Chapter 65
The Castia Merchant Group vanished overnight.
The warehouse was empty, and the ledgers were all gone.
As if they had been prepared to pack up at any moment, the name Castia erased its presence as if it had never existed from the beginning.
Because of this, customers who had prepared wigs for the Eve Festival made a great fuss, and the capital was in an uproar for a while.
However, that too gradually subsided once the fact that the Castia Merchant Group was a base for Rebelt was revealed.
The Imperial Family immediately issued an investigation order, and the aftermath soon spread to the nobles who had been trading with the Castia Merchant Group.
Among them, in particular, Adrian was the first to have his name put on the investigation list.
After all, he was the merchant leader who had traded with the Castia Merchant Group for the longest period.
And Winterbolt did not miss this opportunity.
As he had initially intended, he tried to frame Agnes as being in league with the Castia Merchant Group.
However, an unexpected wall blocked him.
“The Duchess did something clever.”
Winterbolt chewed on the end of his pipe, filled with rage.
As if she had already anticipated all of this, Agnes had submitted materials to prove her innocence.
Not only were there the transaction ledgers proving that Adrian had led the trades with the Castia Merchant Group,
but she had even secured testimonies from lower-level merchants whose wages were overdue or who had been unfairly dismissed by Adrian.
They spoke with one voice.
“Adrian Bardo was unusually close whenever he traded with the Castia Merchant Group.”
“And strangely, a few days after those trades ended, explosions or terrorist attacks always broke out.”
The evidence Agnes submitted was perfect.
No matter which way one looked at it, no point of contact could be found between the Castia Merchant Group and Agnes.
Winterbolt held those pieces of evidence in his hand, unable to speak for a long time.
Anger rose to his throat, but it was impossible to ensnare Agnes any further.
“Even if it’s not this time, there are plenty of opportunities to deal with that fellow Lionel.”
Winterbolt put aside his burning desire for revenge for a moment and tidied his attire.
Where he stood was the hallway of the Imperial Palace.
With an expression across his face showing he didn’t want to enter, Winterbolt reluctantly stepped into the gold-painted audience chamber.
The Emperor was sitting languidly on the throne, holding a silver cup filled with wine in his hand.
“So, Duke Valheim saw you contacting the Minister of Internal Affairs of Sercadia?”
Winterbolt bowed his head deeply.
“That is so, Your Majesty. I have no excuse.”
“Forget it. I was the fool for entrusting it to you.”
The Emperor shook his head and rubbed his temples.
Winterbolt’s facial muscles twitched at the attitude of being treated like a nuisance.
The war between the Empire and Sercadia was, from the beginning, nothing more than a play with a set script.
At that time, the Emperor had to keep the growing power of Valheim in check as the Imperial authority weakened.
The first leader of Sercadia, who had just established himself, had gained the public’s heart by shouting for equality and freedom, but he needed a provocation to solidify that status.
There was nothing like war to realize the goals of both nations.
A powerful external enemy is, after all, the easiest tool to bind the interior as one.
It was the result of their mutual desires meshing exquisitely.
Since they also needed the fun of generating appropriate profits within the play of war staged like that, the Bardo trading company was utilized.
The Emperor tacitly approved of Adrian’s behavior of supplying weapons to both countries, knowing full well what he was doing. This was because it would further fatten his own pockets.
However, the war once ignited eventually went out of control and became a monster.
And this was the result.
After Sercadia was eventually defeated, the leadership threatened to expose the hidden inside story of this war.
To settle the situation, the Emperor had just promised to quietly open the path for their exile.
“Even so, you are the only blood relative I have, so I entrusted it to you, yet my dim-witted younger brother ruins the work like this.”
At the Emperor’s reproach, Winterbolt’s head, which was bowed low, trembled slightly with a sense of humiliation.
The Emperor continued coldly.
“First, I must clean up the Bardo side.”
It was a waste of the money Adrian had been offering to the Imperial Family every month.
However, now was the time to cut off the tail.
To prevent Lionel Edmund Valheim. from digging up the inside story of the war with Sercadia, the Emperor decided to discard the Bardo trading company first.
“Arrest Adrian Bardo.”
Winterbolt raised his head.
“Then what shall we do with the Duchess?”
The Emperor’s face contorted.
He seemed lost in thought for a moment, then gave a short wave of his hand.
“Leave that for now.”
☆☆☆
The day after Adrian was arrested, the Bardo trading company instantly became a mess.
Documents scattered on the floor, and client merchants flocked to the front yard of the merchant company, shouting loudly.
It was nothing short of a living hell.
However, even in that chaos, Chloe stood her ground and stepped forward to take her share.
“While my father is being investigated, I will take over as the acting merchant leader.”
Everyone knew Chloe did not have the ability for that, but no one dared to voice it.
Their dissatisfaction was only revealed through their expressions and gazes.
Thanks to this, the Bardo trading company surged with instability like a time bomb that wouldn’t be strange if it exploded at any moment.
“It’s restless.”
Arriving in front of the merchant company, Agnes lowered the carriage window halfway and looked outside.
There was no reason to stay here anymore.
The only reason she had returned here was to find traces of Rebelt.
And that goal had already been sufficiently achieved.
‘I should wrap things up now.’
Even though she knew it in her head, a corner of her heart was not easily settled.
The time spent working with Lucian, who was perfectly in sync with her, unexpectedly gave Agnes joy.
And watching the process of the collapsed merchant company slowly regaining order gave her a strange sense of accomplishment.
‘I didn’t know, but… I quite liked this job.’
Before, her only thought was wanting to escape the clutches of Adrian and Chloe.
That was why the Bardo trading company had felt like nothing more than a tedious shackle.
But once she actually started working again, things she couldn’t see before became visible.
The strange thrill felt when a single document found its place or when the figures matched perfectly.
That helped Agnes regain a bit of her lost confidence.
She didn’t know she would be able to feel this kind of emotion again without dancing…
‘But this isn’t my place.’
Agnes tried her best to soothe her fluttering heart.
Once the work with Lucian for the Eve Festival was finished, she wouldn’t have to come here again.
At that moment, long fingers touched the nape of Agnes’s neck.
“Must you go out and settle things? Everything you needed to do is already finished anyway.”
Lionel Edmund Valheim. unceremoniously wound a strand of Agnes’s hair around his finger.
Nonchalantly, as if playing a trivial prank.
The contact was so natural that even Agnes did not realize anything was strange.
“It’s a task that could be handled by sending someone to do the cleanup.”
“Still, I want to finish the work I took on with my own hands.”
“Hmm.”
Lionel Edmund Valheim., with his long legs crossed and leaning against the window, stared at Agnes.
In her eyes, which were like transparent silver trays catching the morning sunlight, a lingering attachment was dwelling.
Realizing this, Lionel Edmund Valheim. slowly tilted his eyebrows.
Then, he intertwined his fingers with Agnes’s hand as she tried to get off the carriage.
It was because a sense of anxiety arose that if he let Agnes go like this, she might not return.
It was a ridiculous thought.
Where would Agnes go if not by his side? No matter what he did, Agnes would return to the Duke’s mansion.
Because that was now Agnes’s home.
However, a deep possessiveness eventually ignited his instinct.
In the moment their breaths touched, without realization, the lips of the two people blended together.
Contrary to his stoic expression, Lionel Edmund Valheim.’s kiss was dense and firm.
The air inside the carriage instantly heated up.
Agnes instinctively held her breath.
After a moment, Lionel Edmund Valheim.’s lips slowly pulled away.
A low voice tickled her ear.
“Did you say you were going to Belle-Air Townhouse today?”
“……Yes. I plan to leave immediately after picking up the documents from the office.”
Agnes barely replied, gasping for breath.
Lionel Edmund Valheim. toyed with Agnes’s lips, which were shimmering with his traces left behind, using his hand.
A red flush slowly spread across Agnes’s cheeks.
“I’ll wait here, so get ready and come out. We’ll go together.”
It was a tone closer to an order given to a subordinate than words spoken to a lover.
Nonetheless, Agnes’s heart beat fast without any sense.
Her cheeks, as she nodded silently, were stained bright red.
The beginning of winter had strode in.
Under the gray sky, white steam spread on the carriage window.
However, the place where Lionel Edmund Valheim.’s lips had brushed remained as hot as if burned by fire.
It felt as if a premature spring breeze were blowing only over her lips.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
