Chapter 20
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 20
“Look, Your Majesty! That damn dog of Luxen, who I could chew to pieces and still not be satisfied, is utterly ignoring Pelfe and Your Majesty! How dare he arrive late when the King of Pelfe himself has summoned him!”
Grand Duke Baden’s booming shouts grated on the King’s last nerve. Then again, was the shouting the only grating thing about the Grand Duke?
A century ago, a wave of religious reformation emphasizing a righteous life centered on scripture had swept through West Norfolk. This movement had also influenced the customs of high society, with adultery becoming the prime target for eradication.
Of course, that wasn’t to say adultery had vanished completely. But at the very least, openly boasting about affairs or, especially, officially recognizing illegitimate children became strictly forbidden.
Unfortunately, the winds of reform that blew through the West never quite reached East Norfolk. Perhaps that was why adultery and illegitimate children were still rampant among the Eastern nobility; some lunatics even went so far as to frame it as culture and art. The previous king had been a prime example.
While he was alive, the former king had carried on his affairs openly, without a care for what others thought. Though the queen was alive and well, he had handed over full authority of the royal palace to his mistress, publicly declared her bastard child his own, and even personally bestowed upon him the title of Grand Duke.
“Your Majesty, please send a letter of protest to King Leopold of Luxen!”
And that bastard was Karl von Baden.
The King took off his spectacles in irritation and squeezed his eyes shut.
“One moment you’re happily exchanging letters with Marquis Reinhardt, and the next you want me to send a letter of protest to the King of Luxen? What sort of insult did the Marquis level against you this time?”
“That bastard poured liquor down my throat!”
“Hah.”
It was absurd. So absurd it wasn’t even funny. The King shook his head, but the Grand Duke kept running his mouth.
“This is not a simple act of disrespect! It must be seen as an attempted assassination of a member of Pelfe’s royal family! And what do you mean, ‘happily exchanging letters,’ Your Majesty?”
As Grand Duke Baden’s eyes went wide, the King finally lost his patience and roared.
“Can you truly say that Reinhardt’s influence had nothing to do with you becoming the bank’s president?”
Why else would he have placed such a moron in a position as critical as the President of the Pelfe Bank? It had only been possible because Pelfe’s council had approved it. And the King would bet his crown that the one who had made that possible was Oscar von Reinhardt.
In other words, Oscar, a nobleman of Luxen, had overridden the will of the King of Pelfe to install Grand Duke Baden as the President of the Pelfe Bank.
Reinhardt was ignoring the King of Pelfe? Had that idiot only just realized it? The King clicked his tongue at the Grand Duke’s boundless stupidity.
“Shall I tell you why you ended up in such a state?”
The King leaned forward over the dais, hissing viciously.
“It’s because you foolishly went sniffing around. When I wouldn’t make you the bank president, you latched onto Reinhardt, didn’t you? You took what he offered but were unwilling to pay the price he demanded. Am I wrong?”
Grand Duke Baden’s face turned a mottled red and purple. The veins bulged in his neck and his eyes grew bloodshot—he was the very image of his mother.
“Tell me. What was the price he asked you to pay?”
“Your Majesty, what are you talking about? A price!”
But no matter how wronged he felt, Baden couldn’t possibly speak of the secret verbal agreement between him and Oscar. The moment he did, the King would seize the opportunity to brand him a criminal.
“Was it not my own effort that made me president?”
“Baden!”
The chasm between the half-brothers gaped as wide as a glacial crevasse.
Just then, the tightly shut doors of the audience chamber opened, and an attendant entered cautiously, glancing around. When the King met his eyes, the attendant quietly announced the arrival of their troublesome visitor.
“Your Majesty, Marquis Reinhardt of Luxen has arrived.”
While Grand Duke Baden jumped and whirled toward the door, the King put his spectacles back on. He checked the watch he had been holding, then gestured for the attendant to grant entry.
The attendant bowed respectfully to the King before pushing open the massive doors himself.
Clack, clack.
The unhurried sound of footsteps drifted in first. The leisurely, wide-spaced steps echoed a few times before the man himself appeared.
He was the very person who had stretched their nerves to the breaking point, yet he made his entrance like the guest of honor at a banquet.
As the King’s eyes followed his relaxed gait, his easy smile, and his wandering gaze, he looked at the man’s curly black hair and thought, Even his hair is a lure. It makes a cunning thirty-year-old, whose true thoughts are a mystery, appear like a playful twenty-year-old. And just like that, he lowers his opponent’s guard and slyly obtains whatever he desires.
In that way, the man had not only raised his house by his own strength but had also seized power and wealth so great that not even a king could trifle with him.
Reaching the foot of the dais, Oscar offered a polite greeting.
“I greet His Majesty, the King of Pelfe.”
Grand Duke Baden, who had been glaring daggers at him, heaved his portly body forward.
“Marquis Reinhardt! Lateness? What is this insolence? Do you take the royalty of Pelfe for a joke?”
Oscar glanced from the enthroned King to Grand Duke Baden, then his gaze returned to the King. Wiping the smile from his face, he clasped his hands behind his back like a disciplined soldier and bowed his head briefly.
“The summons was unexpected, so despite my best efforts to hurry, I was late. I ask for your generous understanding.”
The Grand Duke, who had tried to subtly lump himself in with the King under the title of “Pelfe’s royalty,” flushed as if his face would explode when Oscar directed the apology solely to the King. Just as he was about to erupt, the King, who was sick to death of his shouting, cut him off. Unwilling to face Oscar for long, the King asked bluntly.
“I heard there was an unfortunate incident between you and the Grand Duke last night. I’ll ask you straight. Did you pour liquor down the Grand Duke’s throat?”
The King’s expression turned cold in an instant.
Despite being asked if he had poured liquor into the mouth of a Pelfe royal, Oscar’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He merely furrowed his brow for a moment, looked at the Grand Duke, and said, “Well. His Grace the Grand Duke did drink a great deal last night.”
“Don’t try to deny it! You held my mouth shut and poured liquor down my throat! This is an attempted assassination of a royal!”
“…”
Even at the words “attempted assassination of a royal,” not a single crack appeared on his infuriatingly handsome features. He simply stared at the Grand Duke, then, as if struck by a thought, turned his head to look at the floor at his feet. A moment later, he looked up again.
With that small act, the very flow of time seemed to move at Oscar’s command.
“Your Grace.”
“…”
When Grand Duke Baden didn’t answer, Oscar slowly turned his head to face him. He stared directly into the eyes nearly swallowed by flesh and called to him again.
“Your Grace, Grand Duke Baden.”
The call, neither slow nor fast, delivered as if it were nothing of consequence, brought to mind the hand that had casually gripped his throat. The Grand Duke could vividly feel that ruthless grasp on his neck once more.
This was the palace of Pelfe, the King of Pelfe’s own audience chamber. And yet, he felt as stripped bare and helplessly trampled as he had the night before.
Oscar spoke softly.
“Attempted assassination of a royal, you say.”
He blinked a couple of times, then frowned and asked, “Why?”
“…”
“Even if I had done so, there must have been a reason, wouldn’t you agree?”
A sneer was visible on his unsmiling face. His low voice brought back that chilling question.
“The Pelfe Bank. Is there something to it?”
He couldn’t say. The only witness was a prostitute from the Amang Rose Estate, and she hadn’t seemed to be in her right mind. So, there were no witnesses.
“There is no such thing as an act without reason.”
“You… you…”
The fear from the night before washed over the Grand Duke like a trauma, and his breathing grew ragged.
“Hah… hah, hah.”
Then, as dizziness seemed to overtake him, he staggered back a step, then two. Oscar watched him with impassive eyes. Finally, unable to bear the sight any longer, the King shouted fiercely.
“Take the Grand Duke away at once!”
At the King’s command, attendants rushed forward and supported the Grand Duke on either side. A moment ago, he had been raging, vowing to expose Oscar’s atrocities. Now, a shrunken figure, he was carried away.
As the sound of his ragged, death-like gasps and the footsteps of his attendants faded, Oscar remained standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze fixed on the floor. When the audience chamber doors finally closed, he lifted his head to look at the King.
In the entire sequence of standing and shifting his gaze, there was no hesitation, no fear. The only thing one could sense from him was, perhaps, boredom.
For some reason, the King felt certain that Oscar had indeed poured liquor down Baden’s throat. The fact that he seemed to have no intention of hiding it stoked the King’s anxiety.
This was why he had wanted to avoid meeting him if at all possible.
“…”
“…”
After a moment of silence, the King dismissed his retinue. Once even the Royal Guards stationed around the audience chamber had withdrawn, the King took a long breath. When deliberation yielded no answers, a direct approach was best.