Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: The Duke's Desperate Missives
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After the meeting concluded,
"Duke Offenstadt, right now, perhaps..."
"I'm sorry, but I have urgent business to attend to. Could you contact me later?"
"...Understood."
Theodore politely but firmly dismissed the nobles gathered around him, then headed alone to his office.
His expression, which had remained impassive,
-Thud. Thud. Thud.
"..."
began to twist into a ferocious scowl as the surrounding gazes thinned out.
Once he arrived at his office and shut the door,
"Uwaaaaaah!"
-Bang!
he vented his rage by hurling whatever he had grabbed.
"Why! Why, why!"
-Bang! Bang!
Theodore had seized power by exploiting the gaps left by Luise's disinterest in state affairs after she ascended the throne.
The previous Luise had been content with him merely supplying fresh talent periodically, so in effect, Theodore had been leading the empire through the meetings he chaired.
Apart from his infatuation with her beauty, he had always viewed her as nothing more than a country girl elevated to power.
Thus, he believed that becoming the head of the Emperor Faction would make claiming her a simple matter.
However, the power he had gained that way rapidly dwindled once Luise began actively engaging in politics.
"Emperor Faction, my ass! Damn it all!"
The label "Emperor Faction" stuck to him like a curse, haunting his every step.
Now, Luise personally presided over most meetings, and every agenda item passed through her judgment.
In particular, the recent proposals on territory allocation, fief management, and military expansion and redeployment had all been decided in ways that greatly bolstered the emperor's authority.
As long as they didn't severely hamper him and the other Emperor Faction nobles, he couldn't openly oppose the emperor's will while bearing that faction's name.
Gerhard was already emerging as a replacement leader for the Emperor Faction, and the Noble Faction—whom he had personally crushed—would never accept a weakened him back into their fold.
After smashing the furniture to relieve his stress, he collapsed into his chair.
"Hoo..."
To calm his boiling fury, he picked up the ornate frame on his desk.
Inside the frame was a portrait of Luise, a new commission to the painter inspired by the smile she had shown him recently.
"...Heh. Heh heh."
He locked eyes with the radiantly smiling Luise in the painting and let out a sinister chuckle.
Ever since falling for her at first sight, he had soothed his turbulent emotions by gazing at this portrait whenever they flared.
The power he had so diligently pursued was merely a tool to stand by her side; it mattered little to him if she stripped strength from the nobles to bolster her own authority.
"..."
Thus, Luise herself was not the source of his rage.
"...Victor."
His fury was entirely directed at Victor, who had monopolized Luise's attention.
"..."
As he caressed the portrait through the frame, he brooded.
Lately, he hadn't seen Luise's smile directed at him even once.
She regarded him with the same dry indifference she showed ordinary nobles; her smiles were reserved solely for Victor.
"You're the problem, Victor. You bastard... you're the problem!"
-Clack.
Irritated by the thought that even this painter-captured smile was meant for Victor and not him, he slammed the frame down on the desk.
He could only think that all his misfortunes stemmed from Victor.
Luise's change had come after Victor joined the empire, a conviction that grew ever stronger.
"This can't go on. I must guard Her Majesty's side..."
But.
With Gerhard blocking any chance to lead troops and earn merits, Theodore had few cards left to play.
And with his reason hanging by a thread, his gaze kept drifting to the most dangerous of those remaining cards.
"...I could lose everything. No, I can't."
The faint remnants of his rationality tried to pull his hand back from the drawer,
"...Everything, you say. What do I even have left?"
Jealousy toward Victor and the helplessness from the meeting drove his resolve.
"The one to stand by Her Majesty's side should be me, not some commoner like Victor."
His deliberation didn't last long.
-Slide.
Theodore, alternating glances between Luise's portrait and the drawer, finally pulled out a sheet of paper.
With his decision made, he gripped a pen in his left hand as a precaution and scrawled a letter in shaky script.
The letter began with Victor's proposal from the meeting and included critical intelligence like the Red Dragon Legion's forces armed with new weapons.
His hand trembled at the fingertips, but he pressed on.
"...Hm."
A moment later, he set down the pen.
After a final check of the contents, he stuffed the completed letter into a cheap envelope.
On the envelope's surface, he wrote the name of Count Sancho Gonzalez, from the Kingdom of Esperia with whom he had connections.
Before tucking several identical envelopes into his bosom and donning a hood to conceal his face and body as he left the office,
"..."
he picked up Luise's portrait from the desk again and stared at it for a long while.
"Hoo, hoo..."
His breathing grew ragged, his heartbeat quickening.
He sat back down,
"Luise, it's all for her sake... Mm..."
About five minutes later, he emerged from the office with flushed cheeks.
"If we're launching an offensive, the 5th Legion will need supplies too. ...We'll provide this much—could you take them along to where the 5th Legion is stationed?"
"...Haha. Thank you."
"No need for thanks; as Grand Marshal, managing the 5th Legion's supplies is my duty anyway."
After receiving far more supplies than the 5th Legion could use alone from Gerhard,
"...Hm."
"Something wrong?"
"Ah, no. I'll go prepare for departure now."
"Mm, I look forward to your exploits."
Suddenly, my minimap flashed red, so I sat in the office observing it.
I spotted a red dot moving alone, unaccompanied by any gray dots.
Knowing which room that dot had emerged from,
"...Theodore."
I could guess who it represented.
His suspicious exit from the audience chamber alone, leaving the nobles he'd been with, prompted me to track the presumed Theodore red dot on the minimap.
After emerging from his office, he mingled briefly with gray dots before exiting the imperial palace alone.
"I'll just step out to meet some artisans for a bit."
"Ah, then I'll hurry and wrap things up too."
"No need. I'm just checking on progress, so I'll be quick."
As I grabbed my uniform and a brown coat to cover my face and prepared to leave,
"Understood. Still, take this with you, please."
"...Mm."
Anna pulled out the Wheellock pistol Dominic had given her for self-defense and handed it to me.
"Not sure if I'll need something like this just to visit the workshops."
"You must carry it."
"...Alright."
I tucked the pistol into my bosom, left the office leisurely, then swiftly moved toward the red dot while concealing my uniform under the coat.
The situation demanded urgency and secrecy, so I didn't borrow a horse, but with the minimap guiding me, I quickly caught up.
"..."
As expected, the red dot exiting the palace was Theodore.
Though hooded to cover his upper body, his ostentatiously ornate shoes and pants made his identity obvious.
He paused every few steps to scan his surroundings, heading toward the slums, and I followed cautiously.
The red dot twisted its path meticulously to shake any tails, but it couldn't fool my minimap-enabled eyes.
The increasingly sluggish red dot halted in a deserted area, seemingly waiting for a contact.
I planned to flee if it met multiple red dots, but a single gray dot approached him.
After a brief conversation, the two dots parted ways about five minutes later.
Before it could blend with others, I rapidly pursued the slowly moving gray dot.
"...Hm? Wha—what...!"
Tracking its direction in real time paid off.
-Thwack!
"Gah!"
Just before it left the slums, I ambushed the raggedly dressed man presumed to be Theodore's contact.
Pinning the skeletal figure beneath me, I drew the pistol from my bosom and gripped it like a club.
Guns weren't widely known yet, so this seemed more effective than aiming it.
"Scream, and I'll smash your skull right here."
"...Eek."
Fortunately, the man cowered, trembling with his hands over his face.
With newspapers scarce, he clearly didn't recognize me.
"Who did you just meet, and what did you talk about?"
"...Th-that..."
"Need your head cracked open before you talk?"
I pressed him while keeping an eye on the minimap.
No dots approached me, and Theodore had stopped elsewhere in the slums to meet someone.
"U-urgh... I d-don't know anything!"
"...No choice, then."
"Eek! D-deliver... deliver the mail...!"
"Quiet."
"...He said he'd pay money if I delivered the mail."
"Stay still. Unless you want to get hurt."
Rifling through his pockets, I found a cheap envelope with a letter and two gold coins.
He'd prepared thoroughly; the coins had their mint marks and years filed off.
"T-take it all! Just spare my life...!"
"...Is this everything?"
"Y-yes! That's it! N-no place to hide anything!"
As he flailed his hands pleading, I tossed back the gold coins, pocketed only the letter envelope, and started to stand.
"...Go. And don't breathe a word of meeting me to anyone."
"Gasp, sir! Th-thank you, thank you!"
I pulled an extra gold coin from my own pocket and tossed it to him.
Ignoring the man scrambling away, I opened the envelope and checked the contents.
"...Hm."
The letter was scrawled in handwriting that could only be called atrocious, detailing military secrets like Red Dragon Legion intel.
Addressed to Sancho Gonzalez—likely from the Kingdom of Esperia, given the context.
Theodore's pattern of stopping and starting was probably to hand off these letters to multiple couriers.
Meeting one gray dot at a time supported that.
"..."
Even if this reached Esperia, it wouldn't drastically alter the war situation.
As no soldier, Theodore had vaguely noted things like "introduced new weapons: long-range projectile devices" about me and the Red Dragon Legion.
Plans could be adjusted before execution anyway.
Thus, I had no intention of pursuing his other contacts.
Only if their letters reached Esperia would this one in my hand hold the power to topple Theodore.
I might even turn this leaked intel to our advantage.
"...Ha."
The thought of another trophy added to my collection lifted my spirits.
Especially since Theodore could scarcely anticipate it.
"...Didn't you say you were heading to the workshops? The dirt aside, that smell... You need to wash up right away."
"..."
With the letter that would seal Theodore's fate safely tucked away, I returned to the office.