Chapter 45 - Side Story: The Chaos from Curse
[ Three days after the royal family party failed. ]
Rumors about Lily's curse on the five great noble families had spread. Of the four great noble families, only one happily accepted Lily's curse.
In an important meeting attended by the King and Queen of the Aurora Kingdom, Earl Timoti appeared calm as the four heads of the noble families delivered their strong protests to Marquess Rommel.
"This cannot be allowed to continue, my King! Marquess Rommel has crossed the line by placing a curse on our bloodline!" shouted one of the family heads with a dark face after Lily's curse was activated.
"That's right! Marquess Rommel unilaterally cast a curse on us without our knowledge because of the fault of our grandchildren or children!"
"My company suffered a great loss because Marquess Rommel's curse prohibited us from keeping wealth exceeding ten percent of our family's net income! This is too much, my King!" by showing off the gold rings and bracelets adorned on their arms, the noble family engaged in trade cried with fake tears to gain sympathy from the King and Queen of the Aurora Kingdom.
"Hey! That's better than the curse that was planted on my family! Just imagine me having to act like a worm in heat when looking at a girl who caught my interest to make her a concubine!" exclaimed one of the nobles who already had many female concubines to satisfy his uncontrollable sexual desires.
"Damn it! Your curse is much better than the curse given to my family and farmland! Imagine if the fertile land requires five times more watering than usual! The farmers on our land are already exhausted from maintaining the fertility of the land so that the harvest does not fail in the next season! This is the curse that makes me the most uncomfortable as a noble who focuses on farming!" complained the head of the noble family who was farming and was facing Lily's curse that made the fertile land have a high level of difficulty in cultivating crops.
"Fufufu… Hahaha!! Weak! Very weak all of you!"
As the three heads of the noble families were showing off the curse of the Marquess Rommel family to their bloodline, there was one of the prominent noble families who was known as the key to the royal family's walking safe.
"Haven't you ever thought of feeling sorry for me because I can no longer report the kingdom's financial condition briefly because the curse I got made me have to be honest and frank about this situation!"
"It's all my own son's fault that triggered this terrible curse and caused my time was wasted in a place like this! I don't have the free time to enjoy the gold coins from last month's tax smuggling!"
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"Ah! Damn it! Thanks to this curse, I can't hide my true intentions!"
"Damn you, Marquess Rommel! I'll make sure you get the punishment you deserve for making me honest like this! Fuck You!"
Of all the heads of the noble families who attended the emergency meeting discussing the curse of the Marquess Rommel family, they got a confession from the nobleman who managed the finances of the noble family along with the management of the Aurora Kingdom's treasury.
The King and Queen of the Aurora Kingdom who heard this felt grateful because they realized the rottenness of one of the nobles who held an important position in the kingdom that made Princess Anastasia move behind the scenes to investigate this matter.
"Enough! I have heard all about your complaints about the curse given by Marquess Rommel," the King of the Aurora Kingdom wanted to stop such useless complaints.
His sharp and wise gaze had found a gap to take advantage of the curse that had been given by the Marquess Rommel family to the five heads of the noble families who had influence in the Aurora Kingdom.
"For the problem of agricultural land that has a level of difficulty in maintaining fertility and harvest levels, the noble families can help you by adding the number of workers to reduce the unemployment rate that has been recorded by our civil minister. Do you have any objections to this decision?" The King stroked his beard which grew thickly under his chin. Although he still looked very young, around forty years old, he had acted like an adult who had grown old to give advice.
"But my King, our territory is too small to accommodate any more workers. All of our lands are used to open new farmland with a newly developed crop rotation system with a high level of stable harvest while maintaining soil fertility," replied the head of the noble family who focused on developing the cropland.
"Can't you close off the land to become a new village? By reducing the land you cultivate, you can save additional manpower to take care of the workload after getting the curse spell that befell your land and bloodline," with a smile filled with teeth ready to pounce on its prey, the King emphasized with his magical energy aura that pressed down on the head of the noble family.
"I-I understand, I am ready to accept the King's order to reduce the opening of new land for farming and build a new village to support the harvest production on the land that has been cursed by Marquess Rommel," unable to refuse the King's words, the head of the noble family could only accept the unilateral decision.
"For the next matter, I do not care about love affairs or passion to add other concubines while I only accept one wife who serves as Queen in my kingdom. Your lust and disgusting behavior in front of women have become your problem. My advice, you better cut off your genitals that have repeatedly stolen fiancées from other noble families," said the King to the head of the noble family who had a hobby of adding female concubines or stealing fiancées from other noble families.
"Just think of it as your bad karma for ruining the happy party of other nobles' engagements. Seeing you become a disgusting worm wriggling on the ground will be a fun and embarrassing spectacle throughout the history of this kingdom," continued the King with a wry smile without caring about the moral curse correction like that.
"Kuurk!!" the roar of annoyance sounded like a noble who had just been banished by his own King because of his immoral behavior that always brought trouble by stealing fiancées from other noble families.
"Next… the problem of noble families who became merchants. I will turn a blind eye to this after seeing that you have evaded taxes for three generations of the family. The punishment in the form of a curse chant that gives almost all of your wealth will be the most memorable thing in the history of this kingdom. Thank you for donating your abundant wealth to the social prosperity that is directly managed by the Saintess of the Aurora Shrine. I am also very sure that Marquess Rommel will pay his taxes cleanly using your wealth so that for the time being we will not experience inflation," said the King to the head of the noble family engaged in the trading business.
"B-But my King, how are we going to survive on a net worth of 10% of our family's total income? Even my retired Grandfather was adamant about donating to the Aurora Shrine and voluntarily giving our wealth to the Marquess Rommel family!" refuted the head of the merchant noble family.
"I don't know, just take care of it yourself. You merchants can survive on wealth that exceeds a kingdom, right? 10% of your net income alone is like three years of taxes generated by this kingdom. That's a lot of money to make you a frugal family!"
Kraaakk...
"Arrrhk!!" after hearing the King's answer, the head of the noble family fainted with his mouth open and filled with foam.
"Oh! By the way, you have been dismissed as the charge of finances and management of the royal family's treasury," said the King without wasting much time staring at the noble who could no longer lie.
"Eh? Why did that happen? I only corrupted the annual budget by illegally selling old bottles of liquor. Even occasionally selling royal property to gamble is not as bad as the corruption of the royal budget three years ago!" shouted the noble standing in front of the King without any respect.
Baammm...
"Shut up!" by throwing out his thick magical energy, the King made the head of the noble family who could not lie talk about a fact of budget corruption that had occurred for several years using his position as the holder of the royal family's financial records to access the royal treasury to gamble.
Baammm...
"Now... if you have finished protesting to the Marquess Rommel family. Please go and reflect on your mistakes that deserve a curse for your rotten bloodline!" with a scream that came out of the King's mouth, the two frightened heads of the noble families immediately ran out while dragging two head of the family who had fainted after being hit by the King's magical energy aura.
Katakata...
When the room was only left with the King and Queen of the Aurora Kingdom, their gazes were fixed on the head of the Earl Timoti family who was sitting silently enjoying the small dishes that were served.
"Earl Timoti, do you want to express your complaints about the curse of the Marquess Rommel family too?" asked the King in a cold tone with a sharp gaze.
"No, my King. I want to tell you about my gratitude for this curse that made my family on good terms as the sword of the Marquess Rommel family and the shield of the Marquess Rommel family," replied Earl Timoti with a happy smile.
"Are you trying to show off to me for siding with Marquess Rommel's family after surviving all this chaos with minimal losses?"
"It's not like that, my King. I stayed in this room to convey something from Marquess Rommel about his little vacation to our neighboring Kingdom who knows where after he mobilized his Black Maid troops to cover all his tracks."
The King's body shook violently after hearing that.
"Damn! I have a bad feeling about this," the King grumbled while scratching his beard.
"I don't know how long Marquess Rommel will be on vacation. He entrusted his territory to me as one of his noble proxies."
"I knew it, damn you, Marquess Rommel!" the King shouted.
"If I weren't the King, I would go on vacation too!" the King continued his shout full of emotion and annoyance towards Marquess Rommel who went on vacation.