Empress of Self-Ruin

Chapter 7: Sweet Talker

Courtesy of my invitation, a selected nobility with property all over the capital was visiting the palace today. Of course, Duke Constantine was excluded. He was currently preoccupied with Phoebe's case, anyway. Something that I was rather thankful about.

To be honest, I was pretty nervous about this meeting even though I didn't show it. I got a feeling that it was going to be a tough day.

I took a deep breath, chin up, eyes firm as I gestured for the guard to announce my presence.

"Her Majesty, Empress Calypso Berenice, entering."

I walked into the meeting room and everyone stood up.

I scanned the people one by one. There were some familiar faces. Orion Elloid, my cousin and heir to the Elloid duchy, was also present. He gave me a nod of acknowledgment when our eyes met.

It seemed my uncle, the current Duke of Elloid, started making him go to nobles' meetings to prepare him for his succession.

My eyes then fell on one particular person: Marquess Endymion Villarreal. He was an illegitimate child of the previous marquess and he only rose to his position two years ago after the whole family died in a fire accident, leaving only him to inherit the title. Hah, like that doesn't sound suspicious at all.

But the young marquess was pretty famous in the empire. He was deemed a hero due to his big contributions in the territorial war with kingdoms on the southern border.

Soft blonde hair and warm hazel eyes. Unlike the northern part of the empire where it was snowing almost all year round, the southern part was warm, and the climate was perfect for farming.

I scanned him once again. Bronze skin—a common characteristic of the southern people—and his brawny, overall features gave the impression of a strong warrior. He was an undeniably handsome man. No wonder he was one of the most sought-after bachelors in the empire.

Unfortunately, he came from a neutral faction. He neither supported nor opposed the imperial family and so rarely took part in politics outside his own territory.

But if I wanted my plan to succeed, I needed to pull him to my side. After all, his territory was not only the most fertile, its people were also more fair and neutral in matters of politics. So it was obvious, whoever could win the hearts of the neutral party would surely gain an upper hand.

For a split second our eyes connected and his pink lips curved softly at me. But I broke eye contact immediately.

I took my seat and the meeting began. Dressed in their formal government official robes with a gold pin based on their departments and jurisdictions, the members of our planning committee were brought into the room to present our ideas to everyone as the nobles enjoyed some snacks and drank their wine. It was surreal how easy-going they were considering how hard we had worked and how troubled we had been.

They would even crack jokes at our solutions, "Buy my lands?" One piped up, "Will you buy off all its homeless tramps, too, because then we have a deal."

I forced a smile to hide my scowl as laughter echoed across the room. How unpleasant. But at least they were listening.

"But in all seriousness," the man continued. "Your Majesty brought us here just to tell us you're raising our taxes?"

Count Ashford. I opened the mental box in my mind labeled snotty nobles and pulled out the necessary information. New money, recently married to Lady Ellis, and gained a huge dowry from her father's sapphire mines. He often boasted of his riches and the donations they gave away every month, though he never mentioned it was because Lady Ellis' family were charitable folk. And he's also religious.