Chapter 172

I decided to first break through the wedge attempted by Tang Yeon-cheol.

The Empire had allegedly supplied large quantities of ammonium chloride and raw opium to the small kingdom of Darien, where morphine was then produced.

The plan was likely to gradually contaminate the Empire through sheer volume of supply. However, this time they abandoned the operation themselves.

“The reason for suddenly cutting their losses is obvious.”

They probably anticipated we’d be furious and want to retaliate against the Darien Kingdom.

The power difference between the two nations was clear. The Darien Kingdom was a small country, barely larger than one of the Empire’s provinces.

Still, any friction would inevitably burden the Empire.

Of course, there was no question of letting the Darien Kingdom off without a response. Morphine production would likely still be ongoing there. It would inevitably infiltrate the Empire in some form, repackaged as unicorn bone powder or fairy wing powder and sold.

“We need to put a stop to this.”

That said, there was no need for me to act directly.

I soon dispatched Siena.

**

“Throw it out.”

As soon as Second Princess Siena sat down with the ambassador from the Darien Kingdom, these were her opening words.

The ambassador’s face began to show signs of confusion. His eyes darted left and right, and he could only hum and haw.

Receiving such a brusque command must have startled him. Thinking he must have misheard, he eventually broke into an awkward smile.

Siena repeated her words to clarify that he hadn’t.

“Throw it out, didn’t you hear me?”

“Suddenly, what on earth…”

“Yeah. Let me explain… But let me say this first. I’m only going to offer this warning once more. If you ask questions or refuse, we’ll take the necessary actions.”

“…”

The ambassador’s expression slowly hardened.

Even though Siena was the princess of the Empire, he was still a full ambassador representing his entire nation, and even of royal blood.

Not only had he been received without proper courtesies and instead treated condescendingly, but now he was being threatened. It must have been infuriating.

But Siena cared not a whit for his feelings.

After all, this was mere drudgery.

She simply wanted to clean this up quickly and report it to Alan. The fact that the drug war was lasting longer than expected was already irritating. She didn’t want to waste time dealing with some diplomat puffing himself up over his pride.

“Siena Your Highness, your jokes are a bit extreme.”

“It’s not a joke.”

“…?”

As quickly and as cleanly as possible. That was what Siena kept repeating to herself.

Then she calmly informed him.

“We know what games you’ve been playing with the Empire. You imported one ton of ammonium and 2.4 tons of raw opium from the Empire and extracted morphine. And then you’ve been dumping it on us. …By the way, whose idea was it to pass it off as unicorn bone powder?”

“Mmm…”

The tongue-tied ambassador. Siena sneered at him.

“I’ll tell you one thing. It’s better to sigh and ask if we’re mistaken, than to fumble and roll your eyes. The former might make us hesitate for a moment.”

“… Your Highness, please hear me out.”

“Don’t even think of denying it.”

“Your Highness, it’s not like that.”

“I know you know. The man with direct ties to the Empire… wasn’t it Count Cummings? He must have offered you some gold to turn a blind eye. I heard the Empire gave him 20,000 in bribes alone. And surely he made some money selling morphine too.”

“…”

The Darien ambassador’s face showed increasing signs of embarrassment.

Of course they knew.

It wasn’t possible not to know when a small country like theirs had a significant influx of supplies and East Asian technicians, when a prominent nobleman’s territory was constantly boiling opium and quicklime to extract morphine on an industrial scale, distribution even crossing the border.

They must have simply looked the other way. Or perhaps even facilitated it.

“Vermin.”

Though she cursed them internally, Siena wasn’t consumed by rage. She didn’t love the Empire as obsessively as her sister did.

Most importantly, she didn’t need any more toys right now.

In the past, she might have enjoyed tormenting and trapping small kingdoms like this in desperate situations.

But not anymore. In fact, Siena would never have expected the day to come when all she wanted was to finish quickly and rest.

Preferably alongside Alan.

Thus, she decided to show exceptional leniency to the Darien Kingdom.

“I’ll overlook this time.”

“Huh?”

“The Empire-affiliated operators currently producing morphine in your country, and Count Cummings who took their money to cooperate – deport or exile all of them. Transfer the remaining morphine raw materials to me. That’ll settle it.”

“…”

“Thinking of asking me what will happen if you refuse? Or perhaps you’ll say this decision needs to be made by your king?”

In response to this question, the Darien ambassador could only look at her with flickering eyes.

Cold sweat ran down his temple, and he was nervously picking at the hangnails around his fingers. His tension was reaching its peak, which Siena could sense.

Nevertheless, she proceeded without hesitation.

“Even if you refuse my offer, there won’t be a war.”

“Your Highness…?”

“Instead… Ah, that’s right. Do you know that story? …It’s said that 1,000 years ago, there was a city-state called Astiria. There’s a legend that it angered an ancient dragon, and for a week afterward, acid rain fell across the entire city. That kind of rain that rots the skin and causes burns? That’s what you’ll get.”

“…”

Siena stopped speaking here.

What she referred to was obviously chemical weapons.

A concept Alan had come across while learning about the synthesis of fentanyl. She simply referenced it as a story from the past since there was no easy way to explain it.

Fortunately, the Darien ambassador did not dismiss it with “Throw away your nonsense.” Instead, his face was full of fear.

He seemed to suspect that the Empire could really do something like this.

Siena gave him a moment to think.

“Until a few months ago, I would have hoped you’d refuse.”

That way she could have played with them to her heart’s content. But now, Siena was just hoping they would comply. If they refused, it would inevitably expand the front lines, and that wasn’t a pleasant prospect for her.

So, she was extending them these moderate terms.

Exile the noblemen who took bribes and worked with the Empire, halt morphine production, and transfer the remaining raw materials to the Empire.

That was all.

Given the damage the Empire had sustained from morphine (damage that couldn’t even be quantified yet), this was an extremely lenient punishment.

“Is that really all?”

The ambassador from the Darien Kingdom could not mask his disbelief.

It was understandable he wouldn’t believe they could get away with attacking the Empire, especially targeting innocent villagers, with just these conditions. Siena stared at him with a pitying look and nodded.

“I promise. So hurry and inform your king.”

“Excuse me, however… This is a very serious matter. A verbal promise is insufficient.”

“Is that so?”

Pretending to think for a moment, Siena drafted an agreement.

This document promised not to hold the Darien Kingdom accountable for anything related to morphine if the terms mentioned earlier were fulfilled.

She even affixed her seal and Alan’s.

With the Emperor traveling about in exile, these two were the most influential figures in the capital, next to the Heiress Apparent.

Only then did the ambassador seem to relax somewhat.

“I’ll report this to His Majesty.”

“Right now. In front of me. I’ll send you a court wizard.”

“Well…”

The ambassador began to protest, but stopped when Siena nodded slightly to indicate he shouldn’t add anything. He had clearly realized this wasn’t the time to argue. He also seemed to acknowledge that Siena was showing uncharacteristic lenience.

‘This guy actually believes me.’

Siena had no intention of breaking this agreement.

However, she had never promised not to retaliate against them with some other grievance once this matter with the Empire was settled.

There were countless methods, after all. She could simply create a pretext whenever she needed another playground later.

But now wasn’t the time.

The most important target was still Tang Yeon-cheol – Anais’ maternal uncle, who was currently making her sleep dresses in some back room.

“The King has agreed, Your Highness.”

The ambassador bowed deeply after receiving His Majesty’s consent.

“Hm.”

Siena responded with indifference, feeling no great excitement.

**

The warehouse at the solvent factory began to fill with pungent-smelling materials.

These were the morphine raw materials sent from the Darien Kingdom.

The remaining surplus of raw opium alone exceeded one ton, giving some sense of Chinguk’s production capabilities.

Despite not having implemented a state program dedicated to cultivating opium, they had somehow managed to scrape together this amount and pull off such mischief.

Thus, Chinguk’s attempt at a wedge tactic had failed.

What Tang Yeon-cheol had hoped for was likely that we would squander our national strength retaliating against the Darien Kingdom. With our trade routes with Chinguk already cut off, and many nobles protesting, any additional disputes with neighboring countries would only invite internal strife.

Then after wearing down our national strength…

“He probably intended to raise an army, didn’t he.”

If he had intended to negotiate, he wouldn’t have exposed himself in this manner.

While it might be difficult for Chinguk to mobilize a large army to attack us considering their current state…

War was the only option left for Tang Yeon-cheol. Letting us flail around by falling for his wedge tactic would have been aiding him.

We couldn’t let ourselves be his pawns.

That’s why I was satisfied with simply cutting off Chinguk’s somewhat successful morphine offensive.

Given Tang Yeon-cheol’s actions since the regency…

He was surely planning something else.

But I had no intention of letting him make the next move. I wasn’t about to sit idly by waiting for a real war to break out.

It was time to finish this.

I intended to use narcotics for the final strike.

At this point, I could deliver materials all the way to the innermost chambers of Chinguk’s palace.

**

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