บท 10: 10. What's Your Plan?
In a sword training field, there were two men engaged in a sword duel.
"Aren't you getting married soon? Shouldn't you be busy? Why are you doing this to me!? Hah..."
The exhausted man who was complaining was Max, a friend and former general of the Caspian Grandduchy's army.
After the Emperor took over Cassius' army, Max resigned as a general and followed him around.
And his training partner was Cassius Caspian. Cassius had been in a bad mood for the past few days, so he always invited Max, who had no desire to spar with him, to practice sword fighting.
Max felt it was unfair to be the outlet for Cassius' frustration. Irritated, Max decided to tease him.
"Well... I can understand your mood like this if you're marrying a woman like Eleanor Ashford."
Boom!
The wooden sword held by Max broke in two, and Max broke into a cold sweat, saying, "Hey! Have you lost your mind, you crazy man! I could have died!"
"But you're not," Cassius simply replied.
"I was just joking!"
"Well, you haven't experienced what it feels like to be betrothed to a woman whose heart belongs to someone else."
"....? Who do you mean?"
"Of course, my future wife," Cassius replied with a cold smirk.
"Among all the rumors about Eleanor Ashford, that's what worries you the most?"
"Of course. How can I live with a woman who loves another man besides her husband? It would be different if her heart were still empty. I could force my way into it somehow. But unfortunately, her heart is already filled."
"...."
Max couldn't say a word. Eleanor was famous for her terrifying face and a vulgar woman who stalked her fiancé like a creepy stalker.
There were many rumors about her, and the worst one, according to Max, was that she had green skin, a swollen face, and pus-filled boils all over her face.
And what worried his best friend the most was that her heart was already filled? Did he hit his head somewhere? Or maybe...
"Do you like her?" Max asked.
"Are you insane?" Cassius replied.
"Then why do you only care about who she loves among all the things? Shouldn't you be more concerned about her appearance?"
"Do you think I'm a womanizer who thinks with his dick, just like that old man who sitting on the throne? Anyway, I want to meet Theo, do you want to come?"
Cassius always diverted the conversation when he was cornered.
Max was sure that he would refuse to answer. But why? Unless he really liked her, but no matter how many times Max thought about it, it seemed impossible.
First, Cassius had never interacted with Eleanor as far as he knew.
Second, there were many beautiful noble girls who had feelings for Cassius and approached him, but he never paid any attention or looked twice.
But why was his reaction like this with Eleanor? It was very suspicious.
While Max was pondering, Cassius had already moved out of his sight.
"Hey! Wait for me, I'm coming!"
***
They arrived in front of a shabby-looking bar that didn't seem like a suitable place for nobles to relax.
However, Cassius and Max's actions seemed as if they had been here hundreds of times before.
They wore black cloaks that covered their heads, and no one paid attention to them because they looked like ordinary people.
As they entered the bar, they immediately climbed up the stairs marked "for staff only," and no one stopped them.
Once they reached the top, there were two large, muscular guards. Their bodies were covered in numerous scars as if they had been through a fierce battle.
The two guards saluted Cassius and whispered in a low voice,
"Master, there's a client inside."
Cassius nodded and went into the next room adjacent to the room guarded by the two guards earlier.
Inside the room, Cassius and Max removed their cloaks. Cassius opened the wardrobe in the room, but strangely, there were no clothes inside. Instead, there was a palm-sized glass hole and a small sparkling white stone.
The glass hole was made of magically coated glass, allowing them to see into the next room, while the person on the other side couldn't see them.
And the small stone was a magical item that transferred sound when its counterpart was within a not-so-distant radius.
"And I also want you to find a young, intelligent, and agile adult illegal slave. Regardless of gender," said the woman in the adjacent room.
"An illegal slave? You know that if the empire finds out, the punishment can be severe, right? Why not choose a legal slave instead?"
"Because most legal slaves are criminals and I can't trust them to do the task I'm about to ask. I want an intelligent and trustworthy slave, who can read and calculate.
"And, I don't need to worry about our conversation leaking, right? So how could the kingdom find out? That is if this place is trustworthy."
Illegal slaves were typically middle to upper-class citizens or even nobles from distant countries sold in the black market auction.
That's why they were considered illegal since Astoria only allowed slavery for criminals, and even children born from criminals were labeled as slaves.
The man who was conversing with the woman became flustered and glanced at the hole in the wall.
"Haha, of course, you can trust us. Our client's request is highly confidential and top priority."
"Alright, can you have it prepared within a week then?"
"I will do my best, Miss."
"Oh, and I would like to purchase some information."
"What kind of information do you need? There's nothing we don't know throughout Astoria," the man confidently replied.
"I want information about Grand Duke Cassius Caspian."
"....!"
Meanwhile, in the room where Cassius and Max were eavesdropping, they exchanged glances upon hearing Cassius' name.
"Who is that woman?" Max asked.
"My future wife," Cassius replied with an unreadable expression.
"How did you know?" Max was puzzled. Using a face cover wasn't a valid reason, as many clients came here to remain anonymous and used face covers.
"Her voice."
"Oh... her voice."
'Wait a minute, didn't he never talk with Eleanor? So how could he recognize her voice?'
Suspicion filled Max's eyes as he looked at Cassius, who was staring at the hole.
After the woman left, Cassius and Max entered the room.
Theo was startled when the door opened again.
"Oh my! You startled me!"
"What did that woman ask for?" Cassius asked without wasting time.
Theo waved his hand, "Didn't you hear it yourself earlier? The woman's request was quite strange. She dressed like a commoner but couldn't hide her noble aura. And she has a lot of money! You wouldn't believe how much money I made today."
"Just answer what the woman requested," Cassius impatiently replied.
"She asked me to buy 10 warehouses of sugar and to purchase illegal slaves. And... she asked for information about you. But I gave her the information that we have already spread among the nobles who also requested it."
"Why does she want to buy so much sugar?" Cassius furrowed his brow, puzzled by Eleanor's request.
Ten warehouses' worth of sugar is nearly half of the imported sugar in the country.
Astoria is a cold climate country with a short summer season. So the country imports food supplies like sugar.
The country also imports salt since there is no sea around the Astoria region.
However, Astoria is surrounded by mountains, which makes it strategically located and gives the country ample time to enrich itself without being attacked by enemies.
"How would I know? When I asked her, she answered, 'I like sweet things.'"
"Hahaha. It seems my future wife has unique tastes."
Cassius laughed heartily, his eyes shining when he mentioned 'future wife.'
"Future wife!?"
Max nodded, "Yes, Theo. You have just served your future mistress."
"She's Eleanor!?"
Max just smiled, while Cassius crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the window, gazing outside.
Cassius was thinking about what plan his cunning fiancée had in her small head.
"I have a plan, don't buy her a slave. Get a female assassin from the Shadow Knights and give her that. Tell her to pretend to be the slave you bought." A cold smile appeared on Cassius' face.
Theo, who was also Cassius' friend, was the leader of a secret guild called 'The Hidden Hand.'
The Hidden Hand was an underworld guild that few people knew about, only nobles involved in dark and illegal activities were aware of its existence.
The guild accepted requests for various things in the dark and illegal world, such as creating new identities, purchasing noble titles, smuggling nobles who had turned into criminals to other countries, and so on.
But one thing the guild couldn't provide was renting assassins or requests to take someone's life. Even though Cassius had enough human power to carry out such requests.
And the owner of that secret guild was Grand Duke Cassius.
What puzzled Cassius was that the Hidden Hand had never had a noble girl as a client before. It was normal because noble girls wouldn't be acquainted with the underworld like this.
But his fiancée just proved him wrong.
Cassius became even more intrigued by his future wife. His eyes kept looking at the sky, and he began to think, 'What's your plan?'
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