CH 131

Chapter 131: Tug of War

This chapter is brought by Lady Grey and Neko. If you read this on other websites, it means it was stolen. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.wordpress.com.

One day, Sigren suddenly said a rather interesting remark, a very sudden revelation.

“I think I’ve discovered a new power structure.”

“New power?”

“I forgot about this, but I have a younger sibling.”

Sigren’s sibling…. Ah, I finally remembered that there was a princess who was younger than Sigren. Well, in my defense, she never appeared properly in the original plot. Since she was not even an extra, I could not help but be a little curious. 

“The princess?”

“Yeah, I heard she has a weak body, but strangely, she’s been walking around lately.”

“She’s getting better? That’s a relief.”

“Well, she could be naturally healthy but has been pretending to be sick.”

“Why?”

The timing is too good. She began her activities when the Empress and the Crown Prince went quiet.”

“Ah.”

I seemed to know where this conversation was going. 

The Princess is the only daughter of the Emperor, whose mother was from a lower class noble family.

“She’s been keeping an eye on the Empress all this time.”

Sigren answered calmly, “Yes, she (the empress) would have killed her (the princess) if she was being a nuisance.”

“….”

He knew best about this.

“Usually, the Empress would make many attempts to immediately kill the woman who slept with the Emperor.”

Oh wow, that was the worst. The Crown Prince and Empress should be cleaned up quickly then.

“That is why those women are rarely alive before the children even exist.”

“However, the Princess’ mother, even though she was a lower class noble, was still a noble woman. With that background, it seemed like she was left alone.”

“Well, obviously, if that child of the mistress was a son, the Empress would have killed her and the baby.”

“Right, she was left alone because she was a princess.”

“The Princess has been laying low all this time just so she could keep an eye on the Empress?”

“I didn’t think she was worth paying attention to. But, after some thought, it seems like she must be smarter than I thought.”

Smart people knew how to bend their pride and admit their oversight, and this was Sigren. 

“So, the new power structure is connected to her”

“That is correct.”

Sigren spun the paper-knife.

“Among the five high noble families, the families who are in a neutral position are suspicious. Are they truly neutral?”

That meant Duke Priscilla and Marquis Clovis.

“That’s reasonable. Neither the head of the two families are stupid. Yet, they somehow keep maintaining their neutrality, to the extent that they are being too neutral.”

I recalled the original Arrendt. His moves were completely different from now. The same went for Duke Priscilla. 

As the events changed, the original work was not very good reference material anymore. Hearing what Sigren said, there was a possibility that they were looking for a completely different option. 

“If my assumption is true, I may have to nip it in the bud.”

Of course, the bud here referred to the princess.

Well, I really hated the crown prince, but I didn’t have any ill feelings toward the princess.

“Sigren, what do you want to do?”

If he was going to be the emperor, he should beat the odds. But I knew Sigren wasn’t very motivated to hold on to power. If it was me in the past, I would have thought ‘shouldn’t we follow the original?’, but now it was different.

“I want to watch a little bit more.”

“Then do as you please.”

“But surprisingly, I don’t care as much as I thought.”

“Maybe it’s because neither you nor I have much lingering attachment to power itself.”

As for me, I just want him to be happy. 

Still, we might have to discuss it with Abel. Even if our side has no intention of attacking, we have to prepare new plans for the other side as we had no idea what their intentions were. 

If this assumption was true, and the situation became that way, so did this mean Livya became the enemy? Ah, that was a bit disappointing. 

Well, let’s think about it when that happens. It was not something to worry about right now. 

I collected the letters addressed to me.

“Sigren, give me back the paper knife.”

He passed it without hesitation. 

I opened the letter one by one with it. Most of them were invitations, but there were also letters addressed to me personally.

One of them was quite odd. At first, I thought it was Abel’s letter, but when I looked at the sender’s name, I didn’t know who it was. 

I took out the letter from the envelope and read it.

[Lady Fiona, I’ve been longing for you…]

What the hell? Could this be a love letter?

Reflexively, I crumpled the letter and looked at Sigren.

Sigren looked at me curiously. “What’s the matter?”

“No, nothing.” I was evasive. Just in case, let’s read it properly later and burn it down. Because all I read was the first sentence, I was not sure whether it was truly a love letter.

“What letter is it?”

“A lucky letter.”

Of course, Sigren couldn’t understand my jokes. 

His expression darkened. “What is that?”

“There is something like that.” I quickly folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. I had a maid bring the invitations and the mysterious ‘love’ letter to my office. 

I forgot about it for a while, but when I entered my office after Sigren left, it came back to my mind. 

“Ah.”

I picked up the letter that was mixed with the invitations.

“Let’s just read it…”

I began to read the letter without a thought. 

[Lady Fiona, I’ve been longing for you.]

Then I skimmed the letter. Well, it was just a pretty desperate love letter. 

[if you and I are together, we could definitely dream of a better future.]

It was about this. 

After reading the letter, I folded it. And I saw the sender’s name on the envelope again.

Bill Curtis. 

As expected, he was a stranger. When I said ‘stranger’ it referred to the people who I didn’t set and the people who have a relationship with Fiona in this world.

Well, receiving a love letter was a nice experience. But the feeling ended just like that. I already have a lover, and I have no reason to be excited by someone I didn’t know well. 

If there was no reply, it meant rejection. 

Certainly, this action of mine was probably why people around me considered me cold-hearted. 

Anyway, that was how I forgot about the letter.