The Marquis Balton Found-Did he say the Emperor’s illegitimate child has been found?
“I heard our people were completely clueless about the trade. From choosing the merchant ship to setting tariffs, not a single decision matched.”
“How terrible. They said they replaced the whole operational team and yet this happened?”
When I answered lightly, the Countess Gote’s eyes lit up.
“Exactly! Everything went wrong from start to finish, so King Phaeron demanded they replace our people entirely. He said we can’t trade with those who don’t even know protocol.”
“So? Did our team get changed?”
“Of course not! We argued the schedule was tight so we should just push forward. But in the end…”
The Countess covered her mouth with a fan, though she couldn’t hide the laughter at the seam of her smile.
“King Phaeron declared the diplomatic ties null and void! His temper is volcanic — who would’ve thought he’d tear up a treaty like that?”
She burst into hearty laughter. I quietly nodded and finished my tea.
—So that’s how it goes. Still, the detailed flow differs from the original story.
In the original, the diplomatic break came after a trading ship loaded with expensive goods wrecked. They’d launched the ship despite bad weather, which turned out to be a fatal mistake. But this time the trade collapsed before it even began.
—Could it be because Marquis Balton interfered?
Perwin had told me most of the people parachuted into this trade were Balton’s hires and those Shailo planted. That seems to have shaped the original plot, too.
“This must have cost a lot of people. Thanks to you, Princess, I avoided heavy losses. I really appreciate it, Your Highness!”
Countess Gote grabbed both my hands.
“If you hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve invested a fortune in that merchant ship.”
“Oh.”
No wonder she’d been in such a good mood earlier. She must’ve avoided a loss because I’d talked her out of investing. The Countess beamed as she asked, “How did you know? That this trade would fail?”
“It’s not that I knew for sure. I just thought the odds were high. Originally, Perwin and I were supposed to handle the trade together.”
“I see. So you had a general idea of how things were run.”
“Yes. When I reviewed the documents, there were many shortcomings.”
I explained as if it were nothing, and the Countess gushed.
“You really are amazing. You had that jewelry business succeed not long ago, and now this insight too!”
Her delighted smile wouldn’t leave her face. How much money had she been about to sink into a merchant ship to be this happy? Reading my question, the Countess said cheerfully, “Heh heh — I bet a lot of people are feeling sick to their stomachs right now.”
“What on earth do you think you can do?”
Seething, the Emperor threw a stack of papers at Marquis Balton. The trade agreement with the Phaeron Kingdom—which was now a pile of torn paper—fluttered through the air.
“My apologies, Your Majesty.”
Balton prostrated himself and bowed deeply. If the matter were small, Shailo might have stepped in and calmed the Emperor, but this was beyond placation.
“Do you know how much we lost because of you? How dare you seat such incompetents in executive positions? You’ve made the Empire a laughingstock!”
The Emperor had taken a severe blow from the broken diplomatic ties. The vast sums poured into establishing relations had evaporated, and the relationship between the two kingdoms was now fragile, endangering diplomatic ties.
“I should’ve entrusted this to the Crown Prince and the Princess instead. What a disgrace — my head aches.”
The Emperor flopped back theatrically. Marquis Balton’s gut burned just as much. He’d staked everything on this diplomatic opening. He’d even plowed enormous sums into investment after getting the inside information early. And he’d appointed all his relatives to key trade positions, drawing complaints from those around him.
“This was the perfect chance to secure the western mana-stone mines, and you blew it!”
“If I may, Your Majesty, didn’t you recently confiscate Baron Garet’s lands? If we send external staff quickly to restart the western mana-stone mine—”
“Are you saying that now? You want people sent there to cover this up?”
The Emperor snapped and then glanced around at his courtiers. What had happened at Garet’s estate was a closely guarded secret within the palace. He lowered his voice.
“And you— I’m told you’ve been using my name to get around. Is that true?”
“Pardon?”
“They say you’ve been poking around the palace, claiming imperial orders. Is that true?”
“……”
So that commander had tattled to the Emperor after all. Balton ground his teeth, and the Emperor issued a thunderclap of an order.
“I am terribly disappointed in you. You will take responsibility for this.”
“What do you mean by ‘responsibility’?”
“You will, by any means, restore the diplomatic ties with the Phaeron Kingdom!”
Marquis Balton’s eyes widened.
“How am I supposed to restore a relationship that’s already over?”
“Well then! Use your sister, flatter the Phaeron king—do whatever it takes to fix this!”
“Your Majesty—”
“If you fail to fix this, your life will not be safe!”
Faced with the Emperor’s unreasonable command, Balton was silenced. He tried to think fast, but no brilliant reversal sprang to mind. In a moment of panic he blurted impulsively, “Your Majesty, it is true I didn’t devote full attention to the trade. But there was a reason.”
“Another excuse?”
The Emperor’s brow knitted.
“We recently discovered someone believed to be of Your Majesty’s blood and have been tracking their movements.”
“What?”
The Emperor’s expression changed instantly. Balton had only said “someone who appears to be of the imperial line,” but the Emperor knew immediately whom he meant. His fingertip trembled slightly.
“Marquis, can you be certain of that?”
“Well, no. We’ve only found someone who resembles the line. We need to investigate further…”
“Is that what you call an explanation?”
The Emperor sprang up. The child had long been buried in a corner of his heart. Once he’d held out hope the child might be alive, but those hopes had been dashed time and again. Each disappointment had broken him. He’d given up that hope long ago, but the faint lingering longing still writhed inside him.
“How dare you toy with me! Get out of my sight!”
The enraged Emperor flung the document frame at Balton.
“That old man and his temper, tsk.”
After the private audience with the Emperor, Marquis Balton slumped into a chair upon returning to Crystal House. His forehead stung from the document the Emperor had hurled; the bleeding had barely stopped and he still felt dizzy.
“Ar—are you all right, master?”
Aiden hurried over to check on him. He’d skipped training today and slipped out to be here. Balton, glaring at Aiden, nodded once.
“And the man?”
“He’s hidden in the closed storeroom behind the knights’ barracks. No one will go there.”
“A storeroom? What if leaving him there makes him worse?”
“I watched him through the night. He doesn’t look too bad. The physician you sent said there’s nothing to worry about.”
Aiden explained desperately, but Balton snorted.
“Hmph. If his consciousness doesn’t return, he’s as good as a corpse.”
Not long ago, the man presumed dead had miraculously come back to life. No one could quite explain how the man who’d been stabbed in the heart revived, but in any case, the trump card to manipulate the Emperor had come back. Still, the man had been hovering between life and death for days.
Balton muttered with displeasure, “It’s taking longer than I thought.”
“What do you mean?”
He glared at the baffled Aiden. “You, bring my daughter here at once.”
“Yes!”
When Balton ordered it, Aiden went straight to fetch Evelyn. Evelyn entered the reception room with practiced poise and greeted her father.
“You summoned me, Father?”
“Steal a few hairs of Lady Shailo’s.”
“Why her hair?”
“I need to find out.”
He intended to request a paternity test at the temple. If he could prove parentage, such results would shake the Emperor more surely than any number of words.
