EP.351

When I returned home after the war, the first person to greet me was not Louise and her four sons, but Sebastian, the head of the house.

By the way, the reason Charlotte Laura Anya is not here is because she is returning to the capital for the first time in a long time, so she said she will be away for a few days to meet her family or acquaintances... She is a

person who usually walks around smiling with a relaxed expression, but she came out in advance and left the carriage. As soon as the door opened, I ran right in.

“Congratulations on your promotion to Marshal, Master. I wanted to hold a small banquet to celebrate the victory and enjoy it with my family. “I don’t think that’s possible right now.”

“Could it be that someone got sick or something serious happened?”

“Her Majesty Louise and your four sons are all healthy. However, something big happened. I think it would be better to see it first rather than explain it in words. “Come here and see for yourself.”

With Sebastian leading the way, I quickly walked to the warehouse of the mansion, and what I saw there was a pile of gifts that were too numerous to count.

A box full of gold, a gorgeous treasured sword, silk jewelry, various accessories, all kinds of furs imported from the north, and even a bottle of wine that makes you say, ‘I’m of the highest quality!’ just by looking at the bottle.

When I was promoted to captain, it was just a gift that wasn’t too burdensome or a courtesy gift from a noble family I was close with, so I ended up sending a suitable gift in return and then using it for myself.

They send me such huge and burdensome gifts just because I’ve moved up one rank. Many of these should be returned as thoughtful gifts with similar value to what I received... When will I ever choose a gift that is appropriate?

“I need to talk to Louise and Laura and tell them to deduce which gifts each family has sent that should be repaid, and then tell them to find a suitable return gift and send it to me. “Thank you for letting me know.”

When I said this, Sebastian shook his head.

“The gift you can send as a return gift to the master is only 10% of what is here. The rest are gifts that are asked to be accepted and not reciprocated. “I congratulate you on your appointment as Marshal.”

Oh shit. Although there is a precedent in the Reich Empire for not considering free, well-intentioned gifts as bribes, there are limits to that.

To be specific, gifts that are given in return at the same level will be accepted as long as they do not amount to an absurd amount, but if expensive things are accepted without any conditions for reasons such as to celebrate a promotion.

No matter what country it is, it will face political burden and misunderstandings that it will try to gain a share just because it is the head of state.

Once you pass the ‘Imperial Council’, you can live without anything to do with politics, but the position of Marshal of the Imperial Army is closely related to politics.

“I’m going fucking crazy. SEBASTI How much do these all add up to? Also, which family sent the largest amount of gifts?”

“This is a gift worth approximately 25,000 gold. “The largest gift among them is an item worth 3,000 gold sent from the family of Count Kreuz.”

“Count Kreutz, that damn bastard.”

Since there was no son to succeed the Count Kreutz family, the family secured connections with the imperial family by adopting the 5th prince as their son-in-law and successor.

Thanks to this, Count Kreutz was freed from being an assistant minister in his later years and served as Minister of the Palace of Internal Affairs for the last month before retirement, so the status of the family went up a bit... but

War is based on the premise of a clear answer, such as killing, capturing, selling, or stabbing, but politics survives by not wielding a sword, but by making the opponent kneel under you or not pulling out your sword, but by turning and killing with someone else’s sword. Because it’s an ouch.

Moreover, as I thought more about this matter, it seems that this could start out as an accusation of bribery and, in the worst case scenario, become a card that blows me away.

However, since the other person is the former prince, it would be better to just cover it up and move on by making it ‘something that never happened’ rather than ruining it politically.

Louise put down the teacup in front of me and smiled brightly as she poured me some tea, as if she knew all about my worries.

“Marshal, no, my knight, this is what you are thinking right now, right? How can we end this political offensive without causing direct conflict with my brother? How do we subdue the steamship?”

As expected, she seemed to be a marquise who properly blocked all social and political attacks while I was busy with military affairs.

Even though I didn’t say the right thing, he could see right through what I was thinking.

“Well, now that we’ve gone on the offensive, I want to step on you to prevent something like this from happening again. “Considering His Majesty’s reputation...”

The princess can maintain her imperial title even if she gets married, but in principle, the prince loses his imperial title as soon as he receives the title of nobleman.

This happened because the law was created to eliminate the possibility of several royal male members fighting over the right to succession, and because not everything in the world follows the law.

Even ‘former’ royal family members who have lost their royal status are given benefits such as being sentenced to lesser punishments during criminal trials, except for those related to treason.

Even if you launch a political offensive like you are now, unless you do something that would be considered treason, you cannot pay back carelessly because you have to consider the ‘situation’ or the current emperor’s opinion.

As I was so lost in worry, Louise smiled brightly.

“I thought a lot about how to solve that problem. The fifth brother has a fatal weakness, so I think I can use that as an excuse to shake him up a little by threatening him. Or will it be buried in social circles?”

This is not an aside, but the relationship between His Majesty the Emperor and Louise is very good right now.

However, I don’t know about the other princes, but I heard that the 5th prince messed with me in the past, and that Louise and I have had many clashes in personality since we were young, so we fight a lot in many ways and our relationship is not good...

“Just handle it yourself. .”

“If I take care of it for you, please go out and play with me for a day. “Laura and Charlotte have had a great time in Farosia, so you can do that for us, right?”

“How on earth could that be...”

Louise smiled mischievously at those words and placed her finger on my lips.

“Other noble families have bad relationships with their wives, but we get along well. “I don’t say anything to my driver, but we talk to each other about what we like better at night.”

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