Shadow King Chronicles: Building a Kingdom From Behind the Scenes

Call From the Emperor

"Excuse me Miss Maria, there's a direct call for you. It's from the emperor."

At her mansion, Maria who was working on various documents was visited by one of her servants. As soon as she heard what he said, Mary raised her head.

"Direct call? It was so bad for the old man to call that. Alright, I'll go to the palace immediately and meet him. When was the schedule set?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. You will be invited to lunch with the emperor."

Maria nodded and allowed the servant to leave. As soon as the servant left and closed the door, Maria kicked her across the table.

"Fucking grandfather, this must be all the work of nobles and officials around him!"

Maria already had an idea what they were going to talk to her about. It must be related to the war. So far since he had taken over the Petersburg family, this one noble clan had incarnated into a huge giant.

Petersburg itself was originally a dying clan. That's the easiest way to describe it. Having been one of the emperor's servants for more than 100 years, the Petersburg family was on the brink of its destruction when Mary was born.

The taxes that must be paid by the people as well as the vassals or nobles who are their subordinates are very high. It was because of their very glamorous family lifestyle.

Failing crops happens every year. Usually in the Lantos continent, harvesting will occur every two times in a year. It is not enough to meet everyone's needs.

Imagine what happens if they only harvest one time with a result that is not optimal. The result is predictable. Hunger will happen.

In addition to the suffocating taxes and hunger, the acute problem that had become the illness of the nobles also occurred to them. It is debt that accumulates. No problem with the debt itself. With a note if the other party is utilizing the debt properly.

The problem was that when the Petersburg family was in debt, they did not have a good ability to manage the money they borrowed. That led to them not having the capacity to pay for it and their assets falling into the hands of the other party.

And what matters most is their ambition to build military power. Just like debt, there is nothing wrong with doing that. In any case, to maintain the security of a region from external threats is needed.

At such a time, Mary was born. Her own presence as a woman was quite underestimated. But thanks to her intelligence and past memories, Maria managed to become a Duchess and improve the well-being of the Petersburg region.

But how he got rid of his opponent and got his family back to success is a story for another time.

Tomorrow at noon, Mary fulfills the call of the emperor. As he expected, this was not a four-eye talk. Because each of the great nobles had gathered him in the audience room. As soon as Mary sat down, their conversation began.

"Now, we will be at war with the kingdom of Heinz. It's not an easy war but I'm sure we can win this war. Don't you all agree with this?"

All the Nobles who were there cheered for the emperor's words. Except for Maria. Will the Moskov Empire win? Yeah, it might be. But Maria was convinced that even if they won, the price they would get was very expensive.

This war was fought at an inopportune time. The Heinz Kingdom had become a super-powerful kingdom. Enough to wipe out the Moskov Empire if they wanted to.

"Miss Petersburg, do you doubt the words of the great emperor? You may have your own opinion but doubting the words of the emperor messenger of our Goddesses is a sin that cannot be forgiven!"

Maria coldly looked at the noble who said that. His stance is not at all shaky.

"Sorry, your majesty, the emperor. My advice, never fight the Heinz kingdom. We're ready to do that. When the kingdom of Heinz was undergoing massive and radical reforms, we were experiencing a weakening at the same time. And also....."

"THAT'S RIGHT, MISS PETERSBURG! YOU DOUBT THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTY EMPEROR NAN THE GREAT!? IT WAS THE SAME AS DOUBTING THE REVELATION OF THE GODDESSES!!"

Disgust. Lickers like them are really disgusting.

"Calm down, Duke Sarkozy. Now Duchess Petersburg, I have some duties you must perform as proof of your allegiance to the great empire of Moskov."

Maria took a long breath. The nightmare may begin soon.