by saying, 'You are the representative of the West.'
I looked up and glanced at the faces of Head Angenas and the Empress.
"...Hmmfh."
This time, it was really dangerous. I almost laughed during the meeting.
Of course, the faces of the two showed signs of embarrassment. Especially the face of Duigi Angenas that was losing its color.
"Your Majesty, I would like to ask a question." The Head of Braun spoke.
"How much is the small difference, and which family has a larger estate?"
The Head of Braun was calm.
He was such a perfect aristocrat that I wondered if he was the same person who drove the carriage while living as a commoner not long ago.
Emperor Jovanes answered faintly as he lifted the documents presented by his aide.
"The Braun family has a larger estate. The difference is....enough to decide by the Emperor's decree.
"Then..."
"Isn't it decided?"
When the nobles began to murmur again, Jovanes added a word.
"However, it is not too significant to change the representative family with just this."
"That's right!" Duigi Angenas jumped out of his seat once again as he shouted.
"We can't concede with that difference!"
"No, what do you mean by you can't concede?"
Eventually, someone shouted.
"No matter how small the difference is, you can't say that because there's obviously a difference!"
Emperor Jovanes took an ambiguous attitude and of course, the fight caught fire fast like in a dry field.
"The difference is that we can't give up the position of the representative of the West that our family has kept for the past 40 years!"
He also raised his voice without losing their side in the Angenas camp.
"Do not undermine your owner, admit defeat and step back! If you're a noble, you should do that!"
"What honor!? His Majesty does not speak! It's too small for a difference!"
Both sides were fighting with bulging veins on their necks, as they did at the nobles' meeting before, but Jovanes didn't curl up.
He was just watching as if watching a fire across the river.
The Empress was staring at Jovanes.
You can't help but feel the hot gaze from the next seat, can you?
Jovanes sat listening to a war of words while resting his chin on his hand, wearing a casual look.
Then, as he seemed to be slipping out of an argument, Duigi Angenas threw the ball.
"Your Majesty, please do a reevaluation!"
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February 05, 2022
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