Chapter 105
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 105
I gave a bright smile and asked, “So, should I sit back down? If you want to make a deal, that is.”
“……Please, have a seat for now.”
Right. That’s more like it.
I settled back into my chair.
“Building an information guild of this scale must have taken an enormous amount of manpower and time. Did you really think I’d believe you’d throw it all away so easily?”
“……”
An ordinary noble who knew nothing might have lost the initiative to Ramus Jeremiah’s relaxed and leisurely pace, but I was Han Ina.
Han Ina, who had played The Milk Bread NNNN times!
“……The 100 billion was half-joking, but it’s true that the labor costs are astronomical.”
“Cut the fluff and give me a real estimate. How much?”
“It will cost about 7 billion gold.”
Hmm. That’s a bit pricey.
But Ramus Jeremiah had a point.
To notify me within three hours if the prince of a nation died—even if Benjamin was the son of a low-ranking concubine, lacked any presence, and was constantly bullied, he was still a prince living in a royal palace. It was true that gathering such information would incur significant costs.
And besides, I needed Ramus Jeremiah.
‘I hope it doesn’t come to that, though.’
I couldn’t predict at all what would happen once Corico appeared in the future.
Thanks to my early possession of Tulia’s body, I hadn’t dipped my toes into the various evils of the back alleys. Therefore, I wouldn’t necessarily have a reason to be at odds with Corico.
But life is full of ‘what ifs.’
So, I needed to make Ramus Jeremiah—the man known as the best in the business when it came to information on this continent—my ally, my subordinate, or even my slave.
To keep the trade going, I needed an excuse to see him for the next three years. It was even better if large sums of money were involved.
The only problem was that I didn’t have a massive sum like 7 billion gold right now.
“Fine. Let’s deal.”
When I gave my consent, Ramus Jeremiah pulled out several documents with a cautious look in his eyes.
“Add a special clause.”
“What kind of clause?”
“If you fail to inform me of Benjamin Fluers’ death within three hours…”
I glanced at the star floating around me and said, “You must pay me 100 times the contract price.”
Ramus Jeremiah’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“700 billion gold?! Even if I liquidated the entire information guild, I wouldn’t have that kind of money!”
“Then do your absolute best to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“But doesn’t the world have its share of one-in-a-million chances? What if a mistake occurs?”
“A mistake?”
I tilted my head back. Then, with eyes that looked slightly crazed, I spoke.
“In this matter, there is no such thing as a one-in-a-million chance.”
“……”
“Because if such a thing happened…”
I’d be skewered to death by the system window.
Ramus Jeremiah seemed to look at me with a bit of dread, but I didn’t care.
“Once I return to the main castle, I’ll designate a suitable person to work outside so you can contact them at any time. Does that work?”
“……”
After agonizing for over three minutes, Ramus Jeremiah finally nodded in agreement.
“Will you be paying the fee immediately?”
“I can’t pay it right now.”
“Then who… surely, if Grand Duke Frezier is the one paying, this deal is void.”
Ramus Jeremiah spoke with a truly serious expression, unlike before. He seemed incredibly wary of my grandfather.
Well, he was the head of a guild that collected all the information on the continent. He must have heard many terrifying rumors about Grandfather. He probably even knew that the rumor about him tearing people apart with his bare hands wasn't just a rumor, but the truth.
Shadows dwelling in the dark usually preferred to avoid getting entangled with powerful figures standing in the light.
“Grand Duke Frezier isn’t the one paying.”
“Then who is? Ah, is it your twin brothers?”
‘I really need to replace all the servants in the Grand Duchy.’
I said with a smirk, “It’s not my brothers. It’s the future Tulia Frezier.”
“Excuse me?”
Finally, as if exploding, Ramus Jeremiah slammed his hand on the desk.
“You’re saying you want to buy on credit!”
“Don’t get angry. I’ll sell you another piece of information instead. I’ll even let you hear it and judge for yourself first, no strings attached.”
“……What information?”
“I’ll tell you who the new rising tycoon appearing in the Empire within a year will be. Let’s see, the scale of their wealth…”
I counted on my fingers and continued, “Shall we say, about half of the Grand Ducal House’s current assets?”
Even a cursory thought revealed it was a staggering amount.
This man, the head of an information guild, seemed to feel his heart racing. The proof was in the way his eyes wavered violently.
“Who… who is it?”
I smiled brightly.
“It’s me.”
“……Pardon?”
“I said it’s me. Tulia Frezier.”
I’d cleaned up the house. I’d taken hold of the Grand Duchy’s power. I’d checked on the status of the male leads.
Now, wasn't it time for me to start making some money?
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Sorsen Kingdom.
A shabby palace located on the northern edge.
The paint on the exterior walls had long since peeled away from rain and heavy snow. With no one to tend to the garden, it was a desolate villa overgrown with thickets and trees.
This was also the residence of Benjamin Fluers.
“You’ve come.”
As he entered the palace, which was beyond modest and bordered on pathetic, a woman lying in a worn-out bedroom smiled.
Her face was heavy with illness. She was a woman around whom the gloom of a long-term patient lingered like the scent of a withered flower.
“Mother.”
She was Iris, Benjamin’s biological mother and the lowest-ranking concubine of the Sorsen royalty.
After checking Benjamin’s complexion, she spoke in a relieved voice.
“You look a bit healthier today. I’m glad.”
Tulia’s chief physician had treated Benjamin with genuine sincerity. He had done so in a way that was as inconspicuous as possible, making it look to others like he had simply applied some ointment and wrapped a few bandages.
Even that was such a tear-jerking consideration that Benjamin had laughed through his tears.
He wondered. Was even this consideration the arrangement of that high-born Lady Frezier? How could she be so kind?
“I was very worried when I heard you were going to the Empire, my son.”
According to the laws of the Sorsen Kingdom, all concubines except the Queen were required to use formal language toward their own offspring. That was the original etiquette of the palace.
However, it was a dead custom; no concubine used formal address with their own children. They simply spoke informally and called them by their names, like any ordinary mother and child.
But…
Only his mother strictly observed that dead etiquette. She never spoke informally to her young son, always addressing him as ‘My Son.’
He felt a sense of distance, but he was past the age of being saddened by it. Having grown up being constantly beaten by his half-brothers, he didn’t have the luxury to feel such extravagant sorrow.
Benjamin fed medicine to his mother, who lay there looking haggard. Fortunately, there was an old well near the villa, so they could always drink clean, fresh water.
Everything else, however, was old and broken.
Just like his mother. Like the woman who had spent a night with the King, become pregnant with him, and had been withering away day by day since being appointed as a low-ranking concubine.
“You filthy brat!”
“Your mother is a lewd woman who seduced the King! My mother said so! Wahaha!”
His mother was not a filthy woman.
In the first place, if one were to judge things that way…
Wasn't his father… the supreme King of the Sorsen Kingdom, the truly filthy one?
This woman, that woman—he would touch anyone as long as they were slightly pretty. He would crush them with power or coax them with sweet words. And then he would abandon a woman who had even borne his child like this…
He was the worst.
His father was the worst man he could possibly imagine. Even toward his mother, who had clearly refused him…
“Mother.”
Benjamin murmured toward his mother, who had her eyes closed like a withered plant.