I Became a Barbarian's Bride - Chapter 125

At the curt command, the man quickly gathered his thoughts and began to speak again.

“In any case, being born under such circumstances caused plenty of rumors and issues… and to make matters worse, the new Empress was said to have been very close with the previous one.”

“So, she bullied her?”

“…Yes. Quite cruelly and in a rather vicious manner. We interrogated a dismissed maid, and her testimony is detailed in the report.”

As Kagan listened, he continued reading through the report. The abuses ranged from the petty, such as starvation, to far worse; locking her in a storage room, beating her, and even throwing her into wells or lakes.

The list of atrocities committed against a child was almost unbelievable, and as Kagan’s eyes passed over the words, they turned an increasingly blood-red hue.

Nisha had once compared his eyes to rubies, beautiful and precious, but to anyone who didn’t know better, his eyes now seemed like hardened, clotted blood.

They gleamed with a dangerous and ominous light.

“Interesting. And they dared to pretend they cherished her above all? No wonder… the Crown Prince looked down on her with such disdain.”

Why hadn’t he noticed earlier?

The Crown Prince hadn’t been thoughtless or foolish; this had been abuse, allowed to fester while everyone turned a blind eye.

“…Fascinating.”

With his jaw clenched tightly, Kagan let out a cold chuckle.

For the first time in a long while, he felt his blood boiling with rage.

“So, that’s why she was in such a state.”

The constant efforts she made to secure her place, not trusting herself, and striving endlessly—all of it had flown under his radar.

‘I never really paid much attention to it…’

After all, he had assumed that once she was brought to Xieman, she would adapt to their life, and thus, he had pushed aside everything related to Roshan.

‘If I were putting buttons on, I’d have put on them the wrong way.’

This wasn’t a matter of merely undoing the buttons and redoing them. The fabric itself—the very material—needed to be changed. 

The problem was that Kagan didn’t have much confidence in handling matters like these.

“What’s the current situation in Roshan?”

“The Emperor’s tyranny has worsened, and taxes have increased. There is unrest both inside and outside the palace, and I’ve heard that illegal immigration attempts by the people are also rising.”

Kagan nodded at the man’s report.

“It seems it’s time to clean things up.”

Up until now, he had been somewhat lenient for the sake of the Princess—no, for Nisha. 

When she was handed over to him, he had provided some support and allowed the country to function freely without imposing any significant restrictions.

But that wasn’t for Roshan’s sake. It was for Nisha. 

He had left her an escape route, a place she could flee to if life in Xieman became too difficult. 

If things became unbearable, he could call her brothers or send her back to Roshan temporarily.

‘Completely pointless consideration.’

To her, it must have been nothing but a worthless gesture.

‘How could she keep quiet about all of this?’

If she hadn’t kept silent, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to continue believing she had grown up as a cherished princess. 

She truly had a talent for hiding things, and unfortunately, Kagan was terribly bad at noticing such lies.

“…Remarkable how she managed to keep such a face without slapping me.”

Even though he had thrown around phrases like “raised with care” a few times.

‘Did she want to hide it?’

He thought that maybe she did. 

For her, this would have been a shameful secret, and she probably didn’t want it to be dragged into the open like this.

He let out a long sigh and slowly rubbed his face. 

Clicking his tongue and narrowing his eyes, he frowned. 

If he dealt with it without saying anything, it would inevitably reach her ears. 

But if he told her and handled it openly, she would undoubtedly find out about this investigation, and that didn’t sit well with him either.

He had no idea what to do.

“For now, keep this quiet.”

“Yes, Kagan.”

“But, it seems like it’s been a while since we’ve had a war.”

Kagan murmured softly, a fierce smile spreading across his face.

Come to think of it, if she had been so protected, there wouldn’t have been any reason for her to hide her powers from the emperor.

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