Chapter 26
“This person was really important!”
At the time, I just thought, Why are you making a fuss?, but this so-called ‘Duke’ turned out to be extremely important.
Even from a common-sense perspective, someone sitting closest to Noah at a tea gathering held in the palace couldn’t be an ordinary person.
If he was the only duke left in the capital after the chaos caused by the change of the crown prince, then it had to be him.
“Duke John Raymond.”
He was the very figure who, during the time Melissa tried to unseat Zion from the crown prince’s position, used his unique manipulative tactics to rally the nobles to Noah’s side. And…
“He was also the first person to betray Noah when the situation got chaotic.”
Looking back several generations, could there have even been an ancestor without blood from the Karain Empire?
With eyes of a bright, vivid blue, more striking than anyone else, Duke Raymond was genuinely obsessed with bloodline superiority.
And yet, this man sided with the outsider Melissa to place Noah on the throne—a testament to his insatiable lust for power. Even though he already wielded power that made voicing his opinion to other nobles unnecessary…
“Human greed knows no limits.”
He wanted more.
Duke Raymond resented the late emperor, who devoted himself entirely to strengthening the crown’s authority. He was enraged, even resentful, that the assembly of nobles had been stripped of their power because of the late emperor.
Enough to temporarily suspend his long-held belief in ‘bloodline superiority.’
This was why, in the original story, Noah initially tried to act benevolently but couldn’t fully carry out his intentions. Melissa, in her attempts to win Duke Raymond over, had made promises on her own: that if Noah ascended the throne, the assembly’s powers, stripped away by the late emperor, would be restored.
“In other words, she grabbed a rotten lifeline.”
The situation was urgent, so she may have had no choice, but even Melissa couldn’t have imagined the extent of Duke Raymond’s hunger for power.
The Duke, true to form, sought to sit atop Noah’s head. That was, after all, why he had helped place Noah on the throne in the first place.
He intended to marry his daughter to the empress, seizing the empire in his own hands.
“What is it?”
Noah returned the Duke’s question with another question. Seeing Noah seated so calmly despite being treated with such subtle disdain, Duke Raymond maintained his manners, even though it must have made his blood boil.
“What is it? Your Majesty, does seeing me require that something happen? I simply came by to pay my respects, as I have not seen you for a few days.”
Rose, who was watching without taking her eyes off him, instinctively expected to see traces of unpleasantness, but saw none.
“What an impressive man.”
Whether his intentions were pure or not, this man had effectively replaced the crown twice. Granted, the second time, Noah had provided the justification.
“No wonder… even with that pleasant smile, he never seemed like a truly good person.”
From the very first encounter, he had smiled gently while saying things Noah didn’t want to hear. Yet to think he was Duke Raymond.
He was someone Rose didn’t want to deal with, yet also someone she couldn’t ignore.
“Better to let him remain on Noah’s side until the end.”
Just in case. Even if Noah never became a tyrant, the Duke’s betrayal could still prove fatal.
“Because there’s such a thing as the power of the original story.”
It was best to eliminate potential risks.
Jonathan, in less than a day, found the household staff who had quit earlier. The noblewomen, who still had a sense of self-preservation, admitted their fault immediately.
“I will accept the punishment. There’s no excuse for what I’ve done… but if it weren’t for Mr. Andrew, I would never have done it.”
Their resentment toward Andrew ran deep, and the handwriting on the ledgers clearly implicated them, leaving no room for denial.
In the end, because Andrew had blocked the noblewomen’s escape to save himself, he ended up facing execution.
“Andrew Fisher is sentenced to death.”
Noah didn’t even hold a trial. In front of the prison where Andrew and the noblewomen were held, he sentenced Andrew to death.
“Your Majesty! Please spare me! Please, only spare my life!”
“Still using that treacherous tongue? Better deal with that tongue before you hang.”
Noah’s outrage matched not only the embezzlement of imperial finances that left palace staff starving, but also the deliberate deceit.
“Noah…”
Perhaps that was why Rose felt oddly… healed. It was like a wound she hadn’t realized was there had begun to close. She had thought she had already forgotten, but some lingering bitterness remained. After all, she had been unable to repay that senior in any way.
“Now that I think about it, luck was on my side too.”
Since her senior’s identity had been exposed before she borrowed the money, Rose didn’t lose any money and thus couldn’t punish him either. Compared to those who actually lost money, being deceived herself was insignificant.
The unseen wound remained solely Rose’s burden.
Yet now… Noah’s overflowing anger and punishment of wrongdoing gave her the strange feeling that he was somehow paying the price on her behalf.
“The noblewomen involved in embezzlement are sentenced to up to one year of labor, depending on the duration of their complicity.”
The maids received precisely the punishment due to them. Rose had feared that Noah might even execute Mrs. Green for her sake, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.
“Beth Green is sentenced to an additional six months of labor for abducting and abandoning the silent cat.”
When Noah delivered that sentence, he tightened his hold on Rose, as if he truly wanted to execute her.
From that evening, the servants’ meals returned to normal. Rose also noticed the palace staff’s expressions toward Noah had changed, just as she had planned.
“Your Majesty, should I bring lunch to the bedroom today?”
“Yes, do that.”
Evelyn and Amelia, who used to tremble at just meeting Noah’s gaze, now made eye contact little by little. Although things had unexpectedly escalated, everything was unfolding according to plan.
Content with this, Rose spent a rare leisurely day, pondering how to bring Duke Raymond over to Noah’s side.
[Captain!]
Tuxedo, whom she had briefly met before, appeared at the window. She had wondered why he hadn’t shown up, only to realize he had been looking for her while she was never around.
Now free to move outside the window, Rose leapt up and greeted the cats warmly. She only later realized she could have simply waved.
“What kind of human am I…”
Laughing at the thought, she then remembered Noah.
“Now that I think about it…”
Why hasn’t he asked anything?
Noah hadn’t asked why Rose had been in that office, how she knew about the love letters, or anything at all. He probably assumed, as a cat, she couldn’t answer anyway…
“But it’s obviously strange.”
At that precise moment, the cat had brought exactly what was needed. Yet he asked nothing about why she had even been there.
It was as if he knew she had uncovered the culprit on purpose.
“Did he know from the start that there was a human soul in here?”
The more she thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. Even after all her very human-like actions, Noah hadn’t reacted oddly because he didn’t find her strange.
Noah seemed to accept whatever she did without question, but…
“I should be more careful from now on.”
It seemed she had to be cautious about acting like a human rather than a cat.
[Anyway, first we must secure Duke Raymond on our side.]
Focusing on this, Rose muttered to herself.
[Why Duke Raymond?]
Tuxedo reacted to that.
