That appalling story was still unbelievable. So I decided to think it wasn’t true, that it was just a malicious rumor spread by wicked people. That way I could feel at ease.

‘Even if it were true, Lucas wouldn’t have done it. Surely that wench must have instigated it from behind the scenes.’

In any case, Duke Hailis had been stripped of his position and died on the way to exile after being punished by Victian IV. It was easy to imagine that Elise, the duke’s daughter, would resent the Franche royal family without feeling grateful.

‘To do such a cruel thing and then aim for the position of crown princess? That’s absurd.’

The reason for entrusting Elise with the position of lord of Kingteren City was primarily to remove her from the royal palace. There was hope that once the two were physically distant, their hearts would grow apart as well.

It seemed Elise was quietly working on something in Kingteren, but that was fine. Of course, Joseph V had never praised Elise or thought of giving her a title.

It was all lies fabricated by Lucas to please Elise.

‘I must hurry and choose a suitable girl to bring into the palace as the crown princess.’

Lucas had clearly become infatuated with Elise. Seeing him bring Elise to a meeting with a foreign envoy, it was certain that he was being manipulated by her.

Before it became irreversible, a woman from a good family needed to be placed in the position of crown princess to keep Lucas’s mind in check.

‘There will be some talk if we bring in a crown princess this quickly, but it can’t be helped.’

Lucas had been engaged to Roxiana Evelyn Franche, the princess of Canta, since childhood, and almost the entire continent knew this fact. There was already sympathy towards the Franche royal family who had lost everything because of Lucas, who was supposed to become their son-in-law.

While saying that such conflicts and conspiracies between countries were inevitable, there were groups denouncing Lucas as a completely shameless and cold-hearted bastard.

He had intended to wait until such talk died down, but seeing Lucas infatuated with Elise made him realize it couldn’t be delayed any longer.

While Joseph V was pondering various concerns, the queen, Christine, was quietly observing Elise.

At that moment, with the announcement of an attendant, the envoy from the Hovern Islands entered the audience chamber.

Following the envoy, slaves carried several boxes. The slaves set the boxes down in a row near the throne and opened the lids one by one to reveal their contents.

The boxes were overflowing with rare jewels, ornaments, and herbs that were not easily found on the mainland.

Although Joseph V had not yet relaxed his expression at the arrival of the Hovern envoy, Lucas was smiling broadly as he examined the treasures in the boxes.

‘Oh my, what a pathetic fellow…’

Joseph V found everything distasteful now that he disliked one person because of Elise. As he was inwardly clicking his tongue at the crown prince who couldn’t even manage his expression properly in front of an envoy, the second son, Cassar, spoke up.

“Such extravagant gifts for a sudden visit. I’m worried that Hovern might be asking something difficult of our Gania.”

Though his voice was gentle, the content was sharp. Seeing the envoy’s shoulders flinch, Joseph V swallowed a sigh.

‘If only Cassar had been born first, I wouldn’t have these worries.’

Unaware of Joseph V’s thoughts, Lucas stepped forward.

“What do you mean by asking? Hovern has clearly sent these gifts to express gratitude to me. Yes, did the king of Hovern receive the gift of friendship I sent well?”

“That is…”

The envoy rolled his eyes, and Joseph V grew uneasy.

It was no exaggeration to say that there was no exchange between the Hovern Islands beyond the southern sea and the Kingdom of Gania on the continent.

Yet he sent a gift of friendship? What on earth did he send?

“Something has happened.”

“What do you mean something happened?”

“As we were about to depart from the port of Torkan… Duke Ratean intervened.”

“What are you talking about!”

Lucas jumped to his feet. Joseph V turned to his eldest son with a deeply furrowed brow, suppressing the urge to ask, ‘What are you talking about?’

“Ratean… Then what happened to my gift?”

“Of course it was confiscated. Everything was taken before we could even set sail.”

At the envoy’s words, Lucas’s beautiful face twisted horribly.

“That’s impossible. Then that woman… that… Where is it now and what’s happening to it?”

“Well, there’s no way for us to know that far. Since Torkan prohibits slavery and treats slaves the same as commoners, wouldn’t it be living well somewhere in Torkan?”

Joseph V had clearly heard Lucas mistakenly say ‘that woman’ just now. Surely everyone present must have heard it too.

It was ominous. So ominous that he wanted to stand up right away and drag his eldest son out of the audience chamber by the collar.

“By the way, that incident has put us in a very difficult position. Whether Duke Ratean was greatly angered by that matter or not, he has completely cut off relations with us. Because of that, we can’t use the port of Torkan, and recently, as magical beasts have been rampant, we asked for help but received no response. We would be grateful if you could please appease the duke and ask him to stop strangling us.”

While the Kingdom of Gania did not recognize Floyd as the king’s son, other countries regarded Floyd as Joseph V’s second son. Although it had been a long time since Floyd had left the Kingdom of Gania and Joseph V’s hands, there were occasionally people who came to ask for favors regarding his issues like this.

“Is your situation the problem now? You should have properly taken it to Hovern! If you couldn’t take it, you should have at least sent me a message earlier!”

Unable to read the atmosphere and thrashing about, Lucas was finally stopped by Joseph V raising his right hand.

“Be quiet, Crown Prince.”

“But, Father…”

“Silence!”

As Joseph V raised his voice, Lucas closed his mouth with a disgruntled expression. Joseph V looked down at the envoy and spoke sternly.

“Our Gania has no intention of intervening in the matter between Torkan and Hovern, so return. Since we cannot offer help, we will also decline the gifts.”

“But Your Majesty!”

“Return. This audience is over. And Crown Prince, you follow me.”

Joseph V stood up abruptly and left the audience chamber. Lucas glared at the envoy, grinding his teeth, before turning on his heel, and Cassar hesitated for a moment before following him.

After entering the study, as soon as the two sons came in and closed the door, Joseph V burst out:

“What on earth was that envoy babbling about!”

“Father, that is…”

Lucas, who had been so temperamental in front of the envoy, couldn’t be so in front of his father. As Lucas stammered, Cassar cut in.

“Brother, I don’t want to think this far, but… You didn’t actually sell the princess of Canta as a slave, did you?”

At any other time, Lucas would have yelled, ‘This is none of your business!’ but he couldn’t even answer and just clenched his fists tightly. Seeing his son’s face turn pale, Joseph V let out a dejected groan.

“You crazy fool…”

“Father, Father. There’s a reason for this.”

“A reason… A reason! What kind of reason could there be for selling a girl who was a princess of a country, who was your fiancée, to slave traders? Huh? What kind of grand reason could there be to commit such a damnable act?”

“Father, it was Roxiana who first…”

“Roxiana what! What did the princess do! Listen well, Lucas. Yes, I coveted Canta. You used strategies to get Canta in our hands. You should have stopped there. You shouldn’t have treated the Franche family like that! What crime did they commit against us that you had to kill the entire family!”

“But they did to Elise…”

“Elise, Elise, Elise!”

Slap-!

Joseph V struck Lucas’s cheek. Lucas, who had never been hit before, blinked in disbelief.

“Don’t you have any compassion?”

“You’re the one who told me not to have compassion for enemies!”

“The Franche were not enemies!”

“They were enemies. From the moment you thought about devouring Canta, Canta became our enemy!”

“And you still think you did well…!”

Slap, slap, slap-!

Joseph V struck his eldest son’s cheeks harshly. Lucas glared at his father, grinding his teeth.

“This is a big problem.”

Even amidst the clash of intense emotions, Cassar’s voice sounded elegant enough to be calm.

“If word gets out that the princess was sold as a slave, public opinion towards our Gania will become even worse than it is now. If you were going to sell her off, you should have been thorough to the end. Of all places, to try selling her to Hovern. To go to Hovern, you’d obviously have to pass through Torkan. Did you forget who rules there?”

“You shut up, Cassar.”

“Do I look like I’ll shut up? Duke Ratean will make very good use of what happened to the princess. If the princess opens her mouth, the rumors currently surrounding brother will gain momentum. And it’s not just brother, is it? This incident will remain a huge blemish on our entire Pelur family.”

Joseph V pressed hard on his throbbing temples.

As Cassar said, if this incident became known as truth and spread, even the Empire and the Temple, whom they had been bribing and trying to impress, would turn their backs on Gania. Moreover, though Cassar didn’t know, there was also the fact that Lucas might have thrown the bodies of the Franche family into a well.

It needed to be contained. Somehow, this troublesome problem had to be resolved quickly.