Bribery

Moric was slightly stunned, and then angrily said:

“I will not give special treatment to civilians and merchants just because of my background!”

“If you’re asking why I don’t lower the requirements to consider civilians and merchants… then don’t forget, His Highness Ryan is the Crown Prince, how can he lose his status like a lower-ranking noble!”

At first glance, it seems reasonable, but Flora has always been someone who likes to start from the actual situation.

If it were another noble master, she would never say this, but for Crown Prince Ryan—

“Mr. Moric, I don’t think His Highness Ryan would mind.”

Hearing this, Moric jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

“You think, you think… what do you know about the Crown Prince!”

In fact, what the blonde girl said was not wrong.

It is well known that the Crown Prince likes to employ people from commoner backgrounds.

In addition to Moric, many commoners were also reused among the staff.

Even the knights conferred by the Crown Prince had six people from non-knight families, employing people according to their talents.

But this was only a last resort.

Most of the middle and upper-class nobles of the empire support “that person,” and the ambitious and capable middle and lower-class nobles flocked to the north.

The remaining waste products were also looked down upon by the Crown Prince.

But the bad thing was that after the Crown Prince massively employed non-noble personnel, the originally neutral nobles also began to feel dissatisfied with the Crown Prince.

Usually, when Moric and others worked in various departments of the central government, they were also subjected to cold looks because of their identities, and it was difficult to do many things…

This situation only improved slightly until recently when the Crown Prince made a marriage contract with the daughter of the Blue Lion family.

Now they are trying their best to win over the noble forces and add noble personnel to the faction as much as possible…

This blonde girl actually said that she wanted to recruit a bunch of maids from civilian and merchant backgrounds?

Wasn’t this trying to make their efforts come to naught?

You ask what the Crown Prince thinks?

Moric had to admit that even if the situation was so bad, His Highness Ryan would still employ non-noble talents in an unconventional manner.

His Highness Ryan was so respectable.

He also knew very well that as long as the blonde girl asked, His Highness Ryan would definitely approve.

That’s why he was so angry.

Both publicly and privately, he had to stop this from happening.

“You probably think that these low-level people from civilian backgrounds are cheap, hardworking, and have clean backgrounds, right? But you are very wrong to think so!”

“No matter which family they come from, the maids’ salaries are fixed!

Even if they come from the bottom, there are many who are lazy and gluttonous, and there are only more cunning, treacherous, and malicious people!”

“Even those who seem to have good character now are very unreliable!

Because they are poor, they have always lived a hard life, and their cultural level is insufficient, so they are more easily tempted and bewitched than people from noble backgrounds!”

Moric said excitedly.

The blonde girl looked at him quietly, saying nothing.

“Choose the people from here for me!”

Throwing down the list he had hidden before, Moric angrily left the conference room.

This wasn’t to say that Moric was overwhelmed by anger.

On the contrary, in anger… or rather, in self-deprecation, he slightly regained a little reason.

Even if the blonde girl had ulterior motives, even if he was dissatisfied with the blonde girl, the system she was promoting was obviously beneficial to the mansion and the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince had shown him kindness by recognizing his talent, and he shouldn’t do anything to hold him back.

But he would not let go of that suspicious blonde girl.

After leaving the conference room, Moric asked the servants everywhere in the mansion about what had happened during this period.

Of course, this was a prohibited item in the blonde girl’s new system, but it had not been officially implemented yet, so he could take advantage of the loophole.

With his well-known identity as an assistant, Moric quickly obtained the information he wanted—

“This… how is this possible?”

Moric was so surprised that he couldn’t close his mouth.

He never expected that the suspicious maid not only did not obey the Crown Prince in every possible way and flattered him, but instead publicly contradicted the Crown Prince at least three times.

Even more exaggerated, in just one week, the blonde girl was demoted from a personal maid to work in the kitchen, and then promoted to head maid.

What was going on, what happened in this?

Considering that the information known by ordinary servants was limited, and might even be completely opposite to the facts, Moric took advantage of the fact that there was no one around and stopped the real personal maid in the mansion to ask about the situation.

“What do you want to do by asking these things?”

The other party’s tone was unkind, obviously guessing that he had bypassed the Crown Prince.

“I’m just very worried about His Highness Ryan’s personnel appointment this time… The person who instigated the kitchen apprentice to poison hasn’t been found yet, right?”

Moric didn’t intend to back down and argued reasonably.

“It hasn’t been found, but you don’t have to worry about Flora, she is a good child who can be trusted.”

Moric was stunned: “Are you serious?”

The other party was a maid who came to work in the mansion two years ago.

Although she couldn’t compare to the old butler and him, her loyalty to the Crown Prince had also been tested a lot.

Before this batch of eleven maids came, she was the only official maid left in the mansion.

“You should have investigated it, right… You don’t think that a mole or assassin would do this kind of thing, right?” the other party said.

“This may just be done on purpose, wanting the effect of hiding in plain sight.” Moric didn’t believe it.

“Since you already have an answer in your heart, why do you need to ask me?”

The other party walked away.

Moric had no choice but to turn to another more reliable person.

Charlton, who had been a butler since the former Empress’s family and had served the Crown Prince for seventeen years.

“Theo, why are you so free to stroll around the mansion? Has the discussion with Flora ended?”

Unlike the personal maid, the old butler’s attitude towards Moric was still friendly.

“It’s over, Mr. Charlton, I have something to ask you…”

However, after understanding Moric’s intentions, the old butler showed an expression similar to that of the personal maid.

“I think you don’t have to have such a big prejudice against Flora, you will know that she is someone who can be trusted after contacting her more.”

Although the old butler’s words were much more euphemistic and took Moric’s feelings into consideration.

But the old butler was still speaking for that blonde girl.

Moric was completely at a loss.

The Crown Prince, the old butler, and the personal maid, these three people he respected and recognized, actually all trusted that blonde girl!

They were all deceived! They were all bewitched by the blonde girl!

It wasn’t him who was wrong, but the world… Moric didn’t dare to have such arrogant thoughts when things had developed to this point.

(Is it… me who is wrong?)

Moric was at a loss, but after thinking for a while, he felt that this was reasonable.

Various signs indicated that the blonde girl had passed many tests.

And he had ruined all the trust and reputation he had accumulated for three years a month ago.

Now he still didn’t know how to repent, bypassed the Crown Prince, and inquired about the affairs of the mansion… He was simply wrong to the extreme.

“Mr. Moric, please wait.”

Just as Moric was distraught, like a walking corpse, a maid stopped him.

“What’s the matter?”

He slowly stopped and looked at the maid.

Then he remembered.

Among the people who came in with that blonde girl, there was also a maid, Kena, who came in through the back door.

However, this maid Kena did not bribe, and her own strength was also good.

The only problem was that she encountered the scene of Moric taking bribes.

In order to shut her up, Moric verbally said that he would take care of her, but he didn’t do anything in reality.

Later, because his attention was focused on the blonde girl, he forgot about her.

But even if he remembered it now, Moric had no intention of fulfilling his promise.

But before he could say anything, the other party leaned close to his ear and said in a bewitching voice:

“Mr. Moric, wouldn’t you like to see your sister… completely restored to health?”