352 – Conspiracy after being promoted to Marshal (2)
Three days later, in the afternoon, Marquis Peter Yeager’s mansion.
Peter Jaeger had to go to work for a few days to take over the affairs of the Marshal, and taking advantage of his absence, Louise invited noble wives who could be said to belong to the ‘Jaeger’ faction and opened a social club.
In her normal days, she enjoyed simple food, music, and decorations, which is unbefitting of her status as a member of the royal family, but perhaps it was because it was a celebration of her husband’s inauguration as Marshal…
Taking advantage of her privilege as a member of the royal family, she legally mobilized the imperial chefs to make all kinds of food and desserts, and she even prepared wine that could be called the highest quality and a gift to thank her for participating.
The noble wives were amazed and started whispering at the sight of the social gathering, which was more luxurious than expected.
“Her Majesty Louise is a frugal person, so she did not open such extravagant social gatherings…”
“Since this is an event to celebrate the inauguration of the Marshal, you must have been in high spirits.”
“Is it because Marshal Jaeger is such a frugal person? How many families in the empire are as wealthy as the Marquis Jaeger family? “I understand that he owns more than 30 territories.”
As the ladies here are talking about, the Marquis Jaeger family had a level of power and wealth that was incomparable to that of any other marquis family.
Because they had accumulated so much money, they were even nicknamed ‘the family that had to build a new warehouse every year to store money.’
Many nobles borrowed money from merchants to make up for their deficits and maintained their families by giving them some interest in return, but the Jaeger family had a lot of money and even owned a fairly large estate. It was an unusual family with a very sound financial situation without any collusion with merchants.
From noble mtl dot com
To put it mildly, there is even a saying going around among noble wives that ‘even if the inspection department robs the entire family, the family will still be found innocent.’
Meanwhile, Louise was checking to see if all the wives belonging to her faction, whose faces she had already become familiar with, had arrived.
“Baroness Darhy, Viscount Filone, Madame Greenice. Well, Mrs. Landell told me to come out because I would protect her. Since she hasn’t come yet, it seems like she couldn’t attend because she doesn’t know how to dance. Should I introduce you to a good dance instructor later?”
A maid who did not belong to the Jaeger family quietly approached her.
Louise was momentarily wary of assassination, but her maid drew the shape of her fish by hand, a secretly determined code.
“Huh, are you a guild member from Blue Moonlight?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. My name is Maria, and I am a member of the Blue Moonlight Intermediate Guild. Anna was originally supposed to come in person, but she was injured while on a recent mission…”
“Okay, then what is Count Kreutz’s current situation? Just as she did during the time of the 5th prince, she must still have bad manners with women. What are the results of the investigation?”
“Yes, it was really complicated. “Here is a detailed record.”
A woman named Maria presented Louise with clearly organized documents.
[Count Kreuz Investigation Report]
Count Kreutz enjoys a secret affair with a wife from the Karna family who belongs to his faction.
He often meets with Countess Dalton at night to drink wine and have fun.
……
In addition, this survey document contained many stories about the 5th Prince using his status to play around with noble ladies, and Louise sighed as she looked at this document.
“My fifth brother began living as a ‘slave of the middle pillar’ as soon as he turned 20. But I never thought that even after marriage, he would touch noble women like that.”
More than 99% of marriages in noble families are arranged marriages.
Therefore, although the couple was a political partner and cooperated for their family, it was not uncommon for both the man and the woman to have a lover, except when making children.
Louise, as the princess and her marchioness, did not appear often, but at gatherings of noble ladies she sometimes heard her talk about having a ‘young, handsome boy’ as her lover. .
There are many cases where aristocratic men do not care whether or not their wives cheat on the condition that they do not suffer political disadvantages, excessive division of property, or problems with their children.
Among these, one that is especially treated as a taboo is the head of a noble family or heir having an affair with a noble wife.
For example, if an affair between nobles is discovered, a duel or confrontation may occur at the family level.
If that happens, in the worst case scenario, the problem could spread to a civil war.
“Your Highness?”
Louise came to her senses after hearing those words.
“I had a hard time investigating. If you take this check to the top of Heintel, you can exchange it for 200 gold, so take care of it.”
“Yes, thank you. “Do you have any other requests?”
“I won’t be around for a while, so I’ll come when you call.”
At her words, the maid quietly moved her presence into the crowd and disappeared, and Louise smiled brightly at her ladies.
“Thank you everyone for coming.”
Although they used polite language, the relationship between superiors and subordinates was clear, so everyone bowed their heads and slightly lifted their skirts to show respect.
“Don’t be so stiff. “We are gathered today to celebrate the promotion of my husband, Marquis Peter Jaeger, to Marshal.”
In military terms, giving 5 stars to a rank-and-file officer would have been like saying ‘rest in peace.’ However, noble wives were all too familiar with this kind of political and social stage.
Everyone changed their expressions and fawned over them to the point where anyone would think they were really close friends.
“Your Highness Louise, congratulations. “I already thought that the marquis would definitely be promoted to marshal.”
“Now that you are in charge of the entire army of the empire, Your Majesty will need your help even more.”
“I really envy you for having such a wonderful husband.”
Usually, most of what is said at a place like this is empty, but everything the ladies here say is sincere.
For almost 10 years, Peter Yeager was the most likely candidate for promotion to Marshal at the General Staff Headquarters, and was envied by everyone for his good looks and good relationship with his wife.
Louise felt good about her sincere praise for her knight…
“It’s thanks to everyone’s support. Thank you, ladies.”
I didn’t forget the empty words full of pretense, and as soon as those words were finished, Louise led the meeting like the leader of this faction, asking about each other’s current status.
When she thought it was her time, she opened her mouth to put her own plan into action.
“Ah, ladies. By the way, have you heard that rumor? Well, Count Kreutz… Oh, it’s nothing. “
In any era, people cannot tolerate a story that only begins and ends.
The women nearby walked closer to Louise, put her fan in front of her mouth and asked quietly.
“Is there a secret between us?”
“That’s right, please tell me quickly.”
“Your Highness Louise, if you make me wonder like this, I probably won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
Louise smiled evilly for a moment behind her fan, then put her index finger to her mouth and said playfully:
“So you’re all keeping secrets?”
The story told in the social church spread faster than the explosion without any exaggeration, so of course there was no way to guarantee true secrecy.
Everyone nodded and swore to keep the secret.
“Actually, I heard that my fifth brother, Count Kreutz, is having a passionate love affair with a certain noblewoman these days. “The Count and the other noble wife both got married through political means, so they are awkward with their actual marriage partners…”
Because this kind of secret could be a decisive blow that could be used to bring down another faction’s family, the wives listened with serious expressions and without a single laugh.
“I don’t know what family you belong to, but you are such a bold lady.”
“That’s right, I wouldn’t mind spending a moderate night with a man of low social status, but that’s okay.”
“…… Oh my god, isn’t that too harsh? Count Kreuz too…”
I think Louise wanted to expose who the affair partner was, but if she did that, Marshal Jaeger’s reputation would be slightly tarnished…
“Well, it’s a rumor. Rumor. “There is no solid evidence, so don’t believe it.”
She led the conversation by receiving and solving various information from her wives until Jaeger returned.
And naturally, this rumor spread quickly throughout the ecliptic.
‘Count Kreuz is having an affair with a certain noblewoman.’
This case involved the entire royal family, and it was difficult to identify which family the other party was, so no specific investigation or culprit was identified…
As soon as the Fifth Prince, who was involved, heard of this rumor, he decided to pretend to be sick and not attend any external gatherings, including social circles, for the next few months, or at least a year.
Shortly after, rumors spread throughout the empire that Count Kreuz was sick.
Besides anything else, having an affair with the wife of a titled nobleman was something that would never be tolerated in aristocratic society, so they tried to kill the rumor through probation.
In this way, Peter Yeager was able to cut off attempts to slander him.