CH 26

In office, Dad and I had a rough discussion about "moonlight grass" and "magic restorative".

We would probably need them more in the future, but for now, this would be enough.

Father seemed to have made the same judgment as I did.

I called Garn, the butler, whom I had sent out to talk alone with me in the office.

"Master . Rainer, you wanted to see me?"

There was a knock on the door of the office, and when father answered, Garn entered, saying, "Excuse me."

Father gave him an empty teacup of tea.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll ask for tea again. When you bring the tea, you will join us in our discussion, yes?

".Yes, sir. How about you, Master Rid?"

“I"'m good."

There was still some tea left in my teacup.

In my previous life, I used to like tea hot, but now that I am Rid, I prefer it lukewarm.

After Garn left the room, my father looked at me with a distant look in his eyes and began to speak.

"But I will have to tell Garn about the Rid sometime,". If he doesn't know, we can prevent the leakage of information, but it may also prevent us from working together properly. Considering your position from now on, there is no need to talk about it recklessly, but we should make sure we have more allies on our side."

Father had an impassive but concerned tone in his voice.

By "the Rid thing," I assume he means that I have knowledge of my previous life.

But 'your position in the future' seems a bit dramatic.

"I'm sorry to Garn, but I'm going to keep it quiet until at least the cure for magic depletion is ready. After it is completed, I will have to make a decision based on the results."

"Hmm, that seems about right."

Information related to magical power shortage is highly confidential.

At this point in time, when the test product is not even ready, it would not be a good idea to talk to Garn just yet.

And even without telling him my secret, wouldn't it be better if father told Garun that he couldn't tell him from the point of view of information leaks, and then told him that you and I share confidential information?"

Garn is a trustworthy person, and he is also perceptive.

Perhaps if I say this much, he will understand what I am trying to tell him.

"Hm. That's true. If I need to give Garn orders about the medicine, I can make a code ...... or something like that."

After the meeting was over and a short time had passed, Garn returned to office with a cup of tea.

Father explained about the "confidential information" that he and I had discussed earlier.

Garn listened to my father's explanation without changing his expression, and finally bowed to me and my father, saying, "As you wish "

At that moment, I thought Garn was smiling happily at me.

I sipped the steamy, fragrant tea and quenched my thirst, and father told me about what had happened in the capital.

Most of it was a confirmation of what I had received in advance in a letter, but when I heard that he " had opened the theater without telling Chris alone that he was going to perform the farce," I remembered Chris's letter, "I was tricked," and involuntarily muttered, "This is what you mean ......."

The father looked a little doubtful, but continued the story.

He said that the emperor had ordered him to pay compensation to Count Roland, who had bitten Chris without knowing that she was a daughter of a nobleman from another country.

However, Chris declined the order.

However, she was not a modest woman to let that be the end of it.

Chris was summoned to the audience chamber that day by the emperor, Irwin, regarding the rudeness that Count Laurent had shown her .

The emperor offered her an offer of compensation, but she declined.

The emperor asked her if there was anything else she wanted

Surrounded by a large number of nobles, she spoke in a firm and dignified voice.

"I have something I would like to say to you here, Your Majesty. May I speak, Your Highness?"

"Yes. Then, what Chris said here will not be questioned in the name of the Emperor of Magnolia. Do as you please."

Irwin, sensing that she was thinking about something, dared to say, "All questions are unanswered.

Chris was now in a position to speak and act on the same level as the emperor on this occasion.

Next to the emperor was the empress Matilda, whose eyes lit up in anticipation of what was about to happen when she saw the chat between Chris and the emperor.

"Then let me tell you something. Everyone makes mistakes, so there is no need for any compensation. However, from now on, it would be better for you not to believe rumors, but to speak based on confirmed information. If a nobleman of the Magnolia Empire, a vassal of the Emperor and a member of the prosperous Magnolia Empire, does something like this on his own, he will be underestimated by other nations in the diplomatic field and will be a disgrace to the country. I respectfully ask the nobles of the Magnolia Empire to understand this point, and I hope that they will take this opportunity to look at themselves and reflect on their actions."

Chris's words stunned the nobles of the Magnolia Empire, including the emperor, and left them speechless.

While the nobles were in a state of awe, only the Empress Matilda, who was sitting on the throne next to the emperor, opened her fan, covered her mouth, and turned her head down, her shoulders and body shaking finely.

Chris enlarged the argument to say that the actions of Count Laurent were a problem for the Magnolia nobility as a whole.

A vassal of the emperor, even a count, believing unbiased rumor, spoke out and insulted a noble daughter of another country to an unbelievable degree.

She blamed it on the entire aristocracy, which had failed to educate the Count de .Laurent

Normally, this would have been an international issue, an insult to the entire aristocracy.

But the fact that she declined to accept compensation from the Count of Laurent

The emperor declared, "All shall be made a non-issue."

This left the Imperial nobility in a state of limbo, unable to argue anything against the barons and duchesses to the extent that they were running the trading companies.

All of the nobility, from the barons to the dukes and counts on the frontier, were lumped into the category of "nobles who, similar to Count Laurent, are unable to do their jobs.

The nobles who were taken aback by Chris's words, and who had been immobilized, came to their senses and reacted in various ways.

Some trembled with anger.

Some held back their laughter.

Some were impressed.

Some glared at Count Laurent.

From the perspective of the aristocrats, Chris was just a "little girl who would fly away if she was blown up."

Count Laurent, who was the cause of being played by this little girl, was red with anger at the time of the compensation, but now his blood has suddenly drained from his face and he is completely pale.

The reaction of the nobles, by the way, was mostly "those who stifled laughter."

The emperor's loud cry of was heard, and everyone in the audience hall turned their attention to the emperor.

"Chris, I appreciate your admonition. I apologize for the lack of education among my vassals, which has caused you great hardship. On behalf of all of us here, let me apologize. I am sorry."

Irwin got up from his throne and walked slowly toward Chris.

He bowed his head not lightly to about 90 degrees.

It was too bold.

The nobles in the audience hall were shocked and shaken.

It was unprecedented to have the emperor bow his head because of the mistake of one noble.

Chris was surprised and inwardly shaken by Irwin's apologetic attitude, but soon realized that something was wrong with the emperor.

Shaking his shoulders and body finely, he even blushes and says, "Pfft, kkkkkkkk ......" and endures something.

Depending on how one looks at it, it may appear that he is enduring humiliation.

In fact, the nobles at a distance would have seen it that way.

Chris, sensing something in the emperor's expression, kneeled down on the spot.

Chris bowed her head 90 degrees lower than the emperor's. "Your majesty," he said.

'Your Majesty the Emperor, this is too much of a prank.'

Chris whispered to the emperor in a low voice that only the emperor could hear.

I'm sorry," Chris whispers to the emperor in a low voice that only he can hear. But Chris' behavior was so funny that I couldn't hold back my laughter. Forgive me.

After their private conversation was over, the emperor raised his head, straightened his posture, and said in a dignified voice, "All of this conversation was the first of many."

"I have told you at the outset that all our conversations here are to be treated as non-questionable by me, the emperor. If you have any doubts or complaints about my actions, recognize your own mistakes and repent."

The nobles in the audience all knelt down at the emperor's words and responded with "Oh!"

The emperor looked around, and when he spotted the Count de Laurent, he personally approached him and said,

"Count Laurent, raise your head."

" Ah, , "!"

He had been kneeling and hanging his head at the emperor's words earlier, but he hurriedly stood up.

Irwin smiled at him and gave him a black smile.

Count Laurent felt a strange pressure in the emperor's smile and wanted to step back, but he held on hard to avoid the risk of disrespect.

Thanks to you, Count Laurent, I have bowed to a person for the first time in my life as emperor. This is how it feels to bow in front of so many people, isn't it? No, I am still inexperienced. I have been bowed to before, but I have never bowed to anyone as emperor . It is thanks to you. Shall I thank you?"

"not at all."

Count Laurent felt the blood drain from his body.

"So, what are you up to?'

"What?"

The emperor bowed his head, and you, the cause of all this, are not going to bow to Lady Chris?"

"No, , I'm going to do it right now."

Count Laurent hurriedly tries to apologize to Chris, who remains kneeling in his communication with the emperor.

But Chris does not show any mercy.

She makes a "stop" gesture with the palm of her right hand toward Count Laurent.

"No, I have received a heartfelt apology from the emperor, which is more than I can accept. I am truly sorry, but I would like to refrain from receiving an apology from the Count Laurent."

"Oh, no. ......"

Hearing Chris and the emperor's words, Count Laurent turned into pure white sand and collapsed on the spot.

(Actually, he just collapsed to his knees right then and there, disappointed.)

Chris smiled at the emperor and then again, kneeling down and speaking in a dignified voice.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, this time a small daughter of a baron from another country has made a presumptuous gesture toward the noblemen of the glorious Magnolia Empire. I hope you will forgive me."

"I forgive you. "

Emperor Irwin was so pleased so he felt relieved.