Chapter 234
The Morier Trading Company had been a major force in the commercial world, showing the most remarkable growth in recent years. So when rumors spread that servants of the Elandria family had suddenly broken into the Imperial Capital branch of such a company—in reality, they had merely searched the premises, but that was how the story went—it drew considerable attention.
However, before the malicious rumor that the Elandria family had suddenly acted “to steal money like robbers” could even take root, an even greater shock struck society.
“The ownership of the Villancher Silver Mine has been transferred to a commoner?”
“A trading company founded by a lower noble has occupied Odorus Lake? Half of the drinking water in the Empire’s southeast starts from there!”
Crown Prince Abelus of the Empire of Bistor was wealthy, but that did not mean he could spend all the wealth granted to him as he pleased. The lands traditionally given to the Crown Prince were meant to be passed down intact to the next Crown Prince. In truth, they were treasures of the Imperial Family.
Knowing this well, the nobles doubted their ears when they heard that several such lands—properties they had assumed Abelus was “managing well”—had been divided up and transferred to private trading companies. When they learned the actual circumstances of these transfers, they clicked their tongues until they were tired of it.
“So the ownership hasn’t been transferred, but a real estate lien is being enforced. The government dared to handle His Highness’s property as it pleased, and even borrowed money against it as collateral? One wrong person slipped in.”
No one said aloud that the “wrong person” was the lady everyone had praised until just a few months ago, or that the whole mess began with the Crown Prince’s gambling. Insulting the Imperial Family was a crime, but insulting his mistress was not.
If only one or two trading companies had acquired the bonds secured by the Crown Prince’s property, the problem might have been contained. Perhaps that company would have been large and ambitious enough to want something from the Imperial Family. Then the Imperial Family could have summoned its representative, offered subtle advice, and, after much feigned reluctance, the company would have released its hold on the land.
But that was not how it had unfolded, and that was what plunged the dignity of the Imperial Family into the abyss.
Before the Morier Trading Company disappeared, the trading companies that had acquired its bonds were small to medium-sized, and their owners’ status was low. In other words, they had not occupied the land in order to wrestle with the Imperial Family.
They genuinely wanted the Crown Prince to repay his debts quickly. And, fearing Imperial retaliation once the public lost interest, they resorted to every possible method to spread word of the situation far and wide. If the Imperial Family tried to suppress them quietly now, it would only make the throne look even more ridiculous. It was as if someone had planned from the very beginning to drag the Imperial Family’s reputation through the mud—and all the conditions for that plan had been perfectly met.
In the end, the immediate fire was put out only by draining all the Imperial Family’s surplus funds to repay the debt. But for one person, the fire had only just begun to blaze.
“All right, explain.”
Abelus’s face was dark with fury. Summoned alone to his office, Megara began to plead pitifully. She, too, had suffered enormous losses. Because the promissory note had been issued in her name, she had to scrape together all the assets of the Marquess family to pay back as much as she could.
“Your Highness, I truly had no idea. The head of the Morier Trading Company has such a cunning mind…!”
Bang!
Abelus slammed his desk.
Megara flinched, her eyes widening. Then, hearing his next words, all strength drained from her body.
“You colluded with Nellusion behind my back and toyed with me? Since when?”
He knew.
Trapped in a corner, her thoughts spun even faster. Megara began to sob wretchedly. She needed to know exactly how much Abelus had discovered.
Sure enough, when she stayed silent, Abelus, frustrated, spoke first.
“You were brazen enough to meet in secret at the Council of Nobles, so of course there must have been other meetings before that! How far did it go?”
The bitter tone relieved her. Abelus knew nothing of the other schemes that had passed between Nellusion and her. Despite all the turmoil outside, he had not asked a single question about the Morier Trading Company.
‘He really just suspects an affair.’
The corners of her pretty mouth lifted behind the hand covering her tearful face.
‘Then that’s even better.’
Several days had passed since the day at the Council of Nobles when she learned that all of the Morier Trading Company’s executives had vanished. While Abelus was dealing with those detestable small and medium-sized trading companies, Megara had used the time to plan and steady herself.
She waited until Abelus was on the verge of losing his mind with frustration. Then she confessed in a choked voice, perfectly timing her words.
“Your Highness, how far could it have gone? We—we confirmed it. Just how terribly we were deceived…!”
“What?”
Abelus, whose anger had been rising with complete confidence in his own judgment, faltered.
“Deceived?”
“Think about it, Your Highness. Who is greater than you in this Empire—no, in this entire world? And who is kinder to humble me than you are? Why would I meet another man, leaving behind the love of my destiny?”
That was… true. At Megara’s words, Abelus recalled that she had saved his life, and his wrath softened. Yes, it was strange. A love true enough to stake one’s life on did not simply shift into an affair.
If he had thought a little more deeply, Abelus would never have doubted Megara’s feelings. Or, at the very least, it would have been better if the person suspected of having secret meetings with her had not been Nellusion.
Handsome, intelligent, polite, capable… How many praises had Nellusion heard since childhood? Abelus “absolutely” did not care about such superficial traits. And yet he sometimes felt that women preferred Nellusion to him, the Crown Prince.
So as soon as he heard that Megara had met Nellusion in secret, he summoned her without thinking and scolded her. Megara had woken him up with flawless logic, leaving no room for rebuttal.
Abelus calmed down. Megara approached, perched herself on the desk, and stroked his chin seductively as she whispered.
“Your Highness, we were all deceived. I’ll tell you everything. About how this all began with a loathsome scheme.”
❖ ❖ ❖
Nellusion thought there was something odd about Abelus’s expression.
Yes, Nellusion had severely miscalculated by not shutting down the Morier Trading Company sooner. The chaos that had engulfed the Imperial Family as a result was so great that even if Abelus jumped up and down in fury, there would be nothing strange about it.
So Nellusion assumed that some level of sacrifice was inevitable. In return, he would use the chaos to accomplish as much as possible.
With that in mind, he answered Abelus’s summons and went to his office, only to find no one there but the Crown Prince himself. Nellusion deliberately offered a light greeting, as he often had when they were younger.
“Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Hello? Yes, hello indeed.”
Abelus gave a hearty laugh, then suddenly hurled a pen at him with sharp eyes. Nellusion didn’t so much as flinch when the pen’s tip grazed his cheek.
“Daring to invoke the honor of the Imperial Family and act as you please. Playing tricks behind my back?”
Abelus spat out the words with a cold face.
The atmosphere in the Crown Prince’s office was frigid. Nellusion answered the glare with calm explanation.
“When I referenced the crime of insulting the Imperial Family to suspend the operations of the Morier Trading Company, I meant that all subjects should respect the honor of the Imperial Family, Your Highness. I did not mean that I stand in for that honor.”
The young, greedy male character with Ja’an eyes in Betrayal—though his name had been changed—was a fool whose behavior absolutely warranted being criticized as disrespectful to the Imperial Family’s founder. Abelus should have understood that as well.
Yet Abelus still glared at him with hostility.
“You’re so very impressive. So you brought in the club’s swindlers and played with me?”
The Crown Prince’s office grew as cold as ice.
Nellusion’s annoyingly even expression hardened slightly. With a soft click, the door connecting the office to the reception room opened.
As if she had been waiting, Megara stepped out and approached Abelus, her face pale. Abelus wrapped an arm around her waist and shouted at Nellusion,
“You deceived my Meggie! You deceived me! You dared make the Imperial Family a laughingstock!”
Megara leaned her head against Abelus’s chest and smiled.
Seeing that smile, Nellusion understood the situation at once. Megara had told Abelus about the club.
As Nellusion’s eyes narrowed in disbelief, Abelus scolded him in a voice heavy with authority.
“Don’t blame Meggie. I heard that you and Meggie met in secret, so I asked her. Is it a coincidence that the Morier Trading Company’s promissory notes, which had been conducting normal business, were suddenly rejected at your club—and that you sent knights there immediately afterward?”
“Your Highness.”
Nellusion immediately knelt.
What could he say? Moreover, since there was no way Megara had told the whole story as it really was, Abelus was likely to think the entire club debacle was Nellusion’s fault.
As expected, Abelus berated him for a long time. That even if “you were deceived as well,” why did Meggie have to be dragged into it…
Nellusion accepted the anger in silence. At the same time, he found something about Abelus’s words odd. He was “also deceived”?
Of course Nellusion had been fooled by Nerys. But there was no reason for Megara to reveal that fact to make Nellusion look even slightly pitiful. If Nellusion were painted as an absolute villain, she could receive all of Abelus’s sympathy for herself. Especially when they held each other’s weaknesses, he would have shoved Megara aside and monopolized the Crown Prince’s trust at this opportunity…
After railing at him for a long while, Abelus clicked his tongue sharply.
“Tsk, but the one I detest the most is Grand Duke Cledwyn of Maindulante. That bastard is daring, truly daring! He dares to lay a hand on me? He must have harbored rebellious intentions all along!”
Grand Duke?
Only then did Nellusion feel he was finally grasping something. Abelus continued his tirade.
“I don’t know why the Grand Duke is so obsessed with meddling in my life! Isn’t it enough that he rules the vast north as he pleases, like a monster, and even has a Ja’an wife? He dares to be jealous of me, doesn’t he! Why else would he create a fake club and lure you in, just to steal my money?”
What…?
Nellusion quickly glanced at Megara’s face. Megara snuggled deeper into Abelus’s arms with a satisfied smile.
“That’s right, Your Highness. Everything you say is right. Just think how much disgrace you suffered this time because of that man. Poor thing…”
He had a very bad feeling. Nellusion forced his thoughts to move faster. It was good that Abelus was hostile to Maindulante. But why was this being brought up now, in this context?
Abelus looked at Megara with eyes that seemed even more trusting than before and spoke warmly.
“Yes. The people are so arrogant, saying I can’t tell right from wrong! Meggie, if it hadn’t been for you, I might never have realized just how much I’d lost. I thought my sister alone had been hindering me all this time—but that wasn’t it. I can’t imagine how long he’s been hiding those dark intentions and undermining me.”
Even Nellusion, usually unshakable, was stunned by the sheer magnitude of his persecution complex. Abelus glared at him and declared, each word heavy with conviction, as if his mind were already made up.
“I will hold Maindulante accountable.”
“Your Highness.”
Nellusion finally spoke.
“What kind of accountability do you mean?”
“Why ask the obvious? I need to make him bow his head as a subject. Meggie?”
As if they had already agreed beforehand, Megara stepped away from Abelus’s embrace at his call and explained confidently.
“What else can we do? The Grand Duke is far too arrogant. We’ll have to show them the difference in power. We’ll give the Grand Duke a little punishment.”
“How?”
“It’s nothing complicated.”
Megara looked positively delighted now.
“A small show of force will be enough to put them in their place. Once they realize they can’t even complain when the Imperial Army is trampling through their land, the Grand Duke and his wife will have no choice but to come in person and apologize—to me, to you, and to His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Grand Duke Cledwyn of Maindulante.
Megara knew all too well that Abelus had felt inferior to that strange man for his entire life. So—
‘The couple is one body, so it doesn’t matter which of them it is.’
What difference did it make whether she told the Crown Prince that the owner of the Morier Trading Company was that woman, or that woman’s husband?
As long as she could make Nerys Truydd kneel and beg.