The Prince Wants To Retire

9. Secrets of the Imperial Palace (2)

Kariel, who gave orders to Tarion, thought with a serious expression.

“It’s a secret I don’t know… … .”

The self of the previous life was struggling to survive at this time, so the details were unknown.

I thought I only remembered the big stem, but I was able to intuitively feel that there was something serious wrong inside.

“What have I missed?”

Kariel felt uneasy, and thought while distorting her expression.

He rummaged through the notes he had been writing since returning to grasp the flow of the main stem.

“It was too late to get involved in politics.”

After recovering, he clicked his tongue thinking about the past life he participated in.

It was not easy to guess because we had no idea what happened during this time or what secrets it was holding.

Still, thanks to the destruction of factions regardless of faction, the level of revealed history of dukes and margraves was clearly known.

All the strings that were connected by smashing the criminal organizations were also checked.

Of course, there were organizations that I couldn’t figure out in the end, but I thought they were cut off by other countries.

“Isn’t it something simple to think about?”

-It’s complicated.

Surtur appeared before he knew it and shook his head as if he was annoyed just thinking about it.

“Are you here?”

-okay.

“Aren’t you brushing up today?”

Kariel looked at Surtur strangely, not telling him to train as usual.

– Just by looking at it, I know that it is not the time for you to practice.

Seeing Surt’s flames tremble, Kariel laughed.

Kariel’s problem was so serious that Surt, who only watched from the sidelines, hated it.

It is unknown who the enemy is, but a situation where many people, including the emperor, are involved.

In this situation where the center of the empire could possibly collapse, what Kariel could do was extremely limited.

The problem is that you can’t just cover it up just because it’s a headache.

‘It will definitely become a problem later.’

Kariel’s intuition, which overcame many crises while serving as emperor, was telling it.

I intuitively felt that if I forcibly covered up this now and retired, Kariel’s YOLO life would end soon.

Maybe it’s connected to big things like the aristocratic rebellion, the invasion of neighboring countries, and the black magician’s rebellion.

“Should I solve it… … .”

From Kariel’s point of view, it was highly likely that he was related to at least one of the three.

-… … can you solve it?

Kariel fell silent at Surt’s harsh question.

No matter how I look at it, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to handle it if I touched it wrong.

I couldn’t avoid it either.

“It’s best to close the knot roughly and hand it over to the younger brothers… … .”

Cariel sighed as he said that.

It was clear that the younger brothers were going to explode mentally just by their own attack.

It was obvious that I would not be able to afford it if I had added more work here, so I had to do it myself.

-I wish the emperor could help too… … . He’s in a bad state, so it won’t help.

At Surt’s harsh words, Kariel frowned.

But it wasn’t wrong.

Because of the armies, the national power of the empire fell endlessly, because even in the current emperor’s generation, it continued to fall without stopping.

“Once we look at the data Tharion gave us, we can guess anything. There is no answer in this situation.”

Saying that, Kariel gave up on rolling his head and started practicing.

When my head was complicated, exercise was the best, so I called Toto and Iris to start training.

Of course, it didn’t take me more than 10 minutes to regret that thought.

Obviously, he was trying to do a simple pattern of exercise to cool his head, but his body was groaning in pain.

“Take it easy!”

-great! good! do more!

Perhaps because of the intense rigid body training, the amount of fire absorbed by the body increased dramatically.

Surtur nodded with a satisfied expression on his face.

-I really like that girl.

“Shut up.”

When Surt praised Iris and smiled contentedly, Kariel wrinkled her expression and sat down on the floor.

“after… … Let’s rest for a while.”

“Yes.”

As Kariel fell into her thoughts, drenched in sweat, Iris avoided her seat.

Tarion quietly approached him as he sat on the floor and was lost in thought for a long time.

“result?”

“Here it is.”

Kariel tilted her head at the bundle that was thinner than expected.

“There are not many additional discoveries.”

Most of the things related to the Chancellor had already been stolen from the Inspection Department, so Kariel had already personally confirmed it.

Since the prime minister had already built up an image of integrity, even things related to criminal organizations were carried out secretly, skipping several steps.

There were only a handful of them, so it was only natural that it would not be long to say that additional discoveries were made.

“Nothing.”

When Kariel said with an annoyed expression, Tarion looked over again and agreed with a small nod.

“But what is this?”

Seeing a familiar name, Kariel pointed to the letter with her finger and asked.

“It is said that the chancellor met with him regularly.”

“A drug dealer?”

Kariel tilted her head.

It is surprising that the prime minister met a low-ranking aristocrat who could not even remember his name.

“It smells.”

“I was awarded, so I dug more, but nothing came out.”

“It will be difficult to find.”

There’s no way a foxy prime minister would have left any evidence.

“Look for drug addicts. It doesn’t matter whether the Korean-American aristocrats or commoners.”

“Yes.”

At Kariel’s command, Tarion bowed his head and hurriedly disappeared.

“It’s a drug… … .”

In his view, the prime minister was not the type to do drugs himself.

If you are a drug addict, you have seen it countless times in your past life.

This is because not one or two aristocrats depended on drugs in the midst of a ruined country and a series of wars.

However, the chancellor did not feel that way.

If so, he would contact the drug lord for someone other than the prime minister.

“Is it Your Majesty?”

Kariel sighed while muttering that.

I frowned at the thought of being different.

“Anyway, it’s just a drug… … . It’s too weak for a secret the Prime Minister is hiding.”

Emperor does drugs?

It’s sure to be a problem, but even so, it’s a trivial problem that will only be talked about for a while.

It was clear that the prime minister was not the type who thought about the honor of the emperor, so there was a high possibility that there was a more intimate problem.

– Why don’t you think about the chancellor?

“Can you answer me?”

Surt said that it was frustrating just to watch, but it wasn’t too late.

– Still, I think it’s better than being like this?

“Even if you go and ask, you should bring at least one weapon that you can think of.”

Saying that, Kariel stood up.

– What are you going to do?

Surt tilted his head at Kariel’s sudden action and asked.

It doesn’t look like I’m going to practice any more, but I wondered what he was doing.

“Are you telling the Prime Minister to tell you?”

– Do you really want to go?

“I need to do some preliminary work first.”

After Kariel answered that, he quickly washed himself and prepared to go out.

The probability that the chancellor will answer is infinitely low, but prior work was necessary to raise the low probability even to the smallest degree.

To that end, he found the Inspection Department.

“Bring all the information related to the prime minister.”

“Yes!”

At Kariel’s orders, the already busy inspectors began to search for information related to the prime minister.

It was sad to see them full of dark circles, but I couldn’t help it.

“It’s nothing too.”

These were facts I already knew.

However, even insignificant information could become a weapon depending on the use.

“President.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Dig with this.”

Podolski, who received the wad of paper Kariel had thrown him, looked it over and opened his eyes wide.

“Your Highness, this is… … .”

“It seems to be related to Your Majesty.”

“It is too dangerous.”

“know. It’s not that I’m trying to find fault with Your Majesty.”

At Podolski’s words, Kariel frowned and said.

“then… … .”

“The secret the Prime Minister is hiding, I need to know what it is.”

While saying that, Kariel began working to pressure the chancellor.

***

Kariel began an open investigation through the Inspection Department based on the information Tarion brought.

As public investigations and informal investigations began to take place together, the truths that had been kept hidden under the surface were revealed, albeit little by little.

“I met a lot of drug dealers.”

“I would like to.”

It was when Tarion said that and wrinkled his expression.

Podolsky rushed inside.

“majesty.”

“why? Have you got anything?”

“There is nothing new. However, I found one suspicious thing.”

There was no way that clear evidence could be found by public investigation.

However, Podolski presented a report that carefully analyzed the information Tarion had brought.

“This?”

“Not all of them, but among the drug dealers, there are those who are related to the priests.”

“The drug dealer is friendly with the temple… … . Perhaps?”

Cariel said ‘maybe?’ Looking at Podolski with a smile on his face, he nodded heavily.

“All these temples are presumed to be related to the warlock.”

Kariel’s expression twisted at Podolski’s words.

“Things are going to get bigger.”

“… … It seems so.”

At Kariel’s words, Podolski sighed and said.

Tarion also shook his head, thinking about the seriousness of the situation. This is because this incident seemed to be as shocking as the Crown Prince’s attack.

“First, Tarion told the media that the prime minister was drugged. Dress up as if you were in a relationship with a drug dealer.”

“Yes.”

“When the media bites the Inspector General, he announces it publicly.”

“I will.”

Cariel shook his head again as he watched the two of them rush out after receiving his order.

According to the information gathered, the prime minister had met several drug addicts, and the possibility that they were related to the warlock was quite high.

“It’s a temple… … .”

Perhaps it was related to the Holy Kingdom, so Kariel’s agony deepened.

This is because both the inside and the outside are involved, so a situation could have been created in which war could be fought with both sides.

In addition, it was more problematic because it was unknown whether this was simply related to the emperor faction and the Seongguk, or whether other factions were also involved.

“Looking at Podolski, neutrals don’t seem to have much to do with it… … .”

Kariel rested her chin while muttering.

It was the most frustrating right now, where it was not clear where and how far.

Then, suddenly, something passed through Kariel’s head.

“for a moment… … .”

Pausing, Kariel hurriedly looked at the temples associated with drug dealers.

“center… … southeast… … Southern… … center… … .”

They were marked by putting pushpins one by one where the map was spread out.

“It’s strange.”

It was as clean as if only the West was empty.

There was no North, but in the first place, the North was like a knife when it came to drugs, so it had to be clean.

This is because the law on drugs has become very strict since the entire northern part almost collapsed with drugs in the past.

“Only the West is clean… … .”

If the West had very little room for drug-related links, it wasn’t.

This is because it is a port-density area that competes for the first or second place on the continent, so a huge amount of drugs are smuggled.

Although it was difficult to see clearly because there were no drug dealers associated with the temple, it was definitely strange.

Kariel, who is impatient with questions, immediately called the inspectorate and ordered them to bring data on the drug lords’ origins and activity areas.

“Definitely strange.”

West was too clean.

Feeling strange, Kariel hastily summoned Tarion and Podolski to begin a detailed investigation.

“Definitely the West is suspicious.”

“okay.”

Feeling suspicious in the west, a closer investigation yielded strange results.

All famous drug lords and drug dealers were active in the south and southeast.

However, their place of origin was mostly from the western and southern borders.

“This activity from the western edge is only done in the border area between the southeast and the south… … .”

“It’s not just that it’s unusual. I checked all the warlock-related temples, and only the western part is clean.”

Kariel made a serious expression at Podolski’s words.

“A famous family in the West… … .”

“There is the Grand Duke, the Marquis, and the Count of Belpurs.”

Kariel was lost in thought at Tarion’s words.

‘The problem of the Grand Duke may not be due to a simple rebellion.’

Kariel clicked his tongue at the unexpected possibility.

‘I might see the commander of the Imperial Palace knights in a previous life.’

Cariel cleared his mind and stood up.

“I’m going to go see the prime minister.”