Chapter 167 "I really was just with those women..."
“She’s my stepmother’s wet nurse. My stepmother didn’t help Manboya during the last palace coup, so the wet nurse came to apologize on her behalf,” Yani sneered. “You know, they’re all hypocrites in high society.”
“Your stepmother is a very interesting person,” I laughed. “She won’t help someone, but she’ll feel guilty afterward.”
Princess Yanni still smiled: "She expressed remorse afterward, and even if others think she's hypocritical, it's not good to offend her openly. Besides, she even sent her foster mother to apologize, bringing ten chests of jewelry and ten chests of silk."
With that, she gracefully stood up. "I'm leaving. The ball is about to begin. Do you see this nightgown?"
A bathrobe ball?!
“That’s right, your husband will be there too,” she smiled, winking. “You’re coming too?”
"No."
But actually, I still came secretly. I hid in the shadows, in the darkest of places, watching Manberia at the ball with several flirtatious women, including his mistress, drinking, kissing, and laughing so hard they were doubled over.
Everyone was wearing bathrobes, some conservative, some revealing, and some men only had half-robes tied around their hips, loosely hanging down as if they were about to fall off.
Princess Yanni, dressed in her bright red nightgown, flitted among several muscular men like a seductive butterfly, occasionally feeding them wine mouth-to-mouth, laughing wildly.
The elderly lady was flanked by two muscular men, kissing one and pinching the other from time to time.
The aromas of wine, food, laughter, screams, and decadent music made it hard to believe that this was the North, which had recently experienced a court intrigue.
Yesterday was turmoil, today it's a place of extravagance, debauchery, and decadence.
In the darkest corner, short-haired Letea appeared silently behind me. I didn't turn around. "You came in secretly with Princess Yani, didn't you?"
He had no better way to enter the Northern Palace than to follow her.
“Yes,” he said calmly, “when will you keep your promise?”
He was referring to the matter of "squeezing out" King Midian.
"If you just wanted to ask about this, you could have just written to me. Why risk coming in here?"
Entering the palace without an invitation is considered trespassing, and even if one is a prince, they will be killed without exception.
"I wrote two letters, but I didn't get a reply."
I was taken aback; it must have been Manberia who intercepted it.
“Besides my letter, Prince Mamboa also intercepted some of Prince Bernot’s letters,” he said, “the kind he found ambiguous.”
How did you know?
"Since you haven't responded, I have to investigate."
I paused for a moment, then said, "I'll have my bodyguard contact you later. You can give him the letters directly from now on."
I left immediately after saying that. I couldn't stay there talking to him for too long; it would be easy to be discovered.
My current bodyguards were recruited by me in the Western Territory, and they belong entirely to me personally; their loyalty is absolutely guaranteed.
I returned to my room a while later that evening, and Mamboy came in. He nestled beside my bed, looking at me already lying on the pillow, and asked, "I heard you came to the pajama party tonight too?"
"You're quite well-informed. I thought I was being very careful."
Manberia smiled gently: "It seems you weren't careful enough. My guards saw you."
"What did he see me doing?"
"He saw you hiding in a dark corner, spying on me."
"What else?" My heart skipped a beat. Could I have seen Letea too?
"I also saw two or three men with you. They looked at you curiously and stayed for a while before leaving."
There were two men with Letea at the time, but I didn't pay attention; we were speaking in very low voices. Looking back now, I think Letea must have brought them along to provide cover.
“You should send a supervisor to keep an eye on me at all times,” I said.
“I wouldn’t dare,” Manberia said, feeling wronged. “You’re so fierce, how could I dare to send a supervisor? I just sometimes worry about your safety and keep an eye on you.”
Look at how they've made surveillance sound so sophisticated.
“Don’t be angry about everything you saw tonight,” Mamboya said to me slowly and softly. “I really was just playing along with those women.”
"But you really did sleep with them and enter their bodies, right?"
"It's all just an act."
"I don't care if you're faking it or not. I knew you would never be a faithful husband even before we signed the marriage certificate." I impatiently pulled down the bed curtains and pushed him aside. "I'm going to sleep. You can leave."
"Don't be angry," he said gently. "Even if you marry Bernard, it would be difficult for him to be with only one woman."
I covered my head with the blanket, but his voice still drifted over slowly, "Sometimes sleeping with women is still a political task for us."
I believe that. Those in power often associate with the descendants of different nobles to forge alliances, using romantic relationships and illegitimate children to build closer ties. If the women of power are love-struck, that's even better, as love is the lowest-cost way to win them over.
I'm not much different from his other women; we signed a marriage contract for profit.
Two days later, I met with Letea in secret in Mamboa's study. The most dangerous place is the safest place; this was the time he would go to comfort Matian during her manic episodes every few days. After clearing the area and keeping watch for a while, Letea disguised herself as a maid and entered.
Letea was not tall; after taking off her shoes and entering barefoot, she was about the same height as the tallest maid beside me.
“A direct assault won’t work. King Midian’s rule is secure, and the Western Frontier army is quite powerful,” I said calmly. “We can only outsmart them.”
"How do we outsmart them?" he asked coldly.
I didn't answer, but instead asked, "After ousting Queen Midian, who will inherit the throne? Does he have a son?"
"He had two sons, one of whom died of a strange illness, and the other went mad. If he died, the son of the mad son would inherit the throne at the age of seven."
That might lead to a situation similar to that in the North—powerful ministers in control, and a weak monarch.
But the Westerlands are different from the Northerlands. The sons of the previous kings of the Westerlands are still alive, such as Letea and Hya, making the political situation much more complex.
“King Midian also has a queen,” Letea said. “She has been separated from King Midian for the past few years and lives in her father’s royal city.”
"Why would a crazy son have a son?" I asked. "Would anyone be willing to marry a crazy son and have children with him?"
Letea looked at me with a mocking gaze. "Even if he's crazy, he's still a prince. There will still be people willing to marry him. As for having children, just find a few people to help force the two of them together, or force them to have children."
I was horrified. "Using such horrific methods?"
"If you want to have offspring, this is how it has to be. King Midan rarely has sons, and the older he gets, the more resistant he becomes to women. His two previous sons were born shortly after his marriage, and he hasn't had any more since. Queen Diya was finally pregnant, but he had her killed, fearing she would use the child in her womb to seize the throne," Letea said coldly.
After the brief conversation, I returned to my study, clutching a stack of parliamentary minutes from this morning, and a letter from Bernard that I had managed to retrieve from a corner of the bookshelf, as instructed by Letea, which hadn't yet been destroyed. This gave me a good cover for coming to Mambeer's study—I had heard something and came specifically to search for the letter Bernard had sent to me but hadn't given me.
During dinner, Manberia joked with me, but his words implied a sense of helplessness. He worried that some letters, if handed to me, might affect our relationship, and he didn't want us to grow increasingly distant.
I focused on eating, occasionally making a few "hmm" sounds, which was similar to my usual reaction.
After dinner, Manberia followed me back to my room, still muttering to himself. I looked impatient and said, "You're not allowed to keep my letters from me anymore. I'll let it go this time."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, as long as you're not angry anymore."
I breathed a sigh of relief; the meeting in the study had been covered up.
I wasn't entirely helping Letea; I was also helping myself. Perhaps, by "squeezing out" King Midian, I could sneak into that secret room and find the book that supposedly could help me go back.
I secretly wrote to Beatrice, asking if she could find out anything about King Midian's queen and the mother of King Midian's mad son.
After writing it, I handed the letter to the guard, who would have his own way of sending it out secretly.
Two weeks later, I received a reply from Beatrice:
"King Midian's queen now lives in her father's capital. She has no say in the Western Palace. Her father was once King Midian's prime minister, but was later forced to resign. Her father originally had five sons, four illegitimate children and two daughters, but within five years of his resignation, they were either dead or paralyzed, leaving her as the only one still alive."
"The biological mother of King Midian's mad son was once a lady-in-waiting to the queen and the daughter of a high-ranking official, though her family was not very prominent. After giving birth to her son, she gave him to the queen as an adopted son. A formal adoption ceremony was held, so he can be considered the queen's son and has the right to inherit the throne. However, he is mentally unstable and does not believe he can successfully succeed to the throne."
"The madman's biological mother always stayed by his side, taking care of his grandson. She was usually very low-key and had almost no presence."
After reading the letter, I contacted Lesja again and asked about the two people. Lesja's answer was similar to Beatrice's, which confirmed that the information was true. The reason I didn't ask Lesja directly was because I was afraid he was lying to me or hiding something. Now I seem to distrust everyone and always have a skeptical attitude.
Letea knew a little more than Beatrice: "It is said that the deaths of King Midian's queen's brothers and sisters were related to King Midian, but there has never been any evidence."
"Can you find any evidence?" I asked tentatively.
“I can find it, I have plenty of resources in the Western Region. But gathering information, finding people to pull strings, and finding evidence,” he said coldly, “requires a lot of money. Do you have it? Big news and huge sums of money are needed to get what you want.”
"I'll give you a box of jewels first," I said. The Elf King had given me several boxes of jewels before. I'll take one out first to see if the information or evidence he gives me is reliable. If it's not, I won't give him any more, so as not to waste my money.
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