Chapter 225

A/N: Hello! I really appreciate your comments and I enjoy reading it!! So here's the update for today! Happy reading!

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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, stay back in this conference.

Perez might take damage between the Angenas, who were supported by the Emperor, and Lombardi, who is at odds.

A quiet smile spread around Perez's mouth.

It was a common occurrence when he thought of Tia.

'It's very cruel.'

She said that they can't get married and make a covenant so they can together forever, but she worries about him like this.

She told me not to love her, how come she's so lovely.

So Perez poured another warm tea into the half empty teacup of the emperor.

"Tell me now, Second Prince."

Yovanes said over another sip of tea, familiar with it.

"I'm curious about what you are trying to say."

Perez looked at the emperor.

The situation in which the most detestable person trusts himself was ridiculous, and it seemed that he couldn't understand 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 arms and handed them to Yovanes.

It was an old, faded document.

"What's this?"

Yovanes, puzzled, began to carefully read what Perez had given him.

There was a lot of stuff written on the paper.

It was not long before the Emperor's brow was wrinkled with shallow lines.

And he asked Perez.

"It's an order to request an item at the top of Lombardi?"

"That's right."

Perez nodded.

"Leather, wood, horses, grain, and iron."

In a low voice, Yovanes read down the items written on the document one by one.

The rest were things that anyone could often order.

However, one word caught Yovanes' attention.

"Iron."

The Emperor, who checked the amount of iron on the order sheet, asked Perez.

"Who was going to wage a war?"

There were a lot of thorns in his light speech like a half joke.

But Perez was calm.

"It's very faint, but can you identify the name of the purchaser at the bottom?"

"Gerard...Brown?"

It was the name of the predecessor of the Patriarch of Brown.

Yovanes' eyes were wide open.

Then he began reading the order again.

"Your Majesty is right. The Browns were preparing for war."

Perez said to the emperor.

"These are the details of items ordered by the predecessor of the Patriarch of Brown on the top of Lombardi with money borrowed from Angenas."

Perez looked coldly at Yovanes, who was reading the paper with a grimace.

"And at that time, the Empire was preparing for war against the Kingdom of Luman."

Yovanes' father, the previous Emperor, had a dream.

To win the war of conquest and expand the Empire's territory.

However, it was not suitable for the Empire to start a war of conquest at that time.

But the emperor's will was firm.

Eventually, he began to open his hands to his subjects to start a war.

And Brown was the family that gave most of the supplies during that time.

"How can you..."

And it is unlikely that Yovanes did not know that.

He was just silent.

"The Brown family kept it. And I heard interesting things from them."

Perez said, looking deeply at the shaky gaze of Yovanes.

"It is Your Majesty that arranged to borrow money from Angenas, and that Angenas has granted an early security rights to take the lands."

Yovanes' face was so red.

Perez calls him 'Your Majesty' as if it were someone else's story, but he was pertaining to Yovanes' father.

Yovanes, who had been silent for a moment, asked Perez.

"Did the Patriarch of Brown tell you this to threaten me? To change the representative of the West to Brown?"

Yovanes was so angry that he felt like he would cancel the Brown family's reinstatement right at that moment.

But Perez shook his head,

"The document is for you, Your Majesty."

"To me...?"

"If the Browns knew how to intimidate you, things wouldn't have come this far. They are foolish people who have not told these unfair stories for a long time."

And Perez said 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 emperor who waged war with the help of loyalists and encouraged their fall because of jealousy.

"That's why I asked for it. It's not good to just leave the Imperial court's disgrace behind."

If this story goes around outside...

Yovanes squeezed his hand thinking about the situation that he didn't want to imagine.

"I don't think Your Majesty's judgement is wrong."

Perez spoke to Yovanes in a relaxed voice.

"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 to let us know that it was almost time for the meeting to start.

Perez got up from his seat, buttoning his outerwear.

"Today, the western representative changes."

It was like a prophecy.

Yovanes 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.

Yovanes, who was left alone in the conference room, felt his throat burning and poured the remaining tea into his mouth.

****

(Florentia's POV)

After the opening of the conference is declared.

Emperor Yovanes looked back at the crowd and asked.

"The Patriarch of Brown, are you present?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The Patriarch of Brown, who was sitting next to me, said, bowing lightly in courtesy.

"What about Angenas?"

Then this time a loud voice answered.

"I'm here, Your Majesty!"

That's too much.

Duigi Angenas jumped up from his seat and trembled.

He must have already talked to Yovanes, and Claryvan was not even here.

He must have been grinning inside.

"Today's conference was held at the request of the chairman of the aristocratic council, to decide which of the Browns and Angenas would be the representative of the West."

As the emperor explained the agenda of the meeting, tension arose 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 it.

Yovanes shut his mouth, as if there was nothing more to say there.

That's right.

I lowered my head slightly to hide my pickling smile.

However, the surrounding nobles began to murmur low.

Because the emperor would have raised someone's hand and decided by saying, 'You are the representative of the West.'

I looked up and took a look at the expressions of the Patriarch of Angenas and the Empress.

"...Hmm."

This time it was really dangerous.

I almost laughed alone during the conference.

Of course, the faces of the two showed signs of embarrassment.

Especially the face of Duigi Angenas that looks white.

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask a question."

The Patriarch of Brown spoke out.

"How much is the small difference, and which family has a larger estate?"

The Patriarch of Brown 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 Yovanes answered softly as he lifted up the documents presented by his aide.

"The Brown family has a larger estate. The difference is....it's like an Emperor's decree.

"Then..."

"Isn't it decided?"

When the nobles began to murmur again, Yovanes added a word.

"However, it is not too trivial to change the representative family with it."

"That's right!"

This time, Duigi Angenas jumped out of his seat once again.

"I can't admit that much!"

"No, what do you mean you can't admit it?"

Eventually, someone shouted.

"No matter how small the difference is, you can't say that because there's obviously a difference!"

Emperor Yovanes 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 in the Angenas camp.

"Do not undermine your own owner, admit defeat and step back! If you're a noble, you should!"

"What honor!? Your Majesty does not speak! It's too small for a difference!"

Both sides were fighting with blood on their necks, as they did at the noble meeting, but Yovanes didn't curl up.

He was just watching as if he was watching a fire across the river.

The Empress was staring at Yovanes.

You can't help but feel the hot gaze from the next seat.

Yovanes sat listening to a war of words while resting on his chin, wearing a casual face.

Then, as it seemed to be slipping out of an argument, Duigi Angenas threw the ball.

"Your Majesty, please order a remeasurement!"