CHAPTER 82……………………………………
Target
“Thank you for coming. So, how’s business these days? I hear your department stores are still so crowded people can barely squeeze in?”
“Haha, it’s not quite that busy.”
After the duke and Marquis Aragon exchanged a few lighthearted greetings, a strange look passed among the gentlemen gathered around them.
What’s this?
Having worked for years as an intelligence broker, Anje was sensitive to atmosphere, and her eyes narrowed.
As she habitually scanned the people around her from head to toe, something peculiar caught her eye.
Sometimes, people who share the same peculiar traits gather strangely in one spot. Gambling dens, clubs—places with clear purposes tend to attract people of similar inclinations.
There are an awful lot of “mixed charts” today.
A positive way to put “mixed charts” was that someone had many talents… but…
Quietly studying the faces around the duke and herself, Anje shook her head imperceptibly.
People with “mixed personalities” tend to change plans constantly, and “mixed tastes” hinder clear decision-making.
Such people always reveal their true nature in a crisis.
Opportunists who only care about themselves. Especially the marquis—his natal chart is chaotic. Does that mean his ancestors were the type to sell out their own country…?
And what would a child raised by such parents learn?
Marquis Aragon cast Anje a vicious look, staring openly at her in a way that bordered on rude. But being mindful of Duke Saide standing beside him, he forced a smile onto his face.
“Vacation season is coming up. Where are you planning to go, Your Grace?”
“Well… I only recently returned from the battlefield, and work has piled up. So I’m thinking of staying in my townhouse in the capital this summer.”
“Ha! You’ve already forgotten how unbearably hot the capital gets during wartime? Once the heat starts, you’ll be too lethargic to work at all. Instead of wasting the summer, why don’t you come south with us?”
“The south, you say?”
Was he talking about the place he had risked his life to defend? A land blessed with mild weather year-round, fertile soil, and abundant harvests.
The land that had been the cause of the recent war.
Joseph Saide went to war—staking his life—not for glory, but for the grain harvested from the vast fields of the south.
His domain sat along one of the empire’s major ports, and had grown into a commercial hub. With that wealth, he bought massive amounts of grain every autumn and survived the year with his stockpiles.
But if the kingdom seized the southern breadbasket, grain prices would skyrocket.
Some argued he could simply raise port fees, but that would inevitably cause inflation. And inflation would hurt his commercial territory.
So the duke had no choice but to go to war.
The emperor, who had always been lukewarm toward the kingdom’s provocations, declared war only at the last possible moment—and then had the audacity to sit back and do nothing once war actually loomed.
Thus Duke Saide had to shoulder the entire cost of the war himself.
He did later receive spoils and compensation from the emperor, but really—what “adequate compensation” for war could ever exist?
In that war, Joseph Saide lost many knights and soldiers.
Even now, he sometimes dreamed of standing alone in a pool of blood, with all his men dead around him. After nights like that, he would inevitably suffer several sleepless days.
And now they wanted him to vacation there? Had their brains rotted from living so comfortably in the rear while he crawled through mud on the battlefield?
“Ah! I suppose it might still be uncomfortable for you. Understandable.”
Marquis Aragon, smiling pleasantly, clapped Duke Saide on the shoulder.
But he couldn’t hide the smirk tugging at his thick lips. Nor the contempt glittering in his bulging, toad-like eyes.
“But it’s been a while since the war ended. A man shouldn’t cling to old memories forever. Why not come with us? Traveling is always more fun with a crowd. Besides, there are matters I need to discuss with you. Things I want to show you.”
Ironically, it was Marquis Aragon—whose own lands lay in the south—who had benefited most from Duke Saide’s efforts in the war.
Yet during the entire conflict, the marquis hadn’t contributed so much as a crust of bread. And now he dared to talk like this…
The duke clenched his fist, about to retort, when the quiet black-haired head beside him suddenly leaned forward.
“Pardon me, Your Excellency, but it was only last winter.”
“… What? What did you say?”
Marquis Aragon blinked, unable to believe what he’d heard.
She was supposedly a fallen noble serving as an aide? Since she always kept silently to the duke’s side, he had assumed she at least knew her place—but clearly the rumors about her boldness were true. His startled eyes fixed on Anje.
“I said, the war ended only last winter.”
Unbothered, Anje smiled brightly, her eyes folding—though she didn’t bother to hide the coldness beneath them.
“You spoke as if it were ages ago, so I thought you’d simply forgotten. At your age, it can happen. I understand.”
Without any pretense of tact, Anje delivered the implication—your mind must be slipping—with complete innocence, locking gazes with the marquis.
“Well, well! I tolerated you only because you came with the duke.”
Marquis Aragon leaned in threateningly.
Duke Saide stiffened and stepped forward to intervene—but then paused.
Anje’s small hand was firmly gripping his, as if to hold him back.
“I can’t put up with this anymore. Don’t act high and mighty just because you came with the duke. And Duke—shall we move somewhere else to talk? We need to plan the trip in detail. Oh, and I recently remodeled the smoking room. There’s a new billiards table, and a fresh cabinet for whiskey and wine.”
He smiled and started toward the duke, but Anje blocked him again.
“About that trip—you can discuss it with me instead. I manage all of His Grace’s appointments.”
“A mere aide, and you… No, judging from how forward you are, I suppose…”
With business he wanted from the duke, the marquis couldn’t openly spit out the vulgar words hovering on his lips. He could only glare at Anje.
“If there’s been a misunderstanding, I apologize. I’m simply doing my job. And if I recall correctly, Your Excellency’s lands are in the south, aren’t they? I’ve heard they’re extremely fertile.”
Anje hadn’t expected that all the effort she’d put over the past few months into behaving like a proper young lady would pay off like this.
She’d only memorized etiquette manuals and noble registries to avoid disappointing the lady who supported her—but now…
“I also heard this year’s harvest was excellent.”
Rather than pleased, the marquis looked sour at her compliment.
Of course he did. Precisely because the harvest was so good, grain prices had been plummeting endlessly.
After years of bumper crops, southern storehouses were overflowing. In any other year, Duke Saide would have rushed over with gold in hand. But now the duke remained silent, and the marquis grew increasingly anxious. The south had no other industry besides agriculture.
At last the duke understood their intentions, his eyes drifting to the people around them before settling on Anje.
For someone so oblivious most of the time, she could be uncannily perceptive when it mattered.
As his gaze lowered, he noticed the opal necklace hanging at her throat—and a satisfied smile flickered across his face. She’d protested when he gave it to her, yet it suited her remarkably well.
“As Lady Beaufort says, I suppose I will be able to let grain go for a much lower price than last year. A great thing for the east, isn’t it? Duke?”
Trying to act magnanimous while stealing glances at Duke Saide for reassurance, the marquis was plainly nervous.
He had enjoyed the good old days—when the duke was away at war and the marquis could raise grain prices at will, taking advantage of the east, which had no strong lord. Those were beautiful times indeed.
But this year, the east hadn’t purchased a single grain.
Not only that, but unlike usual—when southern climate changes made grain prices shift unpredictably—the east remained calm.
Rumor even had it that Duke Saide was now searching for new avenues to stabilize the east’s grain supply.
And all of that was because of that woman—Anje.
