Two-Faced Princess

“Just a moment.”

Not waiting for Uriel’s response, she approached the bearded man and asked. “What’s your name? What do you do? How did you end up robbing the streets?”

“Ugh…” The man continued to moan while clutching his stomach.

However, when Uriel scowled at him, he immediately replied politely. “My name is Dane. I used to be a farmer but I ended up losing all of my lands a couple of decades ago and had been living on the streets ever since.”

Uriel scowled at the remaining four one after another and they calmly explained themselves just like how Dane did.

“I’m Abel. Dane’s brother. When I lost my land along with him, I also lost my arm. I’m sorry.”

“My name is Elle. I was in business until a few years ago, but I went bankrupt because the taxes are too much.”

“My parents, who used to work at the palace, were beaten to death just because they said something wrong.”

They briefly explained their circumstances and waited for Apollonia’s disposition.

Apollonia decided to ask the last boy who spoke.

When all four of them collapsed for the first time, he got scared and surrendered right away.

Well, Apollonia initially assumed he was a boy because his hair was short.

But upon hearing his voice, it sounded like it belonged to a girl.

“What did your parents do in the palace? What do you mean by saying, ‘they said something wrong’?”

They were gatekeepers of the royal palace. The thing is… I understand why it happened because a higher-up heard what they had uttered so carelessly.”

“What did they say?”

“They said that His Majesty, the previous Emperor, was well suited to the throne than anyone else.”

Apollonia’s countenance hardened a little.

Not long after the Emperor’s first ascension, many people missed the previous emperor so much that a policy was changed to favor only certain nobles.

She asked Dane and her brother Abel.

“Both of you said that you had lost your lands. Elaborate.”

“A certain nobleman offered that he’d buy the land we owned for generations and we refused. One day, without our knowledge, they showed us fabricated documents from the government and told us to leave. Abel rebelled and was beaten, and one of his arms——-” Dane blurted out and lifted Abel’s sleeve but there was nothing in it.

“Which aristocrat is it?”

“Count Amon.”

Apollonia’s expression became hard to read.

Uriel remembered meeting Count Amon at the hunting competition a few years ago.

His son even participated in Paris’ match with Evangeline as the prize.

He was Duke Ripper’s distant relative.

“Well, we wouldn’t have done this if we had another choice! However, it is hard to live honestly when the taxes are too high. If we don’t bribe the officials, it’s impossible to do business in the first place.”

When the person who introduced himself as L appealed, the other four nodded.

“Isn’t that an excuse? Until a while ago, the market was full of ordinary business people.” Apollonia asked sharply.

However, she already knew from their expressions that their words were true.

“Some of the people who were doing business a while ago were just us,”

Dane confessed, sweating profusely as he pointed somewhere in the alley.

At that location, she noticed several bundles containing items that had occupied the corner of the market a while ago.

“When we see an opportunity while doing business, I mean——-”

“You mean ‘robbing’.” Apollonia finished on behalf of Dane, who couldn’t seem to find the right word.

Dane nodded.

“What about the rest of you?”

“Everyone has different circumstances but no one here will just do business honestly. Having to bribe officials to pay a little less tax is similar to robbing passers-by like what we do.”

“Since when?”

“Since about a decade ago, the situation has gradually changed. It’s hard to make ends meet, and if you’re lucky, you won’t get caught.”

Apollonia sighed.

The ragged robbers appealed with a few more words as if they sensed her mind weakening.

“We aren’t really that greedy but we have no other way to make ends meet.”

“And, we’re not the only ones! A bunch of vagrants are roaming around the capital! I can’t even compare myself to the old days!”

“It’s not just in the Capital. If you go to my hometown, the only places in the Empire that have peace and order were under the leadership of Archduke Ephinhardt, and some of the southern regions, including Li Shan. This is because the influence of the Empire’s top female merchant,Lady Idena, is too strong. She does so much of philanthropy——”

Apollonia’s face gradually darkened as she listened to each word.