Chapter 148: Live to Sienna Pt.148

“So you found out what happened?”

“Yes, we’ve confirmed that we’ve been tracked by the route we helped Your Majesty at the coming-of-age banquet.”

“It’s because of me… ….”

“That doesn’t matter. But the main point is from now on.”

At her words, Sienna lit up her eyes. Kelly said with a serious face.

“We found out that the person who was tracking us was a Bitray merchant.”

“The Bitray Merchants…”

Somehow it was a familiar name. Sienna couldn’t recall exactly why she was used to it, so she said the word “Bitray Merchant” in her mouth several times.

“Ah!”

“Yes. This is the chamber in charge of political funding for Empress Arya. Unlike the Southern Chamber of Commerce, which was connected to the Panacio family, the Bitray Merchants are directly connected to the Empress herself. At first, they seemed to grow in size because of the grain trade, but for more than a decade, it has been growing in size by receiving various tasks promoted by the country. They are now in charge of most imperial deliveries.”

Sienna felt uneasy. She wanted to know how much Arya found out about what happened during last year’s harvest. Does she know that Sienna was involved in the wheat shortage?

“But I happened to find that some of the company’s figures were similar in appearance to what Kevin had told me.”

Sienna swallowed dry saliva.

“We had to mobilize a lot of information, but we were able to confirm that about ten people in the firm had suddenly quit the company and that they had been investigating rumors regarding the birth of emperor Valore.”

Blood seemed to drain from Sienna’s fingertips.

“Empress Arya.”

Sienna grinded her teeth violently and said out Arya’s name.

It was clear that Arya had been suspicious of her and had tracked down the Green Merchants. While investigating the relationship between her and the temple, she discovered that the origin of the rumor was the temple’s orphanage. The terrible massacre of the children was definitely the work of Empress Arya.

‘She attacked the children of the temple to warn me. No, I’m sure she did it after brainstorming how to make me feel a terrible pain.’

Sienna jumped out of her seat, unable to resist the murderous urge toward Empress Arya.

“Your Majesty the Empress?”

Kelly called Sienna in a nervous voice, but her voice did not reach Sienna. Sienna strode toward the door without answering. Hain, who was about to take tea into the guest room, saw Sienna leaving the door with a look she could not decipher.

“Your Majesty, where are you going?”

Knight Commander Milton asked Sienna, but she didn’t answer his question either. Sienna’s head was full of hatred for Empress Arya. She could not hear anything.

Kelly stamped her feet in anxiety and the guards looked at her with anxious eyes. The empress looked as if she would cause an accident right away, but they could not stop her without knowing what she was up to.

Sienna walked past the corridor to the palace of Empress Arya. Milton, the head of the Phoenix Knights, glanced at other knights. They nodded, thinking she was going to Carl’s office.

Then Sienna turned around the corner. Arya and her knights were seen leaving her castle and going somewhere.

“Arya.”

Sienna called her in a blood-boiling voice. Arya stopped and looked back at Sienna, thinking she had misheard.

“Arya!”

Sienna called her name again. Empress Arya said with a look of mockery.

“If I didn’t hear it wrong, I think the Empress is crazy. I used to think she was just rude.”

“Arya!”

Sienna strode toward her.

“Be careful of what you say. Even if you’re the empress, you cannot call me by my name…”

Her words of admonition to Sienna did not go on till the end. Because Sienna rushed toward Arya, pulled her hair, and knocked it down on the floor. Arya, unable to strike back at Sienna’s sudden attack, opened her mouth with a surprised look.

Arya wasn’t the only one who was surprised. Sienna’s knights were in a flurry, unable to do this or that. No matter how experienced the knights were, they had never experienced such an absurd situation in which an empress attacked another empress.

“Your Majesty the Empress!”

“Your Majesty the Empress!”

As both knights were coming to pull Sienna away from Arya, Sienna quickly strangled Arya.

“Are you human? Are you human?”

Sienna choked her and shouted. She didn’t think what her actions would bring about now. She could only think of killing Arya and dying with her.

She should have done this before. If she had strangled Arya and killed herself afterwards, then no one else would have been harmed and she could have gotten rid of the monster.

“You should have died!”

Sienna was really like a madman. Milton, who came running late, tried to stop Sienna. However, he could not touch the queen’s body or leave another one under attack, so he just hovered around them not knowing what to do.

An angry voice was heard as the head of Arya’s knights tried to hold Sienna’s shoulder to stop her. It was the Emperor Carl.

Carl was listening to a report from a man with a dark skin and a thick neck. He was a man named Rufus Kissinger, a man who had long worked under him when Carl was in the army.

After Carl ascended to the throne, Kissinger became the chief of the imperial knights. He spent more time outside than spending inside the imperial palace these days as he was investigating the orphanage attack on Carl’s orders.

“Bitray Merchants”?

Carl frowned at the sound of a familiar name.

“Yes. It’s where a man who sounds like the criminal Kevin described, used to work.”

“Used to work? Are you saying he’s not there now?”

“He quit and then disappeared. Not only that, but ten of the company’s employees suddenly quit their jobs and disappeared.”

“It doesn’t seem like a coincidence. And the Bitray Merchants…Isn’t it a business association related to Empress Arya?”

“That’s right. The Bitray Merchants were responsible for most of the feasts hosted by the Empress, and it still supplies for the empress.”

“Are you saying that they are in contact with Empress Arya…?”

He made a troubled face. He could not think of why Arya would do this.

‘What does she gain from attacking the temple?’

If the Bitray Merchants were involved in this, it was natural to think that Arya was behind it. The problem was that he could not accuse her on the basis of his suspicion alone.

“Provide as much evidence as you can, and keep this as a secret.”

Kissinger nodded and left the Oval Office. Pavenik, who was standing next to him said, “It would be difficult to associate with the empress without any evidence. Especially when Count Ferrer takes her side…”

“But we can’t just let go of that. We have no choice but to look for evidence that even Count Ferrer cannot deny.”

Carl wanted to ease Sienna’s troubles, so he was set on catching the criminal. So he was investigating the truth by moving people he could trust behind the scenes. He was worried about Sienna, who was mentally distressed, and it hardened his face.

“If you’re so worried, why don’t you go see the Empress? I’m you’re going, I’m coming with you.”

At Pavenik’s words, Carl squinted his eyes.

“For someone else’s pleasure.”

“Whose pleasure? It’s all about the loyalty to the Emperor. What the Empress really wants is the Emperor’s comfort. Why don’t you enjoy a cup of tea in the garden? It’s been a while”

“You want me to have tea in the garden on a day like this?”

The land and grass in the garden were wet from yesterday’s rain. Moreover, the sky was filled with dark clouds, and it seemed like it was going to pour right away.

“Then why don’t you take some tea in the castle?”

Pavenik still said with a smile. Carl clicked his tongue.

“No matter how much you try, Sienna’s maid won’t give you her heart.”

From some point on, every time Carl visited Sienna’s palace, Pavenik followed. He made an excuse that he was helping Carl, but Carl didn’t need help going to his wife’s residence, it was not the meeting room for political affairs. When Carl kept his suspicious eyes, Pavenik grudgingly confessed. The fact that he was in love with Hain, Sienna’s head maid.

He thought he didn’t even know when Pavenik even saw her, let alone fall in love with her.

“What are you talking about? Miss Hain already has feelings for me.”

Carl shook his head. When he saw them talk, it was obvious how one-sided it was. Carl couldn’t tell where Pavenik got his ideas.

“So you’re not going?”

“Fine. If you want to go so badly…”

Carl rose from his seat with a look of reluctance. He didn’t like how Pavenik was looking at him with a look of know-it-all, but even if it wasn’t for him, Carl would have gone to see Sienna for any reason. Because for some reason, he felt very uneasy.

So the two were on their way to Sienna’s palace.

“Your Majesty the Emperor! Isn’t that the Empress over there, Her Majesty?”