Date- 4 April 2321
Time- 8:12
Location- Southern Region, Southern Capital, Royal Palace
'I thought after advancing to the demigod realm I will be able to avoid the Royal duties and politics but some wannabe secret organization almost succeeds to assassinate me, now the ungrateful husband and children of mine treat me as the weakest of the link of the family, and am stuck being the only Royal presence managing the Southern region. For god sake, I defended the Way Beyond for more than a century and took the lead in monster war… sigh,' Colleen complained in her mind as she sat on the throne and listened to her loyal ministers bicker about the state affairs and the appropriate use of this year's state budget as a considerable chunk of it was being planned to be used for building Luna's private army.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtBeing stuck with managing the state's politics, Colleen was already annoyed and the bickering of the ministers was only adding to her annoyance. She wanted to yell at them but they put forward reasonable points, the southern region did not need another private force so wasting a sizable chunk of this year's state budget on it made no sense. However, the ministers did not know that the royal family never planned to build Luna's private army for the southern region but for the Royal family and their agenda.
"Silence," Colleen yelled, causing her sound to vibrate throughout the palace hall and turning the babbling ministers quiet.
Then Colleen's majestic gaze scanned throughout the palace hall and every minister in it, seeing she had everyone's attention she declared, "half of the cost for building Luna's army will come from the state's budget, and the other half will come from the royal treasury."
Hearing Colleen declare her order the ministers could only nod their heads even if they did not agree to Colleen's orders as they had no choice but to follow them.
It may seem like Colleen was inappropriately using the state's budget but there was more to it than that. Luna's private army's current purpose was to fulfill the Royal Family's agenda but once that was done her army would be deployed alongside Southern Watch to guard the southern region. The Royal treasury may seem like the Ruler's personal property but it was mostly used for emergencies as a last resort such as monster disaster relief funds for the people.
"Next," Colleen said, asking the minister to speak up about the next agenda at today's royal meeting.
As soon as Colleen said this the ministers whispered in low voices but no one stood up to address the next agenda on the list. Until one brave old minister finally stood and spoke up, "Your Highness, the next agenda is about the princess's large-scale spending…"
Before the old man could finish, Colleen suddenly interrupted him by declaring, "My daughter has her reasons and I assure you her actions will help develop the south. Next."
The old man shook his head hearing Colleen, it was not that he did not trust the Royal family he would lay his life for them but the amount of capital being directed on the Princess's project was an enormous amount and was starting to seem a never-ending expense.
"The next agenda is about the dungeon relocation experiment being conducted by her highness Luna at the blossom district. She has borrowed a huge amount of top-grade soul jades from our banks for this experiment, we think that the morningstar university is responsible for any expense regarding her highness's experiment," the Old minister almost fell to his chair seeing the amount of top-grade soul jades borrowed by Luna for her dungeon relocation experiment, with that amount of soul jades they could buy two SSS-rank gate dungeons.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Yes, the morningstar university is responsible for the Soul Jades borrowed by Luna. I have already spoken to them about it and it is not of concern. Next," Colleen lied, yes she did speak to the morning star university but it was about renting the dungeon relocation apparatus. It was the royal family that owed morningstar university money, not the other way around. Colleen had to put up this pretense because she did not want people to figure out that what was going on in the blossom district was not an experiment but something that would determine the future of the southern region and its people.
*Sigh* The Old minister sighed in relief hearing Colleen. And began to speak about the next agenda, "Your Majesty, the next agenda is about the silver milk powder scam and the southern emperor's involvement in it."
"Why do I feel like a few questions ago this meeting took a turn from discussing state affairs to scrutinizing the actions and expenditure of the Royal family," Colleen thundered at ministers in the hall and then glancing at the old minister she said, "Richard, out of consideration for your merits, I will let you undermining the royal family's authority slide this time. If there is a second time your merits will not be able to save you."
"This humble one apologies for his audacity and thanks your highness for your generosity," The old minister named Richard bowed to Colleen as an apology and chose to move to the next agenda.
Colleen's reaction was a clear answer to the Southern Emperor's involvement in the silver milk powder scam. Colleen would not have reacted so intensely if there wasn't any truth to this matter. Not to mention Richard did not take Colleen's warning to heart, because he knew what she meant by harsh words, 'You have known that girl long enough to know whether she was involved in that scam. Sigh, I don't want to talk about it.'
Thinking of this Richard could only sigh helplessly, just when he thought Anna was showing signs of growth when she asked him for the documents on southern watch military development proposals and other state affairs, but her involvement in this scam proved that she had reverted back to her old self.
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