The Crown Prince’s office.
Cantares, Duke Lancelot, Arendt, and Laius, who felt guilty about this situation, all gathered in one place.
“…”
“….”
As the awkward silence continued, Jereon carefully placed tea and snacks in front of them.
He didn’t forget to pack the headache dicine and stomach dicine that he had prepared in advance.
Cantares, who had been pressing his temples, finally opened his mouth.
“…Hey.”
“Why?”
Without the slightest hesitation, a bold answer ca back.
Cantares lifted his head and looked at Arendt with empty eyes.
“Why? Why is the question ‘Why?’ coming out of your mouth right now?”
“Did it co out?”
But Arendt was shaless.
Feeling a surge of emotion, Cantares instinctively reached out for sothing to throw, but soon realized that Duke Lancelot was with him, and barely managed to hold himself back.
Instead, he clenched his fist tightly, unable to direct it anywhere, and snarled.
“…Hey, what are you trying to do? Do you know what kind of rumors are spreading in the Imperial Palace right now?”
“Of course I know. So what? Isn’t it amusing?”
“Amusing? Do you think this is amusing?”
However, despite all his patience, the Crown Prince eventually exploded.
Cantares stood up and started shouting.
“What the hell are you trying to do by gathering all this attention, you crazy idiot!”
“Wait a minute, Your Highness. Calm down. Soone else might be listening…!”
When Duke Lancelot hurriedly tried to dissuade the Crown Prince, Jereon quietly intervened.
“It’s alright. I anticipated that sothing like this might happen soon, so I recently added an extra layer of soundproofing magic.”
“…”
For a mont, Duke Lancelot had a puzzled expression on his face, not knowing how to react to those words.
A mont later, the Duke quietly withdrew the hand he had intended to grab the Crown Prince with.
He realized that if the Crown Prince didn’t get angry, his stomach would likely be torn apart before even inheriting the throne.
“I can hear that the East rchant Group and the Khan Union are at each other’s throats! Are you advertising to the Empire that you are not on good terms?”
“Why have you beco so timid? You used to be so sincere about screwing over the nobles.”
“Screwing over others, sure, but if I’m not careful, I’m the one who’s going to end up screwed.”
As the Crown Prince and the apprentice knight argued, Duke Lancelot and Laius simply stared into space with unfocused eyes.
Laius muttered quietly.
“Aide.”
“Yes?”
“Well done.”
Jereon smiled bitterly at the sincere complint.
If this conversation were to leak out, it would have caused great harm to the Crown Prince’s reputation before the secrets of the Khan Union were revealed.
“In that sense, please give so money. The union leader is worried that the loss will be enormous.”
“You’re going to take it and stuff half of it into your pocket! Do you think I don’t know?”
“Don’t you know about compensation?”
As the situation worsened, Laius let out a short sigh and clenched his fists.
A mont later.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
Only after receiving a solid blow to the back of the head did Arendt finally shut up.
Thanks to Laius punishing him, Cantares also seed to have cald down a little.
Without missing the opportunity, the Duke quickly changed the subject.
“I agree with His Highness, Lord Arendt. This is too dangerous. The East rchant Group is not an easy opponent, and it is not desirable for the Union to surface in this way.”
“Ugh… Why do you think so?”
Arendt raised his head in discontent, rubbing the spot where he had been hit.
“I’m sure I’ve ntioned this before. The more attention gathers, in any form, the more valuable it becos.”
It certainly succeeded in attracting attention.
Starting with the spies who infiltrated the Khan Union and were caught stealing, then humiliated and kicked out, the mudslinging battle between the Union and the East rchant Group had beco the biggest topic of interest for people recently.
That much was within the realm of what the others had anticipated.
But when it beca known that they were not thieves and that Arendt had been present at the scene, public opinion began to take a sowhat strange turn.
There was a rumor going around that was quite close to the truth that Arendt deliberately frad them as thieves and took revenge on the East rchant Group.
Perhaps because of Arendt’s usual personality, everyone seed to accept it with a certain level of credibility.
That was the very thing that was grating on Cantares’ nerves.
It was he who, upon hearing the news from soone else, was horrified and imdiately called for Arendt.
Likewise, Duke Lancelot, who had heard about the Union from his subordinate, hurriedly visited the Crown Prince’s office, and Laius, who felt responsible for all of this, accompanied Arendt, and a eting of this unusual group was established.
“Ha…”
Cantares sighed deeply and frowned.
“The East rchant Group must have deliberately leaked the information.”
“They probably also had the goal of tarnishing Sir Arendt’s honor. But…”
Duke Lancelot glanced at Arendt, trailing off.
Arendt t his eyes and shrugged.
“Let them try.”
No one was surprised that the son of a bitch was acting like a son of a bitch.
It was a similar situation to the fact that the East rchant Group had sent spies and that didn’t cause much of a problem.
“Why do you think the quality of the Khan Union tea suddenly dropped? It must have been sothing done by the East rchant Group. Everyone, unless they were stupid, would have noticed it.”
Arendt continued, picking up a snack.
“It’s not bad since we both took a hit. When you think about it, it’s similar to a card ga.”
“Are you saying we’re each showing one card?”
The Crown Prince, tired of getting angry, asked weakly.
Arendt nodded, stuffing a snack in his mouth.
“That’s right. I guess you could say it’s a gamble where everything is ruined the mont you make a wrong move.”
“It sounds fancy, but it just looks like they’re grabbing each other by the hair and fighting like crazy.”
Duke Lancelot added with a laugh.
The knight frad the spies, and the angry rchant began to seriously interfere with the young n’s business.
It was a perfect dogfight, with both sides sparing no effort in tearing and biting each other.
“That’s right. In fact, you should see it as the essence.”
Arendt nodded lightly.
“The more you play, the more you bury your head in the mud, competing to see who is dirtier and more lethal. The loser gets to be torn to pieces by the world. How about that? Sounds fun, right?”
“…”
Shouldn’t that guy change jobs right now?
It was a thought that occurred to three people at the sa ti.
“…The problem is, as His Highness said earlier, is that too many eyes are focused on the Khan Union.”
Laius let out a short sigh and changed the subject.
“It’ll be fine for the ti being, but if anyone notices anything strange, things will definitely get tricky. The leader of the East rchant Group is definitely not soone to be taken lightly.”
The loss or damage to their reputation was a secondary issue.
The mont the East rchant Group realises the true identity of the Khan Union, everything they had built up until now might be shaken.
Laius glanced at Arendt.
“I think that given your personality, you would have taken this into consideration as well.”
“That’s why we have to fight even dirtier. I hope that it won’t be discovered that His Highness the Crown Prince’s treasure vault is at stake behind this dirty and deadly fight.”
A playful smile appeared on Arendt’s lips as he answered frankly.
“Well, you’ll know when you see it.”
“…”
Those who were watching him all fell silent.
It was a smile that could be seen occasionally, when planning a nasty prank.
And Arendt’s ‘pranks’ always had huge repercussions.
Arendt added, humming.
“There’s still a long way to go. Not a single snake has co out of its burrow.”
Until then, he planned to enjoy this mont a little more.
The Crown Prince let out a quiet exclamation.
“What a really bad-tempered bastard.”
“Well, it’s nothing new.”
Then Laius also looked at Arendt and nodded quietly.
Arendt noticed the gazes on him a beat later and turned his head.
“Why are you looking at like that?”
“…It’s all fine, but take it easy.”
Laius, who had been silent for a mont, spoke as if making a request.
At the familiar words, Arendt didn’t respond but rely shrugged his shoulders.
That evening.
When he returned to his room, there was a huge pile of docunts sent from the Neumann rchant Group.
Upon seeing the stack of docunts piled up next to the desk, Arendt let out a brief exclamation of admiration.
“As expected, they’re fast.”
It seed that Neumann, too, was busy working non-stop.
But, given the circumstances, it couldn’t be helped.
Arendt took off his outer coat, tossed it onto the sofa, and imdiately sat down at his desk.
Silence filled the room.
Occasionally, only the sound of Arendt turning the pages perated the quiet air.
It was well past bedti, and there was no sign of life outside.
At that ti, he was naturally focusing all his attention on analyzing the docunts.
Knock knock.
Arendt looked up in surprise at the knock that broke the silence.
Then, without waiting for an answer, the door opened and Laius suddenly appeared.
“As expected, you weren’t sleeping.”
“…”
Arendt raised his eyebrows as he confird the identity of the intruder.
“That’s what I was going to say. Why are you barging in all of a sudden?”
“I told you to take it easy, but it looks like you’re not even listening to .”
This ti as well, the answer he got was unexpected.
Did Laius ever say such a thing?
Arendt, who had been pondering for a mont, soon recalled the brief conversation he had had in the Crown Prince’s office.
“…Was that sothing you said to ?”
“Then what do you think it was?”
“I thought you were telling to beat them gently.”
Arendt responded with a pout to the captain’s absurd question.
Laius swallowed a sigh, closed the door, and strode inside.
“I never allowed you to co in.”
“It’s the captain’s choice. What’s all that?”
The familiar scolding was now just casually brushed off.
Arendt gave his answer with a look of dissatisfaction on his face.
“The list of the rchant groups who suddenly cut ties with the Khan Union, and the background check on those guys… and so on.”
Laius picked up a folder and looked through it roughly.
In addition to the basic information at the top of each page, all sorts of trivial information was also recorded.
Laius took his eyes off the small letters and looked at Arendt again.
“Are you planning to strike from the inside?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll decide depending on the situation, but for now, I think that’s the most effective thod.”
“I see.”
Instead of saying anything, Laius simply returned the folder to its original spot.
His blue eyes scanned the room.
It was his first ti looking properly at Arendt’s room.
As expected of a neat person, he rarely saw anything other than the bare necessities.
‘It seems like you used to really like luxury items.’
Lately, it seed like his hobby had changed from collecting jewels to collecting oddities.
It was not really clear which one was more beneficial or harmful.
“So what’s your business?”
He was lost in thought for a mont when Arendt’s irritated voice brought him back to reality.
“If you don’t have any business, please leave now. I’m busy.”
“I’ve got sothing to discuss.”
Laius briefly muttered to Arendt, who was looking up at him with defiance in his eyes.
“Sleep.”
“Yes?”
Arendt arched an eyebrow, montarily doubting his ears.
Laius added calmly.
“I know you’ve been barely getting any sleep, just dozing off for short monts on the sofa, pulling all-nighters for days now. Rest.”
“…Didn’t you hear that I was busy?”
“I’ll give you the day off tomorrow, so sleep.”
Arendt spoke questioningly, but Laius pretended not to hear him.
To make matters worse, he reached out and blew out the candle on the desk.
“…?”
Laius didn’t stop there, he even turned off the lamp that had been lighting the room.
In an instant, the room was plunged into darkness.
Only then did Laius, satisfied, say a few words plainly.
“Sleep well.”
Then he left the room without even saying goodbye.
Creak.
The door slamd shut, and Arendt was suddenly left alone in the darkness.
“…”
It was as if he had been taken by surprise.
Arendt could do nothing but stare in disbelief at the spot where Laius had been.
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