The Price Is Your Everything – Chapter 246

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Alecto Isalani had never considered herself lucky.

Her misfortune began the moment she was born—sandwiched between her striking older sister and younger sister. Another stroke of bad luck was realizing she couldn’t earn even ordinary favor from others, and another was being forced to enter Noble Academy. Her misfortune only piled up when she got into a fight with Rhiannon Berta, and that stupid girl’s father happened to inherit the title of Count.

And the worst was getting entangled with Megara Lykeandros—Megara.

‘But.’

It seemed no one was destined to be unlucky forever. These days, Alecto felt refreshed. Megara, who had dragged her around and used her like a maid, had been exposed as lowborn.

Alecto had publicly crushed the girl—favored by the Crown Prince—right in front of their classmates, savoring every bit of it. Afterward, her family criticized her for “what if you incur the Crown Prince’s displeasure,” but Alecto trusted her own excellent analysis. The Crown Prince wouldn’t needlessly antagonize multiple noble families at a time like this.

‘It was the right choice to bring the other kids in.’

That was why she had pressed Megara so hard at that Salon—to give the other families’ children a chance to sympathize. Alecto knew perfectly well that animosity toward Megara had already been inflated, like a leather ball on the verge of bursting.

‘From the start, it was insane that the kids liked her.’

Kind Megara, amazing Megara… Alecto had nearly choked on frustration, wondering what those fools had gotten from that two-faced girl to make them chase after her. Compared to Megara, Alecto was honestly kind—or so she believed.

Megara was clearly being punished for living wickedly. But it still wasn’t enough. With that pretty face, the girl dared to keep breathing in noble society. Alecto had heard Megara had needlessly provoked Natasha Grünehals and dragged her entire family into a pit—yet she’d cleverly snatched a lifeline before being completely ruined.

And what was that, too? She had saved His Highness the Crown Prince from an assassination attempt—by throwing herself in front of him? From the moment Alecto first heard that story, she’d been suspicious. Was Megara really the type to risk her life for someone else?

She didn’t say it aloud, but it was suspicious. So Alecto had been investigating the circumstances in her own way—cautiously, but persistently.

The secrets an ordinary noble young lady could dig up were nothing special. Still, perhaps the luckiest moment of her life was about to appear right in front of her.

But when she learned Megara had been trying to use her like a puppet, caution turned into impatience.

“Oh my, Lady Alecto? Congratulations. It seems you’ve reconciled with Megara, sister.”

Valentin Elandria’s sarcasm poured oil on that impatience. Alecto ground her teeth.

Today’s gathering was a Musical Recital held at Madam Moriah’s mansion. It was a place where musicians—famous for their talent even if their status was relatively low—showcased their skills. This gathering, hosted by a woman who rarely engaged in outside activities, hadn’t existed long, but it had already become one of the most prestigious events in the Imperial Capital.

Naturally, this year’s Academy graduates were desperate to be invited. Salon, Musical Recital, ball… The moment you were admitted into this house, it felt as though your status rose on that fact alone. Madam Moriah was truly picky about who attended her gatherings.

So picky that even Megara—who now seemed able to go anywhere in the Imperial Palace—was being rejected.

Alecto should have been happy to attend a place like this, but she couldn’t shake her anger toward Megara. Especially when people sneered at her like this.

‘Damn it.’

That she was a candidate for Crown Princess was a sweet echo. When her father first told her, Alecto had drifted into a beautiful dream. And when she realized she couldn’t rise to that position the normal way—or enjoy the pleasure of punishing the classmates who had once ignored her—her long-standing hatred burned several times hotter.

She was different. From Natasha, from Megara, and from Valentin Elandria standing in front of her.

After the Elandria family had been half-destroyed, Valentin had grown noticeably quieter. Her boisterous behavior—legendary not only in her own year but across other years—had vanished like a lie, and she attended school like a dead person.

But she wasn’t dead.

‘The only unmarried young lady from a great noble family who’s still alive and well.’

Alecto couldn’t clash head-on with someone like Valentin, who would rise to a great position no matter whom she married. She only let her eyebrows twitch. Valentin, who had glared at Alecto for a moment, turned and walked away. Her face—once cherubic and pretty like a baby in a sacred painting—now looked pale and tired.

‘It’s understandable. Her father died suddenly, and as soon as vacation started, her brother forced her to live with him in a tiny house. I heard the family doesn’t have a penny left now.’

Alecto knew Valentin was picking a fight out of jealousy. She must have thought that if Natasha and Megara couldn’t sit in that position, the next in line would be Alecto. She didn’t have the brains to see the risk of becoming a puppet—or the power struggles between families.

…Wait.

Alecto paused, then followed Valentin.

“Wait a moment, Miss Valentin.”

“What is it?”

Valentin, heading out toward the terrace, turned back and snapped. Alecto grinned.

Few people knew Megara as well as Alecto did. She’d followed her for years, becoming a tool for the schemes Megara invented.

The habit of never dirtying her own hands—always passing the work to someone else.

The heartlessness of clasping hands, then abandoning them the moment she was finished.

The Marquessate of Lykeandros had taken on much of the Crown Prince’s gambling debt. That was what people commonly said about the Crown Prince’s personal property seizure incident that had shaken the Imperial Capital some time ago, but as the daughter of a high-ranking noble, Alecto had heard other rumors as well. She didn’t know how much of the story—that Duke Elandria had tricked the Crown Prince into a fraudulent gambling game—was true.

‘It might be exaggerated. But with Megara’s personality—someone who won’t tolerate losing even a speck of dust—she wouldn’t have taken on that debt without believing she could get the money back.’

If so, who was the backer Megara believed in at the time? If it was the person Alecto had in mind…

Could the stupid girl in front of her—now living in a house her brother had dragged her into—prove it?

“Shall we talk for a bit? Share our regards, and badmouth the people we each hate.”

❖ ❖ ❖

“Talfrin says he’ll stay near the Imperial Capital a bit longer with Diane.”

Nerys spoke with a strange expression after reading the report. Dora, hearing that, asked with concern.

“Does that mean security near the Imperial Capital is stricter than we thought? For Commander Talfrin to decide it’ll be difficult to escape with Miss MacKinnon. Will they be alright?”

“From the tone, it doesn’t sound urgent. He probably just wants everything perfect.”

Nerys knew Talfrin’s meticulous nature well. He wouldn’t have made this decision without reason. If he couldn’t handle it alone, he would have requested more manpower, so he would likely manage on his own.

The fact that Diane, a noble young lady, was alone with an unrelated man was a bit concerning. However, neither of them was the type to allow something unwanted to happen, and in noble society, when a “noble” lived with a “commoner,” it usually wasn’t treated as “a man and a woman alone.” It was treated as “a noble alone.”

If someone extremely picky took interest, there was a chance problems might arise later. But this had happened while Talfrin carried out Nerys’s secret mission, so it could be smoothed over as long as the few people involved kept their mouths shut.

“I’m just sad. I already decorated a bedroom for Diane. Our Diane has hardly ever poured herself a glass of water—I wonder how much she’s suffering.”

Dora smiled at Nerys, who was sincerely lamenting. The usually calm mistress’s face now plainly showed honest affection.

“It’s not like she’s not coming at all. Won’t you be meeting soon?”

“If Talfrin is protecting Diane, it’ll be difficult to see her in the near future. He has a lot to do. Even now, he’ll be too busy to breathe while delivering the information I told him to spread—to the right person, at the right time.”

Nerys’s body was in Maindulante, but she was now participating more actively than ever in the power struggles of the Imperial Capital. If she caused trouble for one noble in the capital, the number of enemies appearing before Cledwyn—marching south—would decrease by a hundred or a thousand.

She smiled.

“It’s best to win without fighting.”

Abelus’s summoning of hostages was certainly effective, and it seemed even the nobles who had hesitated before had provided additional troops. Of course, it would also buy him animosity, but those whose children were taken had no choice.

‘They must think the war will end soon, so they’re only feeling unpleasant. The Academy-graduate nobles haven’t been ordered to the front lines yet, so they must feel safe.’

The order to blockade Carten starting next semester was the same. Parents with children enrolled would likely just wait for the Grand Duke of Maindulante to surrender quickly, so their children would be freed before the cost to the family grew too great. But would things really resolve so easily?

‘There will be no surrender. We prepared for a long war, and there’s no reason to lose.’

When a war expected to end quickly unexpectedly dragged on, morale would drop in any army—unless they had known from the beginning that it would be long.

Having read all kinds of history, Nerys knew how emperors of the past soothed low morale. They granted awards to contributors, spread propaganda… and eventually sent prominent nobles to war on a large scale.

The parents of this year’s graduates—and even parents of students who had not yet graduated—would regret not protesting Abelus more strongly now.

Originally, parents who sent their children to war would burn with even greater hatred toward the enemy. But if those children were absorbed into the enemy’s army as they were…

Would those parents still be able to keep burning with animosity?

“So, is the MacKinnon Trading Company joining us now? Miss MacKinnon—who could have been our greatest weakness—is under our protection. If they claim they lost their daughter due to the Imperial Family’s negligence, wouldn’t that be an excuse to withdraw from the war?”

“That won’t be enough. Too many eyes are watching. The Imperial Family still wants the MacKinnon family’s money, and they know the relationship between the Morier Trading Company and the MacKinnon Trading Company. So the MacKinnon family has to act in a way anyone can see—clearly on the Imperial Family’s side. If the Imperial Family doesn’t like it, they can force the MacKinnon family to break Diane’s enlistment date through illegal means and smuggle her out.”

Since they believed the MacKinnon family was nothing but money, they wouldn’t bother considering whether they were hurting the other side. They would have been even more relieved that Joyce MacKinnon had willingly placed himself in the Imperial Family’s hands.

However, the Empress—who had lived comfortably her entire life—knew little about commerce. She couldn’t imagine what the son of Count MacKinnon, a genius at making money, could do behind the backs of nobles who ignored him and his family. She must have simply lost motivation after the Crown Princess candidate she had tried to bring in herself slipped out of her hands.

Before that, though, there was something Nerys had to do—one of the things Talfrin would do for her.

“It’s time to let the person who wants to know the most learn what Megara did to our dear Grand Princess.”

Many people hated Megara, but the most useful pawns among them were currently gathered in the Imperial Capital. Valentin’s brain was practically nonexistent, but it would be a different story if she was paired with someone smart enough to use her freedom efficiently.

Someone who wouldn’t tell Valentin that the Elandria family would also be harmed when the secret came out, and who would act selfishly to the very end.

When else would the witty Alecto Isalani reveal her wit, if not now?

If not now—when the end was near—then when?

Chapter 246

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