Blood and Empire - 10
I stared at her in utter bewilderment.
What the hell is wrong with her?
Sierty had suddenly grabbed my shoulders, leaving me too stunned to even resist.
Up close, her blue eyes were drenched in ecstasy.
Her lips stretched into a smile so wide it looked like it might split her face, and her pupils were fully dilated. She looked completely insane.
I thought I had convinced her, at least.
“Trade ledgers, you say…”
Sierty let out a low hum as she narrowed her eyes.
The way she licked her lips made it clear I had hooked the right person. For a moment I wondered if I should have picked someone else, but—
She’ll still be useful after this.
There was no need to hand over the major evidence I had received from Calupen straight to the Imperial Palace.
If anything, it would serve better as a tool for sowing discord.
The Nine Kingdoms still didn’t fully trust “me.”
The basics of treason were always a stab in the back.
First, I needed to earn their confidence.
And to do that, I had to recruit Sierty, who knew how to run a trade operation…
“What kind of trade ledger do you desire? If you wish, I can even forge one. To cut off that bastard Carten’s head, I could exaggerate a little…”
Sierty smiled brightly and drew a finger across her throat in a slicing motion.
What the— That’s terrifying. Her eyes are completely unhinged…
I shook my head and spoke in a reassuring tone.
“Since we already have proof of Carten’s treason, we can simply wrap his head up nicely and send it to the Imperial Palace. The important thing… is seating you as the new owner.”
“You truly intend to make me the owner?”
Sierty frowned slightly, as if suspicious, and studied my eyes from the corner of hers.
It must have been a habit formed from years in the trade business.
After all, that world was full of swindlers.
I let out a deep sigh and put on an expression of weary defeat.
“Who else would I seat there if not you?”
“Hmm.”
Her gaze grew calmer.
“Then think from my perspective. Why would you go out of your way to borrow my hand and seat me as owner?”
Sierty licked her lips with the tip of her tongue while she thought.
After a moment, she grinned as if she had reached a conclusion.
She tapped my collarbone with her finger and tilted her head.
“You’re a vicious bastard, aren’t you?”
“That would be you. Let’s go. All we need is a box to neatly store the head, the ledger, and you.”
I rose from my chair and followed Sierty down the hallway.
Not many people suspected me—Haim.
They simply assumed a well-dressed man in a suit must have come to collect a bribe.
As we walked, Sierty asked,
“Carten gave out a lot of bribes. If we try to remove him, many will try to protect him…”
“There is no middle ground. We need to scare the bribe-takers so badly they wet themselves. For that… we must cut off Carten’s head as quickly as possible. Oh, he won’t even be able to squeak.”
I clasped my hands behind my back and smirked.
I turned to observe Sierty’s face.
Though she kept a cold expression on the surface, the corners of her mouth were twitching upward.
“Once I become the owner of the guild, we will simply use each other, won’t we?”
“You catch on quickly. Haha.”
“Sierty, I don’t trust you. I trust your desires. As for Carten… please finish him yourself.”
The ledger.
It was merely evidence.
If I didn’t have the Imperial Palace—and Lobelia—behind me, it would be nothing but scraps of paper.
Since bribes had already changed hands, plenty of people would try to cover it up to avoid getting caught.
So I would kill him first.
Then send his head to the Imperial Palace. Naturally, the others would scramble to save their own skins.
If you don’t want to die, keep your mouth shut.
That was the message.
Sierty finally couldn’t hold it in any longer. She burst out laughing, clutching her stomach.
“That’s right. If we inform the Imperial Palace, even if the bribe-takers throw a fit, they’ll only hurt themselves more. Here we are.”
Click.
She unlocked the door with a key.
The place Sierty led me to was a study with a massive safe in the center.
Instead of opening the safe, she pulled a single book from a nearby shelf.
It was filled with handwritten notes.
So that’s the ledger…
Sierty stared at the book in silence for a moment, as if hesitating.
Her dark eyes scanned the text before she slowly spoke.
“Now I just hand this over and slit his throat myself?”
“…It will be troublesome, but yes.”
“That man tried to lay his hands on both me and my little sister. I managed this ledger. I ran this entire guild. But that bastard…”
Emotion surged in Sierty’s voice. She bit her lip so hard it drew blood.
I placed a hand on her shoulder and offered a gentle smile.
“There’s no need to justify it. No need to rationalize. Just do whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want…”
Sierty’s expression went blank for a second.
She looked down at the ledger with trembling eyes.
Finally, she let out a long sigh and handed the ledger to me.
“I’ll do whatever I want. Because I’ve never been able to live that way before.”
“For you. Solely for you, Sierty.”
“…For me, is it?”
Sierty gave a bitter smile and glanced sideways at me.
Countless emotions swirled in her blue eyes.
Among them, for some reason, was pity toward me.
“I’ll engrave it in my heart. Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”
I smiled faintly and shrugged.
Sierty drew a second dagger from inside her coat.
The blade glinted in the sunlight.
I let out a dry chuckle.
So that’s why her skills seemed decent.
She really was planning to assassinate someone.
She gripped the dagger tightly in her trembling hand. Her breathing grew ragged.
“Haaaa…”
Sierty covered her face with one hand and exhaled deeply.
“Please wrap it up nicely in the box. It’s a gift for the Imperial Palace, after all. You understand?”
“I will. Forgive me if it takes a while.”
Sierty gave a small laugh and was about to leave when something seemed to catch her attention. Her gaze returned to me.
“Haim, what is it you want to achieve?”
“Why are you suddenly asking me that?”
“No matter how I look at it, those eyes… they’re just like mine. I like them.”
With those words, Sierty left.
Bang.
“Well…”
A brief silence settled over the study.
…
I let out a hollow laugh and ran a hand through my hair.
“Haha. To make Her Highness Princess Lobelia happy…”
[Calupen betrayed the Nine Kingdoms? And you expect me to believe that?]
“That is correct.”
I let out a deep, frustrated sigh and nodded as if exhausted.
The person inside the crystal ball was one of the agents from the Nine Kingdoms—Walt.
One of Queen Ibelit’s information gatherers.
Time to start administering the medicine.
The moment Walt saw my face in the crystal ball, he couldn’t hide his shock.
This twin crystal ball was connected exclusively to Calupen. It was one of the Nine Kingdoms’ primary lines of communication.
Twin Crystal Ball.
These things were astronomically expensive.
And because they connected directly to the Nine Kingdoms, they were among the highest secrets.
So when a man named Haim suddenly contacted him, it was only natural for Walt to be confused.
[You… how did you get hold of that crystal ball…?]
“I repeat: Calupen has betrayed the Nine Kingdoms. That is why I now possess this crystal ball.”
[So what you’re saying is, why should we believe a single word you say? And how exactly did you—]
“Carten will die soon. Calupen leaked information about the treason. Even I have been dragged into this!”
I shouted in feigned fury.
The veins in my neck bulged.
When Walt looked at me as if I were spouting nonsense, I twisted my face in frustration and glared back.
“Why did you trust Calupen with the crystal ball in the first place? At a time like this, when Carten’s head is already hanging by a thread! My own neck is on the line too!”
[…Carten is not dead yet. Your words are nothing but sophistry.]
“Ha! You’re doubting me while I’m risking my life to smuggle information out?”
I stared at the crystal ball with an expression of pure disbelief.
Walt still couldn’t seem to process the situation; he kept wearing that stupid look.
“If you can’t trust my words, then who exactly can you trust? The Imperial Palace has suddenly grown suspicious of me, yet here I am, taking the time to speak to you through this crystal ball?”
[Wait. I’ll look into how you came to possess the crystal ball. Calupen may have been blackmailed.]
“Ugh… you really don’t understand the order of events, do you? If the heads of all the nobles siding with the Nine Kingdoms get chopped off… everything collapses!”
I clicked my tongue and activated the recording artifact.
“Choosing me was the right decision. Hahaha. Soon this empire will be mine!”
“Hmm? What nonsense are you— Would you like another drink?”
“Calupen and Carten… Damn, why do these similarly named bastards keep latching onto me? Anyway… the empire will fall soon.”
“…You truly are a hero, sir.”
“That’s right! Hahaha! Look, right now the Nine Kingdoms are—”
Click.
When the artifact stopped, a chilly silence filled the study.
I tilted my head slightly toward the crystal ball and sneered.
“That clever Calupen was keeping this tucked away safely. You pathetic bastards.”
[…!]
“Still don’t understand the situation? The hunting dog you trusted has already wagged its tail at the Imperial Palace and finished preparing to switch sides. I’m telling you this first out of the goodness of my heart—because my own neck is on the line.”
[Calupen would never do that! The recording could have been tampered with…!]
“Tampered with?”
I let out a hollow laugh and shoved my face closer to the crystal ball.
When I narrowed my eyes, I could clearly see Walt’s pupils shaking violently.
“I don’t care whether your heads are just decorations or not, but if you keep spouting nonsense… should I just take this straight to the Imperial Palace? Do you want to get slapped in the face and regret it later, or will you listen to me now?”
Walt was at a loss for words.
[Wait. You said Carten is going to die?]
“Yes. That’s what I said.”
[Damn it…]
Walt cut the connection.
A smile formed on my lips.