Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Apology
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“Shall we move somewhere else for a bit?”
“Yes.”
The path from the office to Carion’s study was silent. Neither Carion nor Rachel spoke, simply walking with measured steps.
The heavy footfalls of the escort knight echoed the loudest.
“Have a seat for now.”
A servant who had confirmed Carion’s arrival disappeared briefly to prepare tea.
Rachel felt uncomfortable sitting face-to-face with Carion like this. If he had brushed it off lightly as usual, she could have just cursed him inwardly and moved on.
“I’ll apologize first.”
“Pardon?”
His apology came out of nowhere. Unlike the previous one, it wasn’t lighthearted at all.
“Suddenly?”
“To be honest, I’ve suspected you.”
An apology followed by a confession of suspicion—Rachel couldn’t make sense of it.
“The brother I thought would become king died suddenly, and the youngest, who never set foot in the royal castle, suddenly appeared. The center of all that change seemed to be you, little lady.”
She had heard from Enoch that he suspected her. Rachel neither affirmed nor denied it.
“So I investigated, but there was nothing particularly suspicious.”
A brief silence followed those words. Rachel stared at Carion without moving.
The servant returned pushing a tray. He poured tea into the cups, placed them in front of the two, and stood by.
Carion stirred the tea in front of him once with a silver teaspoon. He checked the spoon before lifting the cup to sip the herbal tea. But he didn’t savor it. The cup dropped back onto the table like a stone.
Clink.
Rachel blinked at the sound.
“That makes it even stranger. When I first saw you, your etiquette was clumsy and you were ordinary. But now, you’re not only proficient in etiquette but exceptional in administrative skills. Your intellect and insight were downright chilling.”
Rachel was surprised by Carion’s high praise. Excluding her regressions, she considered herself ordinary.
No, she thought she lagged behind others.
Her grades were always in the bottom ranks. No matter how hard she studied, the gap never closed.
She was always intimidated and couldn’t make proper friends. Bad at studies, unpopular, and without parents. She had always been lacking.
That was why Carion’s words didn’t resonate.
“If you can think that far, anyone could do it.”
“You’re outsmarting all those administrators. That’s not something anyone can do. Do you think it’s easy to restore a once-nominal organization to normal?”
Rachel’s eyes widened again. She had only mentioned the documents, but Carion was talking about normalizing the administration.
“It must certainly be difficult... right?”
“Exactly. You asked earlier why I couldn’t understand how the administration got into such a mess.”
“Yes.”
“You answered like that because it’s not something to discuss openly. You essentially reorganized the administration, and I’m sorry for acting like it didn’t matter.”
“You know how to apologize too, Your Highness.”
“Of course I do when I’m wrong.”
‘He doesn’t think using that drug on me last time was wrong, though.’
Rachel’s mouth felt bitter. Over the past fortnight, the Carion she dealt with seemed fine except for viewing women as potential threats.
He observed basic etiquette with young noblewomen but didn’t respect them. He suspected and guarded against them.
That was why he didn’t see drugging her out of suspicion as wrong. He even seemed relieved to have eliminated a potential risk.
“To answer your question from earlier, the administration’s mess is, in a way, the royal family’s and nobles’ dirty secret.”
On the day he brought Rachel to the administration, Carion learned it could no longer perform its original duties.
He investigated the cause, and it was quickly revealed.
“It was because of opium.”
“Opium? You mean the administrators are using that now?”
Opium—its other name was opium poppy extract.
“Why so surprised? Do you know its side effects?”
“It’s a drug.”
“A drug? I thought it was a medical remedy.”
Opium extracted from poppy was considered a narcotic in the modern world.
But with its sedative and anesthetic effects, it was treated as medicine in Cudas. Hard to obtain, but no restrictions on use.
“The problem is it’s addictive. Not the current administrators, but the previous ones started using it years ago.”
Carion frowned, tapping the armrest with his index finger.
The administration had been rotting for a long time. A few existing administrators frequented clubs, indulging in gambling and opium, neglecting their duties.
At some point, they took bribes and lured colleagues to the clubs.
Thus, opium addicts proliferated within the administration. Yet the king and high nobles remained oblivious.
“The investigation showed the club owner was Baron Emporus. He was distributing the opium.”
‘No family without dirt.’
Rachel grumbled inwardly, but it explained the baron’s influence.
With the Black Sorcerer, Daimon, and now administrators in his pocket, he was untouchable.
“The baron’s illegal activities were enabled by the administrators’ negligence and laziness. Some turned a blind eye because of the opium.”
Some had directly or indirectly aided Paris Emporus’s crimes.
The mass dismissal from the administration stemmed from their participation in the baron’s illegal slave gladiatorial arena.
But their presence there wasn’t coincidence.
“Perhaps the baron even helped kill my brother.”
“Why do you think that?”
“I checked the funding flow of the baron’s trading company. Some went to Daiman.”
Unlike in the 20th regression, Carion had uncovered the administration’s corruption and linked it to Paris Emporus.
He diligently investigated Rachel and Paris Emporus, leading him to suspect Daiman.
“I suspected your father too, but found the baron blocked him from receiving his title.”
The answer to that question was simple.
“Yes.”
“Honestly, you’re still suspicious, but I’m certain of one thing.”
Rachel wondered what it was.
“What?”
“You don’t want Cudas to fall. Watching your work over the past two weeks, there were no short-sighted solutions. I could see you thinking long-term.”
It was inevitable. Rachel knew the future. She knew the outcomes of policies that patched immediate issues, so she avoided them.
And the reports Rachel painstakingly wrote caught Carion’s eye. It no longer mattered if she was a spy or part of Daiman’s faction.
“You’re suspiciously perfect, but I’ve decided to see you as a talent devoted to Cudas.”
“I wish you hadn’t said the suspicious part. I don’t get your intentions in saying this suddenly.”
“I meant it sincerely, but you feel that way? Regrettable. Just keep lending your wisdom for Cudas going forward.”
Carion didn’t demand loyalty to him or forbid betrayal.
Proud of his bloodline and nation, he only wanted Rachel to serve the country.
“Thank you for seeing me that way. But I hate my efforts going to waste. Before lending my wisdom, I have a condition.”
If Carion’s friend and retainer Louis were here, he’d call it impudent. But Carion crossed his arms, intrigued, waiting for her next words.
“What condition?”
“Become king.”
“You really say dangerous things so casually?”
The king hesitated now, but no one believed Daiman would inherit the throne at this point.
Carion becoming the next king was all but certain, but saying it outright was risky.
Carion asked again in surprise at Rachel’s boldness, her eyes gleaming.
“Not right now. I just don’t want the Third Prince on Cudas’s throne. I can’t stand even a moment in a country ruled by him.”
“Same here.”
Having personally investigated the ties between Paris Emporus and Daiman, he was more proactive than in the 20th regression.
‘Being suspected and working might not be all bad.’
“Then I’ll gladly lend you my wisdom.”
Carion still annoyed her, but not like Daiman. To topple Daiman, Rachel decided to cooperate with Carion.
***
Drip. Drip.
“Eek.”
The sound of dripping water echoed. Between the drops came whimpers like sobs.
The waterway was shrouded in thick darkness. The woman clutched her bleeding right shoulder, running deeper inside.
Behind her, a man in a black hood approached slowly.
“Things got complicated.”
“Hic.”
She knew she shouldn’t make noise, but couldn’t stop the cries escaping her mouth.
She was a seamstress at a famous dress shop. A sudden rush of dress orders kept her working late; she pricked her finger with a needle and went downstairs to find salve.
There, she saw the shop owner mauled by a black beast. At the same time, she spotted a man in a black hood exuding danger.
Her mind flashed a warning. She turned and fled through the emergency exit, but the black beast chased and bit her shoulder.
She desperately shook it off and escaped the shop. But the dawn streets were deserted. Thick clouds hid the moon and stars that night.
“Help!”
She ran frantically, losing a shoe and going barefoot, but felt no pain. Her shoulder burned, but no sense of agony.
Had her cries worked? A figure appeared opposite. She brightened and ran toward him, but—
Crack.
“Kyaaak!”
A sound like bones twisting. It wasn’t human. Standing normally, but its head spun 180 degrees.
Screaming, she veered away from the grotesque thing. The black beast pursued, forcing her into a right alley.
She was out of breath. Through the maze-like alleys to the waterway, but couldn’t shake the beast.
Worse, the black-hooded man followed too.
Hiding in the waterway behind a massive structure controlling water flow, she curled up tightly. But her heart raced. Fear of death paralyzed her reason. Blood from her shoulder pooled on the stone floor.
“I only planned to quietly kill the owner, but you saw it. No choice.”
Footsteps neared. She clamped her mouth with both hands, holding her breath.
The footsteps receded. She slowly rose. But the man’s face appeared behind the structure.
Her scream caught in her throat, only leaking as whistling gasps.
“Blame your bad luck.”
A pale white hand pierced her chest in an instant. She vomited red blood and died.
The black-hooded man—Hel—looked down at the corpse, then stared into empty air.
“Bad luck for me too.”
From the waterway entrance came the click-clack of heels.
“Kehehe, Hel, the baron’s dead.”
“I felt it too, Crow.”
Paris Emporus’s life had just ended. His soul falling into demonic hands was sensed by Crow and Hel.
“He really was a traitor. I should’ve killed him myself!”
Crow regretted not killing Paris Emporus personally. But he soon grinned wickedly, corners of his mouth tearing upward grotesquely.
“No, his soul in demonic hands—that’s more painful?”
But Hel couldn’t enjoy it like Crow. The baron’s soul becoming demonic meant he’d spilled about Hel.
“I was one step too late.”
The royal castle was preparing a party. When security loosened, Hel planned to take the baron’s life himself. But the castle moved faster.
“Did the temple intervene?”
“The temple? Priests? Graaah!”
Mentioning the temple made Crow seize up. He flailed his gaunt arms, screaming.
“Traitor traitor traitor! That Emporus baron who sold me to the temple! I should’ve torn him apart myself!”
Lately, Crow had fits claiming the baron sold him to the temple.
Hel didn’t fully believe him but considered the demon he contracted might have shown him a future vision.
Soon after Crow, who lived in Harpa Castle, sought him out, holy knights and priests arrived there. No coincidence.
“Drugs, I need drugs. It hurts!”
“Ease up on the opium.”
But Hel also suspected Crow’s opium use caused hallucinations and delusions.
Paris Emporus ran poppy farms for opium, extracting and distributing it. Crow, always nearby, had easy access.
In the midst of his fit searching for drugs, Crow suddenly embraced the dead woman, rubbing her hair on his cheek.
“Blond! Blond is beautiful.”
Crow’s dead-fish eyes gleamed as he clutched the corpse’s hair, ecstatic.
Only then did Hel notice the dead woman was blonde.
“You’re obsessed with blondes lately.”
“Blondes are good. But when did I start liking blondes?”
Crow shook his head side to side. His neck seemed about to snap, yet held.
“You’re getting harder to control lately. Move.”
At Hel’s command, Crow clutched the hair tightly and stepped back.
Hel drew a black magic circle with the pooled blood. As it completed and he chanted, the blood rose, enveloping the corpse.
“Dead one, open your eyes.”
The woman’s corpse jerked upright with creaks.
At first, unnatural like twisted joints, but soon smoothed to lifelike naturalness.
Yet it had no heartbeat, no breath. Merely a moving corpse.
Crow watching trembled with ecstasy.
Hel’s eyes, however, grew cold.
Since Paris Emporus’s capture, intellectuals and merchants were defecting from the Daimon organization.
The shop owner killed today was a merchant trying to leave Daimon.
Before more defected and derailed his plans, Hel intended to demonstrate this power.