The Villainess Lives Twice

Chapter 274

Proofreader: somnium

There was one Ferguson and seven undercover agents.

This did not mean that Ferguson’s power was arithmetically seven times stronger. However, at least it was true that the Emperor tried to contain the power of the secret investigator by dividing it into smaller pieces.A

The investigation organization was kept in check by the bureaucrats and was directly controlled by the Emperor.

On the other hand, the secret organization cannot do that, so it is limited by containing it.

Now it has worked in reverse.

Ferguson’s organization remained intact even when the Emperor was unable to control it.

Control was transferred to the Crown Prince. Just the fact that the young and healthy Crown Prince acknowledged their existence strengthened the organization’s authority.

Rather, it can be seen that the secret organization has swelled as much as it has shrunk.

That is the power of legitimate power.

On the other hand, the secret organization had only to carefully gather people at the bottom of the water.

Cobb hid the members of the organization as much as possible and fragmented and dispersed the network of informants.

The informant is entangled like a spider’s web. It was not known who was under whose authority.

It was lucky if Cobb didn’t run away with the information to gain his own merit.

Then there were only a few people who could be trusted.

3 and 7 also succeeded in sinking to the bottom of the water with only the key members of the organization remaining. It was thanks to believing what Cobb had warned in advance.

The groups of 5 and 6, who had been warned by Cobb but did not believe it, were captured at once without being able to erase their traces.

‘Marquis Rosan……!’

Cobb gnawed his teeth and burned his hatred.

This was not something Ferguson could do.

Even if he knew the secret investigators’ name, it was impossible to look into the whole organization.

If the name of those connecting to the core had not been known in advance from the beginning, it would not have been possible to spread the net like this and catch them all at once.

If being told that the Emperor’s sister, the strategist, remembered even the names of such trivial people, many people would not believe it.

However, Marquis Rosan had a good memory from the beginning.

She remembered a spilled story until years later. So were the names in the story.

Cobb had seen her even remember the name of the imperial laundry servant.

Knowing that, after his memory returned, Cobb tried to renew the members of the organization in his own way.

However, it is impossible to find a reliable person and change people in a short period of time.

Hesitating because there was also the issue of whether to reduce the scope of the activity was ultimately the result of today’s decision.

Still, that didn’t mean Cobb was defeated.

The sub-organization was nothing more than a source of information. The real power of the secret organization lies in the refined information possessed by the secret agents.

There were never a few people who did not like Cedric’s rank.

But no one came forward and objected.

After one failed accusation by the stupid Count Eison, no one could challenge Cedric’s legitimacy.

When they find fault, there are no moral flaws in his life. An attempt to sow distrust by attacking the Grand Duchy Evron was completely thwarted when Artizea revealed that she was a Saintess.

That doesn’t mean that there was no leader who had the charisma and ambition to create a new power.

If there is no candidate for the Emperor to be raised, and there is no proper cause, in the end, it is just treason. Those who had ever been careful about themselves were well aware of this.

So, they had no choice but to keep on sacrificing themselves.

In any case, it seemed clear that Cedric was trying to be moderate.

There was no guarantee that it would last throughout his reign. Still, it was clear, at least, that he would not carry out the immediate purge for his own sake.

Cobb threw a new threat there.

“Grand Duke Evron will not do a purge in order to strengthen his imperial power. Yes, I admit it.”

Cobb didn’t talk about Artizea.

The opponent was recognized as a Saintess. Even if her devotion and piety were not to be found at all, it was better not to touch God.

Some may have noticed Artizea’s divine power, but only those who knew her past, the Marquis Rosan, knew all about her crafty conspiracies.

Instead, he touched on a story that would make the opponent anxious.

“Even though the first thing he did as soon as he started as Prince Regent was to get his hands on His Majesty’s investigation organization.”

“Even though the Crown Prince is highly knowledgeable and he is not a fool, he just did what he should have done.”

“He’s not stupid, so even if he doesn’t intentionally create a trap, there’s no reason he shouldn’t use the cause he has.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Nonsense. The secret investigation organization originally belonged to His Majesty the Emperor. If Grand Duke Evron ascends the ranks like this, the secret agents, including myself, will of course swear allegiance to him and hand over all the organization and materials.”

Cobb also said,

“It would be law enforcement or justice, not a purge when Grand Duke executes.”

It was an objective warning, but it was clearly a threat.

The secret investigators had many things in their hands.

Corruption followed power like a shadow. The murders committed to inherit the family and maintain wealth were forgiven in the name of the victor.

Pleasure related crimes committed by influential people were never punished unless public opinion worsened.

Such information was politically functional when it was in the hands of Emperor Gregor.

Making it into politics could compromise themselves. The servants were willing to offer their allegiance, and the Emperor maintained the master-servant contract by rewarding them with more than just a blind eye.

But it wasn’t with Cedric. He was not a factionalist. He seldomly judged things with political logic.

He wasn’t the kind of person who would turn a blind eye to sins just because they expressed support for him.

Those who did not support Cedric until then had no apparent opposition.

If they had, they would have attacked him as best as they could before he became the Emperor’s adopted son.

But Cobb’s threats made them tense.

If the event doesn’t happen, the secret investigator’s data will eventually fall into Cedric’s hands.

And it will become a justification to choke their necks.

Refuse, or follow the rule.

The latter option seemed unrealistic. The Emperor was ill, and the strong Crown Prince was under the Emperor’s order to be the Prince Regent.

That’s why a lot of people said this,

“His Majesty’s order was to entrust the government to the Crown Prince. He’s not asking to brand the Crown Prince as a traitor.”

That didn’t mean they were loyal to Cedric.

Then, the Grand Duke should have pointed Cobb out first and, in anger, arrested or at the very least expelled him.

In a nutshell, they pulled out in case the ploy was unsuccessful.

It also meant telling Cobb to come up with a more plausible, safer strategy.

Cobb thought it disgusting. They have neither loyalty nor will.

‘Pigs interested only in the food in front of them.’

But these people were good to use. That is why the Emperor made these people his subjects.

Cobb had no intention of consolidating interest in one place anyway, or causing a revolt.

He was going to hide even who his sympathizers were.

Then, they will get together and fight for power in the future.

There was no need to get caught up in Ferguson’s intelligence network by making openly noticeable moves.

Above all, Cobb himself had to limit information usage in order to maintain his initiative. Because all he has is information.

They just have to move in order according to the information he gave them.

‘The fact that Marquis Rosan claimed to be a Saintess was a good thing in hindsight. The real Saintess can’t stand up now.’

Lysia’s status is nothing but the daughter of Baron Morten. If she wasn’t a Saintess, she couldn’t become the Empress.

If Lawrence wanted her, it was enough to hide her deep in the Imperial Palace as a mistress.

After all, Lawrence didn’t like Lysia going out, and he didn’t like her meeting or caring about other people.

Once Cedric was eliminated, raising Lawrence to the throne was not difficult.

No matter how skilled Marquis Rosan was, she was weak and had almost no power.

Although she could stick by those in power, she was not a being who could become a person in power herself. She wasn’t as famous as she was before, back when she was already the head of public service.

How difficult would it be to imprison one weak fake Saintess?

‘If there’s only one Princess Leticia left, then it’s a piece of cake.’

Cobb hasn’t told anyone about Lawrence yet.

If he put out Lawrence now, he feared that the foolish ones would turn away. Rather than a powerful Emperor, they would rather have a young and behaving baby.

But now, he had no doubt that this time Lawrence would become the real cruel and perfect Emperor.

Not Marquis Rosan, but he would make it so himself.

＊＊＊

This information was also heard in Cedric’s ears through Ferguson.

“General Kylä.”

“Yes, I saw Dinsky Cobb make contact with General Kylä and immediately slammed him in.”

Ferguson said with almost excitement.

General Kylä of the port garrison was the one who joined the guard at the time of the fire.

He didn’t get along well with Cedric from the start.

He liked the traditional bribe. His subordinate officers were promoted according to the amount of bribes, and he was good at stealing and selling his army.

The reason he didn’t join the faction of Grand Duke Roygar even though he had a good temperament was because his family didn’t look like much, and that didn’t mean he succeeded in accumulating wealth after becoming a career man.

If Cedric came to power, he was the kind of person to be nervous first.

When the fire broke out in the port, Cedric had already guessed he had intervened.

It was the same with Ferguson, who started the investigation under the Emperor’s orders.

So he was watching him and as soon as he made contact with Cobb, he rushed in.

“Of course, I did it in secret.”

Ferguson added quickly.

This was his first feat after he decided to serve Cedric.

The capture of some of the secret organizations was the process of eliminating the political power of the investigation organization itself. Ferguson’s organization was also part of it, so it was more of an internal cleanup.

But this time, he caught the tail of treason.

It was only after he received testimony from General Kylä that Cobb had set the pier on fire with the intention of starving the North.

“I wasn’t worried about that.”

But Cedric answered quietly.