The Mad Dog's Intervention
The central conference room of the Grand Duke's Castle was usually steeped in silence, but today a taut tension crackled through the air.
"Your Highness. I beg you to reconsider."
Baron leaned arrogantly against one corner of the meeting table as he spoke. "That relief food that arrived as if by some miracle. Distributing supplies of unknown origin straight to the citizens and soldiers is far too dangerous."
At Baron's words, the corrupt nobles who followed him all nodded in unison.
"Exactly, Your Highness! What if that food has been poisoned?"
"It is only proper that our noble council collectively confiscate the supplies, subject them to thorough inspection and systematic management, and only then distribute them!"
They packaged it as reasonable advice, but their true intentions were obvious. It was a scheme to siphon off the food in the middle, fill their own bellies, and resell it to the citizens at inflated prices for massive profit.
Giselle, seated at the head of the table, looked down at them with cold eyes.
"I refuse."
The conference room buzzed at that single sentence. Giselle drove the point home with an unwavering voice.
"Whether or not it contains poison has already been thoroughly verified. This food must be distributed as quickly as possible to the citizens who are starving to death and the frontline soldiers enduring this bitter cold. There is no reason for the noble council to intervene and waste time."
"However, Your Highness!"
Baron raised his voice without yielding. Having bribed the 8th Prince Kael yesterday, he now firmly believed he had a solid backer. The thought that an Imperial pawn like the prince would support him left him blind to any danger.
"I offer this counsel only because Your Highness seems to have overworked herself day and night, clouding your judgment! How can you so readily dismiss the reasonable advice of your loyal retainers? If the citizens' discontent with the Grand Ducal family's arbitrary rule erupts...!"
"...Baron. You're crossing the line."
"BARON!! How dare you run that filthy mouth of yours!"
Unable to hold back any longer, Knight Commander Hexion drew his sword. But Baron merely scoffed. If they suppressed the nobles' opposition with force, it would only hand the Imperial family—who constantly eyed the North with greed—exactly the excuse they needed.
The air in the conference room grew feverish.
Then.
BANG!!
"Goddamn it, what the hell is all this squawking since morning? It's echoing all the way to the annex."
A staggering gait. A half-empty wine bottle in one hand. A reddened neck visible between the half-undone buttons of his shirt. To anyone looking, it was the 8th Prince Kael, already soaked in alcohol since morning, entering the conference room with a deep scowl.
At his appearance, both Giselle's and Hexion's faces hardened. In contrast, Baron’s expression brightened.
He's here! Finally, His Highness has come to take my side and crush that arrogant Grand Duchess bitch!
Baron shot up from his chair and scurried over to Kael, bowing obsequiously.
"Oh, Your Highness the Prince! You've arrived at the perfect moment! We were offering the Grand Duchess reasonable counsel for the sake of the territory, yet she has acted arbitrarily...!"
CRASH!!
Before Baron could finish, Kael slammed the wine bottle at the man's feet. Glass shards flew in every direction as dark red wine splashed across Baron's shoes and pant cuffs.
"Eek?!"
Baron shrieked and stumbled backward. Every person in the conference room froze, breath caught in their throats.
"Reasonable counsel?"
Kael looked down at Baron, lips curling into a smirk.
"Hey, you pig bastard. Who the fuck do you think you are, running your mouth in front of me, you backwater baron nobody?"
"Y-Your Highness...?"
The smiling prince who had happily accepted the pouch of gold coins yesterday was nowhere to be seen. Baron's face drained of all color at the unexpected turn.
Kael irritably ground the spilled wine into the floor with his heel and continued.
"Looks like you want to undermine the Grand Duchess and skim the food for yourselves. Since I'm in a really shitty mood, I'll say just one thing."
He kicked the conference table hard and roared.
"If you bastards eat all the food in the middle and the starving citizens rise up with torches in a riot, it'll ruin my only comfortable leisure time trapped in this cold, annoying castle! If even one rock flies through my annex window, are you fuckers going to take responsibility? Huh?!"
The sheer audacity of spouting such selfish nonsense when he himself had pocketed the Grand Duchess's 100,000 gold as luxury spending left everyone speechless. Yet no one dared refute him simply because he was a prince.
"I don't give a damn whether the Grand Duchess blocks magical beasts outside or feeds the people. Just don't create annoying problems for me."
Kael swept his gaze across Baron and the corrupt nobles one by one. It was the look one gave to insects.
"If I hear any more of that grating squawking, I'll charge the lot of you with Imperial Desecration and chop off every single one of your heads. Got it?!"
"Eek...! Y-yes, understood!"
"We will keep it in mind, Your Highness!"
Completely crushed by his aura, the nobles kept nodding frantically, faces pale as sheets.
Only then did Baron realize he had made a grave miscalculation. He had thought the prince was an Imperial chess piece that could be tamed with a few coins. But the man before him was an uncontrollable mad dog that bit indiscriminately according to its mood, unable to tell friend from foe.
"Y-yes, understood, Your Highness...! I will keep it in mind, over and over...!"
In the end, Baron bowed his trembling head. The momentum the nobles had used to pressure the Grand Duchess moments ago crumbled like late autumn leaves.
Kael finally snorted in satisfaction. He turned and flashed a smirk at the dazed, frozen Giselle.
"So, Grand Duchess, stop wasting time on pointless power struggles and just focus on keeping those beast bastards outside in check. I'm going back to sleep some more."
Kael stuffed both hands in his pockets and sauntered out of the conference room with a sloppy gait. Only a heavy silence, as if cold water had been poured over everything, remained in his wake.
......
Giselle remained seated at the head of the table, staring at the spot where Kael had stood.
Her mind was a tangled mess. His behavior just now had clearly been that of the worst kind of trash—openly ignoring her and mocking the North. He had thrown a tantrum for the purely selfish reason of not wanting his comfortable leisure disturbed.
Yet what was the result?
With a single rampage, Kael had blown away the pressure from the corrupt nobles who had been tightening the noose around her neck like so much dust. He had used the absolute authority of the Imperial family to shatter a political threat that had been difficult for her to handle directly due to issues of justification and face.
Almost as if he had protected her.
As a result, Giselle had fully secured control over the food distribution.
No. That can't be it.
Giselle shook her head. This was the same man who had openly mocked her just yesterday, claiming she had spent 100,000 gold on entertainment. Hadn't she blamed herself for showing mercy to a beast?
It had to be a coincidence. His uncontrollable madness and selfishness had simply, by pure chance, aligned to produce a favorable outcome.
But......
Grand Duchess, stop quarreling with those useless bastards and disturbing my rest time.
That annoying smile he had given her at the end kept flickering before her eyes. It felt as though something else was hidden behind it.
Is that man... really nothing more than an unpredictable lunatic?
Giselle suppressed her confused heart and let out a small sigh.
Deep in the night, in the back alleys on the outskirts of the territory.
I walked through the snow-covered alley with my robe pulled low over my face, recalling what had happened that morning.
"Haa, shit..."
From what I heard outside the conference room, those old fart nobles were acting like total dicks, trying to use the food I had busted my ass to obtain just to stuff their own faces. So I got pissed and said something, but...
"Nothing bad will come of it, right?"
Thinking back, I might have gotten a little too heated. Still, what was I supposed to do? If I had bowed and scraped to them there, it would've been like openly advertising 'I'm working with this guy!!' Besides, how could I stand by and watch them torment our Giselle?
Ah, but aren't I the one tormenting her the most?
Anyway. No matter how committed I am to the maniac prince act, I think I went a bit overboard this time. Even Giselle froze in shock.
Of course the logic itself was sound, but it was risky. It could have raised suspicions. Too close for comfort.
"...I really need to hold back next time."
If I keep making a scene and draw too much attention, it'll mess up the original plan.
I shook my head and headed down into the basement of the familiar old tavern.
Creak.
"You're here?"
As always, amid thick clouds of incense smoke, Viola lay sprawled across the sofa and greeted me with a languid smile.
I immediately pulled a thick leather pouch from inside my robe and tossed it onto the table.
Clink!
"Hmm?"
She sat up, opened the pouch, and took out one of the shining gold coins. She bit it lightly with her teeth.
"Oh my, these are real gold coins? And this much..."
Viola looked up at me.
"What did you do, Prince? Rob some noble walking down the street?"
"I took it from a guy named Baron."
"That Baron in charge of the North's 2nd Defense Line? Why would that miser give you such a large sum?"
"He thinks I'm on his side and is trying to curry favor. Well, he's someone I'll be squeezing a lot more out of in the future, but for now I need to put out the immediate fire with this."
I dropped heavily into the chair across from Viola.
"I'm using every last coin. Contact the southern merchants again like last time."
"What are you buying this time? Don't we already have plenty of food?"
"Not food."
I tapped the table with my finger.
"Medical supplies. Especially hemostatics, anesthetics, and bandages—buy up every last one you can get."
The Beast Wave would arrive soon. We had to prepare in advance. I'd love to buy weapons and armor too, but that would stand out too much, so I left them out.
"......"
Viola took the pipe from her mouth and stared at me.
"...Wow."
She let out a chuckle, seemingly dumbfounded.
"Taking bribes from a traitor trying to sell out the North and using that money to buy medicine for the northern forces who will fight the magical beasts? And the one doing it is none other than the Empire's maniac 8th Prince?"
Viola leaned across the table with a wicked grin.
"Prince, you really are evil. Completely my type. Why don't you quit the Imperial family and come work under me? If the two of us join hands, we could easily devour an entire continent."
"Stop talking nonsense and just do the job. We don't have time."
I smirked and continued.
"Oh, and one more request. Track the recent financial flows of that Baron and his close noble associates."
"Financial flows?"
"Yeah. Find out what path the secret funds sent from the Imperial family took and whether there are any other nobles secretly colluding with them. I need a list. Catch every single movement, no matter how minor."
It was essentially a death list.
Viola studied my eyes for a moment, then nodded.
"Got it. Looks like things are about to get bloody. I'll send word to the annex the moment the information comes together."
"I'm counting on you."