Chapter 147

The empress who declared she would be my pawn.

She seemed determined to prove her resolve by zealously selling out the nation.

To an extent that made me wonder if it was really acceptable to go this far—she was truly enthusiastic.

“Tang Yeon-cheol, in my observation, may not be particularly bright, but he is decisive in both forming and severing relationships, and he has a knack for winning people’s hearts.”

“Especially talented in winning the favor of younger officials. He deliberately lauds petitions submitted by low-ranking officials from rural counties and publicly rewards them… Ah, there was even an instance where he concealed his identity and engaged in sparring with young captains of the elite guards due to his exceptional martial arts skills.”

“Many admire him. If Princess Victoria were to harm the Chinguk State’s embassy delegation, he would have undoubtedly exploited even that situation.”

Information on the Chinguk Crown Prince.

“You are aware, but there are also merchants from Chinguk residing in the empire, though they are few.”

“They are likely already preparing for withdrawal… quietly. Here, it’s common for nobles to conduct business, but in Chinguk, merchants bow deeply to the officials even before the wind blows.”

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to find a way to use them before they withdraw. I will inform you of merchants with whom you can communicate.”

Useful background information on people we could leverage.

Afterward, classified information continued to leak out without pause.

She finally stopped speaking when her voice began to crack, likely due to her relentless chatter.

“Hmm.”

“Her Majesty the Empress.”

A fleeting thought crossed my mind about how I had pushed her without even offering her a glass of water.

Fortunately, Siena took care of her mother.

With a cheerful expression, she personally handed her mother a cup of tea.

“Mom, here.”

“Tea?”

“Yes. I mixed some sugar with the coca leaf tea. Though it’s a raw material for cocaine, it’s just a nutritious drink before refinement, so you can drink it without worry. Actually, I drink two or three cups a day. You know how impatient I am, right?”

“That’s right. I know.”

The Empress sipped the tea offered by Siena without showing any particular suspicion.

“Ah.”

Then came Siena’s exasperated sigh, likely hoping the Empress would question the tea’s nature. Siena had apparently expected the Empress to not even taste it or to subtly glare at her. But the Empress drank it readily.

“It’s quite delicious.”

“Isn’t it…?”

“If it’s fine, please send some often to the Imperial Chambers.”

“I will. By the way, I should give some to dad too.”

“Do that.”

Though not sharing a single drop of blood, they made for quite a fitting mother-daughter pair.

We then continued with a leisurely tea time. I had a cup as well.

A faint sense of satisfaction appeared on the Empress’s pale complexion. The sugared coca leaves, with their stimulating effects, likely helped improve her mood.

However, the fact that she had left her homeland remained unchanged.

Only after finishing her tea did the Empress speak with a troubled expression.

“Alan Medoff. Ah… it might be better to refer to him as Chancellor now.”

“Not at all. He will soon become family.”

“Family. That sounds nice.”

“I’m glad you find it so.”

“Is there anything else you’d like to hear?”

The Empress still had more up her sleeve.

We could sense how much she pined for her homeland during her bout with homesickness. Before her illness was cured, she lived solely as a princess of Chinguk, not as the Empress of the Britannia Empire. Her active assistance was greatly appreciated.

“No. This is sufficient.”

“Sufficient? That sounds arrogant.”

“I am not belittling Chinguk. I’m simply stating that even if you provide more information, I lack the ability to make use of it. Her Majesty has already provided me with invaluable information. I truly appreciate it.”

With that, the Empress glanced at me with a faint smile.

For a brief moment, she did so.

She eventually stood up after receiving a box of coca leaves from Siena—a modest reward for leaking a wealth of classified information. Yet the Empress had secured more than that: no matter what events unfolded in her homeland, she would remain Empress of the Britannia Empire.

In any case, now that I had obtained the information, it was time to put it to use.

Though I had some ideas while conversing with the Empress, the lack of manpower was a concern.

So I looked toward Siena.

Victoria was busy tending to the national affairs she had hastily taken on. Moreover, this task was much more suitable for Siena, someone who could do anything and everyone would simply shrug it off as typical behavior.

“Siena, I have a task for you.”

“I understand.”

Siena responded while twirling her silver hair with her fingers.

I only gave her a few simple instructions.

Before determining the truth about the embassy delegation and formulating a response, we needed to establish a distribution network.

Of course, I also mentioned the reward—something likely to entice Siena.

“Alright, I’ll start right away.”

Siena sprang into action immediately.

**

One week later. At Iduino Port, the largest harbor city in the Empire.

“Mom was right after all?”

The second princess, Siena, who arrived here, smirked slightly as she raised a corner of her lips.

In front of her knelt several East Asian men and women, anxiously glancing at Siena with uneasy eyes.

These were merchants from Chinguk who had been residing in the Empire for a long time.

Naturally, they were the merchants the Empress had named, whom she had predicted would “quietly liquidate their assets and leave soon.” And her prediction turned out to be true; they had tried to dispose of their foundations built in the Empire at absurdly low prices to escape.

However, their attempt failed.

They were each captured by the people Siena had sent out to quietly monitor their movements, just before they boarded their ships.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

The victims seemed to feel quite wronged. Siena, smiling, nodded in understanding.

“I get it. You do have grounds to feel wronged.”

“Is that legal!?”

“How about this? Come with me to the gendarmerie now and file a report against me, Princess Siena Karla of the Empire, for wrongfully detaining you. All you were doing in the Empire was hastily liquidating your assets before fleeing.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll delay for a couple of months and then release you, claiming it was a misunderstanding. Honestly, no one will even ask me to justify it. But initially, you were just trying to tidy things up and escape.”

Silence fell over the Chinguk merchants in response to Siena’s remarks.

If something major happened between the Empire and Chinguk, this group would be among the most troubled.

They couldn’t afford to linger in the Empire for two months. Considering the strained relationship between the two countries, a war could break out within that time.

‘That’s why they tried to sell their assets at absurdly low prices and flee.’

Siena, observing the defeated expressions of the merchants, condescendingly added,

“Lighten up. I might just let you go.”

“Really… is that so?”

“Yes. However, there is a condition… all of your property, except for your travel expenses, must be forfeited.”

Outrage reappeared on the merchants’ faces.

Of course, Siena wasn’t planning to outright plunder their assets. She wasn’t interested in such simple criminal acts.

“Don’t worry. I’m not trying to send you away as paupers.”

“…”

“Accept?”

Following Princess Siena’s command, her attendants began to unload some items.

By “items,” she meant narcotics, of course.

3 million morphine tablets.

And 210,000 cocaine tablets.

They were products personally manufactured by Siena, with the help of about twenty employees, who she tasked with menial jobs.

Alan was extremely busy preparing for other matters.

Though she was indeed a little lonely working alone, watching the panic-stricken expressions of those who tried to escape but were caught gave her a sense of fulfillment.

“Take these in exchange for your meager wealth.”

“Excuse me…?”

“To be honest, aren’t you upset? You’ve worked hard for a long time to establish a foundation in the Empire, but now you have to start from scratch back in Chinguk. If you manage to sell these properly, you could become wealthy back home, too.”

“But we don’t know anything about drugs…”

“Sorry, but this isn’t a polite offer. …And you lot. You really don’t know what morphine is, even after conducting business in the Empire?”

“…”

“Even if I just took your money without giving you drugs, wouldn’t this be a more moderate punishment? I am even open to providing more supplies in the future, if you wish.”

As soon as Siena finished her explanation, she made a gesture.

Then Iris, a young brown-haired girl and the daughter of the Skyelington family, who Siena recently employed as her errand girl, stepped forward. A former academy dropout addicted to opium, Iris was one of the resources Siena had gathered when she previously disrupted an opium den out of boredom.

“Iris, count to 50 and then take back all the items.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

This was a precaution to pressure the Chinguk merchants.

Indeed, their eyes began to waver.

Would they accept the undoubtedly dangerous but profitable drugs, or would they opt to stay indefinitely in the empire under uncertain wartime conditions? They had only 50 seconds to decide—not even an exact 50 seconds.

Time moved quickly.

“43, 42, 40, 38…”

“Hey, why are you counting like that!”

“37, 36, 30.”

“Hey!”

Ultimately…

“I, I’ll take it! We accept!”

One of the merchants hastily raised his hand in agreement.

The others soon capitulated as well.

Siena first confiscated their belongings.

A rough calculation revealed that she barely recouped the production costs.

However, the key point was that she sent the Chinguk merchants back to their homeland with nothing but a bit of travel money and narcotics. Those who had conducted business in the foreign empire would not simply return to their homeland to till the soil. They would surely find a way to make use of the drugs.

“Work hard.”

Siena fairly distributed the drug packages among the merchants.

Precautions against potential betrayal and plans for future re-engagement were not overlooked, thanks to the information provided by the empress.

‘Interesting.’

The merchants-turned-unwitting drug dealers soon boarded ships bound to Chinguk, each equipped with hundreds of thousands of drug doses.

This was a highly satisfactory game for Siena.

It amounted to exploiting the vulnerabilities of these people, who were essentially refugees fleeing from war, to use them as distributors. As long as they didn’t get caught, they could also become rich, making it a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Of course, this was just the beginning.

Her beloved had something even more intriguing prepared in the state.

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