Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: In Vulgar Terms, "Pillowside Litigation"
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"In vulgar terms, it's called 'pillowside litigation'."
Eisen explained with utmost seriousness.
Though derisively called that in common parlance, there was no surer way to sway the heart of a rigid power-holder.
Especially for a henpecked husband like the Northguard Grand Duke.
"There are two objectives. First, security."
The baron held up a finger.
"A conversation in the most private of spaces means there's no worry of information leaking to the outside—of Kara siding with Northguard over abandoning Slokina Kingdom, that is. No risk of Slokina spies catching wind."
"Ah..."
"Second, a pardon."
The baron's voice lowered.
"By having Lady Kara do what only she can, we ease her guilt... and create grounds for her to be protected as a 'coerced victim' if everything comes to light later."
"...!"
"If you want to save her, you must make her break her own chains. You need to instill that courage in her, young master."
Kairun stared blankly at Eisen.
A way to turn his mother from criminal into victim—and save her.
A way to break his father's stubbornness and free his brother.
Every puzzle piece fell into place.
Life flickered back into Kairun's fading red eyes.
It felt like a blockage in his chest had burst open.
He knew exactly what he had to do.
And how to end this hell.
"...I understand."
Kairun clenched his fist tight.
"I'll... persuade Mother. No, give her courage."
"I believe in you, young master."
'Ha... Coming here in person was the right call.'
Just listening to Eisen's plan from the sidelines had cleared my own head.
'Gotta keep moving. Waiting around isn't my style.'
In the Grand Duchess's bedroom, Kara sat before her vanity, staring into the mirror.
The face reflected back was a stranger's.
No trace remained of the once-beloved wife or revered Grand Duchess.
Just an ugly sinner who'd poisoned her own son to survive.
'I want to smash it.'
Kara longed to shatter that mirror into pieces.
Then take one of those sharp shards and sever this accursed chain with her own hand.
She believed that was the only path to atonement—for her and for Kairun.
Kara reached out a trembling hand toward the mirror.
But...
"......"
Her hand fell limp before it even touched the glass.
No strength left in it.
Was it from eating the tart she'd made for Karl every day?
Or had guilt gnawed her soul until it paralyzed her body too?
Kara despaired at her own frailty—not even enough strength to break a single mirror.
'I can't even die on my own terms...'
Click.
The door opened then, and someone entered.
Kairun stood in the doorway.
Kara couldn't lift her head.
She lacked the courage to face her son, even through the mirror.
She couldn't bear the contempt and hatred in his eyes now that he'd seen her ugly true face.
Kara bowed her head deeply and squeezed her eyes shut.
Step, step.
Footsteps drew near.
And stopped.
"...Mother."
The voice that came was calmer than she'd expected.
Swish.
Cloth rustled as Kairun knelt on one knee beside her chair.
He looked up at his bowed mother's face, matching her eye level.
"Please open your eyes."
"......"
When Kara finally pried her eyes open with effort, her son's red gaze held her own.
That look was resolute.
The eyes she'd once shaken now gleamed with the focus of her healthy days.
"Baron Eisen has come."
"...The baron?"
"Yes. And... I've told him everything."
Kairun confessed steadily.
"Slokina's blackmail, what you did, what Brother went through—all of it."
"Ah..."
It had come, as expected.
The family's shame laid bare.
Now everything was over.
But relief washed over her first.
'What a relief.'
Days like carrying a ticking time bomb, never knowing when it'd blow.
She'd wanted to get caught.
Wanted someone to stop her.
And Kairun had chosen.
Not to cover up his mother's sins, but to expose and right them.
Not as Slokina's puppet, but as Northguard's master.
'Thank goodness... truly.'
Kara thought, tears streaming down.
My son is stronger than me.
Unlike his mother, who couldn't even become a monster, he's grown up right.
"Mother."
Kairun took her cold hand.
"I have a request."
"...Speak. If it costs my life, so be it."
"No, it's not that."
Kairun shook his head.
"I... love both Brother and you."
"...!"
"I don't want to lose anyone. So... Master Eisen found a way. The only path where you both can live."
Kairun explained Baron Eisen's pillowside litigation plan.
A word to her agonizing husband about Karl's care—slipping free of Slokina's grasp and securing future pardon.
"Father loves you."
Kairun said with conviction.
"Tonight, just put in a word about Brother's care. We'll handle the rest. Please... find your courage."
Kara looked into her son's eyes.
The little boy who'd always hidden behind her for protection.
Now grown, leading his criminal mother forward.
Strength flowed from his firm grip.
'Yes. For Karl...'
She could no longer hide in helplessness.
Kara pressed her trembling lips together and slowly nodded.
"...Understood. I'll do it."
Kara took her second step in life, driven by her own will.
The first had been before the assassination order—when she'd told the craftsman she'd learn dessert-making to let Karl taste grapefruit tart.
"And..."
Kairun added one final word.
"Mother is Northguard."
"Even if Young Master Karl's matter is resolved... we still have one more mountain to climb."
Eisen spoke as they walked the corridor.
The topic shifted back to that infernal dormitory issue.
"We had the guts to cross the snow mountains, yet we're scared to wade a stream lest our feet get wet."
"Couldn't agree more."
I nodded bitterly.
"That's why, Sir Barg."
Eisen glanced slyly at me.
Mischief danced in his eyes.
"Before coming to the Grand Duke's castle, I thought up a 'last resort' on my own."
"A last resort? Some groundbreaking legislation strike you?"
My eyes lit up with anticipation.
If the empire's top administrator had a ploy, it'd be a sharp legal or bureaucratic jab at the loopholes.
But...
"That wall-climbing you showed off before leaving."
"......Pardon?"
I doubted my ears.
Wall-climbing?
That blunder I'd made in my haste to greet Kara?
"What does... that have to do with the dormitory?"
"A huge connection."
Eisen began explaining, his mouth twitching despite his serious face.
"If the academy insists on separate rooms despite opposition... you use that skill every night."
"......"
"Climbing walls, slipping through windows, dodging guards—all for your overwhelming love. Repeat that exaggerated Romeo act."
"......"
"Clear rules violation, sure. Deductions aplenty. But not expulsion-worthy. Each time, plead 'love made me do it,' 'my pregnant wife calls for me nightly'—stir up a fuss daily. What happens then?"
Eisen concluded without dropping his grin.
"The dean gets fed up eventually: 'This is ridiculous! Just share a room! Can't sleep with you idiots!' And caves, right?"
"......"
I halted mid-stride, dazed.
Then Eisen's dean impression replayed, and I burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Never thought you'd suggest such a thuggish... no, audacious joke, Baron. Just to lighten the mood?"
A proper noble proposing a nuisance tactic?
Unexpected, indeed.
"Who knows."
Eisen shrugged.
"Half joke, half serious... but keep it as a 'final bastion' for true desperation. The Imperial Academy has a soft spot for romance, surprisingly."
"Romance, huh..."
I chuckled and shook my head.
'He won't really make me do it. Even I have my pride.'
A barbarian scaling the women's dorm nightly?
Prime material for pervert stalker charges and irons.
But Eisen looked utterly relaxed.
"They say teacher-student bonds are vertical. Knowledge flows down like water."
Eisen slowed to match my stride.
"But no relationship in the world is purely one-way. Even teachers learn."
"What could I have taught you, Baron?"
"Much. Especially... breaking norms with audacity."
"Audacity?"
"You've outdone everything I've taught you, Sir Barg."
'Maybe... raw shock trumps intricate schemes and logic after all.'
Rigid academy rules impervious to straight attacks.
To breach those walls, a sledgehammer shock might beat a needle's prick.
One condition, though.
'That shock must be wrapped in irrefutable justification... backed by unassailable power.'
With immense, untouchable might behind it, any audacity becomes romance or exception.
Young Master Karl's convalescence.
And...
His Highness the Prince's approval.
Those two pillars could make a fine bargaining chip for the dormitory.
We'd reached Karl's annex office unnoticed.
Before grasping the knob, Eisen leaned in and whispered.
"Sir Barg. If this goes well... I have a dormitory solution too."
"A solution?"
"Here's a hint."
Eisen smiled faintly.
"Slipping our modest audacity into the precarious gap between massive, irresistible shocks."
"......?"
"Details later."
Eisen left those loaded words and knocked.
Knock knock.
"It's Eisen. May we enter?"
Tension hung thick in Karl's office.
Karl sat in his wheelchair.
And brazenly perched on his desk was Fourth Prince Radians.
Old friends, yet the air crackled ominously.
"Don't refuse, Karl."
Radians said gravely.
"Who else but you for this vital mission?"
"......"
Karl shook his head, averting his gaze.
"Return to the palace, Your Highness. I'm already... the family disgrace."
Karl's voice quavered.
"What can a crippled fool who can't use his legs do at the academy? Just invite mockery from students. Taint Northguard's honor."
"Haa..."
Radians sighed deeply, raking a hand through his hair.
"Don't 'Your Highness' me. We're friends... how long will you draw lines?"
He slid off the desk and bent to Karl's eye level.
"The Karl von Northguard I knew wasn't such a coward."
"...!"
"Coward" made Karl's brow twitch.
But he couldn't retort.
It was true.
Radians gripped the wheelchair arm, his golden eyes piercing.
"So what if your legs don't work?"
Radians said plainly.
"Your mind's fine. Sharper than before, even. You solved every puzzle I sent."
"That was... just a pastime..."
"Pastime? My genius pupils struggled with those."
Radians smirked.
"That talent rotting in your room... the empire needs it. I need it."
"......"
"Don't hide in shadows from fate or inferiority. It's a sin against you—and those who love you."
Radians clasped Karl's shoulder.
"Come to the academy, Karl."
"Your Highness..."
"Show the world you're still kicking—that your intellect hasn't rusted."
Strength filled Radians's voice.
"Wheelchair or not, you're still Karl von Northguard. No one can dismiss you... my friend."
"......"
"The empire—and I—need you."
His friend's earnest plea thawed Karl's frozen gaze.
'Needs me.'
The self he'd thought useless.
Discarded.
A friend still needed him.
A brother still loved him.
And the benefactor and mentor who'd saved that brother needed him too.
Embers deep in his chest reignited.
'Can I... start over?'
Could this broken body still help someone?
In that clash of fear and hope...
Knock knock.
A knock shattered the silence.
"It's Eisen. May we enter?"
A familiar, reassuring voice.
Radians grinned and stood.
"Perfect timing. Reinforcements."
Karl wiped his damp eyes and replied shakily.
"...Come in."
The door opened, and Baron Eisen and Barg entered.