Honey Trap (4)
Big Jack Horner sank deep into the chair in his office, reading the letter in his hand over and over again. It was stationery decorated with vibrant flower illustrations—hardly his daughter’s usual style. It even carried a sweet fragrance that tickled his nose. At the very end, she had written that her new friend Victoria had given it to her as a gift; apparently it was the latest trend among young noble ladies these days. The handwriting was as neat as always, yet between the lines an irrepressible joy subtly shimmered through.
Dear Papa,
I hope you’re well. I’ve made the most wonderful friends! Victoria gave me this lovely stationery—it’s all the rage among the young ladies right now. The flowers are so pretty, aren’t they? I’ve become close with Victoria Mckenzie and Erika Cage, the famous girls from the Academy. And you’ll never believe it—Grand Duke Mikhail himself gave me a second-grade membership ticket! They say it’s terribly expensive. Papa, you must come visit the Far East someday. It’s truly amazing here!
— Your loving daughter, Eleonora
Friends. His daughter had made friends. And not just any friends—prominent academy figures like Victoria Mckenzie and Erika Cage. She had even received an expensive gift: a second-grade membership from Grand Duke Mikhail, and she had urged her father to come see it for himself one day.
Up to that point, it was good. Really good. He could vividly picture his shy, bookish daughter finally enjoying herself with peers her own age.
But.
“Of all people…”
A low groan slipped from Horner’s lips. Why did it have to be that damned Far East Maritime Province? Why did it have to be Mikhail’s faction—those girls rumored to be his mistresses?
“Hendricks.”
Horner called quietly. The man reviewing documents on the opposite sofa lifted his head. A childhood friend and loyal vassal who had stood by him since the earliest days of his business.
“What do you make of this?”
Horner tossed the letter onto the table. Hendricks set his papers aside and picked it up. The longer he read, the tighter his brow furrowed.
“Chairman…”
Hendricks placed the letter down and spoke. “It’s wonderful beyond words that the young lady has made friends, but… this is dangerous.”
“Exactly.”
Horner opened the cigar box on his desk, selected the thickest one, and lit it. Heavy, acrid smoke flooded his lungs.
“Attending the banquet itself is fine. Plenty of other students went, so simply showing your face at an opposing faction’s event isn’t a problem. However…”
Hendricks continued. “Becoming actual ‘friends’ with Grand Duke Mikhail’s people is an entirely different matter. How Her Highness Anastasia will react to this…”
“Fuck.”
A crude curse burst from Horner’s mouth. He laid the half-smoked cigar across the ashtray.
“As if the recent anti-drug policies weren’t already giving me a migraine.”
On top of that, they had caught him distributing raw opium disguised as fertilizer and cocaine masked as baking soda. Naturally, he denied all knowledge, sacrificed a few underlings to the prisons, and stuffed the officials’ pockets with generous bribes. The matter ended with a mere fine. As expected. After all, Big Jack Horner was Anastasia’s man.
But the whole affair had considerably narrowed his standing within the faction.
“Now that I think about it… it’s been quite a while since I last received her favor.”
Sleeping with the empire’s greatest beauty was certainly intoxicating. But far more important was her attention. The problem was that her interest appeared to be cooling.
“Still, it’s satisfying to watch those pathetic back-alley bastards whining about their manpower shortage…”
Horner picked up the cigar again.
“All of this is so my daughter can live well and eat well… and now I’m supposed to tell her to cut ties with the first real friends she’s ever made?”
“It can’t be helped, Chairman.”
Hendricks’ voice was ice-cold. “This is the time to lie low. If rumors spread that the young lady has associated with Grand Duke Mikhail’s faction, Her Highness may use it as an excuse to discard you entirely.”
“I know. I know.”
Horner took a long, deep drag and exhaled slowly. Thick smoke momentarily veiled his face.
“I have to go.”
His voice drifted out from within the haze.
“To the Far East Maritime Province.”
“Chairman?”
“Ordering her around with a single letter isn’t what a father should do. At the very least, I need to look her in the eye and explain. What kind of situation her father is in right now, and why she cannot associate with those friends.”
“……”
Hendricks said nothing. He simply watched his friend and lord in silence.
“I should have told her everything from the very beginning.”
“And what will you tell Her Highness Anastasia?” Hendricks asked at Horner’s lament.
Horner forced a crooked smile.
“I’ll… I’ll just have to explain it well, won’t I?”
He added with a playful expression, “And if words don’t work… I’ll use my body. You know my stamina.”
It was a vulgar joke. Normally Hendricks would have matched it with something even filthier. But he didn’t laugh. He only gazed at Horner with worried eyes.
Horner stared down at the cigar on the ashtray. The once-bright ember had lost its strength and was quietly dying.
“I’ll check the train schedule immediately.”
It was an urgent journey. The moment Big Jack Horner stepped off the train at Vladivostok Station, he was given no time to catch his breath. Employees wearing uniforms stamped with Grand Duke Mikhail’s seal were waiting on the platform. Their manners were courteous, yet beneath the politeness lay an unmistakable pressure that would tolerate no refusal.
“Baron Horner, this way, if you please. His Highness awaits.”
Following their guidance, he arrived at a private room in a Gallic restaurant on the top floor of the Tourism Special Zone resort. When the heavy door opened, the night view of the Far East Maritime Province harbor unfolded beyond the windows, and there—sitting alone at the table—was Grand Duke Mikhail.
“I greet Your High—”
“Skip it.”
Mikhail flicked his hand. At that single gesture, the employees who had escorted Horner withdrew silently and closed the door. Faint presences lingered just outside. Inside the room, only heavy silence remained.
To Horner, who stood rigidly by the door, Mikhail spoke.
“You’ve traveled a long way. Let’s eat first.”
Mikhail jerked his chin toward a small basket on the table. Roughly baked black bread and a modest salt cellar beside it.
“Relax. You know the ‘custom of hospitality,’ don’t you?”
Big Jack Horner swallowed dryly. He forced his stiffened body into motion and took heavy steps forward. Even pulling out the chair and sitting down felt like moving a thousand-pound weight.
The Grand Duke Mikhail before him was smiling. Yet that smile terrified him more than any outburst of rage from Her Highness Anastasia.
“Hmm…”
Mikhail rested his chin on his hand and stared straight at Horner.
“Refusing my hospitality? In that case…”
“No! Not at all, Your Highness!”
Horner cried out before he could stop himself.
“It’s just… it’s far too great an honor…”
With trembling fingers he picked up a piece of bread, lightly dipped it in salt, and placed it in his mouth. The rough texture and salty bite stung his tongue, but he tasted nothing.
“Too great an honor? Come on, you’ve literally slept with a member of the imperial family.”
At Mikhail’s casually tossed remark, Horner’s heart plummeted. His throat closed up; he couldn’t breathe.
Mikhail, seemingly oblivious to Horner’s reaction, swirled the wine in his glass.
“She’s my older sister, but damn… she really is something else.”
“……”
“Already has two children with her husband, yet she’s constantly in heat, jumping from one man to another. And yet her skills are so good that she manages all those lovers and uses them to stand out in the succession race… A true heroine of the age, if there ever was one.”
Cold sweat slid down Horner’s spine.
“Ah, well, adultery is basically standard among nobles. Isn’t it… romantic?”
Mikhail shook his head. The red liquid in his glass looked like blood.
“Is the empire’s greatest beauty truly that intoxicating? At her age?”
“……Your Highness.”
Horner finally spoke, his voice hoarse.
“What… do you want from me?”
He looked at Mikhail with desperate eyes.
“My daughter… is our daughter safe?”
“She’s fine. Doing great, actually.”
Mikhail gave a small laugh.
“She’s a bit timid and introverted, but her parents raised her well. For a rich young lady she’s surprisingly kind. And pretty. When I asked why she hadn’t sent any letters home while she was busy having fun, she panicked and wrote one right away.”
Horner’s mind went completely white.
No way. Could every single thing have been a calculated trap aimed at him from the start?
It made no sense. He was nothing more than an upstart baron who had bought his title with money. If they wanted to strike at Anastasia’s faction, they should have targeted people far higher in status and influence. So why?
“Your Highness, I ask once more. What do you want? I’ll do anything… anything at all.”
“I don’t want anything in particular.”
Mikhail shrugged.
“Well, I just figured it might be nice if we could work together.”
He pulled three letters from his coat and tossed them onto the table.
“Read them.”
With trembling hands, Big Jack Horner picked up the letters. The moment he saw the wax seals on the envelopes, he recognized their senders instantly.
Third Prince Dmitri. Second Prince Clement. And the Saintess Liliana.
The true powers who moved the empire.
Anastasia’s salon was still steeped in decadent fragrance. The sweet yet dizzying scent of opium smoke mingled heavily with the sharp, biting aroma of marijuana. Once, that smell had been like foreplay that stirred Big Jack Horner’s lust.
But not anymore.
The summons had come the moment he returned from the Far East Maritime Province. It had been a while since their last private audience, yet fear outweighed any anticipation.
He was already a traitor. In his heart, he had already knelt before Grand Duke Mikhail. Dmitri, Clement, the Saintess Liliana, and even that insane maniac Mikhail.
This… was dangerous. He had no choice but to betray. At the very least, he could no longer serve her with complete sincerity.
And yet now he had to entwine his body with that woman Anastasia.
Damn it…
If he displeased her even slightly, she would strangle him like before. That had once been pleasurable. Now it was simply a threat to his life.
“I greet Your Highness.”
Before the door to her private chamber, Horner bowed as respectfully as he could manage.
The hedonistic scents that had filled the salon had vanished. Only a cool, expensive perfume brushed against his nose.
“Enter.”
The voice from within was languid, yet a blade-like sharpness hid beneath it.
Horner swallowed dryly and stepped inside. Anastasia reclined on a long chaise, gazing at him. Her figure beneath the thin negligee was still breathtakingly beautiful. Yet Horner felt no desire whatsoever.
“What business took you to the Far East Maritime Province?”
A straightforward question.
“That is…”
Horner gave the answer he had prepared.
“My daughter… unknowingly befriended the wrong people at the banquet. I scolded her thoroughly and brought her back.”
“Oh?”
An intrigued smile curved Anastasia’s lips.
“Raising children is never easy, is it?”
“I apologize, Your Highness.”
Horner bowed deeply once more.
Anastasia rose from her seat. She approached him slowly on bare feet, moving like a graceful cat. Her fingers gently traced upward along his chin.
“For your apology…”
She whispered into his ear.
“I’ll accept it with your body.”
A small glass vial appeared in her hand. Inside swirled a cloudy red liquid.
“Do your best.”
“……”
“If you fall asleep before me… you’ll regret it.”
Horner silently accepted the vial. He uncorked it and downed the contents in one gulp. A foul herbal stench accompanied a burning heat that spread through his entire body.
He forced a smile and squeezed out the last of his bravado.
“Of course, Your Highness.”
Horner stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Anastasia’s waist.
“I am Jack Horner. Big Jack Horner!”