I Became the Master of the Empress - Chapter 276



280

After tormenting her until lunch…

In the end, I couldn’t go to breakfast with the royal family.

So, around lunchtime, after being bitten several times by Theodora, I was eating lunch.

“What are you looking at? Aren’t you turning your head to the side?”

She spoke with a red face, as if embarrassed by what happened last night, and her teeth bared.

I couldn’t help but smile because she was so cute.

“Don’t laugh, before I bite you again.”

She was full of pain.

Hehe… But I have a secret weapon.

When I took out the ring and turned the jewel…

“Yaaah! You pervert! Are you not going to turn it off right now?!”

She clutches her skirt with both hands, her face flushed as she glares at me in annoyance.

“Hehe, didn’t I tell you not to forget about the ring today?”

As I turned the ring to stop the device, just as Theodora said, her expression twisted into a deep frown.

“Hand over the ring right now!”

“No way. I’m going to torment you with this all day.”

“Huh? Is someone outside?!”

As she spoke in the Emperor’s voice, the golden knights burst into the dining hall through the open door.

“Please issue your command!”

Theodora looked at me with cold, wide eyes.

“Will you hand it over willingly? Or do you want me to take it by force?”

“No… that’s cheating, isn’t it?”

I was only enjoying the sight of Theodora panting, tormenting her for my own amusement.

There were no other impure intentions behind it.

“Cheating? Using that yesterday was cheating! Knights, seize the ring from the Duke!”

“We obey your command!”

“Your Grace, please hand over that ring willingly.”

I clenched my fists and said.

“Theodora? Don’t do this!”

“Hmph.”

She scoffed at my desperate pleas.

Damn it… I turned the ring again to switch it on.

-Click.

“Ugh! What are you doing?! Hurry and take the ring!”

As I twisted the ring, Theodora’s face turned red, and she urgently issued commands.

The knights, loyal to her orders, tried to restrain my arms and remove the ring, but it wouldn’t be easy to pry it off a grown man’s fist.

It was absurd to think of cutting off the finger of a saint, the national emblem of this country.

“Let go! You are committing sacrilege right now! How dare you lay hands on the body of a saint?! This is blasphemy!”

“Isn’t it you who is committing blasphemy?! You perverted saint!”

Though the saint had taken the lead in advocating for secular unity, the situation had turned quite absurd.

—

“We only take orders from His Majesty the Emperor. Please hand over the ring quickly!”

In the end, I had no choice but to have the ring taken from me.

“Ugh… that hurts, you know?”

The knight who forcibly twisted my wrist to remove the ring bowed his head and apologized.

“I’m sorry, Your Grace!”

And as soon as he placed the ring on Theodora’s table, she hurriedly turned off the gem.

With that, they left their seats.

“Where did you get something like this? Hah… And why did you have to resist and get hurt when you could have just given it to me?”

At her words, I pulled a scroll from my robe.

“Do you know what this is?”

She replied with a bored expression.

“What’s that?”

“This is a contraceptive spell. It lasts for a month.”

Contraceptive magic involves complex magical formulas applied to the human body, making it difficult to解除.

If released incorrectly, it could result in a seedless watermelon, so there’s no such thing as a解除 spell.

“What?”

“If you don’t give me the ring, I’ll tear this up.”

A full month of contraceptive magic, and if someone tries to forcibly解除 it, they could end up with a seedless watermelon.

Of course, I knew she wouldn’t try to解除 it, which is why I bought it together at the shop yesterday.

“Ugh! Why are you acting like such a child?”

“You called the Golden Knights first, didn’t you?”

“Is that the same as this?”

I nodded at her words.

“Yeah, it’s the same. Both are unfair.”

She let out a deep sigh.

“Hah… I’ll give you the ring, so hand over the scroll.”

At her words, I gave her the scroll and brought back the ring, only to receive a disdainful look from her.

“You really are such a child.”

With that, she glared at me and continued.

“But you can only use that when we’re alone, not like yesterday.”

—

I nodded at her words.

“Yeah, I’ll do that.”

As time passed, she mentioned she had some documents to check, so we headed to the Emperor’s office.

There, Theodora was busy with her work.

I glanced at the novels in this place.

They’re just okay.

The clichéd articles aren’t that interesting in literature.

Should I try writing something here instead?

I thought that even a rough story I know wouldn’t be too bad, but I just gave up.

– Scritch…

Theodora was deep in thought, scribbling while looking at the documents.

She asked me, “Honey, what’s 3,800 multiplied by 6,200?”

“That? Just a second… 23,560,000.”

Having learned abacus here, quick mental calculations are my specialty.

For merchants engaged in commerce, it’s no big deal, but here, it’s natural that someone not working with numbers wouldn’t be able to do such quick calculations.

It’s just the norm to pick someone who knows how to use an abacus for these trivial tasks.

She nodded.

“Thank you.”

What’s this? Am I a calculator?

Feeling a bit offended, I adjusted my ring…

“Ugh!… You again…”

Her face flushed as she shot me a glare, but I crossed my arms and replied.

“It’s the punishment for using a husband as a calculator.”

Saying that, I turned off the vibration.

Only then did she click her tongue.

“Tch. By the way, how are you so fast at mental math?”

“I guess it just gets faster if you study the abacus?”

In reality, the abacus has tremendous advantages for mental calculations.

“The abacus? You mean the tool those merchants use for calculations? But does using it really make mental math faster?”

“Right? You can calculate with a virtual abacus in your head.”

She slightly furrows her brow.

Theodora’s habit of frowning when she has a lot on her mind.

I get up from my seat and gently smooth her forehead with both hands.

“If you frown already, you’ll get wrinkles on your forehead.”

“Then maybe don’t do anything that would cause wrinkles. Anyway, I’ve seen people who can handle an abacus, but they weren’t as quick as you.”

“Well, that’s probably because they haven’t had the chance to show off such skills, right?”

If you know how to use an abacus, your mental calculations would likely be faster than the average person.

But how often would you get the chance to show that off to an emperor?

“Hmmm… I see. You make a valid point.”

“But what do you think about this?”

As she points to the documents, a weary sigh escapes me.

“Ugh… I’m supposed to be on a break, you know?”

“Stop taking a break and come look at this.”

I rise from my seat and glance at her papers.

The contents are related to public industry, specifically the windmill maintenance development sector.

“This… the amounts seem a bit off, don’t they?”

“Right?”

Is it really that expensive to set up windmills in the Epirus region? The prices in the empire have actually dropped, haven’t they?

Confused, I calculate the amounts item by item, and the numbers match.

“Looks like there’s some collusion with the suppliers, doesn’t it? If not, there’s no way the amounts would come out like this. Epirus isn’t under my jurisdiction, so maybe the bureaucrats are corrupt. Seriously, couldn’t you have looked into this more carefully?”

Epirus was changed to be directly governed by the emperor according to imperial law.

I think it’s probably the bureaucratic corruption that arose because I wasn’t keeping a tight rein on things.

“Heh, so you think the central government is fine then?”

Her words make me curious, and I ask back.

“Hmm? Is something going on in the central government?”

It’s surprising that there’s still someone bold enough to pull tricks like this in the central government.

“No, look at this.”

She opens a drawer and pulls out a piece of paper for me.

“Recently, the intelligence department commissioned this; it’s a list of corrupt officials in the central government.”

I read it slowly.

“Uh? What is this?”

The corruption list on this side is quite a sight.

Perhaps because it’s difficult to siphon off money from the central government, there were quite a few instances of field officials accepting s*xual favors or bribes in exchange for permits.

“Wow? The finance sector is no joke either?”

Well, if this is the custom of this world, then it is indeed a custom…

There are methods of extorting bribes under the pretext of checking for smuggled goods from importers, and even demanding bribes to expedite permits.

While high-ranking officials scrutinize each business meticulously, I cannot verify such occurrences in the field.

“Moreover, the anti-imperialist faction members are taking kickbacks?”

It’s surprising that my proxies are receiving backdoor payments.

Of course, even though they are proxies, the members do possess unique powers.

In the imperial assembly, they have the authority to audit the government and conduct hearings.

The members also hold corresponding powers.

They might take bribes from ministers or high-ranking officials of departments other than the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Intelligence Department, bypassing audits, creating favorable conditions for hearings, or shielding specific individuals in committees…

“Good grief…”

When I came to power, the main mission of the Intelligence Department was espionage against demon-worshippers.

As a result, internally, we primarily monitored Theodora and her associates. There was also a lack of capacity to oversee internal matters.

Given that the personnel of the Intelligence Department are constantly being rotated, it’s difficult to keep an eye on members of the imperial assembly and internal officials.

Such matters originally fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so there was some reluctance to deploy the Intelligence Department.

However, in principle, investigating an imperial assembly member by the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Justice, or even arresting them as a current offender, would violate imperial law.

In addition, various privileges are guaranteed, so even the emperor must report to the assembly and have a vote for expulsion passed in order to arrest a member.

However, if it’s a regional member belonging to my faction, I can dismiss them at will.

The right of a lord to appoint members of the assembly is absolute.

Thus, I had to scrutinize this matter closely and continue to exert influence over them.

“Phew… I haven’t been vigilant enough.”

“So, how about making the pro-imperialist and anti-imperialist faction members keep each other in check?”

This was a thought I had in mind as well.

If Theodora and I politically oppose each other while maintaining a normal marital relationship otherwise, I believe it would reduce the chaos within the empire.

Leading each faction to keep each other in check and punish corrupt officials or politicians.

This is the plan I’ve recently devised.

“I was thinking about that too.”

She said with a slight laugh.

“We’re on the same wavelength.”

At her words, I smiled as well.