Chapter 61

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 61

Chapter Title: Seeds of Doubt

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“To think you still trust the Duke so blindly, Minister.”

Sise shrugged his shoulders.

He acted as if he were extending a special courtesy since the minister hadn't caught on.

“How else would you have found out that the Black Eye Merchant Guild was smuggling children from the palace abroad?”

“What?”

“The Duke of Claudio made it so obvious, I initially thought it was bait to lure me in—something the two of you cooked up together. But lo and behold, the tail you'd hidden so carefully actually came out.”

Sise let out a snicker.

His eyes scanned the minister's pitiful state from head to toe, as if regarding him with compassion.

“So I figured the two of you had truly fallen out. But now I see it's just you getting played unilaterally.”

“Lies! Do you think I can't spot your divide-and-conquer scheme?”

He bared his teeth ferociously, as if he could devour Sise whole.

“If that's what you think, there's nothing to be done about it.”

“Shut your mouth! Your schemes are transparent! You're trying to drive a wedge between me and the Duke!”

Despite his confident shout, Etienne's eyes shook fiercely.

It felt as though a faint crack was splitting through their once-solid bond with a sharp crack.

Sise swallowed a silent laugh. He could almost dance for joy right there in front of the minister.

“Political allies are supposed to be this shallow from the start—surely you knew that, Minister. So why act so naively?”

“......That can't be. The Duke and I are in this together. If I fall, he falls too!”

“Is that really true? Or will he just absorb your crumbling power and forces to grow even stronger?”

Sise shrugged again as he countered.

Etienne was at a loss for words.

“Well, you probably know the answer better than I do. In any case, I've told you the truth out of past ties. So when the executioner's blade falls, don't hold it against me.”

He bowed lightly and placed a small bottle of liquor at the base of the bars.

“I hear you like vodka. May it offer some warm comfort on this night of abandonment.”

Having thoroughly twisted Etienne's guts, Sise departed with light steps, as if he had said all he needed to.

“You scum! Think I'll crumble like this? I'll get out of here soon and tear you limb from limb!”

The minister hurled the small bottle Sise had tauntingly left behind straight at the wall.

Crash!

The bottle shattered against the stone wall, filling the prison with the sharp scent of strong alcohol.

“Ha, haa. Haa.”

Panting with rage on one side, his mind refused to let go of Sise's words from moments ago.

His head furiously calculated the possibility of their truth.

'Only two people could have mobilized the Black Eye Merchant Guild now that evidence has surfaced.'

Duke Claudio and Etienne himself.

Etienne wouldn't gamble with his own life...

Which left only one culprit.

Duke Claudio.

Doubt began to slowly creep into the minister's once-unshakable heart.

Duke Claudio had already used his own daughter to drug and undermine him in the past.

Moreover, just before Sise burst in, they had been locked in such a fierce power struggle that it nearly tore them apart.

Suddenly, Etienne felt uneasy. Why had I pinned everything on just the Regent Duke?

If he turns on me, I'm finished.

“Ahem, now that your visitor's gone, milord... Anything you need? Any orders?”

The guard stepped into the spot Sise had vacated, rubbing his palms together as he eyed Etienne.

With punishment for Etienne still undecided in this ambiguous situation, the guard continued to cater to him, banking on the power and influence the Interior Minister had once wielded.

It also helped that the bribes Etienne slipped him for errands were quite generous.

“Medea...”

Etienne murmured.

“Pardon?”

“Bring the Princess. Her Highness—the Princess, quickly!”

A small gold nugget passed from the guard's hand to Etienne's.

“Of course, milord. I'll head straight to the Princess Palace the moment I leave.”

The guard nodded with a grin. The gold nugget rolled between his grimy fingers with a faint clink.

Three days later.

Suddenly, a fresh, clean fragrance pierced through the stale, musty stench that had filled the prison.

Half out of his mind by then, Minister Etienne lifted his head.

Silver hair that seemed to brighten even the dim prison interior slowly came into view.

So overjoyed was he that he forgot all decorum, leaping to his feet and nearly shouting.

“Y-Your Highness!”

“Here! I'm here!” He clutched the bars, crying out fervently.

“My, Minister.”

Medea approached slowly. Her calm green eyes scanned him from head to toe.

“What is this? Where did that vigorous, robust figure of yours go?”

Medea clicked her tongue sympathetically.

She wasn't saying it to offend.

Etienne truly looked like a flour dough ball that had plummeted from the tower's peak, splattered and filthy, rotting away in the cell.

All while his suspicions and anxiety toward the unresponsive Duke Claudio grew with every unanswered message he'd barely managed to send.

“They say you need to shut up a thousand mouths to know if it'll hold through a typhoon, but it seems that advice has come back to bite you.”

“Your Highness, it's a frame-up! I've never violated military law, nor had any intention to. How could I, a loyal servant responsible for Baldina's state affairs? That vile Black Eye Merchant Guild plotted against me!”

Despite the princess's subtle mockery, Etienne could only prostrate himself desperately. His shift in attitude was masterful.

“Well, of course I believe your faithful defense. But the matter has grown too big.”

Medea shook her head.

“Somehow, your story has spread beyond the palace to the entire capital. Now even the common folk are clamoring to execute you for vengeance for their children.”

Locked in prison, Etienne had no idea of the outside world.

Neither he nor the Duke had the leisure to relay public gossip while busy stuffing crates with gold.

“So I'm not sure if they'll buy your defense. This is a headache.”

Etienne's face drained of color.

The people already despised and hated him. Not only did he abduct commoners at will under the guise of power, but his infamy was legendary.

'Those bastards will chew up my corpse and swallow it whole.'

Etienne dropped to his knees and thrust both hands through the bars toward Medea.

“Your Highness, help me. Get me out of here, and you won't regret it.”

Normally, he would have reached out to Duke Claudio somehow.

But something felt off.

The seeds of doubt Sise had sown had sprouted wildly in his heart over just three days.

He would rather face the Duke's recriminations for botching later plans than get stabbed in the back.

Prime Minister Sise was hell-bent on punishing him, and Duke Claudio was no longer trustworthy.

Which left the princess as his last lifeline.

Medea scoffed.

“With empty words? Don't be naive, Minister.”

Etienne faltered for a moment but soon shook his head as if he'd never been rattled.

“Of course not. Your Highness, I have hidden funds. An enormous sum—my entire fortune. I'll give it all to you.”

“Hmm, hidden funds.”

The princess showed interest. Etienne inwardly cheered. Who could refuse money?

His weasel-like eyes gleamed.

He shuffled forward on his knees to the bars. Straining with all his might to twist his manacles, he barely freed his fingers enough to move.

Etienne pulled a crumpled scrap of paper from his bosom.

'The princess has lived her whole life confined to the palace.'

Tricking a naive girl with no worldly experience was easier than swallowing porridge.

Unlike his inner thoughts, he extended the paper with a devout posture. It was a checkbook valid at the guild.

“It's the voucher for my secret vault. My hidden funds. I've scraped together quite a bit since birth amid hardships. It's all yours, Your Highness. Just get me out of this godforsaken place.”

The Interior Minister's secret vault.

His hidden funds, enough to rank among the capital's top tycoons, would make anyone's eyes bulge with greed.

Even Neril, listening from the side, gaped wide-eyed, glancing back and forth between him and Medea.