Rainer turned around in a circle.

“Elder brother.”

Axel wore a face that suggested he was now tired of pointing out his manner of speech. But Rainer smiled even more brightly. In his imagination, he was threading bait onto a hook. The bait wriggled appetizingly.

“I’m not such a fool. There will be no confusion caused by you, elder brother. Even if there is, it will be a disturbance that helps. Because it will give me an excuse to clean up the bothersome trash.”

“…”

“I need a reliable ally. Help me swallow the land of Jisen. If this goes well, I’ll do as you wish. You can return here or stay outside. I guarantee your peace in the name of the king.”

Axel pressed his eyes firmly. He was clearly looking for words to refuse.

You can’t do that. Rainer continued gently.

“And, lost items should be returned.”

There was a sound of something being tapped. The pale gray eyes that had been hidden by that sound slowly turned towards the king. The paper stuck to the wall was shaking faintly.

“I think there will be someone looking for this item.”

The mouth that was about to speak closed tightly. Rainer was delighted even by this minor movement.

“How about it? Are these contract terms to your liking?”

The king tapped his eating knife once more.

Meeting his gaze, the king was certain of the victory to come.

The king opened the door and came out. Axel’s horse, Atilla, and the people loitering around it immediately ran over.

“Your Majesty! Are you alright!”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

The people clamoring noisily seemed sincere. Finding it even more bewildering, Rainer waved his hand irritably and strode forward.

“You really are like nannies.”

“If you would grant us the honor of such an opportunity…”

Rainer grimaced. The man who smiled slightly asked casually.

“Did you achieve what you wanted?”

The king looked back.

It was a house that was hard to imagine as the place where the king’s brother lived. Clean but simple. But the person inside pushed away all shabbiness.

“Well… Let’s just say it was a very pleasant conversation for now.”

The king said with a fresh face. He was satisfied with what he had gained today. No, since Axellion had not yet given an exact answer, it would be what he would gain.

Gain one. A powerful knight who could charm people with his power alone. Gain two. Effective bait to throw at that knight. Gain three. The name of that bait.

Thanks to the wind attribute mages, it took only a day and a half for the king to come from the castle to the forest. It was a profitable deal to obtain such things in exchange for just that much time.

“According to the map the merchant gave, I heard the road changes, so we’ll move quickly.”

“Alright. Ah, it’s a shame. It would be nice to meet the mage Olivia before we go. She contacted me…”

Two of the group moving around the king stopped in their tracks. The mages among them had their mouths wide open.

“Olivia? You don’t mean ‘that’ Olivia?”

“Of course. I heard she came in with Leon.”

“My goodness, if we could perhaps meet her before we leave…!”

“Of course not. Come on, hurry up and move your feet.”

The king’s steps were light. Among those following him, the steps of the three knights were heavy, and the steps of the two mages were dragged and stretched.

The forest, rid of the troublemakers, became quiet again. But the worries of the man hiding his body in the small, cozy house only deepened.

‘A month later, I will send people to the entrance of the forest. From now on, I will simply respect and wait for elder brother’s choice.’

Because the words the king left behind shook the emotions that Axel had barely suppressed.

Jade greeted her uncle, who came panting with a smiling face.

It wasn’t particularly surprising as she had already anticipated it. It had been half an hour since she tore up his letter of recommendation in front of the person Felix had recommended and scattered it in the air.

“Welcome! Here, I’ve already poured you a cup of tea, so catch your breath.”

Felix, disregarding her feelings, shouted loudly.

“What on earth did you say! I personally recommended that person, how could you be so rude!”

“What else? Since it’s not someone I need to care about, I’ll go home and beat a cushion or something. Anyway, the tea is getting cold. How about a sip to calm down?”

“What’s this kind of tea!”

Felix, unable to suppress his anger, finally stomped his feet and struck the teacup. With a sharp sound, the teacup that fell to the floor shattered into pieces, and the carpet became damp with moisture.

Ah, that was a favorite teacup. Jade thought indifferently as she drank her tea instead.

“If you keep frowning like that, the wrinkles on your forehead will deepen. I heard you were looking for a magic potion good for aging.”

“You’re mocking me? You’re laughing at me? I assured you several times that I would definitely make you work here, and you’ve trampled on my face!”

How many times do I have to tell you to calm down?

Jade glared at him and said.

“You disrespected me first, so I’m just returning the favor. A recommender? A tax administrator?”

“Yes. Our family is steadily building a good position, so even if we add one more tax collector-”

The fluttering paper was placed on the desk.

“You mean the man who gambled away his family fortune and was driven out of another territory for several crimes?”

Jade’s voice was very soft, but it was so precise in pronunciation that it felt like it was stabbing down. Felix didn’t even blink.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course, I think you didn’t know. There’s no way you would have done this knowingly. I know how much you care about this family, uncle.”

She did her best to mock every single word. But not too obviously.

Felix picked up the paper, looked at it, and cleared his throat. The twitching corners of his eyes revealed the truth, but only for a moment.

“You’ve misunderstood. The person I recommended is Jake Finch.”

“No. I’ve already confirmed it several times. It was complicated and twisted, so I almost fell for it in the middle. It’s not Jake Finch, but Fin. A thief who even stole someone else’s name.”

The twisting and turning was clearly Felix Broen’s instruction, but Fin’s acting was quite good too.

Jade drank her tea again.

Her throat kept feeling dry. It was a thirst that was hard to understand the reason for.

Meanwhile, Felix, not wanting to lose the initiative, started babbling unnecessary words.

“Even if changing the name raises trust issues, the things on the documents are just minor mistakes. When a family is in trouble, it’s not right to be too cold about such things. Just like many people pitied you when your parents died-”

“No matter how good with numbers, I have no intention of bringing a thief into the family.”

Finally reaching a point she couldn’t bear, Jade openly sneered.

“Why didn’t you bring Asela instead? Asela is good with numbers too. I might have considered it then. She certainly has the ability and qualifications.”

“Asela is my daughter. She’s not a child to be merely a tax administrator! She’ll make me proud by marrying the eldest son of a good family.”

“I see. You must need a lot of money. Is that why you frequent the gambling houses? It seems you met this man at the town gambling house too.”

Watching his wrinkled mouth tremble, Jade raised the corners of her mouth crookedly.

“I’ll advise you to at least reduce the number of visits since you can’t stop right away. And also, don’t use anything from the family as collateral. Now then, please leave. I’m a bit busy.”

They glared at each other for a long time.

“You’d better be careful.”

Felix spoke slowly, as if spitting out the words.

“Your arrogant tone might strangle your neck. I’m your guardian.”

Jade finally burst out laughing.

“No, no. I’m already an adult, so you haven’t been my guardian for a long time, uncle. It’s true that you need to have a coming-of-age ceremony to qualify as the head of the family, but you can become a legal adult without having a coming-of-age ceremony.”

And she whispered with a smile in her eyes.

“And what’s strangling my neck isn’t my arrogant tone, but the poisoned tea. I don’t know who it is, but they’re quite persistent, aren’t they? I haven’t used shared tableware or drunk anything given by others since childhood, but how many years has this attempt been going on?”

“Whoever it is must hate you terribly.”

“That’s right! It seems so. But shouldn’t you be careful? Someone other than me might drink it. I’m always worried that grandmother might drink it. If that happens…”

She glossed over it with a laugh, but Jade’s eyes were clear. If that happens, there will be no one to stop me from attacking you, uncle.

As soon as Felix, unable to contain his anger, crumpled up the documents and slammed the door shut on his way out, Jade wiped the expression off her face.

“Such a bother…”

Grumbling, she stomped on the crumpled documents and sat down at her desk. Then, with a movement that had now become a habit, she smoothed down her tight chest.

Jade had done her best in the months since her return. The things she had turned a blind eye to had been eating away at the family while she was away, so now she didn’t want to leave them be.

The merchant group Felix had connected with passed on part of their profits to Felix, eating away at the Broen family’s wealth, and the people Felix recommended clearly had good backgrounds but didn’t do their jobs properly, needlessly receiving employment pay.

Although there was no definite evidence that Felix was behind all these problems, everyone was whispering about it.

Jade started cutting them off one by one, like a gardener pruning. Although she was still just the heir, even Felix couldn’t do anything when she confronted him with the false parts and problems.

It was always important to have a justification, and Jade claimed that she was reducing unnecessary people for the sake of the family, and Felix had no choice but to agree.

Finally, Felix seemed to feel his position narrowing. That’s why, in his nervousness, he got caught trying to push in unnecessarily many people.

“This is how evidence piles up neatly. So that there won’t be a single problem with my reputation even if I drive out my uncle.”

Jade muttered, resting her chin on one hand and twirling a pen with the other.

Everything was slowly returning to its normal orbit. But her eyes were dry.