Translator: Nox

Chapter 22

“One moment you’re excitedly exchanging letters with the Marquis of Reinhardt, and the next you’re demanding I send a letter of protest to the King of Luxen? Just what kind of insult did you suffer at the Marquis’s hands?”

“That bastard poured liquor down my throat!”

“Ha.”

It was absurd. The King shook his head in disbelief, but the Grand Duke kept his mouth running.

“This isn’t merely a lack of courtesy; it must be viewed as an attempted assassination of a member of the Pelfe royalty! And what do you mean, ‘excitedly exchanging letters,’ Your Majesty?”

When the Baden Grand Duke asked back with eyes wide in shock, the King finally lost his patience and roared.

“Can you honestly say Reinhardt’s influence played no part in you becoming president?”

Why else would he have appointed such an idiot to the heavy responsibility of Pelfe Bank president? It was only possible because the Pelfe Parliament had approved it. And the King was willing to bet his crown that Oscar von Reinhardt was the one who made that happen.

In other words, Oscar, a nobleman of Luxen, had overridden the will of the King of Pelfe to place the Baden Grand Duke in the presidency of the Pelfe Bank.

Reinhardt looked down on the King of Pelfe? Had this fool only just realized that? The King clicked his tongue at the Grand Duke’s boundless stupidity.

“Shall I tell you why you ended up in that state?”

The King leaned forward over the dais and hissed savagely.

“It’s because you were stupid enough to play both sides. Since I wouldn’t make you the bank president, you clung to Reinhardt, but then you tried to take what he gave without paying the price he demanded. Am I wrong?”

At that, the Baden Grand Duke’s face turned a mottled red. The veins in his neck bulged and his eyes grew bloodshot—he was the spitting image of his mother.

“Tell me. What was the price he asked you to pay?”

“Your Majesty, how can you say such a thing? A price!”

However, no matter how wronged he felt, he couldn’t bring himself to speak of the secret verbal contract between him and Oscar. The moment he uttered it, the King would be waiting to brand him a criminal.

“Wasn’t becoming president purely the result of my own efforts?”

“Baden!”

The rift between the half-brothers widened as deep as a glacial crevice.

Just then, the tightly closed doors of the audience chamber opened, and an attendant entered cautiously, sensing the mood. When the King turned his gaze toward him, the attendant quietly announced the arrival of the troublesome visitor.

“Your Majesty, Marquis von Reinhardt of Luxen has arrived.”

While the Baden Grand Duke jumped and whipped around toward the door, the King put his discarded glasses back on. After checking the watch he had been clutching, he gave the attendant a dismissive wave of approval.

The attendant bowed respectfully to the King and pushed open the massive doors.

Step, step.

The sound of leisurely footsteps drifted in first. After the sound of a relaxed, wide stride echoed a few times, he finally revealed himself.

Despite having stretched the nerves of the Pelfe King and the Grand Duke as taut as a rubber band about to snap, he made an entrance as if he were the guest of honor at a banquet.

As the King observed the composed gait, the smile, and the gaze in turn, he looked at the man’s curly black hair and thought:

Even that hair is a lure. It makes a devious thirty-year-old man, whose true intentions are unknown, look like a mischievous youth in his twenties. And thus, he lowers his opponent’s guard and craftily obtains what he wants.

That was how this man had not only rebuilt his house with his own strength but also seized power and wealth so vast that even the king of a nation could not treat him lightly.

Arriving before the dais, Oscar offered a polite greeting.

“I greet His Majesty, the King of Pelfe.”

The Baden Grand Duke, who had been glaring as if he wanted to kill him, shifted his bloated frame.

“Marquis von Reinhardt! To be late—how dare you be so insolent? Do you hold the royalty of Pelfe in such contempt?”

Oscar looked at the King on his throne, then at the Baden Grand Duke, before turning back to the King. Dropping the smile he had been wearing, he clasped his hands behind his back like a disciplined soldier and bowed his head before looking up again.

“The summons was quite unexpected, and though I came as quickly as possible, I find I am late. I ask for your generous understanding.”

The Grand Duke, who had tried to subtly link himself with the King under the title of Pelfe royalty, felt his face flush until it looked ready to burst when Oscar offered his apology only to the King. Just as the Grand Duke was about to erupt with indignation like a volcano, the King, weary of his shouting, cut him off. Not wishing to face Oscar for long, the King asked point-blank.

“I heard there was an unpleasant incident between you and the Baden Grand Duke last night. I will not beat around the bush. Did you pour liquor down the Grand Duke’s throat?”

However, the King’s expression turned cold in an instant.

Despite being asked if he had poured liquor into the mouth of a member of the Pelfe royalty, Oscar’s expression did not change in the slightest. He simply furrowed his brow slightly, looked at the Grand Duke, and spoke.

“I wonder. The Grand Duke did indeed drink quite a lot last night.”

“Do not play innocent! You grabbed my mouth and poured the liquor in! This is an attempted assassination of royalty!”

“…….”

Even upon hearing the words ‘attempted assassination,’ not a single crack appeared in those infuriatingly handsome features. He simply stared at the Grand Duke in silence, then, as if lost in thought, tilted his head to look down at his feet before looking up again.

With that small gesture, the flow of time seemed to move under Oscar’s command.

“Your Highness.”

“…….”

When the Baden Grand Duke didn’t answer, Oscar slowly turned his head to look at him. Staring straight into the eyes buried in fat, he called him once more.

“Grand Duke Baden.”

The call, neither slow nor fast as if it were no big deal, brought back the memory of the hand that had leisurely gripped his throat as if it were no big deal. The Grand Duke could once again vividly feel the ruthlessness that had seized his neck.

This was the palace of Pelfe, and the audience chamber of the King of Pelfe at that. Yet, he felt as though he were being stripped bare and powerlessly trampled just as he had been last night.

Oscar spoke softly.

“An attempted assassination of royalty.”

After blinking a few times, he frowned and asked.

“For what reason?”

“…….”

“Even if I had, wouldn’t there have to be a reason?”

A sneer was visible on his smileless face. His low voice brought back that agonizing question.

“Pelfe Bank—what’s in it?”

He couldn’t say.

The only person who had witnessed it was a courtesan from Amang Rose, but she hadn’t seemed to be in her right mind. Therefore, there were no witnesses.

“There is no action without a reason, after all.”

“You… you…!”

The terror of the previous night rushed over the Grand Duke like trauma, and his breathing grew ragged.

“Heuh… hah, hah.”

Staggering back a step or two as if overcome by dizziness, he tottered, while Oscar watched him with indifferent eyes. Finally, unable to bear the sight any longer, the King shouted fiercely.

“Take the Grand Duke away at once!”

At the King’s command, attendants rushed out and supported the Grand Duke from both sides. Despite his earlier fury and vows to report Oscar’s atrocities, the Grand Duke was carried out looking utterly shriveled.

While the sound of heavy, death-like breathing and the footsteps of those supporting him faded behind him, Oscar remained with his hands clasped behind his back, simply staring at a spot on the floor. When the doors to the audience chamber finally clicked shut, he looked up and met the King’s gaze.

In the series of movements as he stood and shifted his gaze, there was no hesitation or fear. If anything, the only thing felt from him was a sense of boredom.

For some reason, the King felt that it was likely true that Oscar had poured liquor down Baden’s throat. The fact that he didn’t even seem inclined to hide it pricked at the King’s anxiety.

This was why he had wanted to avoid this meeting if possible.

“…….”

“…….”

After a moment of silence, the King dismissed his retinue. Once even the guards stationed throughout the chamber had been sent away, the King let out a long breath. When there was no clear answer after much deliberation, a direct approach was best.

“I am aware that you wish to open one of the vaults at Pelfe Bank. I also know that is why you made the Grand Duke the president.”

“…….”

“Stop there.”

“…….”

“No matter what you do, Pelfe Bank will operate according to its principles.”

The King had intended to bring up the Nofuk Royal Union, which Oscar found troublesome, if necessary. But Oscar, who he thought would deny it or play dumb, unexpectedly nodded in agreement.