Chapter 84

The next day.

The day Alessandro had said, "See you tomorrow" — the day to judge the ringleaders of the rebellion had arrived.

Opal, who had just returned to the capital, was worried about by everyone at the Lucel residence, but she smiled and got into the carriage, saying she was fine.

This was probably because Najja had a fever since last night and was still resting in bed.

It seemed that her fatigue had caught up with her, and she was regretting not being able to accompany them.

"Strange. Why doesn't anyone worry about me?"

"Your past life explains it all. You hardly ever came back to the mansion and just wandered around."

"Is that why...?"

"You don't deny it, do you?"

"I can't."

When Opal responded to Claude's complaint, he seemed to understand immediately.

Claude smiled at the exasperated Opal.

However, he soon placed his hand on top of hers and continued.

"But I won't wander around anymore. I plan to live a peaceful life with my beloved wife in our territory."

"Even if you don't wander, you won't be able to stay at the mansion much, will you?"

"That's true. I need to advance the railway construction in the duchy."

"We need to discuss next year's planting with Duncan, too."

They smiled at each other, talking about their future plans.

Duncan had been found in the real underground dungeon of the ducal mansion that day.

It seemed he had opposed Conary and was captured by the rebels.

The servants, seeing this, decided to follow Conary without a word.

Opal thought this was the right decision, so she did not punish the servants of the ducal mansion who had not joined the rebels.

As for the rebels who had surrendered, they were to remain in the duchy and work on the railway construction.

They planned to treat them like ordinary workers, except for the upper echelons, who would be under surveillance.

Claude had planned all of this in advance and had prepared for it before entering the duchy.

"It's a shame that the Duke of Saimus in the Kingdom of Sosie was involved with the rebels. It's frustrating to think that the money Omar poured into the city of Nobori was used to fund the rebels."

"At that time, the Duke wasn't fully cooperating, was he?"

"That's true, but..."

Opal sighed and muttered, and Claude tried to comfort her.

Opal knew it couldn't be helped, but she was still angry.

"His Majesty and I thought that the source of funds after the previous duke's death — after the silver mine dried up — was the plundering in the Kingdom of Sosie. So when we heard that the thieves were caught, I was puzzled as to why the rebels still had funds. I suspected that the ones providing funds to the rebels were not the disguised thieves but the Duke of Saimus. Even if the Duke was related to the former Duke Bottselli, it's unusual for someone to support something that doesn't benefit them."

"That's why you went back to the Kingdom of Sosie to investigate, right? There, you found out that the gold production in the Duke of Saimus's territory had also drastically decreased. The reported production to the country hadn't changed much, which was suspicious. You met the judicial officers who had similar doubts, right?"

On their honeymoon and return to the Kingdom of Sosie, Claude had been investigating the Duke of Saimus and the thieves.

He didn't tell Opal because he didn't want to involve her in dangerous matters.

However, Opal had realized the connection between the Duke of Saimus and the rebels from what she heard from Roubault in the city of Nobori and what she investigated in the duchy.

She then asked Roubault to investigate through Omar and asked Hubert to take action.

Roubault, a legitimate moneylender, could investigate the dark side of the city of Nobori.

However, because the Duke of Saimus, who had been paying large sums to the country, was behind it, Roubault's power was insufficient.

With the help of the Duke of MacLaud, who had been paying even larger sums and increasing his influence at the palace, Roubault and the judicial officers were able to act freely and change the situation.

The Duke of Saimus had been smuggling gold to maintain his power at the palace.

He was anxious about Hubert, who was of higher status than himself, rising to prominence.

Ironically, Hubert had no desire for power, only a strong sense of justice.

He particularly could not tolerate the Duke of Saimus's long-standing misconduct.

Hubert had always had a strong sense of justice, and the injustice Omar had committed probably left a deep resentment in his heart.

"Omar has completely changed his ways and hasn't committed murder... "

"Are you thinking about MacLaud?"

"I'm thinking about the Duke of Saimus's misdeeds."

"Indeed, the Duke of Saimus was a surprise. He had been producing more gold than he reported to the country and smuggling it through an organization based in the city of Nobori. The fact that the Duke himself was the head of the organization is like something out of a story."

"Really, it is. In the Kingdom of Sosie, the trade of minerals has been controlled by the state since the previous king's reign. At the time, there was a lot of opposition, but human greed knows no bounds, even when there are no unreasonable taxes."

Opal sighed, as if in disbelief.

The Duke had staged robberies to avoid taxes while pretending to maintain production.

He had given a small portion of the gold to the thieves as a reward and let them spend it in the city of Nobori, so the Duke's — the organization's — coffers were not affected.

When the time came, he had the people who knew the truth killed to make it look like a falling out and to silence them.

If he hadn't been so greedy, his past misdeeds wouldn't have been exposed.

Now, in the Kingdom of Sosie, there is a big fuss over the Duke of Saimus using an organization to smuggle gold to other countries and staging robberies with thieves.

The former Duke of Saimus has been stripped of his title, all his assets have been confiscated, and he is in prison, awaiting execution by poisoning.

The letter Claude delivered in the attic was from Hubert, detailing all of this.

In short, the Kingdom of Sosie has no time to interfere with the Kingdom of Taisei.

Naturally, the former Duke of Saimus could not send reinforcements to the rebels.

All this information was also cut off from the rebels.

"The most ridiculous thing about this whole situation is that the money Cole and the others were paying to the Duke of Saimus would have been more profitable if they had just paid it to the country."

"That's true..."

Opal remembered Cole's smug expression at the time.

The reason the Duke of Bottselli and others opposed Alessandro's ascension was that they, like the Kingdom of Sosie, aimed to control the trade of major products in this country.

If they had opened their eyes to what Alessandro had accomplished in the past four years, they wouldn't have started this pointless conflict.

"Well, there's no such thing as a person without any desires, to varying degrees."

"What kind of desires do you have, Claude?"

"I'm greedy. If I can see Opal's happy face, I'd conquer the world or anything."

"I won't be happy with that. I just want to live a peaceful life with Claude and everyone."

"Your wish hasn't changed since the old days. Will you indulge me a little more to satisfy my desires?"

"Of course."

Opal smiled and answered Claude's question, and the carriage stopped.

It was finally time to settle the score with the anti-Alessandro faction.

Opal got out of the carriage with Claude's help and started walking forward with determination.