I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 147

CHAPTER 147

“Did you report as you learned?”

Marquis Floyd, in a daze, repeated what his children had said. 

The words seemed not to be inputting properly into his mind. 

Gradually, his eyes widened and his face contorted fiercely.

“These damned… How have I raised you all this time, only for you to betray me!”

Marquis Floyd shouted. 

e seemed on the verge of rushing out, but those beside him restrained him.

“Have I starved your bellies like beggars on the street? Not bought you clothes, not done what?! And yet, why on earth!”

His hand gripping the cane trembled. 

His vision narrowed with rage and betrayal.

“Everything I did, I did for you!! For House Floyd!”

“No.”

Eben stepped forward, shielding Milia as if protecting his younger sibling, and shook his head.

“The things you’ve done were all for yourself, weren’t they, Father?”

“That’s right!”

Milia, hidden behind, also spoke up.

“It wasn’t for us! It was all! For you!”

“You!”

“I said I didn’t want to! I pleaded not to go! Did you ever listen to me even once? You didn’t!”

Milia’s cry filled the council chamber.

“You did it for the family? For us? Don’t lie! Father, you’re just…”

Milia closed her eyes tightly and screamed as if letting out a wail.

“You wanted to be close to the aristocracy, even if it meant selling us, selling Her Majesty the Empress Consort!”

Ah, Milia’s eyes widened. 

Her pupils moved as if she regretted saying what shouldn’t have been said.

When she quietly raised her head, what she saw in his eyes was clear.

“…”

Marquis Floyd was caught blatantly in his desires.

Marquis Floyd’s gaze shifted anxiously.

He wanted to become an aristocrat.

This statement could be interpreted differently.

“…Is Marquis Floyd dreaming of rebellion now?”

I smiled, watching the final boss slowly rise to his feet.

“Marquis Floyd.”

Documents filled with Marquis Floyd’s corruption spilled from the emperor’s hand.

“Why did you insist on marrying Lady Milia Floyd to King Gotrel? There has been no exchange between House Floyd and the kingdom of Gotrel.”

“Th-that… well…”

Marquis Floyd’s words trailed off.

Indeed, even in an era where parents freely arranged marriages, he couldn’t outright say he sold his daughter here to manipulate the results of Leonard’s birth.

I chuckled.

“Was it not to join hands with King Gotrel to rebel?”

“That’s not it!”

Thud! Marquis Floyd suddenly rushed to the center of the council chamber and banged his forehead.

“That’s not it, Your Majesty! House Floyd and I! We have always been loyal to the Pandelion royal family!”

“Well…”

This time, it was the Empress Consort who spoke up. 

Blinking as if in some confusion, she looked at Marquis Floyd.

“When I think about all the requests you’ve made of me…”

The Empress Consort’s eyes met Marquis Floyd’s.

“It seems you’ve had quite a change of heart.”

“!!!”

Marquis Floyd’s face twisted as he gazed at the Empress Consort.

“Now that I think about it…”

A hushed, whispered voice floated out. 

Marquis Floyd’s head snapped back.

“Hasn’t the Marquis often asked Her Majesty to do something for him?”

“That’s right. Her Majesty is always in trouble, my wife tells me.”

Marquis Floyd’s pupils began to tremble.

In truth, Marquis Floyd’s requests of the Empress Consort had been trivial.

Just pushing certain businesses towards those in the imperial family. 

Providing tax exemptions to certain individuals.

That sort of thing.

Definitely not related to any rebellion.

But.

“…What kind of request could it have been that would trouble the Empress Consort so much?”

Did people know about that?

‘They don’t.’

I stifled a laugh.

People didn’t know what requests Marquis Floyd had made of the Empress Consort. 

He had kept it strictly confidential.

“I have also seen the Her Majesty the Empress Consort speak seriously with the Emperor before, perhaps?”

“Could that be true?”

The rolling snowball grew instantly.

“Marquis Floyd is quite the snake… The Empress Consort must have found it difficult to judge alone.”

The swirling rumors engulfed Marquis Floyd. 

He looked around anxiously.

Seeking help.

“Ahem!”

But perhaps realizing that helping Marquis Floyd would put them in danger too.

They turned away from Marquis Floyd.

I stifled a laugh.

Some of them must have received Marquis Floyd’s favors.

In an instant, he was discarded.

That’s how quickly it happened.

So the people sitting here would imagine the best possible outcome.

In other words, now was the perfect time to push Marquis Floyd.

“…I apologize, Your Majesty.”

And the Empress Consort as well.

“Because of my lack of wisdom, I did not realize my brother harbored evil thoughts.”

She was not one to pass up an opportunity like this.

“Now that I think about it, there are not just one or two things weighing on my mind… It’s, uh, because of my foolishness.”

“Empress.”

The Emperor bent down to comfort the tearful Empress Consort. 

People nodded in response to the scene.

“Indeed…”

“He has been preparing for this for a long time…”

“Just looking at what he wanted to do with Lady Floyd this time shows how ambitious he is…”

“No!!”

Marquis Floyd exclaimed.

“I-I’m not…!!”

“That’s right!”

His denial was quickly drowned out by his son’s voice.

Eben, with clenched fists, shouted.

“Father… Marquis Floyd… made a foolish choice!!”

With tears streaming down his face, the son who accused his father of wrongdoing kneeled.

“Oh, brother…”

Milia, too, embraced her weeping brother and began to sob.

Marquis Floyd, dreaming of rebellion, and his children who, after much deliberation, denounced their own father. 

Gone was the Marquis who, just moments before, had taken a pained interest in his nephew’s affairs and, in a way, his sister’s.

 In an instant, an opposite image was painted.

“No.”

Marquis Floyd looked around at the murmuring crowd, shaking his head as he looked down at himself.

“I’m not.”

The tears of the Empress Consort, Eben, and Milia did not stop. 

If anything, the murmuring of the people only grew louder.

“I am not…”

“Who would believe that?”

Marquis Floyd, still kneeling, looked up with a bewildered expression.

“Everyone here would think that you have committed treason.”

“… “

“The multitude of Marquis Floyd’s actions so far is a problem in itself, isn’t it?”

It was a way of saying that they could somehow frame him as a traitor and hang him on the gallows.

Finally, Marquis Floyd, who was still on his knees, pointed at me with a sense of realization.

“You… surely not, you.”

“That’s right.”

Standing next to him, I smiled gently and lowered my voice.

“This is exactly how you perfectly frame someone, Marquis Floyd.”

Denying the assassination of the Good Empress with just a cup of tea didn’t seem credible, did it?

“Oh, no.”

I smiled gently.

“Since you tried to manipulate the aristocrats freely, it’s not much different from inciting rebellion, is it?”

“… “

Marquis Floyd’s pupils gradually widened upon hearing my words. 

It was as if what I said was slowly sinking into his mind.

“You. Really, you…”

Wanna rush at me? Well, that’s fine too.

Though he pointed a finger, if he also takes out a dagger, it’ll be even more certain, you know?

Alright, how about grabbing the collar?

…But Marquis Floyd’s reaction went in a different direction.

He just turned pale.

“Ah, Marquis Floyd!”

“Marquis Floyd has collapsed!”

He collapsed backward. It was like a stick falling over.

“Summon the physician, quickly!”

There was a commotion around. 

Tsk, I clicked my tongue.

“Let me check.”

I bent down to assess Marquis Floyd’s condition as he lay unconscious.

‘It’s just a faint.’

He had simply fainted out of sheer anger.

“There’s no threat to his life. If you lay him down comfortably, he should wake up by tomorrow at the latest.”

The physician who had approached me nodded.

“Then let’s take Marquis Floyd to his quarters for now…”

As the physician discussed a plan, I glimpsed people slipping out of the council chamber behind his shoulder.

‘Those people, they’re Marquis Floyd’s closest associates, aren’t they?’

Now they weren’t interested in Marquis Floyd. 

The problem was pulling out before the sparks hit them.

“… The council isn’t over yet, so where are these officials rushing off to?”

As my voice echoed out, the attendants who had been polishing the doors suddenly trembled as they reached the door.

“W-well, it’s because we have urgent matters to attend to…”

“Is it a group of officials?”

I frowned and glanced at the Emperor, who nodded subtly, granting tacit permission.

“It’s to erase anything associated with Marquis Floyd rather than urgent matters, I suppose.”

I chuckled and issued orders to the royal knights nearby.

“Seize those people! They’re Marquis Floyd’s closest associates; they must know something.”

“No!”

The crowd erupted in protest, but the royal knights were quicker.

Suddenly, Gerol, who had been in the council chamber, approached me and spoke.

“I will arrest them all and detain them in the underground prison, Your Highness.”

“Instead, can you separate and detain them individually, a bit further apart?”

“Of course, but may I ask why, Your Highness?”

I chuckled at Gerol’s question.

“People like that, when separated, tend to talk more freely when alone.”

Furthermore, didn’t they gather in groups of similar individuals? 

They were like-minded with Marquis Floyd.

If it meant saving themselves, they’d confess to crimes even without Marquis Floyd.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, Mr. Gerol.”

“I will repay your trust, Your Highness.”

Gerol firmly led the people away. 

Good. The situation was under control.

The surroundings were a bit chaotic due to recent events.

“Your Highness.”

Just then, someone approached me amidst the commotion and whispered.

“Is it all right for me to succeed Marquis Floyd as we agreed?”

I smiled at Eben, or rather, the new Marquis Floyd now.

“You’re stating the obvious.”

He was someone I had met before meeting Leonard and Stella.

“The new Marquis Floyd.”

That person was none other than Eben Floyd.