Chapter 98

Chapter 98

It was a social club that was created for unity and friendship, but they were blaming each other in public.

As the leader, Philap would feel humiliated.

In fact, as he closed his eyes, his neck was red and the veins in his forehead were popping out.

‘His head will hurt even more hereafter because he’s going to his seniors’ interrogation.’

Of course, most of those who attended the seminar were astonished at the cowardly appearance that Omicron was giving them.

“Everyone, calm down. Who spread false evidence to Princess Emmanuelle?”

Philap, who opened his eyes, was late in trying to quell the situation, but I quickly intervened.

“The whole of Omicron was involved in slandering me, and you’re shamelessly avoiding responsibility now?!”

I made my eyes fiercer.

“Princess Emmanuelle stated it clearly in the beginning. There is a ‘public opinion’ that criticizes me for being the top student at the academy.”

I looked through each Omicron member, and they flinched as if they had seen a viper emerging from a bush.

“The public opinion that is defaming me must have been manipulated by them. With how much you’ve been talking about me behind my back, everyone is a suspect in spreading false evidence.”

The atmosphere was already leaning towards me, so everyone slowly nodded their heads as if agreeing with my argument.

The 5th Princess also helped.

“That’s cowardly. Even at the academic conference last year, you spoke without proper evidence and claimed that one of our members had plagiarized a thesis.”

She stared sharply at Princess Emmanuelle with her yellow eyes.

“Is it the way of Omicron to go around as a group and tarnish other people’s reputation?”

“I’m disappointed in Omicron.”

“It’s one of the four best groups in name, I can’t believe they have such a pathetic side.”

The members of other clubs who were watching with interest also pitched in a word while grabbing some popcorn.

As the honor of her club was at stake, Princess Emmanuelle, who was blaming others, hurriedly opened her mouth.

“I feel regretful about last year, too. Also, I interfered thoughtlessly without clear evidence.”

‘Regret? The choice of word is a little wicked…’

I couldn’t help but hold a bitter smile at her sly way of speaking, trying to minimize her mistakes as much as possible.

At that moment, Isidor opened his mouth.

“Regret? Princess Emmanuelle accused Princess Deborah of threatening her subordinates to produce the magic tool that she herself designed.”

His voice was as cold as ice.

“You also presented false evidence, ruining both Princess Deborah’s presentation and the atmosphere of Epsilon’s academic conference. This is not only a matter of a polite apology, but also of substantial compensation.”

Isidor recalled her mistakes one by one.

Driven to the edge of a cliff, Emmanuelle’s eyes turned red.

Her wet eyes were filled with resentment and anger at this situation.

Emmanuelle bit her lips and soon opened her mouth.

“I acted without caution. However, I had the courage to act as the delegate because I felt that I should prevent a problematic thesis from being presented in public!”

She spoke to the crowd in an appealing voice.

“I misunderstood when I saw Princess Deborah being harsh with her vassals.”

I thought she would attack my character.

While her character had already gone all the way to the ground.

“I want everyone to know that I didn’t have bad intentions.”

In the end, Princess Emmanuelle self-destructed as she took the final bait.

“You didn’t have bad intentions?”

I asked back.

“I was blinded by a sense of justice…”

“Did you think I would believe that? It wasn’t the first time that Princess Emmanuelle had her subordinates come up with this kind of dirty work.”

As I raised a new suspicion, the academic conference hall became noisy, and Princess Emmanuelle’s eyes opened wide.

‘You didn’t expect me to suddenly stab you with a knife, did you?’

Originally, my intention in spreading false evidence at the risk of being discovered wasn’t just to attack Emmanuelle and her group.

“Princess Deborah. What are you talking about? What do you mean I ordered my subordinates to do dirty work?”

As I looked at the hesitating Emmanuelle, I pulled out a document.

It was Naria’s accounting book, which was stolen by a servant who worked for Bruno.

“You made your subordinates do accounting fraud.”

“By accounting fraud, do you mean tax evasion?!”

“Dear heavens!”

“Oh my g-god.”

The audience became noisy as the illegal activities of Princess Emmanuelle, who even had the elegant nickname of Magnolia, were publicly mentioned.

The atmosphere had now shifted to a new phase.

The audience would now be interested in judging Princess Emmanuelle’s character.

‘Moreover, it would be even more shocking because her image was usually noble. Unlike me, who had a wicked personality from the beginning.’

It was the same trick that Omicron used last year when they picked on the private life of the Epsilon’s presenter.

“Princess Emmanuelle wanted to be the most prominent in her once-in-a-lifetime debutante, and she needed a lot of money to manage multiple connections. I can understand that much. But even making an illegal slush fund is going too far!”

I returned the way of speaking that Princess Emmanuelle had used earlier.

Her hands trembled slightly, and the ledger I had given her shook.

‘She can’t make an excuse. Bruno’s business is managed by the Serig family.’

The moment I learned of the connection between Serig and Bruno, I was only waiting for an opportunity to send the two together in one shot.

‘But I had no reason to do it.’

However, Princess Emmanuelle thankfully gave me an opportunity to attack because she avoided a direct apology and acted unnecessarily prideful.

“I have no idea about this!”

“You’re still making the excuse that you don’t know, like earlier.”

I stepped in front of Emmanuelle in big strides.

“So how do you explain the large amount of gold coins that, according to the books, flowed to the Serig family?”

Emmanuelle’s lips moved slightly.

“There is also evidence that Princess Emmanuelle was in charge of Bruno’s business. There is also correspondence between Bruno and the Duke. Shall we check the truth with the judiciary right now?”

At my words, Emmanuelle’s lips trembled, and she was barely able to make a sound.

“I was not involved in manipulating the accounting books. Bruno, the owner of the business, wanted to look good to the Serig family, so he did what he wanted.”

“Bruno’s business, which is run by the Serig family, has been stealing business items and recipes from small shops, making illegal slush funds, and even making accusations that a strand of hair had appeared on food from their competitors, and is being investigated by the judicial branch. But Princess Emmanuelle didn’t know?”

When their sales fell, Bruno’s group, feeling cornered, sent someone to Armand to say that there was a strand of hair inside the cake.

Armand’s owner had to struggle for a while to solve this problem.

“I know that Princess Emmanuelle is doing a presentation on political leadership at the forthcoming Omicron conference. Right?”

I was already aware of the contents of the thesis to be presented by Emmanuelle, who specialized in political science.

Having a large faction meant that there were many people who could take one’s side, and at the same time, it also meant that one’s plans could easily leak out.

“Judging by the lack of an answer, it seems to be correct.”

“…”

“However, Princess Emmanuelle has been blaming others constantly since a while ago. Is that irresponsible attitude of not wanting to take responsibility the characteristic a leader should have?”

With the stinging gaze of the audience and my constant interrogation, Emmanuelle finally lowered her head, saying she was sorry.

Emmanuelle had no choice but to apologize to me when even her secret slush fund was discussed.

“I hope you will also rectify the honor you made me lose behind the scenes. Princess Emmanuelle.”

I threatened her, whose lips were trembling, and then opened my mouth as I looked at the people in the audience, who were holding their breath.

“I will conclude my presentation here.”

“Even though the other person was Princess Emmanuelle, who is second to none in terms of personal connections, she completely destroyed her. As expected, she is not famous for nothing.”

As the astonished Thierry said how great she was, the 5th Princess smiled.

“That’s why I fell in love with her.”

Princess Deborah must have been waiting for this from the beginning.

‘That false evidence was probably a trap…’

Using tactics that are used when at a numerical disadvantage in military law.

It seems that this was what she meant by not worrying because she was more cowardly.

“It would have been nice if Lady Leah, the one who gave up her thesis last year because of Princess Emmanuelle, had come to the conference today.”

“You’re right. I feel all refreshed, too.”

Due to the group conference, the members of Epsilon who had doubts about Princess Deborah’s admission were seeing her in a new light.

Of course, it was still difficult to approach Princess Deborah, but everyone was pleased with the news that the Omicron conference, which was to be held two days later, had been properly ruined by the Princess.

The Serig family relentlessly shut down Naria, the biggest dessert shop at the academy’s west gate, and Bruno’s business.

Naria’s corruption was caught in the open, and since the academic conference attendees were aristocrats, its main customer base, it was a huge loss to keep operating it.

And thanks to that, I was able to easily determine the location of Armand’s second store.

Naria had the best location, and was the most famous dessert shop in the west gate.

And now, it was going to become Armand’s second store.

‘It’s wonderful.’

I had been working with the goal of getting rid of the most troublesome competitors at once…

“Was that really possible!?”

Because it was a shop that was ruined by bad rumors, I was able to win a bid for Naria’s building for a price much cheaper than the market price.

‘I should directly manage the second store.’

I grinned like a villain, imagining myself sweeping away the money.

While thinking that as expected, living as a villainess was comfortable.

——