“A marriage partner….. Your daughter has indeed reached the age for marriage.”

The king, who had been narrowing his brow as if measuring something, raised the corner of his mouth.

“Don’t worry, the queen will carefully choose for you. That’s far better than a father who makes his daughter lie.”

“However, Your Majesty, if I may remind you of what seems to have slipped your mind, it is customary for the father to be involved in his child’s marriage.”

“Fathers come in all types. Have you forgotten how the neck of one who failed as a parent was severed?”

Your daughter seems too gentle by nature to do such a thing… but one never knows. Did I ever think I would do that?

However, the man before him was fundamentally flawed from the start.

Gilrod thought that compared to the king, his daughter was practically of pure blood. First of all, her mother was the daughter of a noble family, and she was raised confined in the castle, entrusted to a wet nurse’s care.

Of course, it was also true that Siana had been much weaker than he thought. But women inherently had such tendencies. They had a propensity to be enticed by immediate rewards, unable to see the bigger picture.

Gilrod had already thought of ways to clean up the mess his foolish daughter had made.

The king stared at him intently, then spoke in a still gentle tone.

“Let’s end the small talk and get to the main point. As you know, I will soon be leaving the capital.”

“Yes, I’ve heard. War has broken out.”

“Indeed. Surely you’re not unaware that your house has been conscripted too. Though I’ve dismissed you, it would be troublesome if you’ve already fallen to a powerless old man in the back room.”

The king’s face was filled with pleasure as he said this. It was an emotion he deliberately displayed without hiding.

Knowing that he was trying to mock him, Gilrod bowed his head like a truly grateful subject.

“I never thought you’d be one to care even for those you’ve dismissed. I’m truly moved by your concern.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself. How many years have we known each other? I’m always mindful of you.”

And the man added with a chilling smile.

“Haven’t I even left a place for you underground like this?”

His sarcasm was truly outstanding, but Gilrod felt puzzlement before displeasure.

He hadn’t been able to fully examine it last time, but meeting again, it was certain. The king had changed much from what he remembered.

In fact, he had felt something was off since the day he went to meet Siana, but the man had been quite on edge then, so Gilrod had thought he was just coldly composed as before. The king he remembered was a child who couldn’t manage his expression when provoked even slightly.

When he got angry at the meeting, the situation was so chaotic that he couldn’t properly examine it, but looking back, wasn’t that all an act too?

Now Gilrod was certain that he had shed some layer.

When the king leaves for the border, I must find out what has changed him. Having come to this conclusion, Gilrod said,

“The temperature of your consideration is so low that its intent might be obscured.”

“It’s more than you deserve for what you’ve done.”

The king, cutting him off sharply, flicked his finger. His large, straight hand with thick knuckles from use tapped the wooden table between them.

“Your actions were truly disappointing. To mistreat such a kind person, newly married… Wasn’t that behavior unbecoming of your age and station?”

And the utterly shameless man furrowed his brow as if truly regretful.

“Hmm? How shocked she must have been.”

But wasn’t it the king himself who had used the queen?

The king said the queen was shocked, but in reality, the one most shocked was Gilrod himself. He was nothing but a victim fooled by the lie concocted by the king, queen, and Siana.

And among them, the biggest liar was the king.

The young man spoke as if he loved the woman and was pained by the harm she suffered, but Gilrod saw right through him. It was none other than the king who had used her by putting her at the forefront.

If not for the king, a woman who had supposedly lived only in foreign palaces would not have opposed him so calculatedly. She must have acted according to what her husband whispered in her ear.

To this abominable man who spoke as if they were pure victims, Gilrod said,

“If I may be so bold, I too was somewhat pained. For Your Majesty, who should always lend an ear to those below, never once listened to my words.”

The man who would have immediately reacted to words doubting his qualifications before, calmly responded,

“Don’t you think that too was consideration for you? If you had been just a bit more impertinent then, do you know what punishment I would have meted out? You should keep your tongue even if you lose your daughter.”

“…I had no idea you had such profound intentions. My thoughts were short-sighted.”

“Yes, they were.”

“…”

“But a generous king should give his subject a second chance, so I’ve called you here like this.”

And the king rang the bell placed on the table. The door opened and the chamberlain entered, carrying documents on a silver tray.

As the aging traitor to the royal family set the tray down on the table, the king handed what was on it to him.

“Sign it.”

After opening the paper as instructed, Gilrod thought this man had truly gone mad.

He spoke with a voice that trembled slightly without his realizing.

“…This is too much, blocking exports.”

What was written in the document was a clause to temporarily cut off Nebel’s foreign exchanges. It had conditions attached to prevent contact with anyone abroad and even temporarily seize ships for the royal family.

There was also a clause stating that the produce from his land could only be consumed within Aglante. The duration was until the king, who was leaving the capital, returned.

“Even if Your Majesty sits on the throne, you cannot force such an unfair treaty.”

“Force? Thinking so narrowly is why you made mistakes before. This is the second chance I’m giving you.”

The man, who clearly had no business ethics, didn’t change his expression even though he knew how fatal this would be to the family finances.

“Do you not know where you are right now?”

It was then that Gilrod thought the king might harm him.

In his right mind, he wouldn’t do such a thing, but seeing the paper he handed over, it seemed all this could be a trap.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought such an outrageous clause so blatantly.

Moreover, it was foolish to openly oppose him right now. The king wouldn’t return anyway. So even if he violated national law, there would be no one to punish him either.

In the end, Gilrod signed the document. Then the king, as if bestowing a favor, lifted the confinement order he had placed on him.

After having the chamberlain take care of the documents, he rose from his seat and said,

“For your own safety, I hope you don’t make a second mistake. If you betray the chance I’ve given, I won’t want to give another.”

And don’t forget that I remember your loyalty to the royal family.

Then the king left him in the interrogation room and disappeared. The knights came to get him only after another hour had passed, perhaps on separate orders.

The way back was cold throughout, having been stuck in a stone room in an already chilly underground. Gilrod endured the cold that had seeped into his body, imagining a corpse even colder than this.

When dawn broke the next day, Gilrod heard news that the king had left the castle. They said he was heading to the border, dragging along soldiers conscripted from the elder houses.

A copy of the document he had signed last night was delivered to him, still in his mansion. They said the king had specially sent it.

Gilrod tore it up and threw it into the fireplace, then prepared to go out.

The king won’t return anyway. Brinwell was planning to stake everything on this war, and the king had to overcome the schemes of an opponent several times his age with a small army.

Considering that more than half of that small number were hostile to him, it was nearly impossible.

The royalist nobles like Chesa might think they could conscript from the south after the harvest, but that too was impossible. To conscript the southern army, they needed majority consent in the parliament.

Of course, it was true that he had lost one seat due to a cunning ploy.

However, Gilrod had long since devised a plan to regain the seat. When word reached him that the queen had mentioned him in parliament, before the king summoned him to the castle late at night.

In the carriage heading to Galisa, Gilrod looked down at the streets where people were coming and going with cold eyes. Among them were several members of the Black Foam, cunningly mixed in. Though pretending to be ordinary citizens on the outside, they wore hats pulled low to hide the tattoos on their faces.

The king pretended to reject pirates outwardly, while secretly joining hands with them. That’s why the queen’s territory was a den of disgusting pirates and criminals. He had found out when he investigated the strange disappearance of the figurehead from Brinwell’s ship.

You may play around vulgarly as you like, but if you get caught, shouldn’t you take responsibility? Though not as much as her husband, the queen too needed to learn a lesson.

As he mentally rechecked the trap he would set, the carriage stopped in front of a large inn. Soon when the carriage door opened, Gilrod turned to look at the one entering. Before him was a young man with dazzling blonde hair covered with brown dye, and green eyes.

Gilrod smiled and extended his hand to him.

“It’s been a long time, Duke Rochden.”