The Empror's Trap-Chapter 63: Ch - I Am a Truly Loyal Minister!

Fixed.

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Pluvia could have accepted if it was just about the grain issue. However, problems soon emerged within Luminara capital as well.

Many officials were arrested and subjected to investigations that deviated from Camelot’s laws. In the end, over a dozen officials were exposed for embezzling disaster relief funds and seizing civilian property. Kenji compiled all the punishment recommendations into a memorial and submitted it to Pluvia.

To be fair, these actions weren’t entirely wrong - after Pluvia’s verification, all the arrested officials were indeed guilty and deserved punishment.

However...

Pluvia looked at the Grand Marshal before her.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Your Majesty’s foundation is not yet stable. I believe we must clean up the government now. In the central court alone, over a dozen officials have embezzled and misappropriated state funds. And this is without me investigating the entire chain - otherwise, almost no one among the central officials and palace departments would be spared. If this is happening right under Your Majesty’s nose, the situation with officials in other regions is obvious."

Kenji responded respectfully.

"You mean you want to continue?"

"I won’t catch all the officials in one net. I’m just making examples of a few typical cases to intimidate the lawbreakers," Kenji said without any guilt. "I believe such a government will erode Camelot’s foundation."

"Are you truly doing this for Camelot’s prosperity?"

"Indeed."

Kenji replied.

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However, Pluvia saw through it crystal clear.

If you were really doing this entirely for the empire, why not arrest your own faction too! Arresting a bunch of royalists, finding fault with them, and then having these originally loyal ministers either demoted or imprisoned. The royalist forces in the central government shrank considerably in one fell swoop.

That wasn’t all. Kenji privately submitted his recommendation for handling the Fifth Prince to the Imperial Family Court.

When Pluvia first saw it, she nearly exploded with anger.

Kenji’s suggestion was: "Publicly execute the Fifth Prince."

What kind of inhuman method was this? Publicly executing a member of the imperial family - wasn’t the imperial family losing enough face already? If word got out that the Emperor’s brother attempted usurpation, wouldn’t that make them a laughingstock?

Kenji’s reasoning was that the Fifth Prince’s example would show the people that Camelot’s laws apply equally to all.

Furious to the point of liver pain, Pluvia immediately told her beloved minister to think it over again, saying she wasn’t in a rush.

If it was just these matters, Pluvia would have been merely annoyed rather than truly angry. But then this beloved minister proceeded to demonstrate what it truly meant to stir things up.

He sent the Emperor an invitation to attend his wedding.

When Pluvia first received this news, she was momentarily stunned.

Wait, didn’t he not have any women around him? How did such a workaholic...government official suddenly have time to get married?

Curious, she took time from her busy schedule to visit the Imperial Family Court to ask Kenji for clarification. After hearing his answer, she nearly fainted from anger.

He wanted to marry his guard, Lina!?

Faced with Pluvia’s confusion, the Grand Marshal lied without even blinking. Kenji’s expression was particularly serious, as if he was truly considering this matter.

If it weren’t for the look of disbelief on Lina’s face - his supposed fiancée - Pluvia might have believed him.

Truthfully, from both Camelot’s ideology and political situation, these two would have a hard time marrying. Although everyone could see how close Lina and Kenji were, their respective positions meant they could hardly become husband and wife legally.

After all, having Camelot’s de facto second-in-command (though officially that was the Chancellor) marry a former demonic cult member would reflect poorly on Camelot.

While Camelot didn’t believe in the Holy Religion, demonic cult remnants were opposed by almost every human nation. Many of them were truly inhuman.

Of course, this impossibility was only in terms of law - Kenji and his guard couldn’t legally be together, but...

Whatever they did in private or how they addressed each other was nobody else’s business.

Kenji’s recent unusual behavior convinced her of one thing: something must be wrong with her Grand Marshal’s mind.

But thinking carefully, Pluvia gradually understood.

While Kenji had often annoyed her before, his actions usually had strong purpose. Looking back, though he sometimes disregarded protocol, he did handle important matters well. Now his actions had suddenly turned strange.

Maybe I offended him somehow...

The poor overworked Emperor had completely forgotten about planting spies earlier, since she had already ordered her spy to withdraw at the time.

She thought the spy had resigned after receiving her order - who knew he would continue staying at Duke Anos’s mansion!

Thus, a rather amusing scene appeared in court.

During these days, the Emperor suddenly became extremely courteous with Kenji. Kenji thought Pluvia was softening her stance after realizing she had gone too far (though Pluvia remained clueless about what she had done to anger him). The two spoke much more gently to each other in court.

It even led some to wonder if something inappropriate had developed between the Emperor and Duke Anos.

However, the Emperor’s situation wasn’t Kenji’s concern.

Yes, he was expressing his dissatisfaction with the Emperor this way, but he was also genuinely helping Pluvia accomplish real work.

The grain purchase was essentially redistributing surplus from wealthy regions. After purchase, all the grain entered national granaries across various locations (with Pluvia ultimately reimbursing the purchase costs). Hexi was a focus - Kenji placed almost half the purchased grain in their granaries to prevent local food shortages.

Meanwhile, removing corrupt officials was also part of Kenji’s plan. Though it included factional suppression, it was more because these bastards were truly inhuman - the type who took much but did little work. So Kenji simply removed a batch of them.

He acted unilaterally on this matter for several reasons: first, to tell Pluvia he was very angry but didn’t want to move against her directly, so he moved against her subordinates instead; second, because he dared not seek approval before acting - who knew if the news would leak in court if he asked first.

Third, to let Pluvia understand that even royalists were primarily driven by self-interest. On the surface, many royalists appeared utterly loyal, but examining their hearts would reveal few who were truly clean.

Beyond removing corrupt officials, Kenji also needed to handle the issue of redundant officials. Fortunately, Chancellor Long was equally helpful on this matter - with the Chancellor’s aid, Kenji’s efficiency increased several fold.

What’s that? You ask why Kenji handled these internal affairs instead of Chancellor Long?

Because catching corrupt officials was no easy task - these fellows held money and could run incredibly fast. Initially Kenji tried following procedures, but discovered that by the time procedures were complete, these people had nearly reached the borders.

So he simply sent troops to arrest them. Under threat of blades, let’s see them try running - take one step with your left foot and I’ll cut it off, take one with your right and I’ll cut that off too. You figure out how far you can run with whatever parts you have left.

In short, he was still a minister deeply concerned for the country and people - he just carried out his duties with a bit of temper.

Hmm, he really wasn’t deliberately trying to antagonize Your Majesty!

Finally, Pluvia couldn’t take it anymore.

It wasn’t that she was admitting defeat - to be honest, though Kenji’s actions were outrageous, how could she as Emperor care about such things? So she was doing this for...

Ah hell, this is so annoying.

The more Pluvia thought about it, the angrier and more frustrated she became. Though she knew he was deliberately causing trouble and wanted to find a way to warn him, this fellow gave her no opportunity. She couldn’t tease him in private, and it was even more impossible in court.

Kenji was a minister - it was fine for a minister to stir things up since the Emperor would cover for them.

But how could she as Emperor stir things up?

If she suddenly announced "I’m getting married!" to the ministers in court, it would instantly become major news that would shock all of Camelot, possibly even causing civil unrest.

So Pluvia could only find an opportunity to reconcile with Kenji.

In her view, there weren’t many ways to reconcile - either show weakness in her words, or find an opportunity to let him achieve merit and reward him as compensation.

Or take a third path.