Chapter 299

Where Tara has a high stakes negotiation with the Emperor.

This chapter is dedicated to mel ! Thank you for your support!

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Episode 299. About 2 Months (7)

The Emperor jumped to his feet the moment I finished speaking. He strode over to me and burst into loud, boisterous laughter, as if to show off.

“Hahahahahahaha. You certainly lived up to your role as the Second Prince’s aide.”

“...”

Then, with a twinkle in his eye, he scrutinized every inch of my face and said.

“Very well. I have a few questions for you.”

“Please ask, Your Majesty.”

"Did the Second Prince inform you of the operation in advance? I was just told that your cooperation had been terminated and he didn't disclose the operations' specifics to me. So, how did you find out?"

I met his gleaming gaze and replied calmly.

"There was a request made for us to deploy our knights. I inferred it based on that information."

"Inferred? Inferred, you say. Hahaha! Good heavens."

The Emperor clapped his hands together, clearly amused, and circled around me.

He looked like an old tiger who had discovered an exciting toy, so I watched his every move carefully.

“Very well. Then tell me how far you’ve deduced. If there’s an operation, when will it be?”

"At first, I thought it would be during the Founding Festival held yesterday. However, the Knight Orders which were supposed to gather near the Capital were disbanded far too recently for that to be the case. I assumed it might be immediately after the Second Prince's death was announced. The very day Your Majesty collapsed and came here. But nothing happened. So, I wondered if the operation had failed, but then Your Majesty announced your abdication as if you'd been expecting it, and in so doing you spared the Heads of both House Kezak and our Family. This meant that all of it was planned. If so, I believe the next operation will take place at the Coronation Ceremony. If it doesn't happen then, I think the next opportunity will be during the Harvest Festival, which is the next major event."

The Emperor stroked his chin thoughtfully before suddenly asking,“Why? Why did you assume the operation would take place during an event?”

“Because that’s when all the enemy leaders will be gathered in a single place.”

.

“......!”

The Emperor took a few steps back and quietly studied my appearance. Then, meeting my gaze directly, he asked.

"Does this come from the Count's head or yours?"

A question implying, ‘Whose mind came up with this idea?’

"It was Father's decision."

"No, no, no. I'm not talking about the decision to come here, but who came up with this deduction."

He waved his hands dismissively, urging me on.

“.....”

When there was no answer…

"It's you! Hahahaha! This is my first time meeting someone similar to the Second Prince! No wonder that bastard kept you by his side. That's it. That's exactly it! Hahaha!"

“.....”

Then, he suddenly stopped laughing, walked over to the sofa and sat solemnly. Leaning forward, the Emperor rested his elbows on his knees and asked with utter ease.

“You have a keen mind. How old are you?”

“I am nineteen.”

“That’s not the insight of a nineteen-year-old. I knew the Elias family had many talented individuals, but I never expected even their daughter to possess such depth of thought. How amusing. Amusing indeed. However...”

A sense of foreboding emanated from the Emperor's drawn-out words, I slightly raised my lowered gaze.

And the reply came immediately.

“I refuse your proposal.”

“.......!”

I swallowed hard, struggling to hide my surprise.

"You were accused of being a spy and banished. I also heard that your brother held an executive position in that weird youth club that led to the recent protests in the Principality of Ga'an. Furthermore, the Second Prince, who is in charge of the operation, broke the agreement right before the operation began and refused your family's help. So, accepting your help now without the commander's permission would be preposterous."

I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again. I had expected this might happen, but since I had come here believing there was a greater chance of my proposal being accepted, I felt a deep sense of disappointment.

“I accept your decision, Your Majesty. But perhaps...!”

The Emperor immediately raised his hand to cut me off.

“I have not finished speaking. Now that I have rejected your proposal, I cannot simply let you—the daughter of the Elias family—go.”

I had been frantically rehearsing my arguments in my head, but at the Emperor's words, I faltered and took a step back.

“What do you mean…?”

“You, who understands this operation inside and out, are a liability. Therefore, killing you here is the surest way to eliminate that liability.”

The Emperor’s smirking face was etched all too clearly into my mind.

Damn this Empire.

Damn this Imperial Palace.

Damn this Imperial Family.

May every last one of them die in an instant!

F**k them all!

I bit my lip hard as I spat out a torrent of curses in my head.

“……”

“......Are you going to surrender just like this?”

A look of keen interest. A face full of expectation.

Grinding my teeth and pursing my lips tightly I spoke,“If Your Majesty commands it, I shall surrender. But if you grant me the chance to explain why my family’s assistance is needed, I would like to try to persuade you.”

“Having come this far, I suppose that’s to be expected. Still, my mind is made up, but if you’re confident, why not try to persuade me? Since it’s a request from the General, I’ll grant you this much leniency."

I took a few deep breaths inwardly and quickly gathered my thoughts.

There was a book called ‘The Psychology of Persuasion’. It outlined a total of six laws of persuasion.

Of those, only two laws would persuade the sly Emperor who stood at the very pinnacle of the political arena.

The Law of Scarcity and the Principle of Consistency.

Why? Why couldn’t I let it go?

He shouldn’t let my appearance fool him - I was a 10 year veteran scriptwriter who fought her way through the cutthroat South Korean college admissions process to get into a top Seoul university, and then worked my way up through the broadcasting industry in Yeouido until I proudly earned the title of lead scriptwriter. - That's what I wanted to say! *

Neither Ji Yeon-woo nor Tara Elias would be intimidated by something like this!

I definitely wasn’t going to let myself be pushed around!

Forcing myself to get my rough, hissing breaths under control, I rebutted the Emperor's words as calmly and composedly as possible.

"... This may be why the Imperial faction supporting the Imperial Family is gradually losing its influence, your Majesty."

"What?"

The Emperor roared, but I smoothly continued my explanation.

"Please consider this objectively. If the operation succeeds, having a prestigious aristocratic House that supports the next Emperor's policies will become an invaluable asset to Your Majesty. In order to fill the void left by the purged noble Houses and consolidate their power, the Aristocratic Faction will inevitably rise up in opposition to Your Majesty’s policies.”

“So you’re telling me to bring your family to my side?"

According to the law of Scarcity, while the majority of the nobility were looking out for their own interests, the Elias Family had clearly demonstrated that they were a rare exception by supporting the Imperial Family.

I nodded slowly.

"Yes. Furthermore, the Elias family owns a trading company. Once the next operation planned by His Highness the Second Prince and Your Majesty the Emperor succeeds, you will need a family who can take over the trading businesses currently managed by the Toulouse family, who currently serves as the Third Prince's staunchest ally."

"Is that really necessary...? There are plenty of merchant families besides the Elias's."

"True, there are many. But merchant houses that are well-established, highly trusted within the trade network, and capable of producing high-quality goods - such as a heart medicine that has successfully completed a 3-phase clinical trial - are rare within the Empire. Moreover, merchant houses who are willing to partner with Your Majesty, instead of seeking monopolies like House Toulouse, are even rarer."

Joining hands with the Elias family for all state-run projects meant that the Imperial Family’s assets could be officially increased for years to come in addition to taxes.

For the Emperor, who was already reaping the benefits from the heart medication, this was a most welcome proposal.

I concluded by emphasizing the Principle of Consistency: just as we have generously filled the Imperial treasury in the past, we will continue to do so in the future without complaint or political interference.

The Emperor gave a wry smile at my words.

“I think I know exactly why the Second Prince kept you by his side, even if only for a short while.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty.”

"Hahaha. A compliment, you say? You've got some nerve. Even though I've threatened to kill you, you managed to remain calm and composed - though I do not know what's going on in your head. You're a hundred times better than those worthless politicians who've secured their positions simply by hanging around the Palace for too long."

“Thank you for regarding me in such a light, Your Majesty.”

“You don’t even bother pretending to be humble—I like that. Good. Let’s do this.”

“Excuse me?”

My eyes widened as I stared at the Emperor.

“The agreement.”

“Ah…!”

Only then did I understand the Emperor’s intention.

Signing a new agreement with the Emperor that replaced the broken one with the Second Prince meant we could cooperate again. Moreover, since the agreement would be with the current Emperor himself, the Elias Family's future standing would be solidified even more firmly than what the Second Prince had promised us.

Therefore, if the operation succeeded, the Elias family would make a complete comeback.

Hahahaha.

I later heard from Fred that the Emperor's threat to kill me was just a ploy to see me panic. Apparently, he often cracked jokes like that.

Ugh. They say a frog dies from a stone thrown in jest, but who would take the Emperor's threat to kill someone as a joke? What if I'd had a heart attack from the shock?! **

Anyway, the scale of jokes of those in power was something else. He was like a 500-year-old fox…***

Seeing me lost in thought for a moment, the Emperor subtly probed me.

"Why? Do you need time to think? Or do you need the Head of the House's permission?"

I didn’t need time to think. There was no better agreement than this for the future of my family right now.

Of course, that was assuming Kyle’s plan succeeded and the Empire was once again brought under the Emperor’s control. And since our family had bet on that outcome, we had no choice but to accept this agreement, even though the Emperor hadn’t proposed it himself.

"When he sent me here, I was already granted authority to act as House representative and instructed to secure a firm agreement. Besides, if I were to return to seek Fathers' permission and come back, it would be too late. I will draft it."

The agreement was drawn up immediately.

[The current Emperor of the Ocerian Empire, Louis Amure, and the Countship of Elias of the Ocerian Empire shall make all future political decisions in accordance with their mutual interests. This agreement takes effect from the moment of its drafting and shall remain in force unless one party requests its abrogation.

Signed: Emperor Louis Amure. Representative: Tara Elias, daughter of Count Lloyd Elias.]

***

After drafting the agreement, Tara Elias returned to the Capital. The Emperor turned to Fred, who stood beside him, and said in all seriousness.

“Tell me everything.”

“Pardon? What do you mean, Your Majesty?”

“From the moment you first met that girl on that business trip until we parted ways. Everything!”

Editor's Note -

*Yeouido is a river island on the Han river that hosts KBS, the Korean Broadcasting System as well as the financial district of Seoul and the National Assembly. So Yeon-Woo working there as a lead scriptwriter shows that our girl had definitely made it in our world.

**This idiom; 'a frog dies from a stone thrown in jest' comes from Bion of Borysthenes. He was a Greek philosopher. the original version is; 'Boys throw stones at frogs in fun, but the frogs do not die in fun, but in earnest.' Which is pretty much self explanatory. Once again the usage and reference of various idiom and books shows how broad Yeon-Woo's/Tara's education is.

***The 500 years old fox refers to Korean mythology. The Kumiho is a fox spirit who, as he gets older, becomes more tricky and treacherous.

Personal note: It's fun to have these little nuggets of world culture again! It's been a while....

Also, I can't believe we are about to reach the 300th Chapter!

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