“The revelation has finally…!”

The aide who heard Count Scala’s story had his mouth corners stretched to an eerie degree.

Although his mouth corners stretched almost to his earlobes, the Count didn’t seem to find it strange.

Rather, the two looked at each other with the same smile and laughed.

“Fortunately. The revelation…, haha! It’s really fortunate.”

The aide’s laughter burst out briefly. The person who had been worried about what Damian might do until just now was nowhere to be seen.

“Then…”

“Yes, you can take the lead.”

The aide, no less consumed by madness than Count Scala, nodded to him.

“Should we dispose of everyone except the child?”

“Yes. Now that the revelation has come, there’s no need to capture them alive. While disposing of them, we could also tarnish Damian’s reputation by saying he killed his half-sibling out of ambition.”

“How should we inform the believers?”

“For now, we need to make Damian focus his eyes completely on us. Tell the others to lie low. Don’t even open their mouths, tell them to stay put. You never know. One fool might take our side and get eliminated by Damian. That would be even better.”

“Yes, understood.”

The aide bowed deeply to the Count.

“By the way, when should we set the date to completely bury Damian?”

“Let’s do it after His Highness the Crown Prince’s birthday passes. The hunting festival is coming up soon, so that would be a good time.”

“Yes, understood.”

Bowing deeply once more, the aide quickly withdrew and disappeared across the hallway.

Left alone, Count Scala snickered.

“Not capture, but find and kill… Simple.”

Count Scala clenched his fist while wearing pitch-black gloves.

The creaking gloves clung to his hand.

“We’re going back. To the time when he didn’t exist.”

Count Scala walked down the hallway towards the reception room where the nobles were gathered.

The pro-Emperor nobles found it strange that Duke Genova was absent from the meeting, but they didn’t think it was wrong.

They understood that the Duke’s household must be in chaos with all the kidnapping and rebellion incidents.

But what if we raised the question, ‘Why should they be so understanding of Duke Genova?’

External enemies were good for strengthening internal unity, and internal enemies were good for completely isolating one.

By isolating the Duke from within and expelling him from the pro-Emperor faction, public opinion would gradually start to tilt.

“Reputation is all about public opinion.”

Both honoring achievements and being able to praise those achievements require public opinion.

I’ll make everything the Duke has accomplished while fighting wars disappear like bubbles in an instant.

He pulled the doorknob of the reception room and walked among the nobles who were blooming with laughter.

To be advantageous in the war of public opinion, there was no need to speak too many words upfront.

There was no need to pretend to be serious and drive them. Like dewdrops falling on a rock.

Just casually dropping trivial things like that. So that one day, the rock would crack from the dew.

Moreover, since the nobles who had shared life-and-death moments with Damian on the battlefield had a solid sense of camaraderie, that method would be even better.

“Count Scala. I hear Duke Genova’s merchant ships are about to set sail soon. Will you be attending the launching ceremony?”

It seemed they were talking about Duke Genova.

Count Scala nodded with a gentle smile.

“I suppose I’ll go if invited. What else is there for an old man to do? If they’re kind enough to invite me to such a launching ceremony, I’ll attend with pleasure.”

“My, aren’t you being too modest? Of course you’d be invited as a key figure in the pro-Emperor faction. I guess all the pro-Emperor members will gather at the launching ceremony. Oh, I heard some from the aristocratic faction will attend too.”

“That’s right. We fought together on the battlefield, so we can’t divide ourselves by political ideologies like pro-Emperor or aristocratic faction. Indeed, the future leader of the pro-Emperor faction seems to have great virtues.”

“Indeed. I think so too. He’s an outstanding person, isn’t he?”

Count Scala nodded calmly, affirming his words.

“By the way, after a series of unfortunate events, the Duke didn’t attend today’s meeting. This is…”

The topic, which had suddenly focused on Duke Genova, smoothly shifted to his absence. The nobles also nodded with hardened expressions.

“That’s right. Of course, those who plotted such things must be from the aristocratic faction, but to falsely accuse him of rebellion as soon as he returned! I wonder how shocked His Majesty was when he saw those crude pieces of evidence.”

“Exactly.”

As it was a gathering of pro-Emperor forces, there was antipathy towards the entire aristocratic faction.

Of course, those who had fought together on the battlefield, even if they were pro-Emperor, had a sense of camaraderie with the aristocratic faction members they had fought alongside, so they didn’t carelessly agree. But they didn’t object either.

Logically thinking, it would make sense that the aristocratic faction would threaten Damian, the leader of the pro-Emperor faction.

“Charles must be busy too. I heard Count Gorman is in critical condition, and now Duke Genova has a lot on his plate as well.”

Another noble sitting across from Count Scala spoke up.

He was a noble with striking white beard, and like Count Scala, he was wearing gloves.

He picked up a teacup from the table, wearing soft cotton gloves.

“Oh my… Count Gorman is in critical condition?”

Count Scala frowned towards Charles, as if feeling sorry.

“Yes. He was critical, but he’s gradually regaining his health.”

“I see. That’s fortunate. Even though he’s bedridden, Count Gorman must feel at ease having a son like you, Charles.”

The gloved noble nodded as he put down his teacup.

“By the way, the Duke was absent today without a clear reason. This old man is worried, so may I ask why?”

At Count Scala’s following question, Charles shook his head with an awkward smile.

“I’m sorry. It’s an internal matter of the Genova ducal family, so I find it difficult to speak about it.”

“Oh, that’s alright. There have been many serious incidents, so the household must be in quite an uproar. But soon… it will stabilize, right? After all, it’s Duke Genova we’re talking about.”

Count Scala smiled gently.

“Yes. It will stabilize soon.”

Charles also smiled gently, returning Count Scala’s eye-smile with an identical one.

However, Charles’s fist resting on his thigh under the table was trembling.

*

“Young Viscount. A report came in from the people we sent out. It seems Scala’s side has started to move.”

“Really? What about my brother-in-law?”

Blake moved his fingers while holding a ledger.

Skimming through the ledger and checking people’s names, Blake tilted his head to the side.

“It seems like… a strategy to lure them into a trap.”

“You mean he deliberately made Bruno’s hiding place seem sloppy?”

“Yes. It’s the same with Jessica and Derek’s side. It seems he did it on purpose.”

Blake nodded, seeming unconvinced by Damian’s strategy, and closed the ledger.

“Well. It doesn’t matter. Whether Bruno lives or dies. Whatever my brother-in-law does with it.”

“But… about Count Scala’s side.”

At the subordinate’s cautious voice, Blake turned his body towards him.

“It seems a bit strange.”

“Why?”

“Starting from the day Duke Genova didn’t attend the meeting, it feels a bit more aggressive. Moreover, it doesn’t seem like Count Scala is trying to hide himself. Well, now that he’s come to the forefront, the other side would know anyway, so it might be that. But still, it’s strange.”

“Isn’t it because my brother-in-law stirred them up?”

“Yes. It feels more like he’s showing off rather than anger at being stirred up. If it were fear, he would have laid low. Rather, it feels like the opponent’s thoughts have changed based on this incident. Almost like a different person.”

“…Really?”

Blake supported his body crookedly, placing his hand on the table.

“A different person, huh. …That sounds interesting.”

Blake looked down at the front of the ledger he had placed on the table.

“Copy all of this and send it to the Duke’s mansion.”

“Yes, understood.”

Knock knock.

“Young Viscount. A man named Jarvis has come from the tailor shop. He says he’s here to measure you for gloves, but we haven’t received any report about this, so I’m asking.”

At the butler’s words, Blake stood up. The subordinate quickly jumped out the window, taking the ledger on the table.

“Oh my, I forgot. I heard he was famous as a glove artisan, so I had gone to see him. Let him in.”

After answering like that, Blake opened a drawer.

He took out a pitch-black box and thinly applied the paste inside to his philtrum.

After attaching a mustache, he also took out a cigar from the drawer that he doesn’t usually smoke and put it in his mouth.

Blake walked over heavily and dusted off the bowler hat placed on the table with his hand.

When he put on the black bowler hat with a short brim and round top, and donned a vest, a completely different atmosphere flowed.

He looked like a typical, fastidious nobleman, so much so that even those who knew Blake’s original face might tilt their heads once.

He sat on the sofa and picked up a book.

He inhaled the filter and exhaled with a ‘whoo’, quickly filling the room with smoke.

“Young Viscount. Shall I bring in this Jarvis?”

“Let him in.”