Chapter 148

The official audience chamber of the Emperor.

Currently occupying this space was a stunningly beautiful woman.

Her platinum hair was neatly styled in an up-do, her facial features resembled a carefully sculpted work of art, and despite donning a drab military uniform, her voluptuous figure could not be concealed.

However, the expressions of those coming to pay their respects to her were tense and uneasy.

“Your Highness, the Heiress Apparent.”

This was because she was the Heiress Apparent of the Empire.

Victoria Carrail.

Until recently, she had simply been a serving Lieutenant Colonel in the Army and the First Imperial Princess of the Empire. Her only other title had been the Honorary Commander of the Imperial Guard at most.

However, she had recently acquired titles at an alarming rate.

The Dukedom, automatically conferred upon the Heiress Apparent.

The Marquisate and Viscountcy that accompanied it.

Her military positions were equally illustrious.

Lieutenant General in the Army and Navy. Not to mention, she also held the honorary position of Commander of the three existing Knight Orders of the Empire. It was clear evidence she was taking over all the powers of the Empire one by one. Naturally, with each newly acquired title came a pledge of allegiance.

‘No big deal.’

What importance could such a mere formality have?

She had a different issue troubling her.

The weight of governing.

While bureaucrats handled the day-to-day operations, making decisions was her responsibility.

In truth, this was still the Emperor’s duty. But her father had recently been enjoying his leisure time. Today, he was supposedly absorbed in fishing for carp in the courtyard.

It wasn’t easy to fill his shoes.

“Nobles conducting trade with Chinguk are voicing their concerns, Your Highness! Several small establishments could go bankrupt if just one deal falls through. The plight of trading companies is even worse.”

Petitions from those whose livelihoods depended on trade with Chinguk.

“Your Highness… Forgive me for suggesting this, but wouldn’t it be prudent to conduct a material survey to prepare for any contingencies?”

Cautious proposals from military personnel.

“Your Highness. The Turu Republic wishes to send a special envoy. Would you consider receiving them?”

There was also the close attention from neighboring countries watching the Empire.

‘None of this is light.’

Victoria could feel the difficulty of governing that her father had endured, every moment anew.

Not that she approved of his abdication of governance.

‘It’s my job now. There’s no other way.’

Victoria made decisions, referencing the advice of the bureaucrats.

She granted audiences to those who requested, reminded those subtly testing her abilities of the incident at her maternal relatives’ home, and met arrogance with cold stares instead of words.

For the most part, she handled everything smoothly,

But there were occasional stumbles.

And every time, one face came to her mind.

Alan Medoff.

If not for the conflict with Jin-guk, they should have celebrated their engagement by now.

Knowing Alan was also busy, she didn’t want to bother him more than necessary, but Victoria’s patience too had its limits.

Suddenly being thrust into governance, plans derailing strangely, the looming diplomatic severance with Jin-guk, and everything else piled up.

“Guess I have no choice. I’ll need to meet with the Chief Councilor.”

Victoria’s offhand remark.

The attendants immediately acted on the order.

Because of this, one scheduled appointment was naturally cancelled.

In doing so, she could once again feel the weight of her position. Possessing such immense power, she was in a position where even in situations where negligence was not allowed, it was permitted. Though Victoria had no intention of being lazy, it still sent a chill down her spine.

‘I need to stay vigilant.’

Victoria headed toward Alan’s location.

Even while moving, she reviewed petitions from various ministries – such was the responsibility of a Heiress Apparent.

***

“Her Highness Princess Victoria is arriving shortly.”

I received this message while testing the newly ordered hood (safety workbench).

It wasn’t a casual purchase.

In most cases, I had to be involved in the design of equipment. Especially with the hood, or rather, a device with similar functionality, it took a considerable amount of time to complete. It was only possible with the aid of magic.

In my previous life, I would have had to spend a fortune on this kind of equipment that could be easily purchased from a scientific supply store selling experiment tools. There was even an incident where I had to escort an employee to a Saintess for treatment after an accident.

If I only intended to produce natural narcotics, the current equipment was entirely unnecessary.

When I first extracted morphine, the so-called “manufacturing room” was nothing more than a slightly better kitchen. Back then, I thought I’d survive just by splitting raw opium into morphine, not expecting things would evolve to this point.

‘This’ll work. It’s sufficient.’

After verifying the newly acquired equipment, I let out a brief sigh.

Since Victoria came, I naturally had to go out.

Both she and I had been deeply immersed in our new duties, so I made sure to change out of my lab coat and tidy up.

A little while later.

Victoria and I met outside the production room.

“Why didn’t you just send for me? Why did you come all the way here?”

“I wanted to see Sir Alan as soon as possible.”

Of course, she was direct.

Knowing Victoria well by now, I simply nodded. She always acted on her instincts, unlike Siena, who weighed the risks for continuous gratification.

“Still… I do feel relieved somehow.”

Victoria suddenly smiled as she looked at my side.

“Relieved about what?”

“While I’ve been overseeing the administration, I thought Siena would be by your side. But I recently heard that Siena has also left the State… Is that at your request, Sir Alan?”

“Yes.”

Currently, Siena was in the process of reemploying (forcibly) fleeing Jin-guk nationals as drug dealers back in their homeland.

The merchants listed by the Empress.

The Easterners working as translators and more for the Empire’s trading companies.

Even more.

“There’s a former civil servant of Jin-guk currently employed by the House of Sevileven to teach his family the Jin-guk language. He was originally a scholar in the inner council but decided to live as a guest in our Empire to broaden his horizons.”

“A civil servant, you say? Even for Siena, that wouldn’t be easy.”

“In my opinion, she’s probably not merely trying to threaten them. She’s likely guiding them to play a bridging role without them realizing it.”

“…”

“Maybe I’m wrong about Siena, but I trust she’ll accomplish what’s needed.”

At this, Victoria flinched momentarily.

It was unclear what exactly caused it.

Was it because I showed trust in Siena? Or because, while she was trapped in the palace, Siena was using her unique talents elsewhere? It could be both, given I had indeed asked Siena to take on a difficult task.

What’s more, Siena was achieving even more than expected.

So far, the number of Jin-guk nationals Siena had seduced or coerced was already twenty.

If even half of them survive, they would make excellent distributors for us. Perhaps, if their potential fully materializes, they could grow into drug dealers capable of infiltrating an entire region.

Siena was indeed excelling at her job.

But Victoria need not be concerned. They had different areas of expertise.

“Victoria. From what I see, Siena seems to enjoy this work.”

“Of course, naturally.”

“Remember when I petitioned you not to alienate Siena when we decided to become engaged? It was because of talents like these. But, Victoria…”

“…”

“Siena also has her limits. She indulges in pleasure too much. She’s someone who shows no interest in anything that doesn’t spark her interest.”

“…”

“The Empire needs a responsible royal like yourself.”

Victoria simply smiled. She probably thought my words were nothing more than obvious comfort.

But they were sincere.

To show proof, I led Victoria to the solvent factory.

The sight of the factory, which had been continuously operating for two weeks, came into view.

Mages were taking turns to keep the ventilation fan blades spinning, and our staff were manning the evaporators and fractional distillation apparatus, performing basic tasks. Originally, we were busy, but with the deployment of additional court mages, it had become a 24-hour operation.

We wouldn’t need to go to such lengths just to obtain solvent. There was another purpose.

“Victoria, we’re out of raw materials to make drugs now.”

“What…?”

“If we had 2 or 3 years, we could clear part of the Great Forest to create vast coca plantations. But we don’t even have 3 months.”

“We have opium, right?”

“We don’t have enough opium either. Even if we cut off all supplies of heroin to the elves and morphine to the army to focus entirely on Jin-guk, it wouldn’t be enough. …And we can’t just convert healthy farmland into poppy fields, unless we forcibly enlist 50,000 people for poppy cultivation.”

“So we can’t deal Jin-guk a significant blow?”

“Yes. That’s the case now.”

Upon hearing this, a faint tension appeared on Victoria’s face.

Did she realize that drugs don’t just fall from the sky?

However, the tension on her face did not turn into distrust. It was likely out of trust in me.

I nodded and said,

“To obtain 100 kilograms of raw opium, you need a farm the size of a small town and hundreds of laborers. It takes a long time… That’s why I’m trying to find a method to create drugs without relying on plants.”

“Sir Alan, isn’t it that you’re already… found it?”

“Yes. In fact, I have already found it.”

“…”

This was the reason I assigned Siena a crucial task and kept moving between the factory and the production room.

It was necessary to transition into a new phase that was neither fully natural nor semi-synthetic using natural narcotics as a base.

“Victoria, soon we will be able to produce drugs without relying on plants. Some will be weaker than morphine or heroin, and others will be more dangerous. The latter will come with political liabilities greater than heroin. …So.”

“I understand, Sir Alan.”

Calmly nodding, Victoria signified her readiness. It was indeed something that required preparation.

Because entering the realm of synthetic drugs was an entirely different world.

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