351 – Conspiracy after being promoted to Marshal (1)
When I returned home after the war, the first person to greet me was not Louise and her four sons, but Sebastian, the head of the house. .
For your information, the reason Charlotte, Laura, and Anya are not here is because they are returning to the capital for the first time in a long time, so they said they will each be away for a few days to meet their families and acquaintances…
He was a man who usually walked around smiling with a relaxed expression on his face, but he came out ahead of time and ran right in as soon as the carriage door opened.
“Congratulations on your promotion to Marshal, Master. I wanted to hold a small banquet to celebrate the victory and enjoy it with my family. “I don’t think that’s possible right now.”
“Could it be that someone got sick or something serious happened?”
“Her Majesty Louise and your four sons are all healthy. However, something big happened. I think it would be better to see it first rather than explain it in words. “Come here and see for yourself.”
With Sebastian leading the way, I quickly walked to the warehouse of the mansion, and what I saw there was a pile of gifts that were too numerous to count.
A box full of gold, a gorgeous treasured sword, silk, precious stones and various accessories, all kinds of furs imported from the North, and even wine that just looks at the bottle and says, ‘I’m the best!’
When I was promoted to captain, it was just a gift that wasn’t too burdensome or a courtesy gift from a noble family I was close with, so I ended up sending a suitable gift in return and then using it myself.
You send me such enormous and burdensome gifts just because you have risen one rank higher. Many of these should be returned as thoughtful gifts with similar value to what you received… When will you choose all the gifts that are appropriate?
“I will talk to Louise and Laura and tell them to deduce which of the gifts each family has sent me that I should repay, and then tell them to find a suitable gift in return and send it to me. “Thank you for letting me know.”
When I said this, Sebastian shook his head.
“Master, the gift you can send in return is only 10% of what is here. The rest are gifts that are asked to be accepted and not reciprocated. “I congratulate you on your appointment as Marshal.”
Oh, sh*t. Although there is a precedent in the Reich Empire for not considering free, well-intentioned gifts as bribes, there are limits to that.
To be specific, gifts that are given in return at the same level will be passed on as long as they do not amount to an absurd amount, but if expensive things are accepted without any conditions for reasons such as to congratulate one on a promotion.
No matter what country it is, it will face political burden and misunderstandings that it is trying to gain a share just because it is the head of state.
Once you pass the ‘Imperial Council’, you can live a life without anything to do with politics, but the position of Marshal of the Imperial Army is closely related to politics.
“f*ck, I’m going crazy. SEBASTI If you add all of these together, how much does it cost? Also, which family sent the largest amount of gifts?”
“This is a gift worth approximately 25,000 gold. “The largest gift among them is an item worth 3,000 gold sent from the family of Count Kreuz.”
“Count Kreutz, that damn bastard.”
Count Kreutz, a family that secured connections with the imperial family by adopting the 5th prince as a son-in-law and successor because there was no son to succeed the family.
Thanks to this, Count Kreutz was able to escape from being an assistant minister in his later years and served as Minister of the Palace for the last month before his retirement. As a result, his family’s status rose somewhat, but…
After the Count died, the Fifth Prince, who must have looked upon me with disdain, ate up the Kreutz family.
It seems that since I became the Marshal, they planned to use political maneuvers to prevent me from exercising my proper power from the first day of my appointment.
“It’s the same as when we met before, but it’s such an idiotic greeting. Wow, it makes me wonder what to do with it. “Sebastian, do you have any good ideas?”
The head of a noble family may not look that great on the outside, but he can exercise the authority of an executive-level head of a company.
Furthermore, if the Marquis’ family has a current enemy, they have enough power to not bow down in front of even a decent baron.
Of course, this is a position that can only be held if you have some knowledge of politics, so you probably know everything better than me, who just returned to Reichburg yesterday.
“I would like to give good advice to His Excellency the Marshal, but I am also busy looking for people to manage the taxes collected from the three newly granted marquisates.”
“I guess so. You are right. Then, list the families and items that sent gifts…”
Sebastian smiled brightly and said.
“Her Highness Louise said that she has something planned regarding this matter. “The master asked me to tell you something when he comes.”
“……Why are you saying that now?”
“It’s a very important matter, but if you leave without even looking at this pile of gifts, you won’t be able to have a conversation with Your Majesty.”
If only I had heard that Louise was looking for me, I would have gone and heard that the Count Kreutz family had sent me a huge gift to embarrass me.
Anyway, she and I would have had to come back here and observe these things and talk about something similar to the conversation we just had.
“I understand, Sebastian. By the way, when you retired from the 7th Division as a lieutenant colonel, you said you wanted to be my chief butler, so I hired you. “It’s not too late, so why not become a professor at the academy?”
“I came here after competing fiercely with other guys retiring from the 7th Division. “I can’t leave to become an academy professor or something.”
After finishing our conversation, I walked to the room where Louise was waiting.
In the past, when I returned from the war, she would always bury her face in my chest, stay there for a while, and then ask me to kiss the back of her hand.
Perhaps because they had a troublesome task ahead of them, they didn’t come running right away even when they saw me.
“Are you here, Marshal? We often hear stories of God’s great victory in war. “How are you feeling?”
“I worked comfortably at Philolence for a few months after the end of the war, and I didn’t feel tired at all. Louise and you?”
“The kids follow me well, and my body is healthy. Except that I was away from you for a long time, so I didn’t receive love for a long time, and that’s why I feel so sorry… I feel like I can’t have all three of you, and I want to go to the bedroom with you right now and confirm the driver’s love for me. “I’m in trouble because my fifth brother is using a dirty trick.”
“But it’s not a very difficult problem. “At best, it’s an attempt to diminish my influence, so it’s better than war.”
That’s what I said, but in reality, politics is more difficult for me than war, where I can cook whatever I want to everyone in front of me.
War is based on the premise of a clear answer, such as kill, capture, sell, or stab in the back, but politics does not swing the sword, but instead of making the opponent kneel under you or pulling out your sword, you turn and turn to attack others. Because it is a game where you have to survive by using cunning tactics to kill with a sword.
Furthermore, as I think more about this matter, I think this could start out as an accusation of bribery and, in the worst case scenario, become a card that blows me away.
However, since the opponent is the former prince, it would be better to just cover it up and move on by making it ‘something that never happened’ rather than ruining it politically.
As if Louise knew all about my worries, she put down the teacup in front of me and poured me some tea, smiling brightly.
“Marshal, no, my knight, this is what you are thinking right now, right? How can we end this political offensive without causing direct conflict with my brother? How do we subdue the steamship?”
As expected, when I was busy with military affairs, she was able to properly block all social or political attacks, befitting a Marchioness.
Even though I didn’t say the right thing, he could see right through what I was thinking.
“Well, now that we’ve gone on the offensive, I want to step on them to prevent them from doing something like this again. “Considering His Majesty’s reputation…”
The princess can maintain her imperial title even if she gets married, but in principle, the prince loses his imperial title as soon as he receives her noble title.
This happened because the law was created to eliminate the possibility of several royal male members fighting over the right to succession, and because not everything in the world follows the law.
Former imperial family members who have lost their royal status are also given benefits such as being sentenced to lesser punishments during criminal trials, except for those related to treason.
Even if you launch a political offensive like you are now, unless you do something that could be considered treason, you cannot just repay because you have to consider the ‘situation’ or the current emperor’s opinion.
As I was so lost in worry, Louise smiled brightly.
“I thought a lot about how to solve that problem. Fifth Brother has a fatal weakness, so I think we can use that as an excuse to shake him up a little by threatening him. Or will it be buried in social circles?”
This is not a digression, but the relationship between His Majesty the Emperor and Louise is very good right now.
However, I don’t know about the other princes, but I heard that the 5th prince gave me sh*t in the past, and that Louise and I have clashed a lot in personality since we were young, so we fight a lot in various ways and our relationship is not good….
“Take care of it.”
“Yes, if you take care of it well, please go outside and play with me for a day. “Laura, no, Charlotte and I had a great time in Farosia, so you can do that, right?”
“How on earth could that be…”
Louise smiled mischievously at those words and placed her finger on my lips.
“Other noble families have bad relationships with their wives, but we get along well. “I don’t say anything to my driver, but we talk to each other about what we like better at night.”