Chapter 75

Underneath the sacrificial altar, a secret tunnel stretched deep into the earth. If Captain Yang hadn't led the way, no one would have guessed that beneath this sacred site lay such a foul and hidden passage. The tunnel wasn't narrow either; it was just wide enough for a single carriage to pass through, clearly built with purpose.

Elara stood on a raised rock inside the tunnel. By the flickering torchlight mounted on the cave walls, she gazed at the endless line of tax carriages blocking the path ahead. Just a few days ago, Lord Gregory told her that due to famine and chaos, Plumera's annual tax revenue was only about twenty carts of grain and silver.

But now, inside this cavern, there were nearly two hundred carts full of money and supplies. Those twenty carts shown publicly were just for appearances. Elara almost laughed in disbelief when she saw how the tunnel was crammed with tax-laden carriages.

The imperial power of Plumera had been in decline for years. No one knew how much wealth Lord Gregory and others had stolen from the national treasury during this time. She, a legitimate member of the royal family, had to rely on herself to earn even a few hundred silver coins and run a shop in secret.

Meanwhile, those parasites like Lord Gregory didn't even have to leave their homes to get more tax money than the imperial family could receive in a year. Especially yesterday, the twenty-plus carts sent to the capital were taken by them again under the excuse of disaster relief. They really wanted everything, leaving nothing for the royal family.

As Elara stared at the seemingly endless line of carriages, Tres came over with a report. "All counted, Your Highness. A total of one hundred forty-nine carts of silver and one hundred twenty-seven carts of grain."

Elara turned her head toward Captain Yang with a cold smile. "Captain Yang, tell me, does this amount seem right to you? Also, the twenty carts you publicly sent to the capital, are they all here or stored elsewhere?"

Captain Yang was shackled hand and foot. His body, once wrapped in bandages, was now covered in torn flesh and blood. Earlier, during their last conversation, he tried to play tricks.

Elara didn't want to waste time with a half-useless man, so she ordered Uno to discipline him using their secret methods. After that, Captain Yang was nearly dead, barely able to speak or move, except to answer her questions.

"Appropriate... all... here..." he coughed. "Where were you planning to send these supplies next? And who's taking over from you?"

"South... behind the palace... the back road... taking over... is Yanqi..." he said weakly between coughs.

Elara pulled a map from her pocket. "Give it to Captain Yang and have him mark the exact location of that back road behind the southern palace."

Captain Yang shakily marked the spot on the map using his own blood. After he finished, Elara gave her next orders. "Unload all the silver and grain from these carriages as fast as possible. Replace them with stones and weeds of similar weight, then cover the top layer with some real money and grain to hide it."

She turned to the other "Captain Yang," who stood uninjured. "Emory, once the switch is complete, take these fake carriages to the meeting point at the back road near the southern palace. Hand them off to Yanqi. After he checks and accepts the goods, leave immediately and go report to Lord Gregory as if nothing happened. Make sure not to raise suspicion."

Emory nodded. Elara then looked to Uno. "Take this map to Francis. Have him lead the Qi Army to the meeting point ahead of time. After Emory completes the handover, there will be an attack by vagrants. Francis must step in at the right moment, suppress the attackers, and then use the excuse that the amount of silver and grain greatly exceeds what was declared on paper to accuse Yanqi of treason and embezzlement. Seize all the carriages and arrest a few of Yanqi's men. Don't let them send any messages to Lord Gregory."

"Yes."

"And tell Francis to be careful not to hurt any of the vagrants by mistake. But if anyone tries to steal for real, kill them without hesitation."

"Understood."

After giving the orders, Elara watched her people move into action and reviewed her plan in her mind. Lord Gregory and his group took advantage of the sacred ritual to smuggle out tax revenue. The timing had to be tight.

Captain Yang had been doing this for years. Once Emory, disguised as Captain Yang, arrived with the carts, Yanqi would try to speed things up to avoid suspicion. He might check only the first few carts. If they looked fine, he would quickly move the rest.

Then the vagrants would attack, and Francis would intercept the carriages. This stolen tax revenue would fall into Francis's hands and be publicly exposed by him.

By that time, unless Lord Gregory wanted to risk everything and go to war with the Plumera royal family and the returning Qi Army, he would have no choice but to sacrifice Yanqi's group. He would cut ties with them and, even if it pained him, agree to let the carts be returned to the national treasury.

Once these carts entered the national treasury, Elara would mix them with other grain and silver. She would delay distributing them to anyone. No one would notice that the contents had been swapped.

Elara was confident that Lord Gregory wouldn't act rashly even if he found out the truth. Not only because the Qi Army was back or because he feared the one in the north. But also because, despite his greed, he wasn't a fool who would risk everything for one batch of goods.

Lord Gregory had been scheming for years with his eyes set on the throne. He wouldn't risk ruining it all before his plan was ready. Acting now without preparation would be a loss for him.

Elara knew this and used it to her advantage. Once the swapped carriages entered the treasury, she would quietly retrieve them later in preparation for her departure from the capital.

Yes, departure. After hitting Lord Gregory with this loss, she had no plans to stay in the capital and wait for retaliation. Even though she now had the White Trading Firm, it was still new and no match for Lord Gregory's deep-rooted power built over decades.

Elara was already fed up with the way she had to tiptoe around Plumera Capital, being watched and monitored at every turn.

Now that she had taken a huge portion of the treasury's tax revenue, of course she would take this chance to escape quickly with the funds. It would be best to leave Plumera Capital far behind before Lord Gregory could react, find a safe place to settle, and finally develop her own forces without restriction.

Once she was away from the capital and out of Lord Gregory's surveillance, she wouldn't need to hide anything she did.

With the startup money in hand, she could find a location with good terrain and use it as her foundation. From there, building up real power would be simple.

Still, Elara wouldn't let go of everything in Plumera Capital.

Damon would stay at the Bai Trading Post to continue sheltering refugees, secretly train soldiers, forge weapons, and expand trade routes.

She also planned to keep Mathias in the capital. He had been following her as a reserve secretary, and it was time to make that official.

In her absence, he would be in charge of all affairs in Plumera Capital, including managing Bai Trading Post's business operations. He would stabilize the chaos inside the Princess Manor and stop any suspicious movements.

He'd also stay in contact with Captain Yang, played by Emory, to monitor political changes and report them to Elara.

All of this was part of Elara's next step in her plan.

She went over it again in her mind, confirming everything was in place, then turned to walk toward the real Captain Yang.

Before leaving, she wanted to see if she could squeeze any more useful information out of him.

…

On a narrow path behind the southern palace.

Things were going exactly as Elara expected.

The Yan family didn't notice anything strange when facing Captain Yang, played by Emory.

After exchanging a few words, they casually opened a few carriages and saw they were packed with gold, silver, and grain. Satisfied that the goods were intact, they happily took control of them and told "Captain Yang" to go report to Lord Gregory.

Not long after "Captain Yang" left, the Yan family—who had hundreds of carriages filled with money and tax silver—suddenly faced an ambush by a large group of refugees.

The attack caught them completely off guard. As they were preparing to defend themselves, a thunder of hooves came from the distance.

Leading the cavalry was none other than Francis of the Qi family.

His sudden appearance threw the Yan family into more confusion. They didn't know whether to fight the refugees or quickly hide the treasury funds they had smuggled.

But whatever they wanted to do, Francis didn't give them the chance.

After going through the formal process of claiming to suppress a rebellion and discovering treasonous officials had stolen the treasury's taxes, Francis directly seized all the carriages Elara had switched.

Then, ignoring the Yan family's protests, he had them all detained and locked up. He also ordered the surrounding scouts to be completely wiped out, leaving only one alive to go report "peace" to Lord Gregory.

At that moment, Lord Gregory was still dressed in ceremonial robes, seated on the high platform at the altar, waiting for updates.

So far, the only messages from the rear hill had been vague and routine reports. This made him more and more impatient, and a strange feeling grew in his chest.

If it weren't for the fact that he kept receiving letters from Captain Yang saying everything was normal, he would have already sent his personal guards to investigate.

But thinking of the spies that Regent Martin had planted in unknown locations, Lord Gregory held himself back and decided to wait a little longer.

Just half a stick of incense. He would wait that long, and if there was still no news, he would go see for himself.

Meanwhile, in the secret tunnel under the altar.

Elara had already ordered people to quickly bring empty carriages. They loaded all the boxes of gold, silver, and grain and sent them out through another hidden tunnel, to be hidden outside the city.

When the last carriage left, Elara let out a small breath. Then she told Uno to use his light steps to carry her to the rear hill behind the imperial temple.

When she landed again on the blood-covered battlefield, she walked around carefully, confirming everything was in place.

Then she changed into the torn princess dress that Tres had worn during the fight. She adjusted the slashes left by the blades, smeared some blood on herself, and ignored the discomfort.

She hesitated for a moment, debating whether to stab herself to make the injuries look real, but in the end, she decided to only fake internal injuries.

Her body was already in a fragile state. Once she deactivated System 92's pain shield, anyone who checked her would believe she was truly hurt.

Since she had to pretend to be injured, she needed to show some visible signs as well.

She grabbed Uno's hand and, before he could react, pressed it hard against her own waist.

Her pale and fragile skin showed marks easily. Even pressing her own body with Uno's hand left a red palm print.

She admired it for a moment, pleased with the result. The red mark stood out clearly against her skin like she had been hit.

Then she let go of the stunned Uno, grabbed a bit of dark blood, and smeared it around the torn waist of her gown. Looking at it, it really seemed like she had been badly injured.

After checking again that nothing had been overlooked, Elara told System 92 to cancel her pain shield.

Immediately, her face turned pale and weak, and real pain from her organs surged through her.

While forcing herself to stay upright, she weakly told the person next to her,

"Go, go up to the altar and tell everyone this. Say I was suddenly attacked by thieves during the ceremony. Now I'm seriously injured and nearly unconscious."