Page 298 of Remarried Empress

When I asked uneasily, Heinley bit his lip hard and looked at me with shaky eyes as if trying to contain the laughter about to burst out.

Did I say something funny?

As I stared at him puzzled, Heinley barely managed to swallow his laughter and explained,

“Your ability would not be ice because My Queen is a cold person. Besides, it’s still too early to say it’s ice.”

“But your hair and the side of your bed is frozen…”

“Although you’re right about that, you can’t tell if it’s ice, snow, or water, until it fully manifests.”

“Ahh…”

I was still in a daze. It was the first time I had felt this way since I became the Empress of the Eastern Empire and assumed the responsibilities accordingly.

I felt as if I was entering uncharted territory that I knew almost nothing about. Somehow I got goose bumps.

As I tried to control my heartbeat, Heinley suddenly murmured in an anxious voice.

“I wish I could guide you and help you better, but it’s difficult to explain because it manifested in me as a child.”

“Is that necessary?”

“No, but it’s good to have the help of an expert to hone the ability. Even if it’s only for a short time.”

Come to think of it, Heinley stayed at the magical academy for a while even though he wasn’t a regular student. So, he went to get help.

“I think it would be best if I went to the magical academy…”

Perhaps because the academy was located in the Eastern Empire, Heinley’s expression turned dark.

After the tense moment, Heinley suddenly asked with a frown,

“By the way, My Queen. Haven’t you eaten too little lately?”

***

The secretary, whom Sovieshu sent to find out about Evely’s necklace, returned a few days later and reported with a stiff expression.

“The dean says a sponsor sent that necklace to Evely. But he refused to reveal the identity of that sponsor.”

He seemed to have used strong words to try to open the dean’s mouth. The displeasure that was clearly evident in the secretary’s expression gave an idea of the situation at the time.

“He’s good at keeping his mouth shut.”

Sovieshu waved the pen in his hand and smirked. The more difficult it was to obtain information, the more valuable it was.

Sovieshu intended to open the dean’s mouth even if he had to wrench his jaw.

“I’ll have to personally go to Wirwol.”

Although Wirwol was said to operate as an autonomous region, it was still territory of the Eastern Empire.

He thought to remind the dean that the Eastern Empire did not oppress Wirwol out of consideration, not because it did not have the power to do so.

After the secretary left, Sovieshu called Marquis Karl to check his schedule. He had so much work that he had almost no days off. Now he was busier because he was also in charge of Navier’s work.

“Is it possible to rearrange my schedule? I need to go Wirwol.”

“There are several items on the schedule that cannot be postponed. I think this item can be changed.”

While they were in full discussion, another secretary, Count Pirnu, entered and reported.

“Your Majesty, a member of the Bear Corporation is here.”

“If it is not urgent, tell him to come later.”

“I don’t know if it can be said to be urgent… he made a strange request.”

“A strange request?”

“He says there was a situation where someone tried to counterfeit the old promissory notes issued by the Bear Corporation.”

“The promissory notes?”

Sovieshu frowned. Marquis Karl was also startled and turned to look at Count Pirnu.

The Bear Corporation’s promissory notes had been used by the Imperial Family for generations. The fact that someone tried to counterfeit the promissory notes was a very serious problem.

“Fortunately, that situation didn’t escalate because they were old promissory notes.”

“I understand.”

“In order to prevent similar incidents, the Bear Corporation is going to replace the higher amount of promissory notes with other promissory notes made with a new method. The promissory notes used by Your Majesty are of a higher amount so they can be replaced, if you decide to do so it will not take more than one day.”

Since the promissory notes were not to be used immediately, Sovieshu agreed without hesitation,

“All right.”

***

The Bear Corporation member was escorted by Imperial Guard Knights to the headquarters.

The Imperial Guard Knights made sure the man entered the Bear Corporation headquarters and met with the president before leaving.

“Here you go, President.”

“Good job.”

The president took the envelope with the promissory notes, and put it on the desk, opened a drawer, took out the special glasses to distinguish the Imperial Family promissory notes and put them on.

Indeed, they were all Imperial Family promissory notes.

Next, he took out the account book of promissory notes issued and the detailed usage report to check the number and amount of each one.

He did this quickly and carefully. As this was an important matter the president checked it about four times, and sighed, taking off his glasses.

‘What Empress Rashta used were promissory notes from Empress Navier!’

It was not possible to distinguish between the Empress’s promissory notes and the Emperor’s promissory notes. However, Emperor Sovieshu’s promissory notes perfectly matched the issue date, and the total amount.

In other words, there was no way they were from Empress Rashta.

In this case, there was only one answer. Empress Rashta used the former empress’s money as if it were her own.

‘Empress Rashta is truly wicked.’

The president clicked his tongue.

Being the president of a large corporation for many years, he had also become a calculating person. In many cases he put profit before justice. However, he never used any money other than his own.

Besides, it was about Empress Navier. Didn’t she get divorced because of Empress Rashta? How she could dare to use Empress Navier’s money… she even took advantage of that money to elevate her reputation and get people’s praise.

There were many worse emperors and empresses in the world. Many were killing tens of thousands of people or ruining their country by charging more taxes than necessary. Perhaps Empress Rashta was less reprehensible than them.

But she was certainly despicable.