If You Devour Poison / Doku wo Kurawaba Sara Made

Chapter 9: The Pawns on the Board

“...They got us. We can’t arrest the Head Priest.”

In the royal office a few days after the eventful banquet.
Morino entered the office with a bitter look on his face. Immediately after, he placed the stack of accounting ledgers in his arms on the desk.

“No way!”
“Why not!”

Nasha was thinking of arresting Malacia and then exchanging his freedom for her sister, while Lutora held a grudge of his own against Malacia. They both protested in anger but were stopped by Sigurd.

“Calm down, Nasha, Lutora. Let’s listen to what Morino has to say first.”
“But, Sigurd...!”
“How could you stay so calm! Isn’t your lover in the Shrine’s hands!?”
“...It’s exactly because she’s in their hands. If we make a wrong move in haste, what if something even worse happened to Melia?”

Hearing Sigurd mutter reluctantly, Lutora regained his senses. He hung his head. The one who wanted to scream most was probably Sigurd. But he gritted his teeth and endured. Jolga patted Sigurd on the shoulder. He then met his gaze with Lutora, who was biting his lip and nodded silently.

“Don’t be too eager, Lutora. That is what the opponent wishes for. Sigurd… You did well.”
“...Thank you, Captain.”
“Sorry, Father...”
“Miss Nasha, you’re not the only one worrying about Melia. Let us remain calm.”
“Yes...”

The three of them regained their composure hearing Jolga’s matter-of-fact words. Morino, prompted by Jolga, retrieved a single ledger from the stack of accounting ledgers he placed on the desk earlier. He opened the ledger to where he had bookmarked and handed it to Vikram.

“Please take a look at this, Your Highness.”
“...This is?”
“It’s the total daily expenditure of the royal family over the past few years, excluding any official and diplomatic fees… It is the royal family’s ledger.”

From small expenditures for daily routine tasks, such as the thread used for mending, to the large expenditures, like the carriages and precious metals the royal family bought, the numbers were neatly recorded in the ledger.

“When I compared the budget that was approved by the parliament for royal expenses to the actual expenditure recorded in this ledger, I found a discrepancy.”
“What…?”

Crown Prince Vikram’s expression changed.
Just from what Morino had researched these past few days, the difference seemed rather substantial.

“The sum recorded in the ledger is far greater than the allocated budget. If so, the compensation for the difference has to come from somewhere… tracing the castle’s flow of money, it led to the Shrine.”
“...What do you mean?”
“The determination of the budget requires approval from the parliament, where the Prime Minister holds a lot of influence. To reduce the Shrine’s influence on it, the approval of the budget was handed over to the royal family. However, that backfired. The portion of the budget meant for the continued operations of the Shrine was embezzled… by the former King, Queen, and their relatives.”

The Crown Prince and his aides were dumbfounded.
If that were true, it was a scandal of tremendous proportions. As a direct descendant, the standing of the Crown Prince would be in danger should the facts of this matter come to light.

“Since Malacia assumed office as the Head Priest, I found countless petitions to reconsider the Shrine’s budget, recorded in his name. Prime Minister Anderheim seemed to have planned to pass the petitions somehow… In the end, all the attempts were stopped by the royalty.”
“...How could that be…”

Vikram held his head. When his parents, the Royal Couple, were still alive, his enthronement was far in the future. While he had been formally educated in all the matters related to governing, he had no practical experience. Even so, it wasn’t a matter that could be brushed off with the excuse of, “I didn’t know.” After all, Vikram was undeniably a descendant of the Hero Palcemith, a direct descendant even amongst royalty.