Chapter 233
“Duke Nellusion, what is the meaning of this?”
At Megara’s agitated outburst, Nellusion simply smiled and asked in return,
“What do you mean, Lady Megara?”
Lady Megara. A polite title. The finest honorific that could be attached to a bastard who wasn’t even a commoner.
And yet, whenever nobles called her “Lady,” Megara felt a burning humiliation rise from the pit of her stomach. It felt like mockery.
Like ridicule for a fate that would never allow her to become a Duchess or Marchioness.
Even in Nellusion’s utterly calm tone, she heard that mockery. Megara’s eyes flashed with venom as she pressed him.
“Why aren’t you accepting the promissory notes? Do you know how much shame he suffered at the club, and how enraged His Highness was?”
Before her rebuke, Nellusion smiled without the slightest sign of agitation. Smiling—when he should have been begging for forgiveness. Sparks flew from Megara’s eyes.
“First of all, this place is a bit inappropriate.”
Unable to leave the Imperial Palace freely, Megara had to choose a place inside the palace to meet Nellusion. The place she had impulsively chosen today was the Council of Nobles. Or rather, a study attached to the Council of Nobles where its members gathered.
Even so, the Council of Nobles was not somewhere Megara could simply enter as she pleased. It was merely a place where her comings and goings drew slightly less notice. If anyone happened to see the two of them standing this close together, even that advantage would vanish at once.
Nellusion grabbed Megara’s wrist, led her into a small room a little away from the Council’s chambers, then stationed a guard at the door and folded his arms.
“You had time to come here and vent your anger on me, yet it seems you didn’t have time to find out who owns the Morier Trading Company?”
“What?”
Megara bristled. But beneath her irritation, her sharp mind quickly caught the implication in Nellusion’s words.
“It seems it belongs to a dangerous person. Who is it?”
“Nerys.”
Megara’s face twisted at the name that fell from Nellusion’s lips. Her famously angelic features were nowhere to be seen.
“What?”
“That child owns it. Really, she’s so clever.”
There was a faint note of delight in Nellusion’s voice as he said it. Megara felt rage boil up.
‘Crazy bastard.’
Is this the time to be pleased?
Megara had heard that Nerys had betrayed Nellusion. What was so wonderful about that vixen that he would make such a foolish face at the mere mention of her?
He usually acted like you couldn’t draw a drop of blood from him with a needle, but over just that one name his expression slipped, and Megara resented him for it. She ground her teeth.
“Joan Morier, that lowly woman, deceived me. I’ll send someone to drag her here right now.”
“On what grounds?”
Megara’s words caught in her throat. Nellusion’s face hardened.
“Did you put up a lot of collateral? Perhaps you offered something that never should have been offered?”
“…I—I didn’t know there would be a problem like this.”
“What did you put up? Tell me. Quickly.”
Nerys, Nerys. Hatred blazed in Megara’s eyes. Had she pledged something that should never have left Imperial hands?
Yes. Because the amount she had needed to borrow had grown and grown. The silver mine, the lake that fed many rivers… Names that an ordinary commoner’s trading company could never touch, places with only symbolic value in most hands—but in that child’s unfathomable hands, it was different.
On top of that, Joan Morier had shrewdly set short deadlines for each promissory note, claiming it was to offer lower interest rates. Some were even nearing maturity.
But when Megara tried to lay all that out to Nellusion, it felt like her tongue was being pricked with needles. She gritted her teeth and deflected instead.
“In the first place, I couldn’t borrow any more without putting up Imperial property as collateral! You were too greedy! You hoarded all that money you earned and didn’t give me any help!”
And whose doing was it that Nellusion had made so much money? Wasn’t it all thanks to Megara? Then of course he should send some of that money her way. What an inconsiderate ingrate.
Nellusion sneered, as if reading her thoughts.
“Didn’t you have plenty of fun as well? At least thirty percent of the money His Highness the Crown Prince had to repay went to your cute hangers-on, didn’t it?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“There’s no need to play dumb. I’m not blaming you. If I were, the men you sent would never have earned a single coin in the first place. Do you think my people wouldn’t recognize such obvious professionals?”
“What are you talking about? Speak so I can understand! So besides your men, professional gamblers came to your club and made money?”
Megara’s face did not look like someone lying. Nellusion paused.
After staring at his face for a while, Megara burst into laughter.
“You! You stupid, pathetic idiot! You’ve been had, clean and clear! And you didn’t even realize it, strutting around as if you were above everyone!”
An unidentified group had been coming and going from the Finito Club, blending in with Nellusion’s people and winning money. Nellusion had assumed they were Megara’s agents and, thinking himself an accomplice who would share in the profits, had allowed them to win money from the Crown Prince.
But if Megara had never sent anyone—
Then who was behind those unknown gamblers?
“The stupidest person in the world is the fool who thinks they’re clever. It means they’re too stupid to recognize their own stupidity.”
After mocking Nellusion to her heart’s content, Megara felt a little better and sneered elegantly. This time, Nellusion shot her a glare.
“This is not the time to be pleased. There’s a high probability that that money also went to the Morier Trading Company. No—by now it may already have gone up to Maindulante. Nerys would have known she’d be exposed soon.”
If Nellusion and Megara had had a trusting relationship—or even if they didn’t hate each other—this truth would have come to light much sooner.
But in a relationship like this, where there was nothing to trade but contempt, why would either of them openly reveal their weaknesses?
So it was pure luck for Megara that she had grasped the situation even now. She shouted, breathless,
“Then send someone to the Morier Trading Company right now! Who cares about a pretext! You’re a great noble! Make up any excuse you want!”
He would have to. Originally, Nellusion had intended to bring the Morier Trading Company under his control while hiding from Nerys just how much he understood her intentions. He had planned to savor her clever little tricks.
But that was before he realized how tangled the situation had become. Nellusion opened the door and snapped an order to the subordinate standing outside.
“Go to the Morier Trading Company at once with my seal. Detain everyone in the building, including the head merchant. The charge is insulting the Imperial Family. Move!”
The situation might already be worse than he feared. The Morier Trading Company was not the only trading company Nellusion and Megara had used. But in the process of those promissory notes circulating… what if a larger amount than expected had been diverted to the other side?
The subordinate gripped the seal Nellusion handed him and rushed off. But before Nellusion could even leave the room, another subordinate with a pale face came running.
A bad feeling prickled at him. Nellusion’s brows drew together.
“What is it?”
Nellusion’s people, all carefully chosen, knew proper decorum in the Imperial Palace. Running near the Council of Nobles, of all places, was unthinkable. What if he drew the attention of the other sly great nobles?
The pale-faced subordinate glanced around and reported quickly.
“Reporting, Your Grace! The head merchant and deputy head merchant of the Morier Trading Company, along with all the executives, have disappeared!”
Ever since learning that the newspaper publishing the novel “Betrayal” was being sponsored by the Morier Trading Company, Nellusion had been sending observers to keep watch for abnormalities. And yet, now, of all times? Nellusion’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“My apologies, Your Grace! The observer only realized the situation just now, but judging from the traces, they seem to have disappeared at least a few days ago!”
Megara’s hand, clutching her skirt, turned white. Thinking her very presence irritating, Nellusion forced himself to keep calm.
‘How did you manage it, Nerys?’
In his mind’s eye, her neat face rose up. It was both mesmerizing and chilling.
Even his father didn’t know that the Finito Club belonged to Nellusion. Camille likely didn’t know yet either. That was how thorough he had been.
But Nerys had casually played Nellusion, Megara, and even Abelus within those walls—and then vanished.
According to the report Nellusion had received, all the money Nerys’s people had won had been in promissory notes, cash, or goods that could be paid out immediately. That alone meant there was no way to reclaim the money now. And on top of that, she had secured Imperial property as collateral through the Morier Trading Company.
“Collateral.”
At the thought that suddenly surfaced, Nellusion’s mouth fell open.
“What happened to the Imperial collateral, then? If there’s no creditor…”
The names weren’t written on those properties or lands. If the creditor had disappeared, he could simply pretend they were his. But would Nerys really have moved that carelessly?
The subordinate’s eyes shook. Nellusion realized the report wasn’t over.
“I was just about to report on that as well, Your Grace! News has come that representatives from several trading companies across the country are occupying certain Imperial properties—including the Villancher Silver Mine, Odorus Lake, and Schlier Castle! They suddenly barged in, claiming they were seizing collateral because His Highness the Crown Prince had missed the payment deadlines! It appears the Morier Trading Company executives secretly divided and sold all the bonds before fleeing!”
Megara staggered where she stood. Nellusion looked at her and smiled coldly.
“…Serves you right. Once this news gets out, you’re finished too, aren’t you?”
“Finished, my foot!”
She shrieked back, but Megara knew it as well. Nellusion’s words were simply the truth.
She had money. She had achievements. She had believed those would remain by her side even if her title vanished like foam.
But if she became the main culprit behind the disgrace of the Imperial Family, would she hold the same meaning for Abelus as she did now?
Somehow, she doubted it.
So she gathered what little strength she had left and screamed,
“What are you doing! Go and fix it right now! We have to do whatever we can!”
Nellusion and Megara stumbled out of the Council of Nobles’ side room in a daze. Behind the bushes in the garden, a black shadow watching them quietly slipped away.
❖ ❖ ❖
Nerys set down the letter reporting that Joan had arrived safely in Maindulante, her expression satisfied.
“It seems Joan reached us without trouble. She sold off everything she needed to, and the Grand Duchess helped her leave at just the right moment.”
In the letter Nerys had previously sent to the Grand Duchess through Aidan, she had requested that the Grand Duchess subtly use her influence with the Imperial Capital Guard so Joan could leave the capital safely. There was no need to worry about any fallout. As a member of the Imperial Family, the Grand Duchess would never be suspected of spiriting away Joan, who had harmed the Imperial Family.
The Grand Duchess, who had lost a maid she cherished like a daughter, had secretly taken a liking to Joan, who helped catch the culprit. Hearing this from Nerys, Dora let out a relieved sigh.
“Everything went just as you planned, Madam? That’s a relief.”
“There are still many things we need to be careful about.”
Looking up at the clear summer sky, Nerys fell into thought.
A huge mess had exploded in the Imperial Capital. Nellusion and Megara would have no choice but to meet urgently at least once.
She could more or less guess the kind of conversation they would have when they met. But that wasn’t actually what mattered. What Nerys wanted to obtain was—
‘Circumstances that will allow the fact that the two of them are working together to reach Abelus.’
Before heading up to Maindulante, Nerys had planted a light suggestion in the mind of the Silver Moon minion Cledwyn had secured. The suggestion was that if he ever saw Nellusion and Megara meet, he should inform Abelus of it before Camille.
The grounds to cast such mind control had been lying around in plain sight. The notion that informing Abelus as quickly as possible would also free Camille sooner… Even for a Silver Moon minion, drilled in extreme loyalty, that much suggestion slipped in without feeling unnatural.
At the same time, there was something else she needed to do: inform Megara that the former Duke Elandria was still alive.
Only then could the tattered lump of flesh called the Imperial Family be placed on the plate for the first time.
“It’s getting closer.”
Nerys murmured quietly.