Chapter 75
When he turned his head, Lucian was standing at the bottom of the marble stairs of the Imperial Palace.
As his wet hair clung to his nape, Jerome irritably pushed his fingers through to sweep his hair back.
“Right. Did you wrap up the business with the Bardo trading company well?”
“I have completed it without any shortcomings.”
Lucian answered while straightening the collar of his military uniform.
Since there was no longer a need to monitor Agnes, Lucian no longer needed to stay at the trading company.
It was just then that Chloe emerged from behind Lucian, who was standing in a stiff posture.
“Hello, Colonel Winterbolt.”
Despite Chloe bowing with a seductive smile, Jerome responded disinterestedly.
“What is that, Lucian?”
*That.*
The corners of Chloe’s eyes twitched.
However, like a skillful merchant, Chloe brought forth a proposal that Jerome might find tempting.
“Colonel, I heard you’ve had a lot of interest in the House of Marquis Guten lately. Shall I tell you an interesting story?”
***
Entering Jerome’s office, Chloe first scanned the room quickly.
Adrian’s room was also splendid, but this place was on a different level.
This space, packed with expensive decorations wherever one looked, was vividly permeated with the status of royalty.
And among them, the one who held Chloe’s gaze the longest was undoubtedly Jerome.
Jerome, roughly drying his wet hair with a towel, sat on the sofa and nonchalantly put his legs up on the table.
“Go ahead and speak. What is this so-called interesting story.”
At Jerome’s words, Chloe’s smile deepened.
The few days leading up to her arrival here had been, quite literally, a shambles.
As soon as Agnes let go of the trading company’s affairs, the finances she had barely managed to put back on track plummeted in an instant.
Investors cut off dealings, saying they were afraid they might also be implicated with Rebelt,
And Chloe recklessly started various new businesses without a plan, claiming she would cover those losses.
With the trading company’s situation becoming more precarious by the day, the employees were pouring out complaints one by one.
Among them, not a few were saying they should bring Agnes back.
‘Not even funny.’
Chloe snorted and held out an old, crumpled document to Jerome.
“What is this?”
Jerome tapped the document with the tip of his foot.
“It seems my father wasn’t the only one communicating with Rebelt. My half-sister—no.”
Chloe intentionally took a short breath to catch Jerome’s attention.
“It seems the Duchess of Valheim is on extremely intimate terms with a member of Rebelt. For example, a relationship bound by blood?”
The corners of Chloe’s mouth slowly curled up.
In fact, it all started a few days ago because of a frame she coincidentally discovered while rummaging through Adrian’s drawer.
She had found it while digging through luggage with the intention of embezzling personal assets to cover the precarious finances of the trading company.
Who would have known that, quite cutely, a document for the transfer of the trading company’s name would be inside the back of that frame.
Recalling the situation then, Chloe snorted.
‘Ha. Not even funny. To think the trading company’s name is registered under that Agnes!’
Was it not exactly like a dog chasing a chicken only to be left staring at the roof?
Chloe remembered clearly what Adrian had once babbled while heavily drunk.
“I’m telling you, that Agnes is not my daughter. My sister, eh? She’s the child born from her relationship with the Young Marquis Guten!”
Back then, she had kept her mouth shut because it made her stomach turn with envy to think that Agnes had noble blood mixed in, even if it was only half.
But to think that Young Marquis Guten was a member of Rebelt.
Chloe recalled the black-and-white photograph Adrian had hidden, showing Elena and Rael together.
It was definitely the same face she had seen on the Rebelt wanted posters.
This was an opportunity.
“How about it, are you starting to feel a little interested now?”
Chloe’s eyes shone blue.
Whether she became Jerome’s wife in exchange for handing over the weakness regarding Agnes, or at least gained his ‘power’ to back her up.
Chloe had now chosen the most despicable but most certain method of survival.
Furthermore, how could she possibly feel at ease?
‘Where is the guarantee that my name won’t come out of Dad’s mouth?’
She had to escape before the fact that she also participated in arms trafficking became known.
In any case, Adrian was already a sinking ship.
Since she could plummet along with him if she stayed entangled with her father, Chloe solidified the direction she had to take.
“If you want, I’ll also testify that my father has been selling weapons to the enemy since the war. I even know the location of Rebelt’s base.”
“You’ll give all of that to me for free?”
“Hardly.”
Chloe folded her eyes with a smile.
“I believe you will provide a fitting reward.”
***
Lionel Edmund Valheim was fastening the buttons of a neatly ironed formal suit for the first time in a while.
On the desk lay the brooch he had taken from Agnes as if snatching it away.
His mind was tangled, but time indifferently brought the morning of the Eve festival.
As the smooth fabric brushed his fingertips, the peacefulness of daily life he had forgotten while buried in work faintly returned.
However, Lionel Edmund Valheim’s mind was by no means peaceful.
During that time, he had secured several Sercadia figures and hidden them in places where the Emperor’s eyes could not reach, and interrogations were continuing to dig out the reality of the time of the war from them.
The truth of the war was more stagnant than a mud pit.
Also, in the process of investigating the relationship between Agnes and Rael, Lionel Edmund Valheim had to reach the same conclusion three times.
The two were, definitely, father and daughter.
The testimony of the midwife who had secretly assisted with Elena’s childbirth was decisive.
Lionel Edmund Valheim let out a heavy breath and carefully fastened his cuffs.
He finished his preparations to head to the Duke’s residence to escort Agnes, who was attending the Eve festival.
Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since he had seen Agnes.
Seeing her face briefly when she was flushed with fever and unable to distinguish between dream and reality was the last time.
How should he treat her now. Agnes.
Since the danger had not yet completely cleared, he wanted to stop her from attending the Eve festival, but there was no pretext.
Lionel Edmund Valheim intended to have her just show her face this time and then return Agnes straight to the mansion.
He picked up the brooch, then tossed it into the drawer.
At that moment, the envelopes piled inside the drawer came into his view.
“Ah.”
Every single one was a letter from Simon.
Simon had requested he make time, saying there was something he needed to talk about regarding Agnes.
It likely wasn’t anything special.
Agnes was inside the Duke’s residence anyway. In a place safer than anywhere else.
What could possibly be so urgent in such a place.
Since he had heard long ago that Agnes’s fever had subsided, it couldn’t be a health problem.
That was why he had postponed checking them until after finishing urgent business. He had completely forgotten.
Since he happened to have a moment of leisure, Lionel Edmund Valheim picked up one envelope.
And just as he was about to tear it open.
An uninvited guest barged in.
“Oi.”
Jerome leaned arrogantly against the doorframe, slowly swirling a bottle of high-quality liquor in his hand.
“It’s been a while, Colonel Valheim. Care to have a chat with me?”
The rookie knight was flustered in front of the doorframe, having failed to block Jerome.
It was highly unlikely that a common knight could block the path of royalty.
“Colonel Winterbolt, you must not enter so recklessly like this……!”
“Recklessly?”
Jerome’s face, whose mood was twisted by the unsettling word, turned grim.
“To think a mere common knight dares to say ‘recklessly’ to me. I can see the state of the Black Iron Knights’ discipline, ha!”
At the sight of Jerome growling as if a punch might fly at any moment, the rookie knight turned pale and stepped back.
Watching that sight, Lionel Edmund Valheim put down the envelope he was holding and let out a sigh as if it were a nuisance.
“Just keep your business brief.”
At those words, Jerome twisted the corners of his mouth.
“You. Get out of my sight right now.”
Releasing the rookie knight, Jerome strode in, sat at the table, and opened the lid of the liquor bottle.
*Pop.*
The sound of the cork being pulled was lighthearted, unfitting for the situation.
“Just business? That’s good.”
Contrary to his words, Jerome poured a glass full of liquor and drained it down his throat.
“Right. I saw earlier your attire was quite neat.”
Jerome, wiping his mouth, blatantly scanned Lionel Edmund Valheim’s appearance up and down.
“What, were you on your way to escort your wife for the Eve festival or something?”
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