Chương 229: [Chapter 230] Don’t Accept It From Now On
"Where's today's newspaper?"
As soon as he sat down at the breakfast table, Duke Ganiello reached for a daily newspaper aimed at the middle class, which had recently become a huge hit in the imperial capital. It was originally a gossip sheet that the great nobles secretly read for entertainment, but these days, every noble family in the imperial capital was scrambling to get their hands on it.
The reason for its sudden popularity was one thing: the recently popular novel, 'Betrayal'.
The butler presented the silver tray with the newspaper on it to his master. The Duke unfolded the newspaper and easily found the serialized novel page, just as his second son, Colin, entered the dining room.
Colin's face was full of dissatisfaction. As it had been lately. He looked at the Duke as he sat down and asked.
"Father, can I go out today…?"
"No. Stay put until I give you permission."
With the political situation as complicated as it was these days, it wasn't a good idea for the only healthy son of the Duke Ganiello family to be running around. Colin, who didn't understand his father's heart, made a dissatisfied expression.
"How long? Isn't this the perfect opportunity for us to show our loyalty to His Highness the Crown Prince? His Highness needs people who are only his. It's not normal for His Highness to be reaching out to low-ranking nobles these days because he has no one to trust."
"And you want to meet that girl, Megara, while you're at it?"
Colin flinched. The Duke clicked his tongue.
"Don't even think about it. When the situation is as complicated as it is now, the best thing to do is to stay quiet and not get involved."
The Duke Ganiello family, unlike the Elandria family, which had existed since the beginning of the empire, or the Gruenhals family, which had slowly risen in rank, had become a great noble family when a foreign royal family was incorporated into the Bista Empire.
When the Duke Palos family line died out long ago, the Bista emperor needed a new confidant who could absorb some of the influence that family had and maintain balance among the nobles. And the first Duke of the Ganiello family was the one whose interests aligned with his.
It had been so long since the expression "foreign royalty" had no other meaning than historical fact. But the proud Bista people treated the Ganiello family as foreigners at any excuse.
So, the Dukes of Ganiello throughout history were particularly adept at observing the political situation. When a problem arises in a society, foreigners are the first to be stoned.
There was definitely a problem in the imperial capital now. The people who had been under Princess Keamil's influence were suddenly cut off, and she herself was exiled in the blink of an eye, leaving a void in both the social circles and the bureaucratic administration.
And the crown prince's mistress and Nellusion Elandria, who had greedily swallowed up that void, didn't seem to care about making things run as they used to. Low-ranking nobles, whose only merit was their ability to flatter, were running rampant in every field, causing strong opposition not only from the high-ranking nobles but also from the working class.
You don't have to swim in the water just because you can't stop the flood. Especially if there's a chance of clashing with the two families that the followers of Bista and Elandria, the three heroes who live in this country, absolutely revere.
One sentence from the serialized novel 'Betrayal' caught the Duke's eye. It was a scene where the girl with the purple jewel was about to be tricked by the villain with the blue jewel, but she cleverly escaped.
'It's walking a fine line between insulting the imperial family and satirizing the commoners.'
The Duke Ganiello's mind conjured up the image of the girl with the sapphire.
She had entered the House of Nobles with sparkling, intelligent eyes, and even though she was officially under investigation for murder, she wasn't intimidated at all.
'I didn't care before.'
The Duke smiled unconsciously.
He had a rough idea of how 'Betrayal' would unfold. The girl with the purple jewel and the young man with the blue jewel were clearly in a situation where the latter was using and betraying the former.
The serialization would probably be stopped by the imperial family before the climax. The author and the newspaper owner might be investigated. But the fact that they published this novel anyway…
'They have something in mind.'
The dining room door opened again. The Duke, who hadn't asked for more food, looked at the door unhappily, then raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Edward."
Edward, the Duke of Ganiello's younger son and Colin's older brother, walked in with a pale face and a smile.
"Father. Colin."
Edward, who was not in good health, spent most of his day in bed. He usually ate in his room. He had been feeling a little better lately thanks to a herb called the wedge pouch, which had become popular in recent years, but even with money, the wedge pouch was hard to come by.
Especially in the last few days, his condition had been so bad that he couldn't even get out of bed, to the point where the doctor said he was at a critical point.
He was pale, but Edward was walking on his own now, and his back was straight. Duke Ganiello was stunned and asked.
"Are you feeling better? How did you get downstairs?"
"I heard that the atmosphere in the imperial capital is ominous these days, and I couldn't just lie down like a fool as the heir to the family."
Colin wanted to scoff but held back. Edward smiled calmly at his brother.
"The new doctor who came recently made me a proposal. He said that if I continued with the current treatment, I wouldn't be in danger, but I would have a high chance of continuing to live as I have been, and if I used a newly developed medicine, there would be risks, but my health could improve."
The standard treatment was widely used because its safety and effectiveness had been proven. The Duke was startled and asked.
"He didn't tell me that? What did you say?"
"I laughed it off at first, but I've been feeling like I'm going to die lately, so I remembered what he said."
"You're foolish, brother. What makes you trust that doctor?"
Colin couldn't hold back and interjected. The Duke glared at his second son.
"Don't be rude to your brother. Go on, Edward. Tell me more."
"I thought I might as well take a risk since I was going to die anyway. And as you can see."
Edward shrugged and smiled.
"I won."
The servant quickly brought the food. Edward picked up a huge smoked ham first and cut it with a knife.
He was a son who couldn't stand the smell and hardly ate meat. Let alone cutting a large piece of meat.
The Duke felt like he was going to cry.
"We should give the new doctor a big reward. Of course, we'll have to keep an eye on him for a while."
"Yes, Father. Oh, I heard that the medicine was made using a new type of wedge pouch."
A modified wedge pouch. The Duke's face stiffened slightly at those words.
"You say they had it? Modified, where? Who?"
There were few doctors who knew how to handle that precious herb. The new doctor, just at this time? Was it a coincidence?
The Duke also knew that Megara had joined forces with the Morie Trading Company. Was she trying to blackmail him with his son's health? To get him on her side? Even if that were the case, how could the Duke resist?
It had been so long since he had seen his eldest son smile.
Edward smiled again, reassuring his father.
"They supplied it unconditionally. A considerable amount of herbs has already arrived. And he said to tell you this."
"What is it?"
'"Just take the pastries and be happy," you say. I don't understand, does Father understand?'
Heh heh. The Duke let out a dry laugh. Megara's name disappeared from his mind, and the girl with the purple jewel he had been thinking about just a moment ago smiled brightly.
Yes, it wasn't blackmail. If anything, it was flattery. Or, to put it more nicely, a gift?
And that fact…
The Duke liked it.
'She already anticipated the state of the imperial capital long ago.'
"Colin, you're not to leave your room for a while."
"What? Why?"
"Do as you're told!"
It was a wise decision by the Duke, who knew that his second son might spread the word. Colin was suddenly grabbed by his father's knights and dragged to his room in the middle of his meal.
Duke Ganiello exchanged glances with his eldest son and grinned.
"Well then, maybe I'll get sick this time?"
****
"It was a pleasure as always, Your Highness."
"It's all thanks to the imperial family's grace."
Abelus swaggered happily, listening to the flattering words of the low-ranking noble youths.
"What! I won yesterday. I'll win tomorrow too, just wait and see!"
The youths, with their innocent faces, exchanged sly glances.
The crown prince was slowly becoming addicted to gambling. No, not slowly, he definitely was.
Abelus had definitely won a lot of money yesterday. He needed to feel the thrill sometimes. He lost a few times a day and won a few times a day in the various games that took place dozens of times a day. He needed to feel the thrill of being on the edge of winning or losing.
But when he calculated the total amount, Abelus was always losing. Still, he spent more and more time at the club, thinking, "I'll win big in the next game."
Even the great nobles wouldn't make appointments with the crown prince so casually, especially not these days, when Abelus was arbitrarily favoring low-ranking nobles, increasing the dissatisfaction of the high-ranking nobles.
Abelus left in an imperial carriage.
"Ah, shouldn't we stop soon?"
The lookout, who always sat at the entrance of the Finito Club, said.
"We should quit at this point."
The best dice thrower in the Finito Club agreed.
"Don't be ridiculous, is it something that will be decided by us saying we should quit? The boss has to say it."
"But what if we get the short end of the stick? It's over in a flash if he catches on."
"What are we going to do if he catches on? He's not going to put us on trial for conspiring, is he?"
The young men argued, but they tidied up the empty club in unison. There were no customers left.
"Right. We're not the only ones in the club anyway. There are always those guys who come and go. We can just blame it on them."
The lookout, who had first brought up the topic, changed his attitude completely. The young men clicked their tongues. That guy, that guy, always pretending to be smarter than everyone else.
But none of them truly felt threatened. The higher the rank of the noble, the more reluctant they were to admit that they had been tricked by their inferiors. Especially since they had only lost a little money.
Of course, it was a bit more than "a little" money.
"Wow, he's generous again today. Look at the number."
The con man held the check Abelus had given him between his fingers and bragged. The number written on the check was, as he said, quite large.
"It's from the Morie Trading Company again. Why do they have so much money?"
"Well, would they say no if His Highness the Crown Prince asked to borrow some money?"
"It's not His Highness. It's in the name of His Highness's sweetheart."
"It's the same thing. His Highness loves his sweetheart so much, the whole imperial capital knows it. Would he not pay it back?"
It was Megara who was nominally paying the young men, and who was borrowing money from various trading companies and wealthy people in the imperial capital. His Highness's "sweetheart".
The young men chuckled, recalling the pretty girl His Highness had brought with him once. At that moment, a man in a black hood entered through the back door of the club.
"Oh, sir."
The lookout quickly snatched the check from the con man and ran to the man. He presented the check respectfully with both hands.
"Today's share?"
The man in the black hood asked coldly, not showing his face.
He always came on the evenings when the crown prince visited. They had never seen his face, but the young con men at the club knew he was the real owner of the place, Nellusion Elandria's subordinate.
The young men were also low-ranking nobles, but as the duke's confidant, his status was worlds apart from theirs. So, they didn't mind being treated like this.
"Yes, that's right."
The man examined the check. He raised the corner of his lips when he saw the seal stamped below it.
"It's from the Morie Trading Company."
"Yes, sir. Lately, he's been giving us checks from the Morie Trading Company."
Even though it was a new company, everyone in the imperial capital knew how well the Morie Trading Company was doing after the Wells family fell.
Since the owner was a commoner, they must need a backer, they must be making a fortune, they must be easy prey for the crown prince and his mistress who need money for their entertainment.
The man tucked the check into his pocket and spoke briefly.
"Don't accept any more checks from the Morie Trading Company."
"What? Why? It seems like he'll keep giving us checks from there."
"Don't accept them if I tell you not to. It's my master's order."
"Yes… "
What could they do when it was an order? The young men reluctantly agreed.
The man in the black hood quietly disappeared. The young men returned to preparing to end their day as if nothing had happened.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực