I Became the Master of the Empress

67 – Episode 67

When the financial sector was screaming like that.

Debian, the mastermind behind all of this, frowns as he looks at the documents Carol gave him.

“It’s a big deal.”

I thought everything would be solved if I won the war, but a big problem arose.

The problem that makes my head hurt is that I made too much through market manipulation.

I earned too much.

Most small and medium-sized financial companies have to go bankrupt…

The Grand Duchy’s bonds are now circulating at a price that is more than three times higher.

The reason would be a side effect of me sweeping up the Grand Duchy’s call options.

Actually, the rise in bond prices is not that big of a problem.

The biggest problem is…

Small and medium-sized financial companies are unable to fulfill their contracts, resulting in mass bankruptcy, and it is the large financial companies and investors that will be affected.

This place is also very old-fashioned compared to modern times, but stock trading, bond trading, and commodity trading are active in their own way.

As such, there are quite a few large individual investors.

If they spit out a large amount of money to me, it is inevitable that it will have a huge side effect on the economy of the empire.

“What should I do… I told them to buy it at random, but I never thought they would buy this much.”

Just before the war broke out, investment companies thought that the Grand Duchy would lose and sold a huge amount of call options at random.

And Carol bribed it all, and this scandal happened.

If all of these contracts are fulfilled, the price of gold coins will skyrocket.

And the biggest problem is that investment companies that have suffered huge losses will not release their money and will actually shrink.

The behavior of the surviving large financial companies will also change significantly.

They will probably try to recover as much as possible the loans they have taken out in the market.

It is obvious that the flow of money will be blocked by suppressing loan extension as much as possible or reducing investment.

“I guess… I’ll have to compromise.”

We must somehow prevent the financial sector from collapsing.

“Phew… I thought it would be a happy ending if we won the war. What’s this.”

I write this letter with a sigh.

The opposing principality forces have not yet surrendered, and the financial sector is on the verge of bankruptcy due to the war that will soon end.

These two facts make my head confused.

Ah… Except for the former, they won’t last long anyway.

I’m in a panic by now… So if I wait a bit, they’ll come to negotiate on their own.

Actually, the strategy planned with Agrippa was to recapture the fortress after this battle and head straight to Fort Huntington.

They might try to hold out until Fort Huntington is breached and a stable supply line is established.

But it is just a meaningless support.

Even if they squeeze it out right away, it will be less than 10,000 troops. There will be no mercenaries left to side with the opposing principality, which has already been heavily defeated.

I heard that the Halberd mercenaries on their side also surrendered immediately upon seeing the Golden Knights.

“Ah… The council is going to chew me out a lot.”

I used the Golden Knights, which were meant to attack the enemies of the Empire, in my personal space, so I won’t stay silent.

Well, right now they don’t have an answer.

If Ioannes tries to attack me for no reason, he will now fall into a civil war between the imperialists.

There will be moderate internal crackdown.

Honestly, if the Emperor faction wants to attack me with that, I just have to reveal my secret pact with Ioanes.

If that happens, there will either be a conflict between the Emperor faction and Ioannis, or there will be a huge internal conflict within the Emperor faction.

In the meantime, all I have to do is absorb the anti-Ioannines faction into the anti-Emperor faction.

“The composition is not bad.”

***

-This is treason!

-The emperor’s army cannot recognize the archduke who personally used the army maintained by taxes from imperial citizens who came to fight against rebels or enemies!

-That’s right! We must declare the Archduke an enemy of the state!

Charles sighs as he looks at the boiling room of the Imperial Parliament.

“Whoa… everyone calm down…”

-What is the chairman doing?! Start voting immediately to define the Archduke as an enemy of the state!

The imperial faction, the neutral faction, and the opposing principality faction raise their voices.

Charles thinks those words are absurd.

Enemies of the state.

Anyone declared by the Reichstag to be an enemy of the state is deprived of all legally recognized rights and will not be punished by law even if someone kills him.

Rather, one gains the honor of being someone who protects the country.

The authority to proclaim it is a unique authority held only by the Imperial Diet…

‘Are they stupid? ‘Do you think the Archduke will not exercise his veto if the vote passes?’

The emperor’s inherent power, the veto, is currently vested in the archduke.

If he exercises his veto, it will inevitably come to nothing.

“Quiet… Everyone, please be quiet.”

Charles sighs and says.

-Right now! Let’s vote to declare them enemies of the state!

-Yes! Chairman, please vote quickly!

Charles answers those words.

From Noble mtl dot com

“Since all my fellow lawmakers have said so, we will proceed with a vote to define Archduke Debian as an enemy of the state.”

He says this and strikes the hammer.

-Bang!, Bang!, Bang!

After he finished speaking, congressional staff handed out ballots to lawmakers.

“Please come to the voting box one by one by stamping O for yes or X for opposition.”

When that declaration was made, the lawmakers each marked a piece of paper, stood in a line, and headed to the voting booth.

‘Isn’t this just for show?’

Chairman Charles also does not like Debian’s actions.

Debian controls the sacred empire and acts as he pleases.

He is a tyrant.

A tyrant who brings chaos to this empire.

But there is no way to beat him now.

Legally, he is the emperor’s husband and can exercise the emperor’s inherent authority.

And putting aside such political issues, what should be done with the army of the Grand Duchy that occupied Romania?

‘It is a problem even if the imperial faction unites and comes to Roman.’

Emperor Theodora is an emperor of an empire with great legitimacy.

Even if the army of the Emperor faction fights against Debian and occupies Roman, Debian’s wife, the current emperor, has no choice but to be dethroned.

‘That can’t be done, it would create new confusion.’

In the early days of the empire, there were several instances where emperors were dethroned by armies outside the Roman Empire.

However, when the first empress, the great gold dragon Eldra Shamhat, suffered frequent tragedies among her descendants.

There has been no such thing since elves, dark elves, dwarves, and orcs were gathered together to build a triple wall.

It is impossible to overcome the impregnable triple wall.

“The voting is over, Chairman!”

Chairman Charles comes to his senses after hearing the words of a congressional staffer.

“Then we will start counting the votes.”

Charles says that and starts counting the votes in front of everyone.

Employees shouting approval while holding crumpled folded ballot papers. Occasionally, there are ballots voting for rejection, but the overwhelming majority is approval.

‘A vote to later turn Devian and His Majesty the Emperor into a tyrant… Disgusting.’

Their intentions are very clear.

It is impossible to declare Debian an enemy of the state from the beginning because of the veto power.

‘Then, this is probably to inform the people of the empire that something like this happened in the assembly and Devian ignored the assembly by exercising its veto… Are there really no loyalists here?’

Charles, who was having such bitter thoughts, announces the results.

“With the final result being 243 votes in favor and 57 votes against, I will transmit to His Majesty the Emperor and the Archduke in the name of the National Assembly a proposal to declare Archduke Francesco an enemy of the state.”

‘It’s so funny… What kind of expression will they make if His Majesty, the late Emperor, finds out about this situation?’

Charles mechanically signs the letter written by the employee.

***

[Someone from His Majesty’s Council has arrived.]

At those words, the hand that was processing the documents stops.

“Ask them to come.”

At my words, the door opens and a delegation from the council enters.

Pompey, whom I haven’t seen in a long time, and members of the National Assembly whom I have seen several times before visit together, and I feel puzzled.

I greet you with a bright smile.

“You’re busy. What are you doing here?”

Pompey answers what I say.

“A declaration has been announced by the National Assembly and I have come to deliver it to you. “I will deliver it to His Majesty the Emperor when he comes.”

I nod my head at those words.

“Your Majesty is in the room next to him, so I will send someone. Lucius! “Tell His Majesty that someone from the Council has arrived.”

At my words, Lucius’ voice is heard beyond the door.

[Yes!]

After that, I offer them a seat.

“Then sit over there, His Majesty will be coming soon.”

I cried out loud when I saw them sitting on the sofa I recommended.

“So, what kind of declaration is this?”

Pompey answers what I say.

“I will deliver it to you when your Majesty comes.”

I nod my head at those words.

And some time later.

[His Majesty the Grand Duke has arrived.]

“Take them inside.”

At my words, the door opens and Theodora comes in, and the lawmakers stand up and bow.

“Your Majesty, how have you been?”

“How are you?”

Theodora answers them with a bright smile.

“Yes, I am at peace because you worked hard for the empire. Raise your head.”

Then, after seeing the lawmakers raise their heads, Theodora sits down next to me and says.

“So, what brought you here?”

Pompey opens his mouth at her words.

“There was a declaration announced today by the National Assembly, so I came here to get approval.”

He takes out two letters from his pocket and hands them to me and Theodora.

Theodora looks at me with a puzzled face, but I don’t know what it is, so she shrugs her shoulders and opens the envelope with the council’s seal in her arms.

-Flutter.

I go down while briefly looking at the greetings.

Huh? Looking at the declaration declaring me an enemy of the state, I couldn’t help but laugh.

-Pisik.

It’s not even funny.

How can these old people miss my expectations?

I had expected in the past that I would send the Emperor’s knights into the territory and protest against me.

But Theodora must not have expected this situation…

-Catail… Cattail.

My body begins to tremble.

“How dare you!”

Theodora stands up, grabs the council’s declaration…

-Jiik! Take a picture

It begins to tear roughly.

“How dare you send me such a ridiculous declaration now?!”

Seeing Theodora angry on my behalf made her a little touched.

hehehe… I guess you don’t hate me so much anymore?

Our relationship hasn’t been that bad lately.

Although she annoys me when I look at my documents at night, I think it’s an expression of Theodora’s affection.

I have a bit of a cat eye look.

Wait a minute…

What if this is a staged act?

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

Recently, I feel a chill run down my spine when I see people wearing revealing clothes at night.

Perhaps… Is this a deception?

She acts as if she has no intention of harming me, but if I fall for it, will I be poisoned…?

When I imagine myself falling down while eating and Theodora glaring at me meanly, I shake my head and wake up from my imagination.

I am worried about the current situation.

There are laws such as bills of parliament, declarations, etc. That must be promulgated by the emperor in order to have legal effect.

That is why the declaration must be delivered to the emperor or me first.

In other words, it is safe to say that I will not be declared an enemy of the state.

I’m sure you knew this wouldn’t go over… It must be for the purpose of slandering me.

Thinking so, I speak calmly.

“Hmm… I respect the parliament’s declaration, but I will veto this.”