Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 94: “Mercy”

Chapter 94: “Mercy”

With all the evidence and witnesses, Marquess Gulliver and his men finally confessed and were convicted.

[Everything was going well for a while. Where did I grow lax?] Gulliver gritted his teeth wondering where and when everything went wrong.

With all the evidence that was gathered, he thought investigations had been going on for months without his notice. He didn’t know it only took a day for Ferdinand’s people to get all the proof they needed. Even gathering the faction leaders was easy with their teleportation abilities.

Arabella learned from Gulliver’s thoughts that he had intended to use the money he gathered to make his fief more progressive than his family’s dukedom to show off to them and prove that he was much more capable than his eldest brothers ever were.

His family’s dukedom was now led by his oldest brother. And Gulliver even intended to attack it and take the ducal seat for himself.

Gulliver did it all because of his grudge against his family who didn’t give him anything. And he involved all of Prudencia in it.

Arabella learned from his thoughts that Gulliver was neglected when he was young because the focus was always on his eldest brother. His parents did not give him much attention because they were too busy raising their heir, the first son.

When he was young, Gulliver worked hard to try to get his parents’ attention and hear their words of praise the way they did with his oldest brother. But he never received the praise he deserved even when he excelled in everything.

And so he decided to leave and vowed to make them realize he was the more capable son someday by defeating his eldest brother and taking over their dukedom. He decided he would take it by force if he had to.

In his haste, he saw the rich and overconfident Prudencia as the golden opportunity for him to achieve his goal as soon as possible.

When the war occurred, Gulliver took his chance and it was granted when he was approved to be the one to guide Prudencia.

But now, it ended up making him lose everything instead.

If only he remained an exemplary knight and Marquess, in a few years, he would have been able to show his family his abilities without having to dirty his hands.

Arabella felt guilty as she realized that in a way, Gulliver was just like her. They both went the wrong path due to their experiences.

If Gulliver’s parents had guided him properly and given him the attention he needed when he was young, maybe, he wouldn’t have become like this.

She glanced at the Marquess.

Gulliver finally stopped acting all high and mighty when he realized he could die any time today. The confident aura oozing from him before and the smile in his eyes were all gone.

And this time, Gulliver followed the example of the mercenaries who were begging for mercy for their innocent family members to be exempted from the punishment.

Gulliver didn’t want to die yet. Thus, he let go of his pride and clung to life. He kneeled and groveled on all fours and apologized for what he had done and begged Ferdinand for mercy.

"Your Majesty, if I was given a chance, I swear I will never do anything like this again. I will live my life dedicated to the Empire as I did before. Please pity this servant who had lost his way. I was once your loyal knight and civil servant," Gulliver reminded them that he also had contributions to the Empire.

"What has this man done for Valeria?" Ferdinand asked and the courtier read a list of Gulliver’s achievements. It was already prepared in advance because they controlled the flow to end up like this.

Gulliver had quite the achievement which was why he was bestowed the title of Marquess. He contributed greatly to several wars including the war with Prudencia. His fief was given to him because he had successfully cleansed it of monsters, kicked out encroachers in it, and defended it from invaders. It was one of the reasons why most of his knights were in his fief. They had to be there in case of monster attacks or invasion attempts from the nearby kingdoms.

It was also one of the reasons why Gulliver wanted to be the duke of his family’s dukedom despite having his own title and marquessate. His marquessate could be easily in danger while the dukedom of his family was far safer since it wasn’t at the borders.

"I see. You could have gone further if you didn’t commit such atrocious crimes in the first place. In lieu of your past services to the Empire, I will give you another chance to show your fealty," Ferdinand said, and everyone from Prudencia clearly did not like it. They thought Ferdinand was being forgiving because Gulliver was Valerian by blood.

Gulliver’s eyes also brightened as he thought he was being given special treatment. But he wasn’t.

Ferdinand had been waiting for Gulliver to admit his sins and beg for mercy since the beginning of the trial so he could pretend to have decided to get him executed and then be "merciful" and give him the task already decided before Gulliver was even apprehended.

"If you are able to bring back all the people you sold as slaves, then I shall spare your life. But if you cannot, you will be executed and your fief shall be confiscated and awarded to someone else," Ferdinand said and Gulliver paled.

It was a nigh impossible task. Everyone knew that so the dissatisfied Prudencia people turned silent as well.

It was as if Ferdinand was challenging Gulliver to take it or leave it but he would still die in the end anyway. It was just a matter of delaying when he would die.

If Gulliver was nothing but a coward and a weak-hearted fool who simply wanted money, he would give up right from the start and would choose execution instead of prolonging his suffering.

But if he at least had some balls and was as capable as his achievements imply, he would accept the task even if it was almost impossible and would try to accomplish it even if it meant just delaying his death.

Gulliver’s will to live was strong, and so he accepted the task. He didn’t want to die being laughed at by his older siblings.

"I accept, Your Majesty. This humble servant will do his best. My deepest gratitude for your mercy."

Gulliver also knew it wasn’t really mercy. But he cannot plead against the Emperor’s decision a second time. And successfully delaying his death from an Emperor he knew easily takes life when he wants to, was already a great feat.

There were also no complaints from Prudencia’s side since getting back the people they had lost was more important than seeing Gulliver die.

Moreover, it was even more satisfying than executing Gulliver because it was the person himself who was responsible for slave trading who would try and take back everyone.

Count Elirion wanted Gulliver to die but watching him suffer was even more satisfying for the mourning count.

"Some of my knights and magicians will accompany you so don’t even think of escaping. My magicians can find you wherever you go," Ferdinand warned.

"I would never dare, Your Majesty."

"You shall focus on finding the people you sold beyond the Crux Kingdom," Ferdinand instructed and then announced that he will take care of Crux Kingdom himself.

Everyone in the hall was touched when they were informed by the courtiers that a letter from Ferdinand himself was already sent to the Crux Kingdom and he would declare war if Crux wouldn’t comply with his demands.

Meanwhile, the mercenary leaders and those who were directly involved in the delivery and selling of the people they got from Prudencia would also accompany Gulliver and work their hardest to retrieve the people they sold.

All the money Gulliver and his men got from selling slaves was also demanded to be returned since it would be used in refunding the money of their buyers.

Gulliver also had to return all the money he got from the hefty taxes and the false tribute he had the mercenaries collect.

The false tribute collected from the people would be returned computing from the first time it was implemented which was two years ago.

The excess amount collected from the supposed usual tax would be returned to the taxpayers.

The money Gulliver gathered from the people for two years was quite a sum. With all of it getting returned, the people of Prudencia who were facing a financial crisis would have a bit of a leeway now.

All the money to be returned would help Prudencia and its people to recover from the financial slump.

The landowners would now have enough money as capital to have their lands tilled and farmed again to help solve the food shortage.

Moreover, the control of the treasury was back to the Prudencia family and their Department of Finance.

Arabella thought Gulliver wouldn’t be able to return the money from the taxes and false tribute easily since he was a gambler.

But apparently, at this point, Gulliver was not yet addicted to gambling so he still managed his assets well. Thus, he could return the money as soon as possible.

He had spent some to pay his mercenaries but he still had his own coffers to empty so he could return what he stole from the people.

With this, it was as if Gulliver forced the people to save money for him to safe keep for two years.