Sonnet wept openly, her face buried in her hands, shoulders trembling in small, helpless shudders.
It was a pitiful sight.
“Hic— hic-hic. I thought owning my own home was finally within reach… and now I have to go back to being buried in debt!”
Oberon, who had escorted her in, clicked his tongue softly.
Having heard the full story, the situation was this:
As it turned out, Sonnet had previously been hit with a class-action lawsuit from The Throne of Lybunessia, and a judgment had come down ordering her to pay one billion gold in damages. She had only just managed to repay every last coin of it, and had been on the verge of finally breathing free — when this happened.
“So the Kineart Ducal House has filed another suit against you.”
“Yes! That’s exactly it.”
Riersha looked down at the complaint in her hands.
She had found it strange that Duke Berun Kineart had been so quiet all this time. It seemed, in the end, it had come to this.
“What am I supposed to do now?”
Sonnet clasped her hands together and gazed up at her with desperate eyes.
“Don’t worry, Sonnet.”
“…But this time it’s truly serious.”
Even Duke Kineart would know this wasn’t the kind of matter that could be resolved by dealing with a single commoner, the way it had been before. The fact that he was moving against the Kadimo Troupe — knowing it meant a direct collision with the Arachrene family — spoke for itself.
It has to be Duke Willias helping him.
One of the ducal houses that stood as guardians of the Declair Empire.
The house known for having founded imperial law and produced countless jurists and philosophers.
And yet, a house with plenty to hide.
“This is actually good.”
“…Pardon?”
When Riersha answered with a bright smile, the tears that had been streaming down Sonnet’s face a moment ago vanished entirely.
One of the most powerful ducal houses in the empire was raising a challenge — and somehow that was good?
“Lady Riersha, I feel like my heart is about to shrivel up and die.”
“Mm. I’ll help you, Sonnet. Don’t worry.”
Riersha smiled.
Can things really fall into place this smoothly?
The larger they made the stage, the more grateful she felt. Because that meant it would be all the more dramatic.
“I’m going to step out for a bit!”
And in order to make this situation even more dramatic, there was something she needed to do first.
⁂
Riscal had one hobby.
Collecting rare and unusual things.
He had no particular preference for type or category — and as a result, Riscal had become the owner of the largest auction house in the Declair Empire.
“Young Master Riscal, a piece said to be an ancient relic has appeared in this quarter’s auction — the Staff of the Dracoveil.”
“The Staff of the Dracoveil?”
“Yes. It is said to have been used by the ancient mage Kasiliti Senuart, known as the first-generation Senuart.”
The Staff of the Dracoveil.
It had been crafted by sealing one of the ancient Seven Dragon-Kings, then fashioning a staff from its heart.
A dragon’s heart contained an immense compression of magical power, and it was said that a staff made from such a heart could allow even an ordinary human to reach a realm beyond mortal limits.
And there was only one human ever recorded to have wielded the Staff of the Dracoveil.
That was the first-generation Tower Master — Kasiliti Senuart.
“Hmph. No one short of a tower master could handle something like that.”
“Shall I remove it from the auction list, then?”
“No. That won’t be necessary.”
The more dangerous something was — the more beyond one’s reach — the more certain it was that someone would covet it.
Riscal’s secretary understood the implication immediately and nodded.
“Then shall I finalize the third-quarter guest invitation list and send out the invitations?”
“Do that.”
Riscal replied with mild indifference.
Lately, none of the pieces coming into the auction house had caught his interest.
“Ah, and also… this is the list of clients who have yet to settle their outstanding balances.”
The secretary set a ledger on the desk.
Normally, payment was settled on the spot at auction, but VIP clients were occasionally extended the privilege of receiving their purchases first and paying later.
As a result, VIP clients were, more often than not, nobility.
“Which house?”
“The Yanssen Earldom.”
“How much?”
“Thirty-two billion gold.”
Thirty-two billion gold — that placed it firmly among the premium-tier items in the catalog.
Just as Riscal was beginning to look irritated, there came a knock at the door. It opened, and Riersha peeked her head in through the gap.
“Riscal Oppa, are you busy?”
“Riersha? …Not at all. I was just finishing up.”
Riscal immediately waved at his secretary to get out.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Riersha had been carefully watching the secretary, and the moment he moved toward the door, she broke into a wide smile and scurried inside.
The secretary, who still had a mountain of things left to report, opened his mouth slightly. He had never expected this — not from Riscal, who just a short while ago had been threatening to fire him if he didn’t bring the reports immediately. He almost felt a twinge of betrayal.
“Young Master, I still have several items left to report—”
“I just said I’m not busy.”
“…”
“I’m completely free right now, Riersha.”
Riscal settled onto the sofa.
“What brought you here?”
“Um, well, there’s actually something I was hoping Oppa could help me with.”
“Me?”
Riscal’s eyes lit up. The idea that it was his help she was asking for — not any of their other brothers — seemed to please him considerably.
“What is it?”
“…I need the auction guest invitation list.”
“The invitation list?”
Riscal’s brow furrowed slightly.
An auction house ran on confidentiality above all else. The entire business was built on a foundation of trust between clients.
“Is that not okay?”
Riersha asked carefully, and beside her, the secretary quietly thought to himself:
Of course he’ll say no.
Riscal had poured everything into building this auction house. Becoming the finest auction house in the Declair Empire wasn’t something achieved through a single night’s effort.
The secretary, who had been at Riscal’s side through that entire journey, looked at Riersha with quiet sympathy. She clearly didn’t yet know how strictly Riscal separated his personal and professional lives.
He had coldly refused even Ricador’s requests before. That was Riscal.
“It’s fine.”
…Or so he had been.
The secretary’s expression went blank.
“…Really?!”
Riersha’s face lit up.
“Yeah. What do you need the list for?”
“I need proof that someone took bribes.”
“Bribes?”
Riscal nodded as though he understood immediately.
It was, after all, the purpose behind most of his clients’ visits to the auction house. Spending tens or hundreds of billions of gold in discreet cash transactions was hardly what one would call normal behavior.
“Who are we talking about?”
“Willias.”
“…Did you say Duke Willias’s house, miss?”
The secretary jolted upright.
Riersha nodded in confirmation.
“Yes. I need proof that Duke Willias accepted bribes.”
“That’s not something I can find out on my own.”
“Why not?”
“Everyone buys anonymously.”
There wasn’t a fool alive who would use their real name when making payments like these.
When Riersha’s face fell with visible disappointment, Riscal let out a quiet laugh.
This was the first time his little sister had ever come to him with a request. He wasn’t about to let her leave empty-handed.
“That part we can figure out with Ricador.”
Risideon had taken over the family business and had no external operations to speak of, but the other two brothers were different stories. Ricador ran a rather capable information guild.
“He should be able to find out fairly quickly which noble house laundered funds through us. And considering the kind of bribes that would go to Duke Willias’s house — it wouldn’t be cheap. They’d need something serious, which means there’ll be a trail to follow.”
Riscal said this with easy confidence.
For the Arachrene Ducal House, a sum like that was trivial, but the same couldn’t be said for everyone else. Spending hundreds of billions of gold in a single transaction was genuinely burdensome, no matter who you were.
When Riersha looked at him with sparkling eyes, Riscal felt his shoulders rise so high they might float straight up to the ceiling.
“But why Duke Willias all of a sudden?”
“…Actually, he’s suing the owner of the troupe I have.”
“Who is?”
“Duke Kineart. But it seems like Duke Willias is helping him from behind the scenes.”
Riersha said it with a thoughtful look, as though still working through it. It was nothing more than a guess, but she was almost certain she was right.
The fact that the two houses were close was something even children knew.
“Ah. So basically — those people had the nerve to mess with you, Riersha.”
“No, not me — it’s Sonnet they’re going after—”
“Sure, whatever.”
What mattered was that they had made Riersha care about it.
“Don’t worry, Riersha.”
Riscal smiled — and there was something cold in it.
“I’ll have it sorted out in no time.”
