My Wife the Empress is Becoming Frightening

12. My head is pounding

Episode 12

Recently, the empress was uncomfortable with planting.

It was like that even today. After banning contact with an unknown woman, her husband rarely stayed in the imperial palace unlike before.

According to Haria, she is spending all of her surplus time on hound work because she doesn’t hold a girl.

Of course, that in itself was good for Marianne. Anyway, the smoother the hound moves, the less conflict between the imperial government and the imperial palace.

“But why aren’t you coming to see me?”

As Marianne threw her weary body onto the bed after barely finishing her day’s work, a sudden strong dissatisfaction arose in Marianne’s head.

Isaac, her legal husband, visited the imperial palace today for some reason. If he entered the imperial palace, he would automatically become known to Marianne as well.

When Marianne heard that Isaac had entered the palace, she thought that his patience had finally run out. That said, he had no intention of doing anything in particular, but it seemed like it would be okay to do so if he was talking to him.

It was because he was just about to take a break. It’s just that it really happened at the right time.

But he didn’t come looking for himself. Rather than that, I quickly finished my errands and left again.

As with entering the palace, when Isaac leaves the palace, the news is automatically delivered to Marianne.

So when she heard that Isaac had left as if he didn’t care, she even stared blankly into space for a moment, which was unusual.

“No matter how you think about it, it’s clear that you’re intentionally ignoring me.”

Marianne, who was lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling, murmured to herself. I know. It doesn’t make sense to be angry at me for ignoring me when I sent him to die.

Nonetheless, she was increasingly dominated by the messed up emotions of these days.

“If you just don’t show me, I won’t pay attention at all, but isn’t the fact that you keep making fun of it in front of my eyes just to get my attention?”

If Isaac had listened to her, he would have applauded and vehemently denied an idea he had never imagined in his life, but Marianne was even feeling confident in her hypothesis.

This was part of the environment in which she grew up.

Her grandfather, who was ruined for the crime of giving advice to a tyrant. Her parents were killed in an unsuccessful attempt to avenge their grandfather.

And for revenge, she also developed her military strength and accumulated wisdom and knowledge to protect her younger sister, her last remaining precious relative.

… … In the case of my younger sister, even if she strayed, it usually turned out to be something other than that.

In any case, Marianne knew that she had an outstanding talent, and because she was intelligent from a young age, she had the ability to concentrate so that she would not pay attention to anything other than her purpose.

In other words, she doesn’t have it. Let alone love or affection, an innocent child has a strong affinity for a certain object, even an experience that anyone would have.

so you don’t know How to get in touch with someone of the opposite s*x who cares a little.

“good. Tomorrow I will personally call and see the reaction.”

I didn’t even know what kind of reaction I was going to see. It was just that he didn’t like the fact that a man who had been crazy about women was so obsessed with himself.

Once the conclusion was reached, the mind allowed the body to rest. Thanks to this, Marianne was able to get a good night’s sleep, but the next morning she had to cancel her plans before going to bed.

“Tell me again.”

“They said that three imperial mages belonging to the imperial palace were found dead.”

“… … .”

Marianne felt her head throb.

It seems that today is an all-nighter.

—

I said, resisting the urge to grab my throbbing head.

“Don’t worry, Gilbert. There are other magicians belonging to the imperial palace besides them.”

It was said to reassure Gilbert, who was scheduled to officially retire from Hound today, but he actually shook his head in response.

“no. No matter how you look at it, it’s hard to see it as a coincidence. I want this to be my last job before retirement.”

I felt grateful to Gilbert for speaking with a resolute attitude. To be honest, I had nothing to say, even if Gilbert was a little stubborn, since he had already said he would.

Nevertheless, Gilbert has said that he will finish the job properly and retire. Actually, that was right.

Because, as Gilbert said, this could never be a coincidence. I turned to Haria who was standing behind me and said.

“What about Derrigan, Damus and Garrel?”

“I’m guarding Gilbert’s house, as the captain ordered.”

As soon as I heard the news that the Imperial mages were found murdered in the morning, I immediately sent the three with the highest fighting power in the Hound to Gilbert’s house.

Since it was an openly targeted timing, the next target would be Gilbert’s family, of course.

If anything happened to his wife and daughter, Gilbert would be Gilbert too, but it would be fatal to the morale of the whole Hound.

Fortunately, Gilbert and his family were unharmed. While sending the three, he instructed Gilbert to stay by his family, but he said he would return to headquarters and take on the mission.

“He’s an enemy to the point of killing the imperial mages. Everyone, never let your guard down.”

Given the circumstances, all the Hounds were called out except for the three who went to Gilbert’s house. Those outside the headquarters had already returned before I called.

He was also quick to gather information, as if he wasn’t called a hunting dog for nothing.

Among them, Coil and Boros, whose original role was that of them, moved one step ahead of me even before I instructed them, gathered all the relevant information, and shared it with me and the Hounds.

“There is no special grudge between the three wizards.”

“The place where I live and the radius of action are all different.”

“Also, the murdered wizards had nothing in common other than belonging to the imperial palace.”

If we were to find a commonality, it would be that they had excellent skills enough to belong to the imperial palace, but this wasn’t that important right now.

“Gilbert. Who has a grudge against you?”

“There are very few people who even know who I am, but since our job is our job, there are a lot of grudges.”

“That is normal. Among them, is there a person with enough skill to kill three imperial mages in one night?”

At my question, Gilbert thought for a moment. But after a while, he scratched his head and opened his mouth.

“sorry. There are some who are quite strong, but no one is as strong as that.”

“I have nothing to be sorry about. If you had pretended to be with such a strong person, you wouldn’t even be here.”

“It’s like that too.”

After hearing Gilbert’s answer, I asked Boros this time.

“Boros. How is the situation with the security forces and the island guards?”

“The former are quiet because they correctly judge that it is not their business to intervene. The Jedo Guards immediately asked for help from the Magic Society and seem to be investigating, but until I returned to the headquarters, there didn’t seem to be any significant gains.”

It’s not unreasonable to bend down as the security forces are usually in charge of trivial everyday crimes, but it was surprising that the Society of Magic was struggling.

“It was assumed that the wizards died last night, and they were found early in the morning. However, there is no result until now going into the afternoon?”

“yes. My informant was supposed to let me know if anything was found, but seeing as I haven’t heard from him yet… … .”

I thought that if the Jedo Guards took care of it, there might not be a big step forward, but it didn’t look like it would be solved that easily either.

Then Gina carefully raised her hand and said.

“Um, I want to come right now during the meeting, but can we move?”

At her words, all the eyes of the other hounds were also fixed on me. I was trying to find the culprit as if it was natural, but the question of whether I had the right to step forward in the first place was in my gaze.

To this, I nodded.

“of course. Oh, come to think of it, I didn’t explain. Under the premise that I manage and take responsibility, from now on the Hound has its own operational rights.”

“yes?!”

“when?!”

“for a moment. That’s the first I’ve heard of it!”

What did my subordinates think I had been doing in the captain’s office all this time?

Being a prince by birth, I hated moving with someone’s permission.

Yes, unlike combat, I was a nerd in tactics, so I accepted the opinions of my staff and moved accordingly, but following them for victory and asking for permission to move are completely different things.

So, whenever I have time, I have been collecting blackmail materials called bargaining. The materials that were neglected as if they were scattered here and there in the chief’s office were no different from a treasure trove.

Although it was earlier than originally planned because the amount of time I was holding a woman was reduced, I was able to get independent operation rights from the imperial government and my legal wife not too long ago.

“Did His Majesty and the high courts allow that alone?”

“Of course, that’s not all. Do you think I broke Diarose so loudly for no reason?”

“ah… … .”

Just as the same words can have different meanings depending on who says them, I knew that threats and negotiations would only lead to suicide if the powerless tried them.

“Why didn’t you tell me too? yes? yes? yes?”

“Because I forgot.”

While the other hounds were talking with half joy and half surprise, Haria kept stabbing me in the side to express her displeasure.

It’s nice that your attitude towards me has changed, but it’s a bit difficult when you’re trying to know everything I know now.

“Anyway, the enemy’s target is likely to be Gilbert, so this could be considered an act of hostility against the Hound. It is enough for us to move.”

After that, I ordered Gilbert and Boros as a team, Haria and Gina, and Coyle as a team to investigate.

“When a battle arises, never confront it head-on. You don’t have to ask for my permission one by one, so ask the Jedo Guard for help.”

“What about the captain?”

“I will go to the field with Selemin.”

Selmin nodded quietly as if he had expected it. She is our Hound’s only wizard.

I don’t know exactly how much skill he has, but he’ll be able to see a lot more than me who doesn’t know a thing about magic.

Although that’s not the only reason.

“Then, let’s meet again at the headquarters in three hours. As I said, crowding is prohibited.”

As the Hounds went out of the headquarters according to the instructions, Selemyn said that she needed something and that she would go to her room for a while and then went upstairs.

a few minutes later. Celemin, who came out of the room with a small bag on her back, approached me while I was waiting on the first floor.

“I am ready. Let’s go, brother-in-law.”

“… … Call me Captain.”

When we were alone, I sighed when I saw my sister-in-law changing her title as if she had waited.