I’ve Become a S*ave Bride - Chapter 28
“And is this the result of that trust?”
He had to step up and make excuses for everything. However, the fear that had been ingrained for so long was stronger than he expected. The fear toward his father and the ingrained timidity still held Dawes back.
He could feel Ophelia’s body trembling behind him, but no words came out.
The king, displeased with his son, let out a grunt and pressed his bandaged forehead.
“It was my mistake to try to make such a cruel child a king. It’s my fault.”
“……”
Dawes, with clenched fists, bowed his head deeply. Unlike Ophelia, whose complexion had turned pale behind him, Dawes’s face was flushed red, as if it would burst.
In that situation, the king began to speak about the cause of the accident he had investigated over the past few days.
“I called in the Canon technicians to confirm. They were let go frequently under the pretense of ‘consideration,’ were they?”
His piercing gaze turned to Ophelia, who flinched as she trembled.
But the king had no patience to wait for a calm response from his daughter-in-law.
“Answer.”
The simple word struck Ophelia like a bolt of lightning, making her tremble.
Regaining her senses late, she clutched her shaking hands and replied,
“Th-that is… um…”
Unfortunately, Ophelia was not ‘trained’ like Lenette. For her, the king’s overwhelming presence, having experienced everything, was unbearable.
In the end, only ambiguous words that were neither crying nor speaking flowed from her lips.
“If you treat them well… they’ll work harder… and so… loyalty will develop, and um… so…”
Perhaps tired of her pathetic excuses, the king raised his hand and waved dismissively.
“Tch. How can a fool who can’t even speak properly be the future queen?”
It was a monologue, but it was clear that it was meant for Dawes and Ophelia to hear.
“……”
“……”
Ophelia’s pale face also turned red, mirroring Dawes’s reaction.
Yes. It was indeed a big incident.
However, while it was certainly a major accident, wasn’t it not entirely her fault? If we were to point fingers, it was the fault of the technicians who made the cannon.
‘But why am I being blamed for this…’
Especially when Lenette was brought up as well.
Could Ophelia’s inner thoughts be so clearly reflected on her face? The king’s cold gaze turned toward Ophelia.
“Are you feeling wronged?”
“……”
She couldn’t bring herself to say no.
“Are you angry because you, as the person in charge, are taking the blame for the technicians who made the cannon?”
“……”
“Unable to affirm or deny,” the king explained in a voice full of disdain.
“Do you know why cannons explode?”
“I… I don’t really know…”
“It’s because there are defects.”
The king stood up and brought over a piece of iron that had been placed in a corner of the room. It appeared to be a fragment from the exploded cannon.
“Do you know why defects occur?”
“……”
With no answer again, the king clicked his tongue.
“I can’t believe you don’t know this as the person in charge. What have you been doing for over two months?”
“…I was trying to understand the people—”
“Understanding? You said you were trying to understand people?”
Ophelia lowered her head further and shrank back. The king’s intensity, honed from years on the battlefield, was more than she could bear.
“What you needed to understand was not the people! It was the cannon! Your ridiculous logic about consideration and whatever else clouded the atmosphere in the workshop, and that is the cause of this accident!”
“Y-yes…?”
What kind of nonsensical accusation was that? A wave of injustice washed over her. She wanted to refute it immediately.
“From your expression, it seems you’re still feeling wronged?”
“……”
“Yes. Let me personally inform you of just what you did so wrong! Bring them in!”
At the king’s command, another door that led outside, not to the waiting room where the queen and Asel were, swung open.
Two bound men were dragged inside. They were the technicians from the workshop.
“……!”
Ophelia’s eyes widened as she recognized the faces of her technicians. Could it be… that they had falsely testified to frame her?
However, the explanation that followed was far beyond what she had anticipated.
“I-I’m sorry… I’ve committed a grave sin… I should have done the joint work properly… ugh…”
Immediately after the apology from the worker who made the cannon barrel, the king turned to Ophelia and asked,
“Do you know why the joint work was done sloppily?”
“……”
How could she possibly know? She didn’t even know what a joint was.
As if he knew Ophelia’s situation without needing to hear it, the king continued to answer his own question.
“They said they were drunk, not just for a day or two, but for an entire month.”
“…Excuse me? Drunk…?”
Could it be that the catastrophic incident stemmed from nothing more than ‘drunkenness’?
‘But why is that… my fault…?’
If we were to argue, wasn’t it the fault of that technician who got drunk?
“Do you still not understand what your mistake is?”
“……”
Indeed. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t grasp it.
It was that technician who drank, and it was they who forged the joint. So why was she…
“Tsk, tsk. To think I brought such a woman as a candidate for queen.”
The king briefly diverted his gaze from Ophelia and chastised his eldest son.
“Surely you’re not clueless about what the problem is as well?”
“……I understand what you wish to convey.”
“Then why don’t you explain it?”
Dawes exhaled lightly and glanced at Ophelia. There was a strange emotion lingering in his eyes.
Ophelia couldn’t quite identify the nature of that emotion.
“Your negligence in overseeing the workers… that is your wife’s sin.”
Ophelia gasped and held her breath.
It was then that she realized the part she had been missing.
‘Believing the words of the workers without question… is my sin?’
At that moment, someone next to the joint technician entered Ophelia’s line of sight.
‘That worker… is the one who left early every day because his son was sick.’
Could it be? Surely he wouldn’t give a similar excuse?
Just then, it was the turn of the man who had been leaving early every day because his son was sick.
“Now, tell me your sin.”
She couldn’t remember exactly what kind of technician he was, but he had certainly said his son was sick. That much was clear.
However,
“Ugh… I’m sorry… I’m sorry. I thought I had to stop… but thinking of the money I lost, I just couldn’t focus on work… I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ve committed a grave sin.”
In that moment, all of Ophelia’s thoughts came to a halt.
‘Lost money…?’
Could it be that he had been going out to gamble?
‘Using my goodwill… to skip work?’
Was it not because his son was sick every day?
‘Did he lie to me?’
“That’s impossible… You clearly said your son was sick…! That’s why I even gave you consolation money…!”
The response came not from the gambling technician but from her father-in-law, the king.
“Tsk. You still don’t understand after hearing this? His son is sick? He must have gambled that money away.”
“……!”
It was unbelievable.
How could a person do such a thing! She had been so considerate and had trusted him so much!
She was in shock, unable to speak properly. The king was displeased with such a daughter-in-law.
“I kept you by Dawes’s side to rein in the overconfident hunting dog. But to think you would be this incompetent.”
“I… I truly didn’t know…! I didn’t know he was lying…!”
“Yes. That is your sin. As a manager, you should have been able to discern a lie that would be obvious with just a little digging, yet you got caught up in playing the ‘good person’ and ruined the atmosphere in the workshop!”
Though the king pointed it out directly, Ophelia still wore a face that refused to acknowledge her mistake. She was merely trembling with an expression of injustice.
As he looked at his daughter-in-law, the king recalled Lenette, who had been exiled to the outskirts.
‘She was a child with a strong desire for the queen’s position.’
She had the capability to harbor such ambitions.
However, the extent of her excellence was so overwhelming that it seemed she would swallow his sons whole. The power of her family was becoming too great a problem.
Thus, they had been expelled on such absurd charges…
‘Tsk. Perhaps it would have been better if that child had been the one.’
But he didn’t feel regret. If necessary, he could always call Lenette back.
She was an ambitious child, and even if it meant taking a seat that someone else had once occupied, she would do so without hesitation. Her desire for power was that intense.
Having already calculated everything in his mind, the king commanded Ophelia, who was still reeling from the shock.
“From today, step away from the second workshop.”
“……!”
“Your Majesty!”
Dawes urgently pleaded.
“It was a single mistake. It was merely a mistake born from a kind heart that trusted others. So please, give her one more chance!”
The second workshop, which handles cannons, is just as important as the first workshop that deals with gunpowder.
If they lost that place, the balance of power with the second prince, Acel, would be disrupted.
However, the king was resolute.
“A single mistake?”
With a bitter smile on his lips, he strode toward Dawes.
“Do you not realize that because of that ‘single mistake,’ the kings of a nation became mere nobles and knelt at my feet?”
“But…!”
“There is no ‘but.’ In managing a kingdom, a single mistake can become a crossroads that determines fate.”
