Chapter 272: Like Father, Like Daughter (4)
The negative rumors about Charlotte proceeded secretly, very slowly, and quite maliciously.
I didn’t want the rumors to escape outside the walls of Imperial Palace, however.
I designed it so that the rumors would come from the outskirts to the center, and proceed to flow from the small side to the large side.
It wasn’t hard. The Black Swans and Yozora Guild of Yuno Kasugano had been helping me.
The Black Swans, which could be classified as a large-scale information guild, specialized in this kind of work, and Yozora, which managed to absorb the guild of Ito Souta, was also good at it.
Of course, we did not openly move the media. I thought that the timing had not come yet.
Besides, the Blue and Red Mercenaries were still not there.
I had limited movement, so Kim Hyun-sung and Cha Hee-ra were busy trying to persuade Dawan’s Eighth Seats, Cheon Gwan-wi and Wi-ran, to move together.
In fact, it didn’t matter if they stuck to the Second Princess’s side, but in the end, I thought they would be with us as we were in the same position as players.
If they were imperialists, they would have made different choices, but they understood that they couldn’t afford to be against Lindel and Celia, which were in the same predicament as them.
Obviously, not only was uncovering information easy, but so was creating fake information.
The most important thing when creating this kind of information was to base it on facts that exist. It was effective to add at least something suspicious rather than fake information without any basis.
One might think that Charlotte might have nothing to be attacked, but in fact, it wasn’t that way.
The fact that she cared for the imperialists very much was a valid hit.
“Jihye, what’s the schedule for the Second Princess today?”
“Well, today is the same as usual. Have a meeting with the citizen’s representative…”
“Ohh. So, nothing relevant. I think you can do it as usual.”
“You’re talking being prodigal to those poor blood, right?”
Her civic talks, who talks seriously about the Empire with civic representatives, has been transformed into a time to enjoy playing to prodigal with poor blood.
“Oh, they said she had a simple meal with the maids.”
“Hmm… Let’s spread that together. About the poor blood.”
“I tried to do it, though. We have to push it properly since we started this. One side is poor blood, and the other is noble blood. Whoever sees it, what the half side does is better. This is really fun.”
The meal she had with the maids to humble herself was turned into bullsh*t, saying that poor blood was flowing in her body.
‘She is also really amazing.’
I didn’t know if it was her mother’s influence, but her ankle had gotten caught because of her nature for caring for the people.
She wouldn’t have been caught if I hadn’t caught her in the first place, but what was important was that she had already caught my eyes.
In fact, the more I learned about her, the more I realized that she was the ideal Empress.
Perhaps Lee Jihye was also thinking the same as me.
“Well, I don’t care, but the more I see her, the more I wonder if we’re doing the right thing.”
“…”
“I bet, if Charlotte becomes Empress, she would be good and wise that will last in history for a long time. If only people like you don’t blow up in the middle.”
“I’m thinking about that, too, Nuna.”
“Honestly, we don’t care about the Empire anyway, but if we’re going to be on the same boat, it’s good to be in on that’s big and safe, right? When I just heard about her, I didn’t know, but looking at the information taken by Hayan-ssi, she is really natural. She has leadership, charisma, and tenacity.”
“…”
“Being weak to the weak and strong to the strong, she has the right political skills… Do you think she’s pretty daring to have tried to tame you in the first place? It is by no means easy that the Princess, who has a commoner as her mother, reached this position. And how great is her love for the people… it’s not unreasonable with her appearance, her talent, her intelligence, her character, for the First Princess to be jealous and go crazy.”
“I think so, too. It’s funny that I’m talking about politics here, but… I’m sure there are quite a lot of things in her mind, but what can I do?”
‘If Kim Hyunsung said that I couldn’t…’
There is no perfect human in the world. She also had all kinds of problems.
“Did you get that offended by that? You’re narrower than I thought. I prefer her…”
“I said it wasn’t because of that. Honestly, I don’t think that Second Princess is bad either. No matter how I think, she’s much better than the First Princess… That’s all, though. Charlotte may be for the imperialists, but not for us. I’d rather have Charlia, who I can change to my taste over. It’ll be hard, but it doesn’t make sense for her to miss the opportunity to become the Empire’s unelected leader.”
“You’re right. I was just saying. Anyway, I’ll keep working on it because the title has been decided. Today I have to see how and from which side to spread.”
“Is there any movement over there?”
“Isn’t it weird that there isn’t any? It may take some time for the rumors to reach the royal castle, but this is because the Princess is too sensitive about her stories. I’m sure she’s looking behind the rumors to discover from which malicious side had leaked it. If we get caught, you and I are both dead.”
“We can cut off the tail anyway. If we pretend that we didn’t do it, it’s okay.”
“You’ve been sticking around with the First Princess these days. It won’t be easy for you to pretend that… You just didn’t do anything official yet, but even a dog knows that you’re trying to get in that line. Charlotte, of course, must know.”
“I’m feeling it, too.”
The number of nobles saying that they couldn’t make it to the appointments was increasing.
Charlotte’s camp judged me as an enemy and had pressured several aristocrats to refrain from meeting with me.
Duchess Catherine, Count Elise, and Marlin Young-ae were still giving me strong support, and in fact, most of the people who expressed such intentions were not friendly or were useless.
However, what was surprising was how fast Charlotte reacted.
She stole a march on me even before the relations between Charlia and I came to the surface.
It was not just that. It was certainly strange that suspicious claims were popping out in the royal castle.
The purpose of the strange story was also very explicit.
‘Is it right for one of the Eight Seats of the Empire to be involved in the politics of the Empire?’
Claims with such titles were popping out.
In fact, with a little thought, one could see how absurd this claim is.
It was the Emperor’s arbitrary act to appoint foreigners as the Eight Seats of the Empire in the first place, and to oppose this was no different from defying the Emperor.
Of course, Charlotte, as I knew it, was not dumb enough to deny the Emperor’s decision head-on.
To nevertheless maintain such a claim was an expression of a willingness to reduce somehow the authority and radius of action of the Eight Seats of the Empire.
When bargaining for a hundred gold item, calling out a ridiculously low price from the beginning symbolized trying to beat the original price.
She wanted to lower the price as an excuse for a little flaw in the product, lower the price once more with a scratch as an excuse, and then take me in after offering the lowest price.
‘I understand her thoughts.’
The Eight Imperial Seats might not have been in the picture Charlotte was drawing in the first place.
So to speak, we were unwanted guests, uninvited guests.
In her first round, the foreigners may have actively pursued her, but now that the situation is the opposite, the Empire’s Eighth Seats would have been a nuisance.
In summary, after that day, we had exchanged a light punch without even facing each other.
Any quick-witted noble will be aware of the strange atmosphere in the imperial family.
“The problem is that it is a little faster than I thought…”
“What I was thinking about came a little faster. It is natural to go with this flow in the first place, and whether the Second Princess’s camp is competent or herself is competent, I should consider it’s one of them. Personally, I think it’s the latter, but what does that matter? First, our side is also progressing smoothly, so it would be good to wait until the rumors settle in the royal castle. Anyway, isn’t it time for you to visit the First Princess?”
“Yes. I have to.”
“I left the schedule on the desk. You could review it and proceed as it is.”
“Thanks.”
“It’s fine. I’m doing it for myself. It’s a chance for my future husband to become the unelected leader of the Holy Empire… you think I’d miss this opportunity? I hate gambling, but I know if I push from here, I’d be helping.”
“I’ll take it well.”
“Do well… Oh, and I won’t control the intensity level on some of them. I think there should be a few that’s really stimulating.”
“You just have to do it moderately. I’m not trying to step on her so that she cannot recover.”
“I know. I’ll do it moderately… Moderately.”
I didn’t know what the standard of moderately to Lee Jihye was, but I thought it would be better to review it at least once.
As I walked out of her room and headed for my own, watching her waving, I saw a maid pacing around my room.
It was one of the First Princess’s maids.
I didn’t know her name, but I remembered seeing her often.
She must have been the one lying on her face and rubbing her palms the day I went to see her for the first time.
It was obvious why she was walking in front of my room.
“Honorary Bishop Lee Kiyoung.”
“Ohhh.”
After confirming her name with the Mind’s Eye, I carefully started to speak.
“Maid Alice.”
“Please, talk more comfortably. I-I’m afraid that someone will listen.”
“Haha. It is because talking formally has become a habit. Rather, why did you come… no, no. I guess I asked a useless question. I was about to visit her Majesty. So… how is her schedule…”
“She went to encourage the Imperial Knights and praise the hard work they have done so far.”
It was so trivial that I had forgotten it. Visiting the Knights Templar to encourage the Imperial Knights, it was a way to show.
Seeing her looking for me even in this kind of work, she seemed to trust me quite a bit.
‘Of course, she would.’
Her evaluation had changed in less than a week after following the camp’s schedule and properly enjoying the promotional effect.
Even blind people were aware of the great power of the camp.
‘Although being too dependent is bad.’
“Not necessarily bad…”
“Yes?”
“It’s nothing. Did the Princess leave already?”
“No. She is still wondering what dress to wear…”
“Ohhh. Come to think of it. I haven’t told her yet.”
“Yes?”
“It would be better to wear light armament, not a dress. It’s light armor, but it’s a little luxurious. She doesn’t have to wear a dress to visit the Knights Templar. I bet this will work better. I believe she’ll understand what I’m talking about.”
“Oh! Okay!”
These details were important even for trivial outfits.
“Tie her hair up, minimum accessories, and the Imperial Knights’ seal is perfect.”
“Yes. Yes.”
“If you go ahead and set her up, I’ll follow you quickly.”
“Okay!”
At this, she began to run away.
I went into the room for a second and arranged the schedule once again.
After she visited the Imperial Knights, she would visit the Court Wizards.
‘It’s the day to play the First Princess Cosplay.’
In this way, it felt as if I was a celebrity manager as I scripted her schedule, her clothes, and even her speech.
After another final check, I headed for the parlor where we had always met, and I was able to see Charlia ready.
She looked exactly how I ordered the maid to make her look.
It wasn’t enough to be called a knight, but there were no light arm and no unnecessary accessories when training.
“Honorary Bishop!”
“Charlia-nim, well… sorry to keep you waiting.”
“No. I just got here, too…”
“Hahaha. Certainly, you don’t just look good in a dress. You look very beautiful this way, too, so it seems to me that the clothes look good thanks to the Princess.”
“You’re exaggerating…”
In fact, her maids looked even more amazing than the smiling Princess.
They have a lot of abilities that they certainly have because they’ve struggled in hell.
It must have been a short time, but, surprisingly, they understood what I wanted, and even the light makeup had been perfectly done.
Even the roughly ordered hair was of quite high quality.
‘They’re insane.’
Standing like a folding screen in the back, the maids saw me praising Charlotte and made a face as if saying that they did it.
I wanted to check the maids with my eyes, but due to the lack of time, I had to turn my gaze back to Charlia.
After again praising Charlia for her beauty, I briefed her about her precautions and about what to do.
After explaining how she would move, when I handed her a note with the speech’s contents, she carefully read and reviewed it.
‘I like this look.’
You must have a will even if you did not have the capability.
As if she had gained confidence, she walked pretty confidently. However, it didn’t take long for her face to frown.
Another person was seen in front of the training ground of the Imperial Knights.
‘Would you look at her…’
After checking Charlotte, who visited the Imperial Knights one step earlier, I had no choice but to click my tongue.
‘It is correct to think that she aimed for it.’