# 27
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After Duke Elmore's funeral was over, I caught Vadelmon leaving our house in a hurry.
In his clumsy hand was a stack of papers.
“Kath... Katherine, haha.”
At that time, I had not yet realized that I had taken over her body a long time ago, and I was also a mess and couldn't take care of it properly, but I soon knew what had taken it.
Papers confirming the huge debts he borrowed from his brother.
Apparently, he decided to steal it and deal with it now that his brother was dead, then plan his next steps.
But because of his haste, he ended up stealing the wrong papers, while his debt papers came into my hands in good condition.
Vadelmon may have verified the stolen papers after his return to the palace, but since the letter was missing the first page and he did not know who had sent it to whom, it does not appear that he attempted to verify it properly.
'This is good luck for me.'
Then I handed Hirose the bottle of poison that I was holding in my lap.
“Also, take this tea water to the analysis team in the office, the poison will be found with the tea ingredients being circulated in the mansion of Count Vadelmon Elmore.”
Elmore's sub-family relatives had various rights to the business, and so did Fadelmon, and among his business rights was the right to l green tea leaves.
So, this would be proof that Vadelmon tried to kill me again in a brutal way.
Along with the evidence I had already obtained from the captives and relatives of the sub-family, proving that the first attack was Vadelmon's doing.
“Mr. Administrator, are you sure you want to appoint that person?”
"Yes, of course."
As I climbed into the waiting carriage, my evil eyes lit up.
“In addition, I intend to make even more interesting accusations regarding this tea.”
I said to Hirose, who looked surprised with a bright smile.
“The Count was supplying Thales leaf tea to the imperial family.”
In addition to paying taxes to the emperor, the land-owning nobles in each region also gave their local products as gifts.
The Duke of Elmore's family annually presented valuable swords made from precious stones from the mines they owned.
As for Vadelmon, he used to provide tea harvested from his vast tea leaf plantations to the imperial family.
“Mixing poison into Talise tea is extremely unholy.”
The Emperor was a very suspicious person, and more importantly, he had a lot of trust in me.
And returning the Tundra Lands to me was strengthening his trust in me more and more.
“That's wonderful, ma'am.”
She ignored Hirose's words of admiration for a moment and climbed into the carriage.
* * *
The capital was not in snowy weather, but the situation in the Northern Tundra Lands was different.
In the middle of winter, as the blizzard was blowing violently, Etheus and his guards were advancing with difficulty, wearing heavy clothing.
There wasn't much left before his mother's house was due to be removed as Catherine announced, so they had to retrieve her personal belongings before then.
Although Etheus suffered a serious injury a few days ago, he recovered well and even looked in better shape than before the injury.
The doctor in charge said mysterious words.
“It was a condition that could not recover naturally, there seemed to be a blessing.”
‘Blessing.’
Although most of the Empire's citizens believe in fairness and equality, Ethios has not believed in this since his mother died when he was five years old.
The sight of Cambiot Palace being completely burned was screaming at him that there was no justice.
'It is impossible for such a thing to exist.'
A cold smile appeared on his lips and then disappeared.
After two hours of walking, they discovered the abandoned country house in the middle of the tundra.
Caron, who was following him, was inwardly impressed by Etheos' sense of direction.
After two hours of walking on a snowy, featureless road, he doubted they had gotten lost, but they found the exact location.
Etheus slowly raised his hand and pushed the old handle.
The moment the door opened, a huge wild boar came out and lunged at Etheus.
Etheus's hand moved towards his waist, and in the instant of the sword's movement, he deftly cut the pig's throat.
Kwik -
With a breathless sound, the surface of the pig pieces rolling on the ground was an artistic piece of precision.
With a cold face, Etheus put the sword back in its sheath and moved.
The guards following him swallowed the dry saliva and followed him.
Two-storey tundra country house.
He had memories of spending a cold summer here with his mother when he was two or three years old.
On the balcony, his mother sits him on her lap and sings.
It was as if her voice was still reaching him from far away.
Although it had been abandoned for nearly 20 years, the structure was familiar.
Etheus headed toward the stairs leading to the second floor, where his mother's belongings were stored.
The creaking meant that the wooden stairs didn't have much life left.
After a moment, he opened the door and entered, and Etheus stood in front of the side table where his mother kept her jewelry.
'I wasn't planning on taking this.'
If the Tundra lands had not been returned to the Emperor.
If he does not receive notice to remove this cottage.
It would have remained forever in a corner of his heart as a place of rest and memories.
Instead of resentment, he felt nostalgia that visited him after a long time, and slowly opened the drawer.
Creek -
The sound of the old side table opening pierced Etheos' ears.
But instead of frowning, he remained motionless, looking at the contents inside.
“Your Highness, did you get back what you wanted?”
He heard Karon's voice, who was standing outside the room, ask.
Even though they were inside the country house, the air was so cold that white steam came out of Karon's mouth.
Etheus did not answer, but remained looking at the side table for a long time.
Then he slowly extended his hand and placed the small object on his palm.
Knock, knock, he heard the pulsing sound.
“Your Highness?”
Caron slowly approached Etheos' side.
What he placed on his palm was a woman's ring with the crest of the Imperial Family engraved above a bright Palazzo Mageria flower.
A piece made of pure gold looks very precious and expensive at first glance.
“Is this the Empress Dowager’s ring?”
". … Yes."
In Etheos' mind, the voice of his mother appeared as she sat the little boy on her lap in that country house and whispered.
“This ring was a wedding gift from His Highness the previous Emperor. At one point, the Empress Dowager also wore it, so someday, Ethios...”
The affectionate voice was difficult for a four-year-old to understand, but it still stuck in his memory clearly.
“When you find someone you want to spend your life with, give them this as a gift.”
When they returned to Cambiot Palace, his mother said that she had forgotten him at the Tundra Lands country house and suggested that they go retrieve him next summer.
But his mother's next summer never came.
After staring at the ring with uncertain blue eyes for a long time, Etheus held it tightly.
An unbreakable will clearly flared up again.
“...You have come at the right time.”
The anger he felt when he first saw that notification was turning like ice melting in boiling water.
While Etheus stood silent, Karon asked him.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
And at that moment.
“Your Majesty, we believe we have found something as well.”
He heard a voice from outside.
After placing the ring in his inner pocket, Etheus went out to find his guards carrying copper ingots.
“We found it in the warehouse.”
The Revolutionary Army was always in short supply, and equipment as well.
“They can be used to reinforce armor, many soldiers were sustaining wounds from fragments of worn armor.”
“There are a lot of weapons here.”
Another guard entered, excitedly carrying a set of ancient swords.
“It's rusty, but it can be cleaned and used like new.”
With this unexpected discovery, a wide smile spread across Karon's face.
“We'll need to bring in more guards, to transport supplies.”
They did not expect such things to remain in the Empress Dowager's country house.
The goal was just to take some items that held memories of their master.
“It seems that a large number of soldiers were stationed here. This seems to be a good thing for us, Your Highness.”
Etheus stood silent for a while as he watched his guards rejoice.
Big unexpected gain.
Suddenly, the doctor's voice came back to his mind.
“There seems to be a pond.”
Why, then, did those violet eyes appear again before him?
Outside the broken frame, pure white snow continued to fall without stopping.